BY THE NUMBERS HOOKS BY SCOTT MACGREGOR


> Mustad of Gjovik, Norway is the largest manufacturer of hooks in the world with over 290 models in their Classic hooks catalog, not including doubles and trebles, kids and fly hooks.


> To increase their chances, early peoples developed hooks 30,000 years ago and barbs only a few thousand years ago, then made out of bone, wood and stone.


> After extensive testing, the most money-winning bass fisherman, Kevin VanDam, now uses as least 1 red treble (sometimes more) on all his lures. Why? Because he found that bass are more likely to hit red trebles than the standard brass-colored ones.


BUZZBAIT Fishin’ Impossible


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> During prime fishing season the hospital nearest the Kayak Angler office removes 3 hooks per day, most of which are em- bedded in the fingers or scalp.


> In 2005, Forbes ranked the fish hook as the 19th most important tool of all time—just behind the level and ahead of the chisel—in terms of its impact on human civilization.


> With roughly 100 million anglers in the U.S. each losing a dozen lures a year with two trebles per lure, there are about 7.2 billion hooks left hanging in lips or logs in America each year, give or take a few million.


12… KAYAK ANGLER spring 2008


HEN HOWARD McKIM and fellow Ocean Kayak pro anglers Chris Mautino, Allen Sansano and


Allen Bushnell went fishing for salmon sharks in Valdez, Alaska, last summer, nobody knew about it. McKim had kept plans for his 2007 fishing trip top secret. It was probably a good idea that McKim


“kept it under wraps until aſter the fact, until everyone returned home in one piece,” be- cause the crew came back with a tales of fight- ing and landing 400-pound monsters. It’s hard not to question the sanity of fish-


ing for sharks from a kayak. Salmon sharks have a top speed of 60 miles per hour, mea- sure up to 12 feet in length and can weigh more than 700 pounds. A close relative of great whites and makos, salmon sharks gather in Prince William Sound to gorge on the thousands of pink salmon that migrate through each year. While he’s more accus- tomed to fishing for salmon, this time Mc- Kim set his sights higher up the food chain. “Te salmon shark is the most challeng-


ing gamefish in Alaska,” says McKim. “Plus there were no records of any being landed from a kayak.” McKim says the gravity of his undertak- ing took hold when he baited his hook with


N E W S | G E A R | C A S T A W A Y S | T O U R N A M E N T S


Tip of the iceberg: Sansano. PHOTO: ALLEN SANSANO


THE TOP-SECRET QUEST FOR ALASKA’S 400-POUND MONSTER SALMON SHARKS BY CONOR MIHELL


a whole pink salmon and took to the water, mooching for sharks from a 13-foot kayak. Te anglers used braided 100-pound-test line and 20-foot leaders. Tey’d enlisted the ser- vices of a local shark fishing outfitter to stand by in a Zodiac in case things went awry. Within minutes of tossing their lines in the


water, each of the anglers—who’d planned in advance to give each other a wide berth and fight only one fish at a time—had hooked into sharks. Sansano says that a 400-pound shark fights more powerfully than anything he’d ever experienced. “There were some powerful surging runs


where I had to immediately loosen the drag,” says Sansano. “It took work to find the right balance.” Aſter an hour of mayhem, each angler had


tired his respective shark to the point of be- ing able to haul it to the surface alongside the kayak. Tey landed the first shark with the help of the support boat, using a floating buoy to prepare it for release. Ten the an- glers worked in pairs to land the remaining sharks without external aid. McKim is convinced that next time they’ll


be able to fish without mothership support: “Next time I want to try to land one with much lighter tackle.”


PHOTO: KENDAL LARSON


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