The captains from the New York Pro Am Circuit have once again demonstrated their keen competitive nature; in the dead of winter they banded together with Shark Cannonballs to create the 20 pound Mega Shark to be used in conjunction with the new series of heavy duty downriggers. It's only fair to mention Captain Jimmy Samia from Ace Charters was the catalyst that pushed the project over the edge. Cabin fever hit early this winter; Captain Jimmy was already planning his winning strategy to get a competitive edge over the other captains. He made the choice to rig his new boat with the Big Jon Brutes; not satisfied with the regular heavy weights he challenged Sharkman to "get serious". It worked, before long the other heavy weights in the Pro Am line up joined the program:
These captains pitched in to generate sufficient advance orders to finance the production of a new Mega Mold; they're not cheap: A-TOM-MIK Tom Allen, Coldsteel's Tom Burke, Captain Patrick Thayer Redline Captain Richard Hajecki Crazy Yankee Sportfishing, Capt. Bill Ruth Billy V Sportfishing. Woody's Tackle and Gifts, FISH307 Fat Nancy's Tackle Shop Captain Pete Alex, Vision Quest. Captain Mark Desantis, High Voltage. Captain Dave Begins, Dream Chasers.
Big Jon and Cannon have joined Scotty with some new heavy duty riggers that can handle some serious weights. It will give captains the competitive edge, the ability to fish down over 300 feet. Until now, there was just a few weights heavy enough to go down past two hundred feet, but none of them impressed the Pro Am Captains.
The Captains Survey taken at the conclusion of the 2008 Pro Am Series clearly demonstrated once and for all the power of the Shark Cannonball. 75 % of all the boats in the tournament ran Sharks; they won everything, sailing away with over $250,000 in cash and prizes. More importantly, most of the captains agreed it was the Shark that was actually attracting the fish; they have know this for the past eight years. It was the same group of captains from New York that led the way six years ago with the 15 pound Shark. Most of the charter boats in New York State have used the 15 pounder ever since.
The captains remember the frustration of not being able to reach the kings sitting in the water column down past 250 feet this past summer. The winners of the Pro Am were compelled to fish in the shallows for brown's to get their limits. The one thing for sure, is there is no light down past 200 feet; at those depths fish rely on sound exclusively to find their prey. The Mega Shark Cannonball will be perfect.
The new molds will produce blank Sharks without facets; we will hand hammer each Shark with exactly the same facet pattern as our original Sharks. Most captains understand it is the facets generating the sound signature that actually attracts the fish. (See the news story below; golf balls/Mako Sharks swimming fast)
The Mega Shark will enable you to reach depths of 350 to 400 feet under control. But just as important, the big Shark will give you a huge advantage at regular depths. It is much bigger than the 15 pound Shark, displacing way more water and generates a sound signature that is greatly amplified.
The Mega Sharks will be available in a high tech polyester powder coating finish; (poly-chrome) the same material and finish used on professional football helmets. This will enable us to improve the old painted finish on our famous Blue/Silver Shark; automotive paint does not adhere to lead very well. The upgraded version is called the Sapphire/Chrome. (See picture above) The Mega Shark will also be available in powder coating; Poly-Chrome.
The Mega Shark is a special order item from Shark Cannonballs; contact us at shark@sharkcannonballs.com to ensure you will get your Mega Sharks in time for the spring.
The minute scales - just 200 micrometers long - are made from tough enamel, such as that found on teeth, giving the skin a rough texture ike sandpaper. Lying flat, they had previously been found to reduce drag as the shark swims.
Some reports had also suggested that sharks can bristle their scales, causing them to stand up on end, so Amy Lang from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and colleagues decided to investigate whether this too could help sharks travel at high speeds.
The team created artificial shark skin with a 16 x 24 array of synthetic scales, each 2 centimetres in length and angled at 90° to the surface of the "skin".
They then placed the arrangement in a stream of water travelling at a steady 20 centimetres per second. The water contained silver-coated nanospheres, which a laser illuminated to reveal the nature of the flow around the scales.
Golf-ball effectThe experiments revealed that tiny vortices or whirlpools formed within the cavities between the scales. These vortices form a kind of "buffer layer" between the skin's surface and the fast moving fluid, preventing a turbulent wake from forming behind the shark.
Since a wake has a lower pressure than the rest of the fluid, it exerts a backwards pull on an object, decreasing its speed and making it harder to change direction. Eliminating this wake decreases the overall drag on the shark, allowing it to travel faster and move more easily without the thick, syrupy feeling humans get as they try to move through water.
"It's like the difference between pushing a box over ball bearings instead of dragging it along the floor," says Lang. The same principle explains the dimples on golf balls, which also create mini vortices to reduce drag in this way, she says.
