hHere is the weblink and update. Could be someone playing a trick on him!
http://www.banderabulletin.com/articles/2005/08/24/news/829.txt
When the shark bites - Bandera fisherman catches a shark in Medina Lake.
By Jessica Hawley - Lifestyles Editor
Little did Jet Smith ever expect to pull a shark out of Medina Lake last Sunday morning, but a shark he caught, nonetheless. At the end of his jug line in Rocky Creek hung a small shark, already dead and curiously out of place.
"It's not a joke," the Bandera resident said. "I'm just wondering if anybody else has ever caught one here."
Smith, an avid fisherman, said that he dropped a jug line, which is fishing wire attached to a free-floating jug with up to five baited hooks, on the evening of Aug. 20. He returned to the lake the next morning to retrieve his catch, and pulled up a slender, three-foot long shark. The shark had clearly taken the bait, but died sometime between its own catch and Smith's.
"I've been fishing in this lake for eight years," Smith said. "I've never seen anything like this. It was probably placed here."
Sharks are typically salt-water inhabitants. Certain breeds, however, have been known to swim into fresh water reservoirs. The bull shark has reportedly been found in the Mississippi River, the Amazon River in Peru and Lake Nicaragua in Central America. The bull shark also has a nasty reputation as being an aggressive shark and frequent human attacker that prefers shallow waters.
But before swimmers pull their feet out of the water with the dum-dum of the "Jaws" theme resonating in the background, experts in Bandera say this shark catch sounds a little fishy.
"Sharks are not freshwater animals," Bandera County Extension Agent Warren Thigpen said, who admitted that this was the first time he'd ever fielded this situation.
Thigpen speculated that perhaps someone caught the shark at the coast and, thinking it was interesting, carried it back to Bandera before dumping it in the lake. He said that a shark could survive for a limited time in a freshwater environment, but not for very long, especially if confined to a fishing line.
"Sharks have to keep moving, unlike freshwater fish, to keep water circulating through their gills," Thigpen said.
Bandera County Game Warden Rod Chalmers suspects that someone may have tried to dupe Smith. He said that jug lines are usually left unattended overnight, which would make it fairly easy for a prankster to set up the hoax.
Chalmers said that he highly doubts a viable population of sharks exists in Medina Lake, and is more convinced that the catch was a practical joke.
Smith, a former Boerne resident, relocated to Bandera eight years ago, drawn by the lake. He said he doesn't plan to abandon the waters anytime soon, regardless of the possibility, albeit an improbability, that man-eating sharks have infested Rocky Creek.
"That's the reason I moved here," Smith said. "I love to fish."
