Shark Fishing in Nova Scotia

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So Nate asked what fish we have in Southern Ontario and after going off on a fishing tangent in JN lol, I thought to post my most-recent charter (I try to go on one, every vacation I take), which I took on my 2 week vacation, driving in Eastern Canada: Blue Shark fishing!

The day starts at 6:00 am, catch bait around 6:30 (we caught 20 Macks and 3 Pollock in about 4-5 minutes, with just a handline; our captain knew the spot perfectly):

   

Then, we get to the shark grounds around 8:00ish and out goes the chum bucket/pieces of fish. While we waited for the sharks to come, I did some ground fishing and caught 2 Acadian Rosefish (a type of Rockfish, similar to Ocean Perch/Snapper) on one drop:

   

On the second drop, we get the first shark and the rod that I used had a metal butt, so without a harness, it dug into my gut/crotch area (not the sensitive parts lol) and had a wicked bruise for 13 days after this. After a good 7-minute fight or so, she comes aboard, the second-biggest Blue Shark of the day and a beautiful female:

   

She was tagged, measured and released, then a card is filled out, in order to track and study the sharks (it is illegal keep a shark in Canada, once caught) and mailed back to the research facility in the States (captain works with the US, in studying them).