Durban angler nets whopping 400kg shark
The shark was tagged and released back into the waves.
OVERPORT resident, Roarke Hamilton says he unofficially broke a record when he caught a Dusky Shark in Mpame recently.
He said it took him two hours and 50 minutes to land the massive shark that weighed in at over 400kgs. The shark was tagged and released back into the waves.
“It equated to 417kgs which is 917 pounds,” said the angler.
“In South Africa, you have to belong to a fishing club to get an official record. My bait was flown out with a drone. I flew the drone out about 500m and dropped the bait. The catch can’t be an official record because I used a drone, but it falls under the droning record. Droning is a new facet of the sport. If you look up the world record for a land based catch of a Dusky Shark, they all come in at about 700 to 800 pounds. I did not find anything online of this weight. This is specifically for land based fishing. It wasn’t from a boat, it was hooked, caught and landed from the land,” he added.
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With a special relapse function, drone technology allows anglers to attach the hook and bait to the drone and fly it out from the shore.
“My friend held the rod while I flew the drone out and then I landed the drone and took over the rod. It was about an hour and a half before the shark bit. Everything is connected to the drone and there is a release button which releases the hook before the drone is flown back,” he explained.
Hamilton said he used a Bonito head as bait.
“It is similar to tuna- a very common bait for sharks,” he said.
The Overport resident who has been fishing since the age of 11, credited his mentor Cuan Courtman who is behind the scenes in many of his catches.
Catch and Release
Hamilton said he tags and releases all of his catches.
“I belong to a tagging project called ORI (Oceanographic Research Institute). They supply tags. You just have to fill out a registration form and they send a tagging kit. You gather important information through tagging a fish. It’s pointless just fishing for a shark and not gathering any valuable information- that’s a little inhumane. If you are gathering scientific information it helps to fix problems in the ocean,” he said.
The angler said he needed to spend a few minutes in the water, beside the shark to ensure it was strong enough to swim off.
“One of the best parts for me is to see that giant swim off. It’s really important to me,” he added.
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“Often the shark is recaptured two or three years later and you can look at whether it has grown. If it hasn’t you ask why it hasn’t grown and look at the water between the last capture and present capture. It’s quite exciting to get information like that. There are one or two fishing pages on Facebook where you can send the bar code number and then they can contact you because your cell number is linked to the bar code- so the information comes back to you,” he explained.
Hamilton fished for four years on the TV show, African Surf Fishing Network (AFSN ).
While he currently fishes as a hobby, he is sponsored by Winch Braid and The Trace Guy.
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