Nova Scotia Shark Trip

[Aaron Shirley]

Barry Pringle, myself and Mitch Burke went on a shark fishing excursion for Blue Sharks with Blue Shark Fishing charters out of the Eastern Passage Nova Scotia Canada. We were filming an episode for Getting Hooked, and we had the fishing trip of our lives

 

We had good weather the first day, and tough weather with fog, big waves and rollers the second day. We all caught some great sharks, including two big ones. We caught about 9 sharks and lost a few over the two days. Who knew there was such an incredible shark fishery right here in Canada? Art Gaetan is defintely the man when it comes to shark fishing, he really knows his stuff.

 

We took a flight to Halifax on Wednesday, and arrived at our waterfront accomodations in the early afternoon.

 

Barley is a happy guy with the pride of Nova Scotia

 

 

Our accommodations were directly above Wayne's World Lobster

 

 

Our brilliant view from the deck of our accommodations

 

 

Art was out on the water when we got there, but he had his small 24' boat docked right outside of our deck

 

 

We were all pumped to get out on Thursday for our first shark fishing experience with Blue Shark Fishing Charters

 

 

We were all restless waiting for Art to get back, so we went for a bite to eat just down the road at this place on the water

 

 

As we ate, we watched the tide recede and people dig for clams

 

 

After much anticipation and a restless sleep, we got out the next morning and our Captain (Art) set up for Blue Sharks

 

 

Art explains why he uses outriggers for drifting so he doesn't tangle lines

 

 

The bait of choice is squid and mackerel

 

 

Barry, Mitch and I flipped coins to see who would get the first fish, second fish and third. I got lucky and would get the first fish, Mitch the second and Barry got third crack at it. I think it almost killed Barry

 

I was pretty excited when I got my first shark on the line, about 250lbs

 

 

It took me 45 minutes to get the big blue to the boat on 50lb braid and spinning gear! Art grabbed the 12' stainless leader and the fish got off as he was trying to pull the big shark on deck to tag it for research, so no photos of my big shark

 

 

Next up was Mitch, and it didn't take long to get another big fish.

 

 

Mitch at the start of the fight

 

 

Mitch after fighting his 301-pound blue shark by himself almost 2-hours later.. it wears ya down!

 

 

Art wrestled the big blue onto the back of his deck to insert a tag and get DNA smaples for science. A photo of the 301-pound Blue Shark Mitch caught. It almost took up the entire back of Art's 13-foot beam, as the shark was just shy of 10-feet in length

 

 

Barry caught and released a shark in the middle of Mitch fighting his fish, but Mitch has all the photos on his camera of Barry, John (the cameraman) and I with our sharks. I'll post them soon when I get the pics.

 

Mitch with his second blue shark

 

 

This is a typical size of the blue sharks we were catching

 

 

A nice close-up of the head of the blue shark

 

 

You can see more photos that Art took (and funny comments) of us with our sharks on the Blue Shark Fishing Charter site here:

 

More Blue Shark Pics

 

Here is a quick video of underwater blue shark footage we got (we are saving the best footage for the show)

 

Underwater Blue Shark Video

 

It was a great trip with great friends, and we would like to thank Art Gaetan and his crew for taking us out for the trip of our lives!

 

Good fishing!

 

Aaron

[douG]

Glad to see that Aaron has followed my lead on trip reports *jk*. Astounding fishing, 45 minutes to boat a fish on spinning gear. What reel was that?

[tbayboy]

Wow, I had no idea that kind of fishing existed in Canada - 2 hour fight sure beats fishing for perch . Very cool stuff Aaron, can't wait to see the episode, thanks for the preview.

[sonny]

man,,,way cool...who knew i'll have to try that next time i'm down east!!!,,,can't wait to see the episode!!

[steve_paul]

Amazing, can't wait for the show Aaron.

 

Thanks for the report

[TJQ]

Holy crap!!! Nice.... next time im out there ill have to give that a shot!!

[Gerritt]

That report was almost as good as the seminar I witnessed him give at the Stelco Fishing Club... man can he put words into visuals...

 

 

Thanks Aaron!

 

Gerritt.

[Pigeontroller]

Cool trip Aaron, thanks for sharing!

[Clampet]

Totally awesome, Dudes!!

[Aaron Shirley]

Thanks guys, it was an incrediible trip to say the least. It's all I can think about now. We all enjoyed it so much, we are going to make it an annual trip with the boys

 

I just realized that the banner at the top of OFC is about shark week on Discovery, that's just too funny!

 

DouG, that reel was a Shimano Thunnus 12000. I was shocked at how solid a spinning reel it is and how I could turn such a large shark with it. Still amazed.

 

Cheers,

 

Aaron

[Motorhead]

All I can say is WOW!!!!

Awesome report..... thanks for sharing that... I never would have thought we`d have shark fishing in Canada

 

Doug

[Crazyhook]

Aaron, we hav chated about sharking before.. that report killed me!! beauty work man

[nautifish]

Yup beauty report for sure Aaron & thanx so much for shareing.

[Mike the Pike]

Wow now that was an exciting report .Something different.Nice pics of Nova Scotia. MTP

[ccmtcanada]

Great report and pics Aaron! I'll have to catch that episode for sure. Cant imagine hooking into one of those fish though. They sure do have SHARP teeth!! LOL.

Edited July 24, 2007 by ccmtcanada

[Chugger]

Awsome report!

I always use Wayne's world lobster when I have lobster flown in here through out the summer. they've got a great setup there..

[blaque]

Waynes World, Waynes World.................Party Time, .....Excellent!!!! Whreeow Whreeow Whreeeoowww

[tonyb]

Crikee! Now those are truly 'Toothy Critters' hehe

 

I noticed that the guide was always closest to the business end on those sharks in the pics, even the little ones. I think we have all been tagged once or twice from a Northern Pike or Musky, but that is a whole different sense of caution when dealing with those muscles with teeth, aka Sharks.

 

I am surprised that the sharks were even brought on-board, that guides insurance must be through the roof!

 

Looks like an awesome adventure, and I can't wait to see more video footage!!!

 

Tony

[Aaron Shirley]

Hey Tony, Art had one shark snap at him and just miss his bicep, shredding his jacket! He also slipped while pulling in the 301lb shark and landed on the boat deck spread eagle adn the shark's head was near an area that made us all cringe Definitely a fish that needs to eb treated with respect. Art has only one shark bite in 25 years of fishing them though, so he must really know what he is doing when handling those beasts.

 

Hey Chugger, I didn't know Wayne's World flies in lobster, that is great! Have to keep that in mind. We defintely had lobster while we were there

 

When I get the other pics, I'll post them.

 

Cheers,

 

Aaron

[Chugger]

Yeah they fly it over night right to your door. And if you're getting enough for more than a couple of people (think 25 1.2 to 2 lber's) it's amazing. they arrive alive and kicking that morning. reasonable prices, and waaay better than anything i've found here.

[Joey]

Truely awesome report Aaron. What an amazing adventure that would be. I love the head shot, look at those teeth.

 

And then your next report is a musky trip, man you got the life eh!!!

 

Joey

[mercforever]

I was home 3 yrs ago,fishing with my buddies for snow crab,western side of cape breton,basiccally along for the ride.3 captains on board,each one had taken a 800 lb + tuna on the rod,one around 1100lbs.didnt take long for me to shut up about these bass and pike i was ctching north of T.O.........My cousin hooked in to one last sept.,towed him around PEI,over 900lbs ,8hrs to land.just think,i could have flew home ,drove 3 hrs,and fought this pig for 2 hrs, sounds like extreme fishing to me........................