Big Shark Takes A Bite At Stonington Fishermen’s Gear

“It was startling, I guess,” recalled one of the two guys aboard the lobster boat off the coast of Stonington.

According to a story in this week's Ellsworth American, two fishermen from Stonington had a definite "Jaws" type encounter while pulling traps around Fog Island, which is between Isle Au Haut and Swan's Island.

Now imagine this.  It's a beautiful day and you're out on the water pulling traps like you have been for 50 years, and as one trap is coming up to the boat's railing a 12 to 15 foot shark with a body the size of a 55 gallon barrel comes up out of nowhere and grabs it.

Surprise, surprise. That's what happened to Donnie McHenan and his sternman, Mike Thompson, on the morning of Saturday, September 5th.

The big shark let go of the gear and disappeared back into the water, briefly, before coming back up again like it wanted to jump into the boat.  Yeah, quite startling, really.

Was it a Great White? In describing the size of the shark Donnie McHenan told the Ellsworth American, "You couldn’t get your arms around it, but you wouldn’t want to."

Even though the weather and seas were good for lobstering these two well seasoned vets hauled just a couple of more traps before heading back to Stonington, apparently they had seen enough of the water for the day.

"I don’t like sharks. Never did," said Donnie McHenan.