Six-foot shark caught off the Huntington Beach Pier
May 21st, 2009, 5:05 pm · 43 Comments · posted by Laylan Connelly, staff writer
Check out this 6-foot thresher shark caught off the Huntington Beach Pier yesterday afternoon.
Mike Sadler, who was taking a walk on the pier during his lunch break from his job at FireScope, snapped the photo on his iPhone.
He thought it was cruel that this “sweet fish” was caught.
“I’m not into killing the man in the gray suit,” he said. “I’m in the water all the time, I’m not into messing with that part of nature, and hopefully they won’t mess with me.”
His buddy, Brian Beck, went back to see that the fishermen had the shark tied by its tail and in the water to keep it alive. His friend called the Humane Society.
A former Laguna Beach lifeguard, Sadler said he wasn’t surprised a shark this large was caught off the pier. He said he’s surfed with a great white down at San Onofre.
“They’re all around us, you just don’t realize it,” he said.
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Great white sharks: Have you seen any? Check out our map of sightings
Great white shark spotted by charter boat 2 miles off Doheny State Beach
Great whites off Newport Beach: photos from 2002
What do you think of the shark capture? Sound off in comments below
Important part of the food chain. There are fewer of these all the time.
Although it should be excellent eating. I would have let it go.
My grandfather caught sharks off Seal Beach Pier - 1943-era. Food rationing during WWII - this helped feed his extended families working in the defense plants. Shovel nose most frequently.
Beautiful and elegent creatures. I am still a bit shaken whenever I see one (I was just starting to swim in the ocean when Jaws came out!), but they have a far worse reputation then they deserve. And thresher sharks, if memory serves, are not really known to bother humans. I hope this one made it back to the deep blue.
Not usually but the bigger ones can have a fairly nasty disposition. Threshers and Makos are both that way. blues are real mellow and won’t bother you.
We eat chicken, beef, sushi, ect…. Why not shark?
Where are you from? You might want to leave your house every once in a while, or something…..
You can get shark in almost any fish restaurant……. Welcome to Earth.
A few years ago the landings had boats go out for sharks and they brought back many sharks . So much so that they finally put restrictions on sharks . I haven’t been on a shark trip but i believe that they tag and release the majority of them now . Like yman said they are a important part of the food chain and fishing them out would knock the balance out of the chain.
If you order Shark at a fine seafood restaurant this is what is on your plate . I’ve had Thresher before and it is good !
Most disturbing about so many of these shark kills is that the fish is so large, nobody bothers to butcher the fish for food. So, the animal and its life is wasted. If you’re going to fish, please eat it!
That is enough tasty fillets for the entire family for about a year, or more!!
a good eating fish, but too small to bother cutting up. Threshers are bait feeders - they come up to a school of small baitfish and sweep their tail through it. they then come back to eat any stunned fish. their mouths are too small to bite a human. a fish this small should be released.
They still catch shark for commercial use like restaurants however they did put restrictions on sport fishing boats . A few years ago,if you read the fish report from local landings , you would see large numbers of blue sharks caught .And from year to year that number declined . Too the point that they put restrictions on sharks . The landings still have shark trips but not as often as they did before . When they do have trips and they catch some sharks the fish report will tell you what species and that it was released.
i have caught many thresher sharks off the coast of huntington and newport. this time of year they like to hang out around here. every now and then the half day boats will catch a few while trying to catch bass and cuda. the only thing interesting about this catch is the fact the whoever caught it was able to hoist it all the way up to the top of the pier. must have been using some very heavy line or braided line. looking at all the blood near the gills makes me think that releasing this shark would have most likely been futile. i guess fortunately for this fisherman, thresher is one of the better eating sharks you can catch around these parts.
Fishing for sport is simply cruel, even if the fish is returned to the water alive. If someone pierced your flesh with a metal hook for sport would you think it was okay simply because they didn’t kill you? And using sharks for food is not a good idea, given the high level of mercury they’ve absorbed from our polluted oceans.
Oh please.
Pete, I agree with you.
Im going out saturday to get me one of those !
macgregor, your comments are completely unfounded. 1st off, fish dont have pain sensory nerves in the cartilage surrounding their mouths, and second sharks are pelagic creatures which move from place to place and spend most of the time out in cleaner clearer water. from your statement, the only edible fish would be fish that are farm raised freshwater fish, and even that water is polluted to some extent. there are very few fish in our local waters that have mercury in them. yellowfin croaker would be one of them, and even then, you would have to consume about 10 of them in a month to even have to worry about mercury. spend a little time doing some research before you make comments. although i did have a good laugh when i read what you had to say.
I love it when my boyfriend brings home his catches of sea bass or halibuts…even calicos. Yummy Yummy!
oh yea….and everytime you flush your toilet, or drive your vehicle, you are adding to this pollution that you seem to fear so much. so for our sake, please dont flush or drive anymore. the fish and myself will be very greatful
I don’t shark and hopefully shark don’t eat me!
Looking at the gills this shark was likely hooked in the gill and not the mouth. Sharks are an important part of the foodchain and there are so many sharks out there catching one does nothing to make the water safer as these sharks just want to be left alone. You have a greater chance of being killed driving to work than than if you were to swim around the pier naked smothered in butter and chum.
I wish he would have reeled in some of the snakes with that shark. Have you ever tried surfing HB Pier on a crowded day?
Nice work on the T, at least the guy gave it a go to release it- it wasn’t a breeder and will taste really good. A big thresher off a pier would be a task, lol.
macgregor39, I’m sure you’ve heard that there is a village missing it’s idiot, you should go home . They miss you!
Nice pic…neat colors on the shark…..
I imagine someday that some alien species will display us as the catch of the day in the same way. And they will have arguments about whether or not this is “humane. ” And we will weep, and they will say in their own way, “look at how they fight!” One of them will say, “Well, we eat other species, so whats the problem!”
If eating other species is just the survival of the fittest, can I eat you? Six billion people is a lot of food.
I imagine that down in Davey Jones’ Internet cafe, the thresher sharks are having an argument about whether it’s humane to eat little fish.
I’ll consider going vegan when the dolphins and sharks do.
“They’re all around us, you just don’t realize it,” … I so didn’t need to hear that.
To those who called me an idiot and said I didn’t do research … My information about mercury levels in sharks comes from Consumer Reports onHealth, which is published by the reputable, independent, and nonprofit publisher better known for Consumer Reports magazine. In v. 21, no. 6, p. 7, the most recent issue, it states that “Some fish, such as king mackerel, shark, and swordfish, are consistently high in mercury” and that children and women of child-bearing ages should never consume these, although it may be safe for other adults to consume very occasionally. I interpret that to mean that freezing & eating the big old thresher shark that you caught off the HB pier, which would probably take many months to consume, may not a good idea. Feeding it to your kids, or anyone else’s kids, is definitely a bad idea. I have done research on this issue, and while there is debate about how much mercury is toxic, there are definitely certain types of fish, such as sharks, that are mentioned frequently as being of concern by the FDA, EPA, medical researchers, state governments in the U.S., other governments including UK, Australia, etc. And about it being cruel to catch fish you aren’t going to eat, just for sport, I stand by that sentiment. I too thought it looked as though the shark had been hooked in the gill area.
Does the CR list which shark species that has the high mercury level?
Whatever bait the fisherman was using caught the attention of this thresher. Perhaps he did not know it was a thresher until he pulled it on the pier.
I will visit CR for myself. Thanks for retreiving reliable information. Unlike the feeble-minded blockheads of the BRTF group!
It looks like the shark was hooked in the gill area is probably cause it was. Pier fishermen use a pier gaff (four way hook with a weight in the middle) to gaff and bring the catch onto the pier.
Man thats a big one off the pier…
I was out there that afternoon. I snapped like 3 pics of the shark. I emailed them to Laylan, so maybe she’ll add them to the article! It drew quite the crowd though.
Pretty shark. I’d throw it back too.
Man that shark looks totally cool but not as cool as that Firescope. link. It rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
macgregor39-Getting Information about Fish or Fishing from Consumer Reports ? You are Dead Wrong my freind. Mako’s & Thresher’s have been in these water for years. I have fished them and Caught many & RELEASED Many as well.I have fed them to my kids as well. Your comment is a Crock of Crap.
Mercury my A$$..
Instead of sitting on the Couch reading Consumer Reports, Try getting out on the water and Sport Fishing !!!!!!
FYI- a 500# Thresher was Caught just a 1/2 mile off Laguna beach
last sunday.
GN, I grew up in a fishing & hunting family here in Orange County, and I fished with my grandpa as a kid too, back when there were a lot fewer people on the beaches and piers, and it was a lot more relaxing. I was taught to eat what I caught, and that you don’t kill fish or any animal just for fun. I didn’t say there aren’t a lot of thresher sharks in this area, and as far as I know, they’re not endangered like some shark species in other places around the world, where finning and other practices have almost done some of them in. I didn’t say you or your kids are going to suffer drastic & immediate effects from eating shark or other fish high on the marine food chain, and higher in mercury. It is a fact though, that scientists & governments are warning people to limit their consumption of fish like shark and also swordfish, formerly my favorite. We’re still learning about the combined effects of various toxic chemicals that are now found in our bodies in higher concentrations from the air, food, water, etc. I prefer to limit my exposure to some of those chemicals when I can. You’re free to ingest as many of them as you want, feed them to your family, and to believe that scientists are making this stuff up.
SAVE THE SHARKS!
to those who say “i’m glad it was release, etc”: I very much hope it was not released. It very clearly has been gill hooked and would certainly die if released in that state. Hopefully it was taken home, steaked, and eaten. Personally, I feel that the thresher fishery is not a sustainable harvest, but I suppose I have to put my faith in the DFG’s research and resources (which is certainly a lot more then mine).
The poster who said “I imagine that aliens might so day come and “fish for us” yadda yadd”: You are perhaps the stupidest person to have ever lived. What you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this forum is now dumber for having read your response. May God have mercy on your soul. Seriously, though. You’re an idiot.
The shark was most likely caught in the mouth and the bleeding was caused by a pier gaff with 3 hooks that they lower down to the water and hook the fish to drag it up. They lied when they said they wanted to keep the fish alive by tying it to a rope, what they really want is it to bleed out into the water and attrack more sharks…I have witnessed this multiple times. The people who catch and keep these sharks are normally foreigners that will keep anything, but many do catch these fish to feed their families. This information is comming from first hand experience witnessing this happen many many times. If ur gunna keep a fish, kill it immediately, don’t let it struggle.
This was the first one, and he caught another today!! The same guy at the same place on the HB pier. The 1st was a bit bigger, but CH2 was out there and said he caught 2. Pretty unusual to get these off the pier, but I’ve seen it happen before. Just not the same guy catching two.
I was down at the Malibu pier two weeks ago and I saw 4 thresher sharks caught in the same afternoon. They were all caught by different guys and I even got a piece of one of them. They cleaned them on the spot and the meat was excellent prepared on the BBQ!
Hi my name is charley Cobb and I would catch it and make love to it. I would pump it from behind and hold on with all my strength. then I would rubb its blood all over me for lubrication with my dog.