Record 22 Sharks Tagged & Released

The Shark Brothers & Friends

The objective on this research expedition was simple enough; bait, catch, tag, document and release as many sharks as possible in the 10 hours of beach time we had available over two days. We wouldn't concern ourselves with who rigs, paddles or pulls the fish. This was about numbers, period. It's this kind of fishing and attitude that epitomizes what this sport is all about. In the end, we ended up breaking a world record using this technique; successfully catching, tagging, fully documenting and releasing 22 blacktip and bull sharks for two different research organizations.

From the series Adventure & Wildlife Featuring The Shark Brothers
Check out Full Expedition Report and More Pics

Shark Fishing - Kinda, Sorta

Thanks to Luke Tipple, Director of the Shark Free Marina Initiative, and his inquiries, we expect, as this plays out, an eventual full disclosure. For now, it appears that responsibility of the facts are not exclusive to the anglers involved, but are shared with the reporting news agency. Until we know more, we’ll reserve benefit-of-the-doubt, but not without comment.

As advocates for sustainability, we’ve personally evolved from a place where subduing a fish like this using legal, conventional and sporting methods would’ve been a perfectly natural thing for us to do. This isn’t to say we’re any better now or holier-than-thou standing next to our fellow sportsmen. It’s just us and it’s a fact, based on our personal, first-hand experience with the changes we’ve seen ‘out there’ over the past three plus decades. We’re the first to admit that opinions are like @**holes and elbows — just about everyone’s got ‘em. With that said, encounters with animals like this mako are, indeed, increasingly rare. In our personal experience and first-hand observation, that ‘opinion’ extends from Florida to the far reaches of the northeastern seaboard where we’ve encountered our fair share of makos over the years. As of late, they are smaller and much less common. Imagining us in a situation, today, like these anglers found themselves in, we’d have considered hopping over the side with video cameras. Closer interaction using rod and reel, and catch / tag / release methods would be another choice, but hey, that’s just us.

As extremely discriminating participants in, and consumers of the media, we’re unfortunately not surprised, but no less disappointed, that yet another shark catching story has been allowed to run amok. Aside from the obligatory footnote about the shark being consumed for food that ended the piece, it felt pretty much like 1976 all over again. We sort of had that same feeling you get when you watch some well intended, but talentless hack butchering a classic tune during auditions for ‘American Idol’. You’re kind of pissed, but you can’t help feeling embarrassed for the poor sob. This reporting was just another fine example of your average, sensationalized, if it bleeds – it leads, news story. In other words, ‘Why let the facts get in the way of a good story’? No excuse.

Finally, as big game anglers, we understand the distinct smell that boiling human blood gives off when a big fish appears causing our hunter-gather instincts to take over the mental wheel house. These anglers were noted as having fished together for the past 15 years. We’re going out on a skinny limb here, but it seems possible this is the biggest fish any of them have ever encountered. If so, that, in and of itself, helps make sense of some of what we watched, and more importantly, heard in the news piece, and it goes a long way in shedding light on the ‘anglers’ subsequent actions and decisions. Inexperience, blind excitement and panic. It happens, and it’s a recipe for, well … exactly what we see here. It’s no small wonder this story didn’t include more in the way of serious injuries or worse. At least they dodged those bullets.

Absent of all the facts, and as fellow recreational anglers, we’d like to pose a few questions directly to these guys, without prejudice or judgment of their actions, but just to help us all learn something useful before eventually putting this one to rest. Unlike the reporter, we’re actually interested in the facts behind this somewhat unbelievable fish story. We’ve handled a lot of big sharks from a boat deck and we’ve been scratching holes in our heads trying to figure out how this animal was captured using gaffs alone. It just seems there’s got to be more to it than what the reporter mentioned. So, as anglers, we ask:

1. Was swordfish your primary species target that day?
2. Is the sword in the video one you caught … that day?
3. If so, did the shark follow it in, while on the line, or did it show up later, as the sword was tied off at boat side?
4. Once it showed up, how long was it played before the harvest decision was made?
5. At any time after the mako was sighted, did any of you consider pitching it a bait with conventional rod and reel tackle?
6. If not, was that because you didn’t have anything rigged and ready or that gaffing the fish seemed a better alternative?
7. Did any of you realize or consider the legality of this chosen method, at the time?
8. How many and exactly what types of gaffs were used (a flying gaffs seems to briefly appear about 35 sec. into the video)?
9. If a flying gaff was used, how long was the fish tied off to it?
10. Once the first gaff was placed, how long did it take (the fight) until the fish was brought on board?
11. Was the fish dragged and drown before bringing it on board?
12. When and/or were any other devices used, i.e. harpoons, tail ropes, firearms, float balls?
13. How/why was the media contacted?

And one final question that may help to answer a lot of others. We know, first hand, exactly how stories can get twisted from actual interview to broadcast or publication. Given the resulting circumstances, how accurate, in your mind, was the reporting on your story and what would you like to say in your own defense or to otherwise clarify the incident?

As Luke Tipple said:

This isn’t about animal rights, persecuting fishermen or slandering a news network. This is about promoting public knowledge of acceptable fishing practices. Your story (the reporter’s) made light of possible, and serious, code violations in regards to a threatened species of shark. That is not acceptable. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that the media practices responsibility in its reporting.

You are the only ones that really know what happened. Right or wrong. Legal or not, you have an opportunity to be the exception and not the rule … do the right thing and set the record straight.

Over & Out,
Sean Paxton
Brooks Paxton II

NOTE: You can follow more of this story via the reference below at its source on SharkFreeMarinas.com.

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The Spirit of Adventure & Wildlife

Most might agree, it can be difficult explaining exactly why you do what you do, without making a long story longer. My brother Brooks and I settled on about 180 seconds of video and sound for this series preview. It's a flyover of several episodes chronicling different expeditions that includes some historically significant footage. Deciding what to cram in there ended up being just as difficult, but no less fun than doing and shooting it all in the first place. For the record, it's rated A for anyone that wants to see something different and we demand you turn up the volume, pretty much a high as it will go. It's also important you know that we were influenced. Stuff was passed on to us. We were lucky. We're repeating that process now ...

Preview of the upcoming series featuring the Shark Brothers
Read more below ...

On the road and in the wild with my brothers and parents ... 

Along with my brothers, Scott & Brooks, and our brother from another mother, Tom Larkin (my mother's mom's son) I was reared in the blue-collar steel country of western Pennsylvania. We were inspired by age-old traditions instilled in us as kids, practically as soon as we were able to walk, by our grandparents from the greatest generation and our parents. They taught us about the important things in life you can count on one hand: Family, Friends, Country, Freedom and the Mother of all Mothers -- Mother Nature, herself.

Seems like just the day before yesterday ...

Some of my earliest memories take me to the outdoors hiking through the mountains, hunting and exploring or fishing and swimming in the Atlantic Ocean out of Delaware, Virginia and Maryland. Time has surrendered some of the family and friends we had since then, but their memories and those traditions still drive me to this day and live on in tribute through lifestyle and spirit.

Onward into the 80's and 90's

I had no idea at the time, but looking back now, all those miles traveling and working with my family or time in the wilds of western Pennsylvania and out on the Atlantic with my grandfathers and brothers would have a steering influence on the course of my life.

A family that plays together ...

As the years go by, plenty of memories tend to creep in with the fog and sometimes humble beginnings go missing. We don't let that happen, and the work we do, including the series, is a tribute to where and who we come from. It seems that sometimes, the lessons learned and the effect of positive influence aren't realized until much later in life, as we begin to feel the cement of our character hardening, and shaping itself into how we spend our time, who we spend it with, the things we care about, and ultimately, the work we do. In the end, though, it's really about what we leave behind. Long live the Spirit of Adventure & Wildlife. Pass it on. -stp-

My Brother is a Google Star

Eric Arthur Blair -aka- George Orwell's dystopian view of the world didn't quite pan out by 1984, at least in America. I spent Super Bowl Sunday that year with my brothers and thousands of other sonic worshipers witnessing David Lee Roth and the rest of Van Halen, in their prime, as they rocked the Lakeland, Florida Civic Center to its foundation. According to the police reports, good times were indeed had by all. Fast forward to 2009 when we recently realized, in an interesting way, that Georgie O's 'Big Brother' has definitely been gaining some traction in the day's since 1984.

Photo Courtesies: Google Earth. The closest thing to an Elvis sighting in our hometown. That's Brooks (kneeling center) wielding his green thumb at a family property, as captured by Google Earth. From cars in the driveway and other clues, we determined the image was shot between April and August of 2008.

Recently, my brother, Brooks, and I were test driving the latest in 'street level' technology that Google Earth has to offer and caught a glimpse of someone conspicuously crouched in a front yard at one of our properties. Closer inspection positively identified the figure to be none other than, Brooks. For those that don't know the power of navigation and James Bond-like surveillance we have at our fingertips these days, here's an example. With the click of a mouse, you can see your house. As a matter of fact, anyone with a computer can not only see your house, but they can see IN your house. It barely gets a little pixilated when you zoom in, and we heard Google does that on purpose. Regardless. To give you an idea of the Peeping Tom power in this free tool, we were able to zoom in and see Pittsburgh Steelers banners inside one of our living rooms! Pretty damn amazing and creepy (in a creepy kind of way) all at the same time. Try it for yourself and see how it feels. From what we can gather, Brooks was in the right place at the right time when, what we can only imagine to be, a mysterious Orwellian Google van (probably black with tinted windows) wired with a satellite array and cameras on board rolled down our street ... taking it all in. For the record, Brooks has no recollection of such a vehicle, or strangely enough, anything else from that day. Harmless enough, but you can't help but wondering how many other 'lucky' and oblivious people have been captured in far more compromising positions for all the world to see.

Google is now an official word in the English dictionary with 'to Google' as its verbal derivative.  How many times a day do you Google? How about when people aren't watching? Unless you're playing cricket and bowl a 'googly' (google without the capital G in the Oxford English Dictionary), you probably do it a lot too, for actual work-related purposes or the simple and immediate satisfaction of general curiosities. However, when you tie it in with satellites, the latest GPS (global positioning systems) and some kickass digital imaging technology, it all gets ... a little strange, but in a good way ... I think.

No. That last one's not a Google shot. I snapped it the old fashioned way during a dive with Brooks off Pompano, FL.

Personally, I still love the smell of some magazines, the feel of turning pages between my fingers, and let's face it, nothing beats the scent of a freshly sharpened Ticonderoga #2 pencil. But then again, modern technology does have its applications, and the latest and greatest version of Google Earth and Google Maps with the satellite images and street level digital photography is one example of just how far we've come in the last little while. Brooks and I use it for work all the time; scouting locations, checking logistics, access and topography before expeditions. You know ... research and stuff. We've even found some great places to play with sharks using it. As amazing and useful as it is, in the right hands, I can't help but wondering what George Orwell would have to say if he was around ... to Google.

If anyone else can claim their fame on Google or Google Earth, we want to know! It's been pretty damn exciting for Brooks and me. Report your claim of fame here in the comments box below. Do it now!

Monster Hunting in the New Century

We've been having a lot of fun, my brother and I, using some of the same old tools in a whole new trade. Over the past decade, we’ve been refining and retooling our recreational pursuits, especially in the marine environment, with a focus on taking any opportunistic steps that come our way, to give more than we take. More recently, through strategic alliance, mutual support and vision, we’re proud to be part of a focused effort to sharpen the leading edge of a new culture and mindset in recreational shark fishing. These bold, new ideas and ways aren’t without detractors and nay-sayers, but then again, that’s just a part of the innovation process. It’s how things get figured out, and the fact is, what we're doing is working.

Produced by us for NBC, this short video contains rare and never-before-seen footage

Fishing for sport will never go away unless, ironically, we run out of fish. Why people fish can't be defined by anyone other than the one doing the fishing. Likewise: activism, conservation and wildlife management efforts can't and shouldn't be defined by anything other than true and measurable, realistic and reasonable effectiveness. That said, what could possibly be better than a truly collaborative, long-term effort involving any and all parties in support of effective and profitable sustainability of this marine resource? That sounds good, looks good on paper, and now that the rubber has met the road, it’s actually proving itself out.

But what does today mean without yesterday? Historical referencing is important because it provides … reference. It's the measure of how far we've come, or in some cases, still need to go. The work my brother and I do is far from one-dimensional, and we rely upon history quite a bit, especially as part of projects we’re involved with to document and tell the story of the evolution of big game sport fishing. This is especially true when it comes to the biggest recreational game in town, shark fishing.

Our own story and how we got involved at an early age is as genuine and authentic as it gets. Our affections were born early and evolved by virtue of hands-on (and in) experience over several decades. Along the way, we became increasingly proactive in efforts to unite the recreational fishing, scientific and conservation communities. While further exploring the origins of an industry, we did our time with recreational shark fishing's founding father, ‘The Monster Man’. That led to effort to recover and restore a historically significant piece of maritime, sport fishing and American movie history. More and more, we're accepting invitations to share these stories with a growing audience, and we picked up a nickname along the way.

Once you roll a snowball down the hill, momentum takes on a mind of its own. We're rolling with it and basically having a hell of a time with some new friends we've picked up along the way. As one thing leads to another, we look back at how things have a funny way of working themselves out. Currently the hunt is taking us down fresh new game trails; some of which, we're hacking our way through so others can follow. What's ahead? There's only one way to find out. Hand me that machete.