I clearly remember my first taste of cannibalism in the fish world. I was maybe 7 and reeling in a small bluefish when all of a sudden a bluefish five times the size of the one on my hook pounced on my catch and severed my line. This happens all the time. Big pike eat little pike. Giant brown trout eat little browns. So how big is a great white shark that cuts a 10-foot great white in half in two bites?

Apparently about 20-feet long. Here's a bit of the story from the New York Daily News:

Swimmers were warned that a "monster shark" was prowling off a popular Australian beach, one that nearly bit a 10-foot great white shark in half last week...

Based on the bite marks, experts say the larger shark must be twice its victim's size...

The smaller - relatively speaking - great white was hooked on a baited drum line when it was attacked, and was still alive when it was hauled onto a boat off north Stradbroke Island in Queensland.

In reality, a 20-footer isn't abnormally large for an adult white, but it's impressive none the less. I put a lot of stock in baby bass imitations and rainbow trout-colored stickbaits for bigger trout, but I've never thought of using a shark for a shark. If we're talking flyfishing, it would take a hell of a lot of bucktail to tie up that imitation.

Do you have a good tale of fish cannibalism? Ever lose an average fish to its granddaddy? Did grandaddy make it to the net? - JC

Let’s talk fishing knives. Everybody has at least one; many will have several. And it’s a sure bet these knives are as varied as fishermen themselves.

The idea for this topic came up last Wednesday, when I posted about the list of things I needed to bring on board my boat. One reader suggested a serious rescue-style knife to be carried on one’s person at all times. A good idea. The Spyderco Atlantic Salt shown here is one such--the heavy duty serrated blade will cut through ropes and lines quickly anytime a tangle means imminent disaster. One-hand opening is a plus.

The pocket knife I most often carry is one of the smaller Swiss Army styles. The scissors are good for trimming leaders or cutting down flies. And they or the knife point work well for clearing the eyes of painted jigheads. The included screwdriver heads, meanwhile, let me sometimes tighten any errant screws on a reel. It’s much too small for filleting even a bluegill, though.

If I have to fillet a mess of crappies, a good electric fillet knife saves lots of time. For only a larger fish or two, a regular fillet knife is just as easy, as long as it is really sharp. Dull fillet knives are abominations.

Everybody has a favorite fishing knife. Curious minds want to know: What’s yours?

Some of you who read Kirk Deeter and Tim Romano's Fly Talk blog may have picked up that I paid them a visit in their home state of Colorado a couple weeks ago. A trip to beat up some rivers with these guys was long overdue. As often happens on a "Hook Shots" quest, the wind follows me. This trip was no different, but we persevered, had a blast, caught some fish, and even got chased by a moose.

This episode would not have come together so well without Kirk and Tim's help. I owe those guys. Not only did I get a crash course in Colorado fall trout fishing, but learned that if Kirk is making you authentic Chicago-style hot dogs, he'll go as far as to wear a white paper dog-vendor hat while doing so. Tim, I found out, will sleep in 40mph winds in a tent with the thickness equivalent of a garbage bag so his guest can lounge in a comfy tent that won't blow off the canyon rim. Good times all around. Oh, and we had lots of extra footage which I'm sure will end up in their blogs.

Hope you enjoy the show. -- JC

The most impressive--and useful--new fishing product I’ve seen for the coming year is a GPS-based trolling-motor control system from the folks at Minn Kota. A small navigation unit in the bow-mount motor head combined with a hand-held remote will automatically operate the motor so you can “hover” in place, for example, or precisely follow a pre-recorded track as you fish.

I’ll be writing about this at greater length in a forthcoming print edition, but the news is getting out there already, so here’s a quick look. A feature called “spot lock” uses GPS to record your position. The motor will then self-adjust its own speed and direction to hold your boat in that position, even as wind or current tend to push you away. That means you’ll no longer have to fight to stay in one spot while jigging a deep hump for walleyes, for example.

‘Record A Track,” meanwhile, uses the internal GPS to record your path as you use the motor to fish along the outside of a weedline, for example. The recorded track can be as long as two miles. If you want to fish the same path again, command the motor to play back the track and it will automatically move and steer the boat along the exact same path, no matter how curving. By selecting the desired motor speed, you can either troll a spinner rig for walleyes or cast to the shoreline for bass as you move along.

There’s a lot more to this, but I think you’ve gotten the idea. A GPS-equipped motor head and remote control can be retro-fitted to a variety of current Minn Kota bow mounts and cost about $400. Based on the sample I’ve tested (disclosure: provided by Minn Kota), the whole thing is just astounding and incredibly useful.