Sharks on a Line 



97 



This old print portrays fishermen landing the first Devil ray caught off Sydney, Aus- 

 tralia, in 1868. Dr. Whitley identifies it as Daemomanta alfredi Krefft, 1868. He reports 

 that it grows to a width of at least 13 feet. 



Courtesy, Sydney and Melbourne Publishing Co. from 

 The Fishes of Australia by G. P. Whitley, 1940 



thority on the Whale shark, drily remarked, "Mr. Grey's fish seemingly 

 was the mo:t active of any of which we have accounts." 



It must be said for Zane Grey, however, that he did go after real 

 fighting sharks. And he probably did more to establish the shark as a 

 game fish than any other angler. Like the 4-minute mile and the 7-foot 

 high jump, the 1,000-pound shark stood for years as a seemingly unat- 

 tainable goal for game fishermen. Gradually, as tackle and fishing tech- 

 niques improved, the records went higher and higher: 800 pounds . . . 

 900 pounds. Then, on March 11, 1936, a 996i4-pound Tiger shark was 

 caught off Australia. The record stood but a month, for Zane Grey 

 had arrived in Australia determined to land a 1,000-pound shark. He 

 got one— a 1,036-pound Tiger shark. 



Since then, the records have been tumbling regularly, especially in 

 Australian waters. One Australian shark fisherman extraordinary, Alf 

 Dean, has caught the four largest fish ever taken on rod and reel— each 

 a Great White and each weighing more than a ton. 



Dean, a genial, burly man who runs a small vineyard when he isn't 

 shark fishing, caught his first shark in 1939. It weighed 868 pounds. In 

 the years that followed. Dean's prowess as a shark fisherman increased, 

 and so did the weight of his sharks. His fishing ground has been the 



