Human Remains found in Bahamian Tiger Shark

WARNING :

This Post Contains Some Graphic Images

Like a scene from the movie "Jaws", a large tiger shark was brought back to port on the Bahamian island of Exuma after a fishing trip, but this 12ft tiger shark wasn't brought back to dock to be hung for a couple of trophy photos, beheaded, then thrown into the water to rot,this was a much different reason.

A few anglers were out fishing roughly 35miles when they captured a large tiger shark and brought it boat side with the intent of releasing it, that is until it regurgitated a large piece of human flesh next to the boat. That is when the decision was made to terminate the shark and bring it back to port and see what the deal was. Well, the shark bit off a little more than it could chew apparently, as seen in the photo below.

OUCH!!! Not a good way to end a day of fishing! I must say though all the parts of the corpse were in the sharks stomach, minus the head.......... Suspicious, I know, but as of right now the Bahamian authorities are performing DNA testing right now in an effort to identify the remains found in the stomach.

 But the part about this that is REALLY grinding my gears right now is the fact that there is actually extremist activists groups here and there PROTESTING the killing of this shark, seriously people, it isnt ever good to see a dead shark, we here at Team Rebel echo those sentiments, but at the same time it REGURGITATED A HUMAN, the shark needed to be brought back to port to obtain the rest of the corpse so MAYBE a family who has a loved one missing can get some sort of closure. The shark ate a person and the fisherman are no better than the shark for killing it, WRONG, these fisherman did the right thing when presented with such a gruesome situation, you can't just let the fish swim away and tell everybody it coughed up a piece of a person "but you let it go", its a crime scene now people, get a life.

Anyways, it has been quiet here at Team Rebel's headquarters as of late, but we are looking into laying into some beasts very shortly as the mullet run is upon us!

 So keep an eye out because we will be back VERY shortly and stronger than ever! Until next time............Team Rebel out!!

P.S. GO BUCKEYES!!

 For more information on this story check out-

Full Shark Story

"Can't Keep us Down"

It wasn't what we expected, but as usual we try to prevail one way or another during our expeditions. While licking the wounds from the epic failure we had edured while chasing a beast on the other side of town last weekend, we still tried to get out for a little bit of action of some sort to compensate for the hole inside our souls that needed to be filled with some sort of epic fishing trip.

 While weighing out an option to make a short run across to try our luck at some land-based toothy critters, a good friend Robert decided to throw another option onto our table to go out and do some commercial king and snapper fishing. I hadn't been out at sea in a while so we opted to head a little ways offshore and try our luck at some of the massive number of kings he had been tying into on a nightly basis as of late.

 We netted some bait in the mouth of the inlet an hour or so before dark and headed to the fishing grounds, which were full of life early into our trip. As soon as we established a drift, the bonito moved in and started plowing through our live bait chum slick and promptly making a mess of our lines. We caught a few real fast and then decided to get in on some of the bottom fishing that has been hot for some out of the ordinary nice mutton snapper in our area. Chris dropped down and almost instantly put a solid 7lb mutton in the fish box , while we kept our eyes on the approaching storm to the west of us. Before I could even rig up Chris put another solid mutton in the boat and the bite was on! But unfortunately after two more quick drops and hard hits we had to run for cover as the storm was already ontop of us.

 Unfortunately that was basically the end of our fishing trip, the barometric pressure had plummeted over the grounds after the storm had passed by and everything in the water had lockjaw. After another hour of horrible fishing, with only some short snapper and a few stud yellowtails to show for it, I glanced into the cooler and saw the fresh bonito on ice, and decided to fight boredom by trying to bow up onto a shark for a little while.

 I rigged up the 9/0 and sliced a 10lb bonito into a few hearty chunks, and began to chum the carcass a little bit before i dropped a slab off the back of the transom and flat lined it into about 90ft of water. Even though the bite was totally dead on bottom, and with the kingfish bite being non-existant, I felt like we were going to get a solid pick-up on the new line drifting a little behind our boat. That feeling was confirmed in about 5 minutes as the 9/0 let out a steady pull and I drove the hook home into the culprits jaw.

After a short battle that may have lasted 5 minutes, a stout sandbar shark rose to the side of the boat, providing us with a few minutes of entertainment, and photos before we removed the hook from the newly protected species, and sent it back to its underwater playground.

All in all, it could have been a much worse trip, and weekend for that matter, but one things for certain, no matter what the weather may be , land or sea, you can't keep us down for long!

"They Call Them Young Gun's....."

We all sit back from time to time, and reminisce of what it was like to be "young" again, what more you would have done, and many ponder what they wouldn't have done. But on the other hand, there's the type of person who sits back and wonders "I wish I knew as much about fishing when I was 18 when there was actually fish around as I do now." And rest easy knowing that there is a few young men out there that are living that dream, to be able to capitalize on incredible catches at a younger age , and in much tougher fishing conditions than most others ever experienced in their life-times. One thing is certain, the life of the land-based angler has become increasingly difficult over the years, with the population boom, the prices of gas going up which give more anglers the incentive to try to fish from land-based structures, all mixed with the biggest factor which is that there is just too much pressure on fish from anglers, and not as many fish as there was even a mere ten years ago. So captures of large specimens, especially, from land, and becoming rarer and increasingly difficult in this day and age. That is where the story begins of Team Rebel's phenom Viktor, and where his most recent adventure began and the feat he accomplished, which when I was his age I would have died to duplicate along with many others that actively participate in the sport we have been bringing back from the brink of extinction in the last ten years, with a new vision and goal than the grandfathers of the sport ever had.

The event began last night, when I recieved a phone call from Viktor , telling us at Shark Command Central that he was going to embark on a shark fishing trip into new territory that had been scouted but never tested. I reluctantly declined due to the fact that I had family in from out of town I was visiting with, but I expressed my enthusiasm toward his game plan for the night and wished him and his small undersized crew the best of luck on their endeavor.
 

Viktor and Mike rounding up some bait to freeze for the month

Around 9:15 p.m. I was jolted out of a daze in the middle of a four hour family bore-fest with the whaling guitar ring tone of Zakk Wylde signifying Viktor was on the other end. When I answered I was surprised to hear one of his crew-mates on the other side of the line. He franticly told me that Viktor was "Hooked up big" with a fish they had been battling for a mere five minutes. This is usually not a big deal when the "Shark Hotline" rings, but I was then informed that the fish had not stopped taking line from the hook set and the situation was looking grave for them and what little line was left on the spool of his trusty 12/0. So naturally I gave them a couple of quick tips to try to hold-off on what seemed to be an inevitable spooling for the little guys and told them to keep me posted. I hung up the phone and my cousin Anthony who is an avid fisherman was in-town from New Jersey asked me what was going on, after a short explanation we both came to the corporate command decision we were heading to the location to intercept the battle ensuing 45minutes north of us. We bid farewell to the family and hit the highway while on the phone with one of Viktors henchman giving us live updates as we headed down the highway to try to make the best time possible to help in any way we could with the safe capture and release of this alleged beast.

After a dangerous ride that took 25minutes off the usual trip, we arrived at location-x with some water an ARC de-hooker, and an extra fighting harness, only to find Viktor still on the brink of defeat with only a couple hundred yards remaining on the reel and two people holding the rod up with their shoulders so Viktor wouldn't be pulled to an almost certain watery Grave.

I asses the situation and quickly recognized two problems that had unfolded during the battle, number one being that Viktors 130lb frame could not fit into the harness, and number two the rod tip could not be raised high enough due to the size and the strength of the kids holding it up on their shoulder. This was all on-top of the fact that 600 of the 800yards of 130lb on the reel were still out in the black abyss of the surf somewhere.....

After a short dialogue, we decided the best thing to do to help right the situation was for Viktor to unclip from his harness and transfer the rod to me in my harness while everybody tried to tighten and knot the harness so it would stop slipping off Viktor in the fight. The rod transfer went off without a hitch , while I made a valiant attempt to turn the fish and begin winching down and gaining line on the monster for a few minutes before we hooked Viktor back up and the battle was back on.

Viktor leaned back as my cousin and I took turns holding the rod up under the heavy pressure of a drag that was set to terminate for the next 45 minutes while the fish's will was gradually broken and began to inch its way closer towards the coastline. From North to South the beast kept cutting the coast without much change in action, that was until it headed straight down the beach to a degree I had never seen before. Viktor pivoted his body to match the actions of the fish until he was at a point that both his shoulders were directly parallel with the water and the condos, all this while the fish still had over 300yards of line to its advantage, but the angle of this run was so severe that over 100yards of that was residing over dry land.

The fish's will had finally broken and began to do exactly what we wanted it to do, run right at us up the trough while Viktor put his cranking power into over-drive, pushing himself physically in a place he had never been before. The moon had still not risen and the fishes dorsal had finally surfaced in stride right infront of us against the blackened horizon in the calm, humid summer night air. The sight of the large black dorsal fin was a quick, and un-mistakable I.D. for the denizen at the end of the line, but I still shouted "HAMMER!" anyways to echo my excitement to the skeleton crew with us.

I quickly stripped off my boots and shirt and made a dash for the shark with a tailrope in hand to subdue its tail and drag her into the shallows with the assitance of my cousin and brother who decided to make the trip to our location after our arrival.

Viktor quickly un-strapped from the harness to take finally gaze upon the fish that had pushed him to every limit possible over the course of the last two hours, a beautiful and very healthy female hammerhead around 12-12 1/2ft in length.

We worked quick as usual to remove the hook and a few short photo-ops before it was time to let her go back to her dark and watery home to begin her normal life, and normal routine once again, and to perhaps start another little hammerhead family next season.

From the landing to the release the estimated time that this big girl was under our control was maybe a minute and a half, we are very cautious for the fish's well being all the time but especially when dealing with Hammer heads, as time is a crucial part for the safe release of this species. But just as we have many time before, we watched the 3ft tall sickle fin slowly head offshore and eerily dissipate into the mysterious and silent ocean water never to be seen again.


Make no mistake about it, this was Viktors night and nobody else's, I am just here to tell the story. He really showed his true colors and stayed very cool in a very intense situation where most people would have cracked and lost the fish. Believe it or not, these fish don't come around that often, especially of this size and magnitude. Many land-based sharkers wait their whole life to be able to land on of these un-stoppable fish from shore, and many never get the chance to do so. Viktor is very lucky to be able to accomplish these angling feats at-all, never mind his age, this is an incredible catch for anybody at any time and I salute him for that. I wish when I was his age I knew as much about fishing as I do now, and I wish I listened to certain people about ways to catch this monsters instead of being a hard-headed teenager, but that's where Viktor is different, he has listened to what we have had to say and instead of trying to take the hard path like I did he made the right decision, and that's why he is not only the best sharker to my knowledge at his age, but a world-class angler all around, and thats why he is part of Team Rebel. This year has been like no other for us, as I get older, life gets in the way and I can't fish as much as I use to, but cherish the time I can get out more than taking it for granted like I use too, and I cherish monumental catches like this much more than I use to as well. These giants don't come around in peoples lifetimes, and we have been fortunate enough to catch two of these monsters this year which is unprecedented within the land-based community. I wish I knew then what I know now, and I know for Viktor this is a beginning of a legacy, influence, and a savior of a dying sport here in Florida which once flourished across our coast-line.


Until next time......


Team Rebel Out! 

Fishermen are beginning to aBANdon their rights

Over the course of the last year or two, a lot of controversy regarding shore bound shark fishing has arisen all the way down Florida's Eastern seaboard. A battle has been taking place between fisherman and shark activists, with local government being stuck smack dab in the middle of it all. But now with the latest controversy that has come to be in Indian River County Florida, the stakes have been raised to a point of which we have not seen since this uphill struggle has begun.

Sean Paxton adressed this issue very well from a bit of a different angle here-

 For Sale- Fishermans Rights

Also many discussion on shorebound issues occur here on Tom's site-

Vero Beach Shark Fishing Ban

  Shore bound shark fishing, and shore bound fishing in general, are your right as a citizen of Florida to partake in if you wish. If you do not like living in a condo on the beach, or down the street and seeing people with their children surf fishing on our pristine beaches, guess what? TOUGH SH!T! This is where the base of the problem is, other citizens keep bothering city and county commissions to the point that they have to put these "bans" on their local beaches, for reasons like a new realtor just got her realty licence and is selling condos on a beach, saw somebody catch a shark, and now it is her mission in life to stop these "atrocities" so she can continue being able to push beach front real estate. Sounds like a crappy example right? Well its not, this is how the Indian River County commission was approached with the issue at hand. But here is the kicker in it all, even after all the cities and counties that have addressed this issue multiple times, like many others the ban against shark fishing in the county was voted down, thus allowing fisherman to continue to do what they do on perhaps the most famous stretch of shoreline for shark fishing in America.

  BUT! did these people stop after their campaign was voted down at the county level? Of course not, they went to their city councils, and what did they do? They Voted in favor of a ban. You may sit here and say something along the line of "Oh, doesn't that just suck? We can't fish there anymore."  But heres where it gets interesting.........

THE CITY OR COUNTY CANNOT TELL YOU THAT YOU CANNOT FISH ON THE BEACH!!!

 Again, recreational anglers are being stripped of their rights unjustly and illegally, and no I'm not just blowing smoke, heres the skinny on the whole "fishing ban" on public beaches.

The right to fish from shore is protected in the state constitution.

"Article X section 11.
SECTION 11. Sovereignty lands.--The title to lands under navigable waters, within the boundaries of the state, which have not been alienated, including beaches below mean high water lines, is held by the state, by virtue of its sovereignty, in trust for all the people. Sale of such lands may be authorized by law, but only when in the public interest. Private use of portions of such lands may be authorized by law, but only when not contrary to the public interest."

   In a quick rundown this is what all that means....

"Unless the land is sold or given by the state to a group or entity for the purpose of like a power plant or water treatment plant. Or the Fed. Gov. for a Navel base or coast guard base or something that is for the good of the public, it belongs to us. No municipality owns the land from Mean High Tide "The 100 year high tide mark" Out into the ocean. Public interest means all the public, not one group over another group."

 So in a nutshell, no matter what sign is posted, you can fish for whatever you want as long as you are below the mean high tide mark as dictated over the course of 100years. You can be there even in the police tell you to leave, and there is a "Ban" in place. The only people who can regulate what you do under that mean high tide mark is the State of Florida. And from our understanding, FWC (Florida Wildlife Commission) which is in fact a state organization, doesn't only view what these cities doing as ILLEGAL, but a violation of Floridians rights and an undermining of the states authority.

 In turn, police don't have the training to be able to tell what your fishing for, and therefore are discriminating on a certain group for using a bit larger tackle and classifying it ALL as "Shark Fishing" When in Reality you could be targeting other large coastal species such as Tarpon, Goliath Grouper, and Stingrays.

 This is not the end of this struggle by any means, keep checking in to see what Team Rebel, along with many other people are doing to help Shore bound fisherman in this state protect their right to do what they love. Many others are involved in this besides us, and I would like to give them some credit right now for their help and hours of HARD work obtaining all the proper information to shoot down advances like the one in Indian River County, Delray Beach, Lauderdale by the Sea, and Deerfield Beach.

Tom Argue (Webmaster and Site Administrator of WWW.BOATLESSFISHING.COM)

Sean & Brooks Paxton ("The Shark Brothers" WWW.SeanPaxton.COM)

Pat Dirindian (All around legality and rights bad-ass)

                          Also thank you Pat for the Constitution article and the rundown of it for the readers!

And many others involved as well, I will name them throughout out struggler that is now bringing enemy's together for a common goal

Team Rebel Takes the Block! (NorthEast Shark Report) 7-17/7-18-10

Well it has been a short while since Tyler went back to Yankee land to chase after the cold water fish with the new southern mentality of fishing and metal riding shotgun. But nonetheless, he has had a strong showing up North and will continue to do so until his return to the great South East. Not to be left out of all the fun we are having down south here, teammate Tyler O’Toole embarks on the journey to Block Island for some Shark Slaying action.

This is what Tyler Reported in to Coroprate Command :

“ Our trip started at 4am Friday, July 16, 2010. Destination: Block Island. Loaded up the Regulator with our gear and we were off the dock by 6:30am. Joining me was Eric Christie (a long time friend and fishing partner), and his father. We had an 80mile run North, out to the fishing grounds ahead of us and we couldn’t be more excited being that it was our first shark trip of the season. We couldn’t be blessed with a more beautiful morning. 

 

Water calm as glass made it an easy 2 hour run where we made our first stop in Montauk to pick up some essentials: Chum, Bait, Tackle, Food etc. From there we were off, in route, 30miles off of Block Island where we would set up and begin our drift for the big boys! On our way out we made a quick stop to catch a few fresh Bluefish before we continued on, to the fishing grounds. We reached the fishing grounds around 11:30 in around 190ft of water, water temp 71.4 .We set up our gear and began the long tedious process of chumming, chumming, and more chumming. We set 4 lines out on balloons, 2 surface baits on the outriggers, 1 mid water, and 1 deep water. 2 hours pass and no takers, 1 by one we checked our baits but the weren’t even touched, hm.. well I guess… BANG!! The line pops from the rigger (surface bait) and the fish starts peeling drag, I pick up the rod and slam the lever in gear, bow up, FISH ON!!!! Buddy Eric throws the fighting belt on me and I begin to work the fish in.

20 minutes later we see the first sight of color. Blue Shark, studd in fact around 8ft. Eric takes hold of the leader, slowly leadering the fish in close to the boat as his father takes a few quick shot before its time to cut the wire.

 

Snap leader is cut, safe release, no harm done! High fives all around, Woo Hoos, we are pumped up now! 30minutes later when hear, tick, tick, tick, zzzzzhhhhhhh line peels off the reel once again. Buddy Eric picks up the reel and Fish On!! Blue Shark!! About 6ft, beautiful looking shark!

Later on that day we hooked into 4 more sharks in the 4-7ft range. Finally ending the day with a double header! Both Eric and myself doubled up on 2 Blue Sharks, and boy was that a fun way to end the day!

We ended the day with a nice batch of Blue sharks, unfortunately no other species were caught that day but a fun day none the less. We then headed back to Block Island where we would spend the night and rest up for the next days stripped bass adventure.

  Saturday was a short day for us, waking up around 10am and heading out for a few hours to do some stripped bass fishing, inshore near the Island before heading home. Fished with live eels, both Eric and I caught numerous Bluefish to 14lbs and a bunch of bass to 32lbs.

 

After a great morning of fishing we called it a day. Packed our gear and began the long journey home. Looking back, a few days now writing up this report is was a trip that will never be forgotten and another mark in the books for Team Rebel; tackling the species from the Northeast!”

Until next time.. Team Rebel Out!