sorry if this has been answered before or if it's a really dumb question. i've started shark fishing with my buddy who's been teaching me this last winter and believe it or not we landed the first shark of the year last weekend (been really busy, so haven't gotten out much). it was a really nice tiger shark estimated around 8-9ft and maybe 500-700lbs (figures are based off largest weight and length known). after we release her, which was only after about 4-5 minutes mostly due to her thrashing around and being unable to handle her safely, she sat in shallow water for a good 45 minutes. kinda looked like she was just flowing with the current. she never left the water, but we only had her in knee deep water and the fight lasted about 30 minutes. so my question is how long can a shark be handled, beached, etc and be just fine after release? i'm a catch and release guy, and the last thing i wanna do is hurt a shark any more than what fishing entails. thanks in advance
2 mins max but around a minute is ideal. i keep larger sharks in the water with their heads pointed into the current until i'm ready to snap a pic then get it out enough for one and send it on its way.
getting the shark under control and de-hook ASAP. bold cutters and a de-hooker is a must in sharking tackle boxes. like lowprofile said 1 min is best. a shark can kill itself fighting on the end on a line so getting the fight over with quick helps alot when it come the releasing the shark. i hope this info helps
here's us doing the 1 min drill. i use barbless 20/0 circles so they come out super easy with just the flick of the wrist. as soon as we had the tail rope on I got the hook out then the filming started while we drug it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLKxJuxjQho