Scottsdale Man Lands 575-Pound Salmon Shark in Alaska
It's doubtful anyone in Arizona will match Joe Pinto's fish tale this summer: The Scottsdale resident reeled in a quarter-ton of finned fury on Monday while fishing in Alaska's Cook Inlet.
Image: www.orioncharters.com
Yeah, that's way cooler than snagging sunfish in Chaparral Lake.
Pinto and others on board a charter boat were trying to catch halibut when they noticed a large salmon shark trying to do the same thing.
According to Alaska's Channel 2 (KTUU-TV):
That's when Henderson rigged up a line of 300-pound airline cable with cod fillet as bait and handed the pole to pinto. The shark took the bait and 45 minutes later Pinto had the monster in the boat.
The fish weighed 575 pounds and was 8 feet, 7 inches tall. A commenter on the Channel 2 article who says he's the captain of the boat states that the meat is delicious, "similar to ling cod."
This catch was large even by Alaska standards. An article in Fish Alaska magazine says the salmon shark averages 200 to 400 pounds, while another article claims some reports put the max weight at up to 1,000 pounds. One charter outfit calls the experience of landing a salmon shark a "brute force battle."
What are you doing this summer?
36 comment(s) / Post a Comment
that is one of the bigges fish's i have ever seen! did you eat it? i would like to try some, how did you guys cook it? fried? everything is better fried wouldnt you agree. anyway please write me back i have no friends. thank you. dirty sanchez
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 18 2009 @ 4:30PMDon't get me wrong, I love meat, and I LOVE fish. Further, I think PETA is a joke.
But still, from a purely scientific perspective, I think it is a shame that such an alpha-male of a shark was taken out of the gene pool.
I don't have any respect for people who game top-level predators.
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 18 2009 @ 4:37PMThat is really neat, I love their big eyes.
Those sharks were kept secret for many years to help avoid panic or over fishing.
Too bad you have to kill it and be like the asians. Perhaps you could take photos and get a taxidermy mold done to help encourage others to do the same, and catch up with today's trends in wildlife care.
typical redneck mentality. Lets string it up and take a picture of us smiling like idiots. Should be preserving animals like this not serving with tartar.
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 18 2009 @ 5:30PMIt smells like fish at
http://www.FilthyRichmond.com
yes sam. thats what asians do, just like all white americans are obese.
stereotypical blockhead.
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 18 2009 @ 5:47PMholy crap, going to be right there in a month to salmon and shark fish, can't wait
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 18 2009 @ 6:17PMYeah Sam, please, do us all a favor and cut your wrists with a cheese-grader.
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 18 2009 @ 7:38PMthis is disgusting. all pigs who support this cruelty will get whats coming to them.
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 18 2009 @ 8:17PMTypical red neck, American bravado. Kill big fish, take picture, feel like real tough man. I wouldn't be surprised to hear he used a kitten as bait. What a disgusting display of mankind at it's worst.
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 18 2009 @ 9:11PM
What a bunch of degenerates! This guy saves thousands of pounds of salmon and halibut from the shark, gets maybe $2.50 per pound of meat on the shark, and you get all spooky-PETA about it.
The next thing you'll be all spooky-PETA about is when some Wyoming sheepherder takes out a wolf and several coyotes because they had the bad fortune to eat $10,000 worth of his lambs.
I hope each and every one of you has to eat cruel, unsalted, oatmeal for the rest of your PETAfied, trust-funded lives.
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 18 2009 @ 9:31PMjamez,
he "saved thousands of pounds of salmon" for whom? the sea to replenish the dwindling number of salmon in the area or consequent $10000 profit for other fishermen? the thing is, he did not need to catch this shark, but he did. just to snap that dumblooking picture.
God bless America and the pioneer spirit that made it great! PETA is beneath contempt.
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 18 2009 @ 10:19PMWhat are you all talking about?
This is a story of survival. Look at how menacing that shark looks when they have it on the boat. They could have all been killed. They had no choice, the shark really should have known better than to have been caught.
Im just glad no people were hurt. Does anyone know how many innocent redneck fishermen are killed every year by predatory salmon sharks that are pulled onto boats?
Think of the camouflage clothing industry that would collapse.
Think of the Coors Light that would go unsold and sit on supermarket shelves.
Let this be a lesson to all you man hunting salmon sharks. Your days of killing are over.
They ate the shark. If you are not a vegan, stop being ridiculous.
They didn't catch him to take a dumb picture, they caught him and ate him. entirely different.
I wonder if Sarah could see this from her front porch?
Posted On: Friday, Jun. 19 2009 @ 8:29AMLOL friggin PETA losers. You guys whine about Obama killing a freaking HOUSE FLY and now this. Oh so you're going to cry because people kill germs next?
Posted On: Friday, Jun. 19 2009 @ 12:16PM"Shark Good. Man Bad".
Environ-mentally deranged trolls on this site. Here's one for your soap-box: Meat is murder. Tasty, Tasty murder. MYOB before people impose THEIR standards on you. You may now fling your monkey poo and throw your whiny cyber-tantrums.
"Eddie says:
Man, that's sad. Raping of the planet."
Man, you're raping our intelligence. How is catching a shark raping the earth? If the earth could fit in its mouth it would eat it.
You're a fool.
"Rape" What a drama queen.
Posted On: Friday, Jun. 19 2009 @ 2:08PMhttp://www.FilthyRichmond.com
Smells like a fish's taint
What an I doing this summer? Probably raising money for Sea Shepherd to stop $hit like this happening.
This is a prime example of man's stupidity and greed that will cause the ocean's ecosystems to collapse.
However, I am not going to waste anymore time with the individuals here that are beyond help.
That's a shame, they're cool sharks. :( The baby sister to the great white, warm blooded too. I'm a fishermen myself but I practice catch and release. Take a picture, set it back to catch again, and produce future fish to go for in the future. Nowadays eating large fish is really bad for you. There was no point in killing it.
But oh well, nature will get back at them with mercury poisoning. :D
Posted On: Friday, Jun. 19 2009 @ 10:18PMI would definitely have practiced filet and release with this fish
Posted On: Saturday, Jun. 20 2009 @ 2:09AMFor those of you saying he's a "hick"...what makes him that? In the article it states that he's from Scottsdale, Az. Scottsdale is not hickville. It is one of the "richest" cities in Arizona. Just because he fishes, and keeps his catch doesnt make him a "hick". It took him 45 minutes to bring that shark in. Any sportsman would be proud of his win...no matter what the prize would be.
Posted On: Saturday, Jun. 20 2009 @ 2:45PMWho said that rednecks must be poor? Every heard of Billy Ray Cyrus?
Posted On: Monday, Jun. 22 2009 @ 9:17AMWhat's the matter. I love PETA. People Eating Tasty Animals!
Posted On: Tuesday, Jun. 23 2009 @ 10:51AMhey PETA i live in alaska and all i have to say is leave us in alaska alone what we do up here is a way of life this is how we servive so dont even come up here and try and stop us cause we will kill anything right in front of you we dont care.
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 25 2009 @ 5:58PMYes he did eat the shark. He told me proudly today around 2:00 pm. He smiled and came in and asked me " Did you see me on the news?" and I was like " WHat?! why were you on the news?!"
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 25 2009 @ 9:37PMI'm an Alaskan from Homer, near the site of the catch. The shark population in Cook Inlet is growing, and the salmon fisheries are shrinking rapidly, it is not from over fishing as we artificially stock our streams every year with salmon frye so we can catch them when they return, count the fish returning to the streams (seriously look it up) and strictly enforce limits and quotas. Harvesting predator fish from this area, and controling their population, naturally increases salmon populations, which provides cheap organic food for low to middle income sport and subsidtance fishermen (I haven't bought any meat in the store for three years now). And also bolsters the local economy, putting cash in the pockets of commercial fishermen, fish processors, charter boat captains, and every one they do business with. The poor season devastates our little coastal community, from the restaurants to the print shops. We have lots of sharks and no one is fishing for them here. When we saw his picture on the front page we cheered. Before you criticize have a clue as to what you are talking about.
Eat up Joe, you're my hero.
Posted On: Saturday, Jun. 27 2009 @ 2:05AMKudos Ash, couldn't have said it better myself. Further more, to the Pe-tards, name me one living thing on this planet that doesn't eat other living things. Deer eat grass, fish eat other fish, lions sharks and wolves eat just about everything and so on. How dare you impose your bs beliefs on other people, further more as far as I am concerned any animals life is just as important as a plants life, they're all alive, and as far as I'm concerned here to be eaten if they taste good. These people need to get over themselves everything dies and all living things eat other living things, so just cut the bs already.
Posted On: Sunday, Jun. 28 2009 @ 5:54PMAsh, thanks for the fact based, educated, non emotional opinion. In most cases, if it werent for grocery stores and Starbucks, these nay sayers would starve to death. Sportsmen (and women) do more and care more about the environment than the haters will ever know.
"Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant." Genesis 9:3
I say you stuff it ans put it on PETA's doorstep. Thats BEAUTIFUL I love it. You make me a jealous man. Maybe one day i could live up to that and piss off the liberal PETA members. God put animals on this earth for a reason. Read Genesis and youll find out.
Posted On: Tuesday, Oct. 13 2009 @ 7:11AM
