ALL TIME -LBSF RECORD 2176 lb white pointer(1922)

Check out the story .Make sure you scroll down to get all the details.

Worlds Record Catch
on rod and line
MAN EATING SHARK
Length 13'5", Girth 8'9"
Weight 2176 lbs

http://www.sealine.co.za/view_topic.php ... p_to=46432

Raggieman
Senior Member
Joined: Wed Apr 11th, 2007 Location: Gauteng, Pretoria, South Africa
Posts: 1590
Equipment: lol to much kak to list here - walking tackle ...
Best Catch: Raggie 150kg,
Favorite Fishing Spot: Eastern Cape
Boat: Land based
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Mana:
Visbaai” was a popular shark catching spot. It was a very popular form of entertainment and everyone would gather to watch. This activity was specially made popular by Bill Selkirk, also known as the “shark enemy” of the world. He caught a world record shark in April 1922. It took him 53/4 hours and 1 kilometre up and down the rocks between the Old Harbour and the Marine pool to land this shark. Selkirk, more than anybody else, put Hermanus on the world’s fishing map. He had a great sense of adventure, probably a characteristic he inherited from one of his forefathers, Alexander Selkirk (better known as Robinson Crusoe!). The jaws of this world record shark is also on display in the Selkirk Room of the De Wet’s Huis Photographic Museum.

In April 1922, Bill caught his record man-eating shark of 2,176 lbs (967 kg) which took him five hours to land. In 1969, Coena Haman gave a vivid description of this drama to a visiting reporter of Die Burger newspaper.

'It was at 12:30 that day when the news came of sharks in the harbour. Bill and I went to Frans-se-klip, the rock in the harbour from where he caught the other sharks. We could see it at once. It was huge. Bill immediately put out the two paraffin tins with kabeljou as bait. The shark disappeared, after a while came back, took the bait and tore away with it. The bamboo rod bent under the strain while the line whirred through the reel.

Bill was all concentration while a crowd collected. It was a titanic fight as the shark made Bill run across the rocks to the harbour. Across Piet-se-klip while man and shark were fighting each other, Selkirk had to draw on all his skills to tire out the monster and keep it from breaking the line on the reefs. The fight continued until seven that evening when he, with aching back and arms, at last had the shark on the sand. It was the largest fish to this day, caught by rod and line from the rocks. The huge shark was claimed as a world record, but this was contested because, it was said, he had used a float. According to the rules, floats were not allowed.'

The Old Harbour was a popular shark catching spot and popular form of entertainment and everyone would gather to watch. Bill Selkirk, a descendant of Alexander Selkirk aka Robinson Crusoe, was a bait shop owner in Hermanus and well known as the "king of the game-fish hunters." In 1922 Bill landed a great Blue Pointer shark after five hours with his 12-ft. Cape bamboo rod. The shark was twice the size of anything previously caught on rod and line. Bill Selkirk’s feats were published in newspapers all over the globe and his record shark was featured in full colour in the Illustrated London News. Bill stayed in a fishermans cottage on the same plot as which the Old Harbour Hotel is built today.