Great white shark caught off Washington-Fiction!

Huge Great White Shark Caught off the Coast of Washington-Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor:
According to the eRumor, a commercial fishing boat named the "Dawn Raider" hooked a giant great white shark while fishing for dogfish near Ocean Shores, Washington. It allegedly resisted for only about 15-minutes then came alongside the vessel and a crewmember slipped a rope around its tail. The fish towed the fishing boat around for an hour before being subdued. The shark is said to have weighed 1035 pounds.

The Truth:
According to the Magazine Yarmouth website these pictures were taken by Carla Allen and were actually those of a mako shark caught during a shark fishing derby in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The event was known as the Yarmouth Shark Scramble and took place in August, 2004.

The fisherman was Jamie Doucette from Wedgeport, British Columbia, Canada, and he won first place in the derby.

According to www.newenglandsharks.com, this shark was a big one---weighing 1082 pounds.

The eRumor claims that the shark pulled the boat around for an hour but comments on www.newenglandsharks.com from a crewmember aboard the boat said that although it was an adventure getting the shark secured with ropes, it did not tow the boat.

There are several versions of this eRumor. Some of them say the shark was caught off the coast of British Columbia, Canada and warn swimmers to stay away from Port Albio, Ucluelet, and Barkley Sound.

Updated 3/12/12

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

OCEAN SHORES, WASHINGTON

While the ocean vessel 'Dawn Raider' was commercial fishing for dogfish, this Great White Shark was hooked in the mouth. It only resisted slightly for 15 minutes before it came up alongside the boat to have a look; just long enough for one of the crew members to slip a rope a round it's tail !!! 'And that's when the fun began.

The Shark took off towing the 42 foot fishing boat backwards through the water at an estimated 7 knots. Just like in JAWS, the boat was taking on water over the stern and the crew watched in horror as the shark would actually jump completely out of the water at times. This went on for an hour before the shark finally drowned.

She weighed in at 1035 LBS. It is suspected she followed a weak El Nino current into local Washington waters in search of food. Although mid 60 degree water is considered ideal for these sharks, the larger ones can tolerate water in the low 50s.

(NOTE: THE TAIL FIN COMPARED TO THE SIZE OF THE MAN!!!)