Shrimp and Shark fishing with Laurence Thomas

Early in his career, Laurence had a very difficult time selling this shrimp and he and Betty Jameson eventually developed a market for cocktail shrimp. Laurence remembers receiving eight cents a pound for his efforts

The Hornet is equipped to become a shark boat. The Department of Fish and Game said there were no Great Whites in this area, but as you can see in the photograph, they were mistaken.

Thomas was fishing gillnets on the bottom in 26 fathoms of water off Point Estero, just north of Morro Bay. Along with the great white, he caught one seven-gill shark, one soupfin shark, two leopard sharks, one angel shark, two ratfish, one white sea bass and one California halibut. The stomach contents of the great white consisted of: a 50-pound harbor seal, bitten in half, several 5- to 7-pound rockfish, and several other unidentifiable fish. California Fish and Game, April 1949, Vol. 35, No. 2.

Morro Bay and County Fish Historian, Barbara Stickel tells us the shark was eight feet long and weighed four hundred pounds