B2
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, July 24, 2021
Shark fi shing is not for the weak — or timid
LUKE
OVGARD
CAUGHT OVGARD
Television’s longest-run-
ning annual summer event
turned 33 last week after
completing another success-
ful run. The Discovery Chan-
nel’s Shark Week started
three years before I was born
and is still going strong. It is
still well behind Coca-Cola,
McDonald’s and cigarettes in
longevity but adds another
point to the argument that
humans love things that can
kill them.
Our collective mythos of
sharks is rooted in our own
animal nature, that trace of
wildness in all of us. Maybe
this is why I love shark fi sh-
ing so much. Nothing else I
catch can kill me if I slip up.
Little else can overpower
me with a swipe of its tail
and leave me breathless and
aching.
When I mentioned my
fascination with sharks to
my friend Dom Porcelli, he
made note of it. He and his
wife, Tracy, were gracious
hosts and allowed me to stay
with them as I continued my
#SpeciesQuest.
Dom has caught nearly
1,000 species of fi sh, placing
him in the top fi ve all time.
As such, I gleaned everything
I could from him as I tallied
some 28 new species on his
boat. After a few productive
days chasing tuna and tile-
fi sh, snapper and scad, grou-
per and grunts, mahi and
more, we set our sights on
sharks, the coldly magnetic
kings of the sea.
Shark Bait
The “Shark Bait,” Dom’s
boat, was up to the task. It
earned the name when a reef
shark came over the gunwale
and took a bite out of Dom’s
foot. Serious reconstructive
surgery later, he still bears
a grisly scar and a healthy
respect for the top of the food
chain.
Dom stocked up on bait,
and we left in the predawn
dark on Sunday (the last day
of Shark Week) with one
goal: to catch my biggest fi sh
ever.
We anchored up near a
reef, put out a chum bag, sent
half a barracuda to the briny
depths and waited. Soon, the
shark rod started to bounce
and then sing the most beau-
tiful tune I’d ever heard.
Hooked
I grabbed the rod out of the
holder and battled the beast
in. I avoid conventional reels
like the plague, it showed, but
eventually, we got it boatside.
We would later identify
Luke Ovgard/Contributed Photo
This dude snapped Dom’s rod. It was my fault for not loosening the drag more, given that it was facing away from the fi sh.
This was the most beautiful shark I’ve ever caught, if that’s any consolation.
the 7-footer as a sandbar
shark. Using the National
Oceanographic and Atmo-
spheric Agency (NOAA)
shark size calculator, put it at
155 pounds. My biggest fi sh!
If we’d stopped there, I
would’ve been stoked, but we
still had bait, so …
I caught a few live bally-
hoo, a popular baitfi sh, and
we threw one out live on a
lighter rod. It also hooked a
small shark that broke me off
after about 10 minutes when
it dove under the boat.
I hit pause on the
self-loathing when the big
shark rod started bouncing
again.
Dom assumed nurse shark
based on the lack of run, and
having caught more nurses
than any other shark, I agreed.
It was absurdly heavy, and
lifting it up 70 feet of water
was exhausting, even with the
less-than-stellar fi ght.
When we saw it, and it
clearly wasn’t a nurse shark,
we expected it to take off on a
blistering run at any moment.
But it didn’t. I got it in more
quickly than the fi rst one, but
as we got it boatside, the scale
of the nearly 10-footer was
staggering. It was also much,
much thicker.
“This fi sh is pretty green,
so be careful,” Dom said
as we staged for pictures. I
snapped a few middling ones
before the fi sh got irritated
and swept its massive tail out
of my hand and dove.
With a powerful stroke,
its tail slapped into Dom’s
shoulder with a wet smack
that would’ve broken his nose
if delivered just a bit higher.
We wrestled the beast back
in, unhooked it and caught
our breaths.
My largest fi sh was now a
(very conservatively) 9-foot
lemon shark that weighed
328 pounds, according to
NOAA. Probably more like
350 or 375, given how thick
the pregnant female was.
It was my fault.
We both cursed, but Dom
was much more gracious than
I would’ve been. I felt sick,
but we were able to re-land
and release the fi sh, though
our shark fi shing was over.
This one was almost
exactly 6 feet and weighed
80 pounds via NOAA.
We finished up the day
chasing a smaller quarry
before limping back to the
dock. Even with the broken
rod, bruised shoulder and
aching muscles, it was a
great day. Those are the risks
of shark fi shing, and better
a broken rod than a bitten
foot, right?
———
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Reef madness
My spirit was willing, but
my body was only margin-
ally able. I’d pulled my left
forearm, my right hand was
swollen and aching, my back
screamed in pain and I felt
as though I’d just sprinted
several miles in double grav-
ity.
So naturally, this is when
we hooked up again.
The third and fi nal shark
of the day was a reef shark,
the same species that had
sampled Dom’s foot years
before. But it was just a
6-footer, and we got it boat-
side relatively quickly on the
heavy gear.
At Dom’s instruction, I
loosened the drag and placed
the rod in the holder so we
could handle and release the
fi sh. I only loosened the drag
three or four clicks, though.
Something told me to loosen
it more, but I didn’t. With the
lemon, the rod was facing the
same way as the fi sh when
in the holder. This reef was
facing the opposite way. I
brushed the thought away.
We got some fantastic
pictures and tried to unhook
it. At this, the reef shark dove
with shocking speed. Dom
had been holding the steel
leader in his gloves and let go.
I was holding the one-pound
sliding sinker in one hand
to protect our teeth and the
250-pound mono leader in
the other.
I was not wearing gloves.
And like an idiot, I didn’t let
go immediately.
I moved to grab the rod
but before I could react, the
mono dug into my palm and
left me with a friction burn.
I fl inched instead of going
for the rod, which was being
pulled backwards. In a horri-
fying moment, it snapped.
ON THE
SLATE
SATURDAY, JULY 24
Youth baseball
Hodgen Distributing at La
Grande Tournament
Pepsi Diamondjaxx Tourna-
ment, Bob White Field
Oregon State Little League
Major Tournament
Hermiston vs. TBD, 3:30 p.m.,
Troutdale
SUNDAY, JULY 25
Oregon State Little League
Major Tournament
Hermiston vs. TBD, Troutdale
MONDAY, JULY 26
Oregon State Little League
Major Tournament
Hermiston vs. TBD, Troutdale
TUESDAY, JULY 27
Oregon State Little League
Major Tournament
Hermiston vs. TBD, Troutdale
WEDNESDAY, JULY 28
Oregon State Little League
Major Tournament
Hermiston vs. TBD, Troutdale
THURSDAY, JULY 29
Luke Ovgard/Contributed Photo
My sandbar shark. A new species and (briefl y) my largest fi sh
ever at 7 feet long and about 150 pounds.
Oregon State Little League
Major Tournament
Hermiston vs. TBD, Troutdale
IMATALAMLAAMI SINWIT
UMA101 –
Umatilla Tribal
Language Class
OFFERED FALL TERM
CLASSES ON TUES/THURS | 5 P.M.-6 P.M.
TAUGHT BY MASTER SPEAKER, FRED HILL
Register in Wolfweb at bluecc.edu/NAC
UMA101 class counts as elective credit
Fall terms starts Sept. 22 and ends Dec. 10
For more information, please contact Annie Smith, Native
American Liaison and Success Coach at asmith@bluecc.edu
Luke Ovgard/Contributed Photo
The lemon shark is not the sportiest shark, and this was a pregnant female, which probably
kept me from passing out. It measured 9-10 feet long and weighed about 350 pounds. It is
my largest fi sh ever.
BLUE MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE IS
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EDUCATOR AND
EMPLOYER. FOR FULL EEO DISCLOSURE
STATEMENT VISIT WWW.BLUECC.EDU/EEO.