Has everyone taken leave of their senses? Just because the Discovery Channel is hosting its annual Shark Week feature, that is no reason for otherwise sane and sensible anglers to suddenly start actively fishing for the critters. And it seems to be a far-reaching malady, with even this newspaper carrying details of a gentleman who caught just such a beast off the South Shore and then returned it to the sea.

Why the sudden focus on these sea creatures that are normally shunned by sports anglers and, in particular, Bermuda anglers? So frowned upon, in fact, that most local tournaments specifically exclude sharks, even though quite a few shark species are recognised as game fish by the International Game Fish Association. So why the shift in outlook at the present time?

In many places, shark-fishing is a sport in and of itself. This is often the case when the largest fish available to anglers are these predators. Not everywhere has ready access to billfish, tuna or the other more glamorous species that are normally thought of as game fish. Sharks of one description or another are found in just about every marine environment, even when the other gamefish species are unknown or rarely encountered. Thus, the sharks, which are usually co-operative, become the focus for “big game” angling.

As to where sharks are to be found, the answer is: just about everywhere. What must be recalled is that most sharks tend to be nocturnal. Night-time makes for much more success if sharks are the target species. Just how this works is a bit strange. Sharks are not usually seen in areas such as the channels and reef areas during the day. However, those same areas often harbour good numbers of large sharks during the hours of darkness. The question seems to be where do they disappear to during the day because they are certainly there at night. Setting a longline just outside the ship channel and letting it set overnight is an almost sure-fire technique for catching sharks, some of which are surprisingly large.

Speaking to some of the old hands, it is readily apparent that there are not as many sharks around now as there used to be. About 30 years ago, hammerhead sharks were quite commonly encountered and there were times when a migration of them had a seemingly countless number of hammerheads just moseying on by the northwest of the Island. Nowadays, there are plenty of anglers who have never even seen a hammerhead in the wild.

Blue sharks used to be pretty commonplace, too. In fact, a few world records were set here on light tackle for that species. It was the consensus of most anglers that they were an exceedingly stupid fish that was incredibly easy to catch and would often take a hook and then swim to the boat to be duly gaffed and boated.

Over the years, there have been mako sharks on a regular, if less than abundant, basis and there has probably been the odd great white that has happened on through. There are oceanic white tips in the area, although they are seldom seen by anglers. They are fairly regularly caught on pelagic longlines, suggesting that they are not in short supply if you look in the right places. Whale sharks have sometimes shown up in the late summer, but none of these species are actively pursued locally.

The sharks that interested the commercial operators were the “puppy” or small dusky sharks. Not that the duskies were duskies, either. Although they look like dusky sharks, the scientists tell us that they are actually the Galapagos shark, a very close relative of the dusky. But, regardless of name, these were the primary ingredient in shark hash and, once upon a time, were quite in demand.

Some commercial fishermen also took to filleting sharks and selling the meat as “fillet”. Before you laugh, a couple of then popular restaurants used an awful lot of it in their fish sandwiches. In more recent times, some shark still finds its way into fillet, although the source is more often the tiger shark.

And therein lies a number of tales. Also as part of the sudden interest in sharks, the film crew that is here covering the Tiger Shark Project is giving the fish some additional publicity. One of the recognised “bad boys” of the oceanic world, ie, a maneater, there are rather a lot of tigers around here. They are most prominent at this time of the year and the Banks are their preferred stamping ground. They are big, anything up to about 800lbs, immensely strong and capable of giving any angler a good workout, even on fairly heavy tackle. In the absence of the large yellowfin that often cover the Banks at this time of the year, they provide charter boat clients a really good pull.

To be fair to the shark researchers, the “maneater” moniker is a bit of an unfair label. It sounds exciting and scary, but, realistically, if it was left to sharks to feed only on people, they would have died out a long time ago. Bottom line is that they live in a different environment and it is only when we happen to end up in their world that a problem may arise.

Notice that they do not voluntarily come into our world. Can you imagine how exposed a shark feels when he is cruising over the white sand of a South Shore beach — he knows that he is sticking out like a sore thumb and that is not going to help him as far as predators are concerned. So spare a thought for the poor beast next time a shark is supplying the Tight Lines!!!