Capt. Jim Kalvin
I was cleaning up the shop last month when I ran across an old beer keg. I laughed out loud at the memory string that was plucked at the sight of that old aluminum barrel. Back in the day – when we had time to think about what to do in our spare time (remember spare time?) – we wound up with an empty keg somehow. We were at the beginning of the series of “Jaws” movies, and we took some inspiration from ol’ Captain Quint. We decided to make a fishing rig out of it! So, some day-glow USCG orange paint, a flashing strobe, some chain, an old anchor, and a measure of half-inch rope, and we were ready to set a shark line!
We caught a mullet for bait and picked a spot out of the traffic lane off of Keewaydin Island. We set the anchor, doled out about 50’ of line, and attached it to the keg. We wired the strobe to the rim, crimped a 10’ braided leader to the other handle, and let the tide drift the line taught. We tossed the bait in, which was floated by a crab trap buoy, and reviewed our work – it was brilliant! Quint would have been proud! The orange barrel was bobbing innocently in the waves visible in daylight or at night. We went back to the dock looking forward to the next day.
Bright and early next morning, we headed back out. It worked! We had a black-tip shark swimming in a big circle on the line. We hauled it in, re-baited the line, and headed back to the dock with our prize. It sure beat the heck out of sitting up all night waiting for a “run” on the old Penn Senator!
Over the course of that summer, we set that rig dozens of times – and got some good stories out of the effort. We discovered that live bait worked the best, so we fished the mangroves each time on the way out. Once, we came out and found our 6/0 Sobe hook straightened out like a wire! Another time, we came out to find the head and pectoral fins of a tiger shark hanging from the float – as it had been bitten in half by a much bigger fish!
We certainly ate our share of shark steaks and we shared with our friends and our clients. That’s when I learned that the belly meat was the best – a little lemon pepper – lightly fried in drawn butter! It was a lot of fun. Back then, even the local Fish & Game officer would follow us out to check the line. It’s probably not legal to do that anymore, but…I wonder…Might just have to check that out?
Capt. Jim Kalvin is a Florida Native, a USCG Licensed 100 Ton Master, and a local Marine Contractor. He can be reached at james.kalvin61@gmail.com or through kcmcfl.com .
