Frank Mundus was never at a loss for words, but he didn't just shoot from the lip when it came to technique, gear and battling the big ones. He sized-up his interviewers. If he believed you were serious about learning, he offered some gems. If not, he just recounted the stories that everyone wanted to hear. Here, he continues the Monster Sharks, 101 interview.
"In terms of hooks, I'm partial to the Jap hook for big sharks. (Editor's Note: I believe here Mundus was referring to circle hooks.) That's because it hooks nine out of ten fish in the jaw and it's three times as strong as local hooks. It's shape makes it slide up from the fish's throat or belly when you set the hook and it catches in the jaw. This makes it easier to tag and release the fish. If a fish is hooked in the jaw, it should go back. If it's hooked in the belly, keep it and use it for chum. I don't care what you say about cutting the line and leaving the hook in a fish's gullet. Those fish that are hooked deep, they don't survive well. Take them home and use them for bait or chum rather than waste them. They'll just die days or weeks later so it's better to at least use them.
"Once you get a big shark on the line, you've got to work fast. We had seven sharks over a thousand pounds and every one we whipped hard and fast. The longer that fish is on the line, the better its chance of getting away. We whipped that 1080-lb. mako in an hour-and-twenty minutes. With Peter Benchley on the boat for the American Sportsman, we whipped a 200-lb. swordfish in eleven minutes - of course, we spent a half-hour holding onto him with the gaff, but we had him to the boat in less than quarter of an hour.
"How do you get a big fish up so fast? We'll, one thing's for sure, you can't out-muscle him. You have to pressure him, but with the proper amount of pressure. Don't walk them around the boat, don't idle. These fish know how to swim, if you take it easy, they'll keep swimming for ten hours! What you have to do is apply steady, constant pressure. Do it right and you can whip any fish.
"Believe it or not, you don't need real heavy gear to beat a big shark. In fact, you've got to match the gear as much to the angler as to the fish. You can't hand most ladies or even small men an 80-lb. stand-up outfit, it's just too big for them to handle comfortably. They'd be better off with 30- or 50-lb. gear. Just keep in mind that you have to apply steady, constant pressure and this gear is fine. I can honestly say that we've never been licked on 50-lb. gear. Never had a fish out-fight us on 50. We had one on for seven hours once, only lost it after the wire leader let go.
"With steady, constant pressure, you can lift anything on a 50-lb. setup. We once had a giant tuna die on us, sank right down to the bottom. We were in a rowboat back then and I hand-lined that fish all the way up - all 700 lbs. of him. I raised that fish with my fingers, inch-by-slow-painful-inch on 50-lb. test.
"Slow, steady pressure. That's what you've always got to keep in mind when the big one grabs your bait."
● Check back, more Mundus to come with his thoughts on "Jaws," shark mania, how he caught his giant great white, and changes in shark catches over the years.