20ft Shark in Ardrossan Harbour

[little plum]

Have a wee look at this folks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arDUgM3l3fU

[Hughie]

Magic stuff, Neil. I remember reading a book forty or so years ago about a man who used to hunt them off the west coast just to extract the oil from their livers. Remember on a few occasions during the 1950s viewing them from Saltcoats prom as they headed South down the Firth of Clyde - massive things they were too. Naturally we couldn't get a great view but we saw the activity in the water.

[Penny Tray]

Little Plum,

Like Hughie, I've never been lucky enough to see a basking shark that close up. Wish I had been at the tanker berth that day.

When we were swimming as boys we always knew they were around but reassurred that they didn't have teeth, albeit some of the wits added that they could suck your legs off .

Thanks for this interesting post.

[geomacintyre]

For my sins, Hughie, I used to go out on the Franleon from Girvan with Howard McCrindle when he hunted the basking sharks with harpoons. The fins were cut off and the sharks left suspended in the water until the end of the day when the livers were removed for their oil which was much sought-after by the space industry because it did not freeze in outer space. Howard used to cook fresh shark and insist it tasted just like chicken. Like no bloody chicken I have ever tasted. It was disgusting even when drenched in lemon juice. These beasts were magnificentg when viewed close up.

[little plum]

Hughie, P.T. , I've had some close encounters while fishing out in the bay. Although they are plankton feeders, it's quite nerve racking when something twice the size of the boat you are sitting in gets too close. I've had them submerge under the boat I was in, I remember thinking, do sharks sneeze.
Don't know if you noticed other links relating to Ardrossan Harbour, i e , the demolition of the Shell plant, work at the Sulphur shed etc.

geomacintyre, I can remember when Mc Crindle started hunting basking sharks. It was featured in a T.V. programme, not sure if it was S.T.V. news or something similar, did you manage to get your mug on the box.

[geomacintyre]

Hi Little Plum. Managed to avoid being on box. I was on the other side of any cameras - a journalist doing a feature on the shark fishing. Became quite good friends with Howard and went out with him several times - both shark hunting and when he was doing normal fishing and prawning. If I remember correctly the Franleon was badly damaged in Troon harbour by animal right activists while I was working in the Middle East but I did see Franleon II many years later in Amble harbour, Northumberland.

[little plum]

I was on the other side of any cameras - a journalist doing a feature on the shark fishing.

George, you must have made a good job of it, I can remember the feature. Just wondering when it was made, would it have been the 80's.
Checked out your web site, some fine specimens in there, most fully finned apart from the fish from the "Jubilee", I hate to see stumpies.

[geomacintyre]

I went to the MIddle East in April 1984, was in Girvan three years before that so that ties in with the timescale that you remember Little Plum. Unfortunately, more stumpies are appearing in catches as the pressure grows on fisheries to keep up with the demand for limit bags - I remember when it mattered not a jot whether you caught or not as long as a good day was had. To paraphrase your sign off I went fishing on Friday because a bad day's fishing beats a good royal wedding any day. Managed to land a well-conditioned, beautifully marked rainbow of 3lb 12oz. Polishing off sea trout gear for a trip to the River Coquet soon.

[jimmcisaac]

This would make this shark the same size as the codling you used to catch Mr MacIntyre. . Did you actually go to the middle east I seem to remember bumping into some one that looked like you one New Year out there.

[geomacintyre]

And would that be when you were on the Scylla or the Liverpool? If I recall we bumped into each other a couple of times while I was out there.

[little plum]

Polishing off sea trout gear for a trip to the River Coquet soon.

We're now at the end of the month, time for a report George. There's been plenty of water, so no excuses.

[geomacintyre]

Don't know what happened there but I've just lost everything I had written.

Well, as I said, could you send some of that rain down our way. We may have had a couple of lifts of about 18 inches or so but not the big spates needed to bring large numbers of fish into the rivers system. Having said that a couple of nice 5lb/6lb sea trout have been brought to the net on the upper stretches of the River Coquet - but not by yours truly. The reservoir fishing is going much better with several four-pounders and a seven-pounder landed. Next month (July) will see the first of the salmon outings to the Tyne and Coquet - will keep you posted. Of course, with the dry, warm weather we have to be careful where we walk and sit so as not to disturb the adders. This blighter struck at me twice after being wakened from a sunbathing snooze at Kielder Water by the dog.