9-20 SS Tom's Shark 2

Regular contributor to the show, Boise police officer Tom Miotke Told us quite the story about a fishing trip off of Moss Landing which is between Carmel-Monterey area and Santa Cruz, California. Tom had been fishing in a little six-foot Zodiac and hooked into what he described as being a huge beast. After fighting the fish for well over an hour, in a scenario that is reminiscent of Hemingway's novel, The Old Man and the Sea, he pulled in an 8 foot thresher shark. A fairly large crowd of boats had gathered around his to watch the action. Once he landed the shark, he didn't know what to do with it because he was basically in a dinghy. Well, a group of Italian fishermen were watching all the action and when Tom offered them the fish, they accepted. Story not over. "I offered the fish to them, I had no other recourse. I guess I could've tied a rope around its tail and dragged it in but I offered it to these guys. I was very proud of myself and I took some great pictures with the fish only to find out later that there was no film in the camera. To make things worse, the next time I went fishing out there, I was down at the harbor and here was this beautiful picture of these three Italian fisherman who had caught the 8 foot thresher shark. It was hanging up on the wall. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't tell anybody that was my fish because who would believe it?"