OLD MAN SHARK

Franklin Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 3, 11 January 1943, Page 3

OLD MAN SHARK

CAUGHT NEAR WAIUKU EXCITING DAY’S -FISHING At Kaikaka Point, otherwise known as Kobe or Weslhead’s Point, there has been an old man shark who has never failed to turn up every year over recent, years, says the Waiuku News. M r B. West head hooked him three years ago. twice within an hour, when the line was broken each time. The same year ami again later lie was hooked lay Mr D. Hayes and lay Mr, .L, Westhead. This was no trouble for the shark who, to add to his fun seemed to mi,joy "playing the devil with fishing nets." However. Hi is lias been [ml an end to and Mr B. Westhead tells the story in his own words “A year or two ago he ruined one. of my nets and last week lie made a devil of a mess of another one. II look five days to repair and the very next, time I used it lie smashed it up again. Ho last Wednesday t went after him and I hooked him. As soon as I felt the weight of the monster I derided it was no good tm me for lie was pulling me along in my dinghy even though the anchor was in the mud. He towed me'along for about fifty yards so I tied Hie line to another anchor and threw the thing overboard. 1 waited until low water hut everything had gone—-he had towed I lie anchor and a buoy right away. Well, on Friday young dim Westhead went looking for him. and found him about two miles away, well anchored and well dead. lie was three hundredweight, and was eight foot six inches long and had a girth of three feet, six inches. This is the third shark Mr Westhead has landed in the Waiuku river this season.