Nothing made me happier than catching my first-ever shark, this Brown Smooth-hound. Photo courtesy of Wikiwand.

Species: Brown Smoothhound (Mustelus henlei)
Location: San Pablo Bay, San Francisco, CA
Date: March 25, 2012

Shark Week isn’t for a few months. I desperately wish I could’ve timed this to release then, but I didn’t want my readers to wait around for months and lose interest. I’ve already had enough women lose interest in me.

I kid. Kind of.

Still, the moment when I caught my first shark was something special. I was fishing with Sole-Man Sportfishing out of San Francisco, and it was my second attempt for Striped Bass, sturgeon, and sharks in the Bay.

On the first trip, I’d went with two friends, Christopher Puckett and Ben Blanchard. One caught a respectable striper and a Bat Ray while the other caught a Starry Flounder (a fish I’ve seen caught several times but have yet to boat myself). I got skunked.

It just so happened that for Round Two, Ben and I had returned. We were on a different charter and immediately liked the captain.

When I met him, he said something to the effect of, “You’re surprised I’m not white, huh?”

I was.

He was about the least stereotypical charter boat captain I’ve ever met. In 30 or more charter trips, he remains arguably my favorite.

Captain Don Franklin was raised in inner city Oakland and had a rough upbringing. He told us that many of his friends had gotten caught up in gangs, but he’d gotten caught up in fishing, and it changed his life.

Little did I know, he was about to change mine.

***

Captain Don had given Ben and I a special deal because he was training his son to be a deckhand. As the day progressed, his son caught on quickly. Despite being maybe 13 or 14 years old — the youngest deckhand I’ve ever seen — he was polite, professional, hardworking, and learned quickly.

The stripers remained elusive early, but the first fish I caught was a shark. It was small, but as I got it close to the boat, I was ecstatic. It was a shark!

My first Brown Smoothhound was also my first shark, and I was pretty happy about it.

Freaking out like a small child who’s just been granted his heart’s desire, the two-foot creature writing on my hook made my day.

The captain wasn’t too impressed with the Brown Smoothhound I’d just caught, but he appreciated my enthusiasm.

Ben caught one early, too, and after we’d posed for a few quick pictures, he tossed back the relatively harmless little sharks.

Ben posed with his (slightly larger) first shark.

We motored to the next spot and happened to pass the captain with whom we’d went striper fishing years before, and Captain Don told us it was the other guy’s last trip. Apparently, we weren’t the only clients who’d been disappointed by the experience.

***

Captain Don cracked jokes, informed us, and made the day all-around pleasant. We actually caught several more species that day, but the last hookup I had ended tragically.

My rod sat in the rod holder, minding its own business, when something massive picked up my bait. It ran hard as I lifted the rod, and I feared it might spool me. With the lightest possible pressure, I gently put my thumb on the spool, and the 20-pound mono snapped like thread.

I was informed I’d likely just lost a massive Sevengill Shark of several hundred pounds. This is still the largest fish I’ve ever hooked. My own personal Shark Week wasn’t bad, but that fish would’ve made my life — especially considering that those sharks are both edible and delicious.

I pouted a bit, but Captain Don quickly lifted my spirits as his honorary deckhand, a cat in a life vest, pranced around the cabin.

I wasn’t kidding. He really had a cat in a life jacket on board.

That’s not a joke. He really had a cat in a life vest on board, and though it made my allergies flare up all day, it was still the most unique fishing experience I’ve had on a boat.

Apparently, the cat jumped in once, and Captain Don had to net it to bring it back on board.

Apart from being one of my most unique days fishing, it remains one of my best, despite losing the fish of a lifetime.

#SpeciesQuest // #CaughtOvgard

Read the next entry in #SpeciesQuest here: Species #44 — Bat Ray.

Luke Ovgard Bottom Fishing, Saltwater Fishing, SpeciesQuest , , , , , , , , , ,

89 Replies

  1. I like what you guys are up also. Such smart work and reporting! Keep up the excellent works guys I have incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my web site :).

  3. I just couldn’t depart your web site prior to suggesting that I actually enjoyed the standard info a person provide for your visitors? Is going to be back often to check up on new posts

  19. Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that, this is fantastic blog. An excellent read. I will certainly be back.

  21. naturally like your web-site however you have to check the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling issues and I to find it very bothersome to tell the reality however I will definitely come again again.

  22. Thank you for sharing superb informations. Your web-site is so cool. I am impressed by the details that you have on this site. It reveals how nicely you perceive this subject. Bookmarked this website page, will come back for more articles. You, my pal, ROCK! I found just the information I already searched all over the place and just couldn’t come across. What a perfect website.

  23. My programmer is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the costs. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on numerous websites for about a year and am worried about switching to another platform. I have heard good things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can import all my wordpress content into it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  28. Thank you for sharing superb informations. Your site is so cool. I’m impressed by the details that you have on this website. It reveals how nicely you understand this subject. Bookmarked this website page, will come back for extra articles. You, my pal, ROCK! I found just the info I already searched all over the place and just could not come across. What a great web-site.

  33. I will right away grab your rss feed as I can’t find your email subscription link or newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly let me know in order that I could subscribe. Thanks.

  37. Wow, superb blog format! How long have you ever been running a blog for? you make running a blog look easy. The total glance of your site is magnificent, let alone the content!

  39. I’d have to examine with you here. Which is not one thing I usually do! I take pleasure in reading a post that may make folks think. Additionally, thanks for permitting me to comment!

  40. This is the precise weblog for anybody who wants to search out out about this topic. You understand so much its almost laborious to argue with you (not that I truly would want…HaHa). You undoubtedly put a new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Great stuff, simply nice!

  48. Hello my loved one! I wish to say that this post is amazing, nice written and include almost all significant infos. I’d like to look more posts like this .

  49. When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Thanks!

  50. Great blog! Do you have any tips for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own site soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m totally confused .. Any tips? Thanks a lot!

  60. Читателям предоставляется возможность ознакомиться с различными аспектами и сделать собственные выводы.

  70. F*ckin¦ awesome things here. I¦m very satisfied to see your article. Thank you a lot and i’m taking a look forward to touch you. Will you please drop me a mail?

  72. Hello, you used to write magnificent, but the last few posts have been kinda boring… I miss your tremendous writings. Past few posts are just a little bit out of track! come on!

  75. Heya this is somewhat of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding experience so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!

  77. I will immediately grab your rss feed as I can not in finding your e-mail subscription hyperlink or e-newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Kindly allow me recognize in order that I may just subscribe. Thanks.

  78. Great goods from you, man. I have be aware your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely great. I actually like what you have received here, certainly like what you’re stating and the way in which by which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still take care of to stay it smart. I cant wait to learn much more from you. This is actually a tremendous website.

  85. Aw, this was a really nice post. In thought I would like to put in writing like this additionally – taking time and precise effort to make a very good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and under no circumstances seem to get one thing done.

  86. Fantastic items from you, man. I’ve have in mind your stuff previous to and you are simply too excellent. I actually like what you’ve acquired here, certainly like what you are stating and the way in which in which you are saying it. You are making it enjoyable and you continue to take care of to keep it wise. I can not wait to learn much more from you. That is actually a tremendous site.

  87. I want to show thanks to the writer just for rescuing me from this particular condition. After checking through the online world and meeting concepts that were not beneficial, I was thinking my life was well over. Being alive without the solutions to the issues you have solved through the article content is a critical case, as well as ones that might have badly affected my entire career if I had not discovered your blog post. Your main natural talent and kindness in playing with the whole thing was valuable. I am not sure what I would’ve done if I had not come across such a subject like this. I’m able to at this moment relish my future. Thanks a lot so much for the high quality and results-oriented help. I will not be reluctant to recommend your blog to anybody who needs guidelines about this matter.

Leave a Reply to Anonymous Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Species #42 — Grass Rockfish
Species #44 — Bat Ray