SHARK!!! (maybe) What Do You Think?

[Dave H]

My neighbor is a lifelong hardcore salmon fisherman and has boated more fish than most guys ever have but today he had an adventure/mystery and I have some photos for your perusal.

Terry had a strike, felt the fish briefly, and then felt a very heavy weight momentarily, and then reeled this in.
That looks like a single clean bite to my eyes, but I am no expert at all.


Another view.


He said the bite took the innards along with what you see taken from the body and claims he's never seen quite anything like that before.

Any ideas welcome.




Take care.

 

[17 ft sea ranger]

wow

 

[ClintR]

Watched a program somewhere about Humboldt Squid and they can chew a few good chunks out of something in only a few seconds. Their bite pattern kind of looked like those scalloped shapes

 

[CBsqrd]

Salmon shark is my guess. There have been reports that they are becoming more common (still rare though) in the SOG.

 

[Rain City]

The Kraken, for sure.

 

[CalCom]

Just under the gills it looks like a single bite…..I’m guessing below are several bites, kind of like eating corn on the cob…..maybe ClintR is onto something with the Humboldt squid hypothesis

 

[JWS]

Location?

 

[islandboy]

Years ago I brought up a cod's head immediately after some Orcas passed by. There was a clear tooth mark on the gill, suggesting the fish was adjusted before the bite sheared the body off.
I would imagine whatever it was would be smaller than an Orca.

 

[Eden Island]

What a fun mystery!

I've had a small salmon bitten off just aft of the dorsal fin -- a single clean, round bite which I'd say was large dogfish or small shark. A neighbour lost the back half of a salmon to an orca [he saw it happen beside the boat] - the 'remainder' weighed over 35 pounds! And one memorable night near Lasqueti something large was following us and neatly severing lures - anchovy teasers, Apex, spoons -- whatever we put out would disappear with only the tiniest twitch on the line -- it was close to where I've seen six-gills scuba diving.

There's definitely critters down there we're not aware of most of the time.

 

[Rayvon]

Whatever it was it was smart,it took the tastiest parts.

 

[Loghauler]

Documented shark bite look at the same scalloped shape of the cut same as the one above
My vote is shark bite

 

[Gong Show]

Sucking the innards out was a common move by seals and sealions with salmon in a gillnet.
Looked nice and clean like that.

 

[Dave H]

Interesting replies indeed, but I may have the real answer now, having received this photo from my favorite ex-rod-holder last evening.

Check this out.



Owen sent me this and it looks exactly like what my neighbor had happen to him.
This was a Dogfish swarm on a salmon that was hooked and by the time Owen got it in it looked like what you see.
He then re-hooked it and put it back in the water where 30 or so Doggies feasted on it.

The "bite" marks look the same, the location on the salmon is the same plus you can see the Doggies chewing on the salmon in this pic.

Methinks a Dogfish swarm is what caused my neighbor's quandary yesterday and he now agrees.


Interesting.



Take care.

 

[CalCom]

That makes sense…..I posted about dogs on another thread….pack hunters, eh? Did he foul hook the salmon as it shows or re-hook it for the photo?

 

[Dave H]

That makes sense…..I posted about dogs on another thread….pack hunters, eh? Did he foul hook the salmon as it shows or re-hook it for the photo?

Re-hooked for photo.




Take care.