LONG LINING!!!!!

Some pics from Monday's long-lining trip.

First part was baiting

the hooks, a pretty smelly process.

After all the hooks got baited the line was set out. Basically there was a line about a mile long with floats on each end and hooks spaced apart about every 50 feet.

Then after waiting an hour we pulled in it. We set out two times and both times we pulled in Atlantic Sharpnose Sharks and Blacktip Sharks. The biggest sharks we caught were around 3 or 4 feet long and some put up quite the fight once on deck.

A blacktip being pulled in.

Our teachers, Dr. Driggers and Dr. Carlson, pulling up a shark.

"Wrestling" the shark up onto the table to get measurements and get tagged.

The sharks also had to be weighed, and this part was tricky. The scale had a hook we had to catch the corner of the jaw with to hold the shark by. However, these sharks didn't cooperate very well and it was hard to hook it in the right place. Thus, when we would let go of the shark to get the weight many times the shark slipped off and ended up at your feet (not a very pleasant surprise). Luckily though no one got bitten.

One of the last sharks we caught was a big Blacktip shark. I volunteered to wrestle it and so once it was on deck I jumped on its head and another dude grabbed its tail. It wasn't that hard to hold onto but a couple times it would start thrashing around on the table and we'd all let go.

(Photo by Mary Hutson)

All in all it was a pretty sweet trip. Not much beats a day of wrestling sharks!