SPORTS WEEKEND : THE OUTDOORS / PETE THOMAS : Case of Missing Teeth Has This Shark Angler Biting Mad

When it was alive, the big mako shark had a set of teeth nobody wanted to mess with.

When it was dead, however, those teeth were wrongly considered fair game.

Or so accuses Tom Brooks Jr., the Torrance electrician who subdued the 986-pound monster after a 3 1/2-hour struggle last Sunday near Santa Barbara Island.

It must have been quite a scene, but then so was the one that unfolded Monday after Brooks discovered that his prize catch was missing some of its front teeth.

The proud captor of one of the world’s fiercest predators came unglued before dozens of onlookers at Capt. Kidd’s fish market and restaurant in Redondo Beach, where the shark had been put on display.

Brooks went after the owners much as the mako had gone after the mackerel he used as bait. He said they were responsible for the missing teeth, which substantially devalued the jaw of his trophy.

Shoving, some cussing and even minor fisticuffs followed. When the confrontation was over, Brooks struggled with his emotions during an interview with a TV reporter.

He said he had been trying for years to catch a shark of such proportions. At 986 pounds and 10 1/2 feet, the shortfin mako broke the state record by more than 400 pounds. It fell just short of the 80-pound line-class IGFA world record of 1,075 pounds, and was not far from the all-tackle world record 1,115-pounder caught off Mauritius in 1988.

“My husband was raped by the people at Capt. Kidd’s,” charged Cheryl Brooks, Tom’s wife, when reached by phone this week. “He felt like he had won the Olympics and someone had stolen his gold medal.”

Harry Mills, 72, who owns the restaurant with his son, John, said the shark was missing some teeth when it was brought in, and that if any others were missing, perhaps they retracted into the gums while the fish was on ice.

“That whole Brooks family is a bunch of wackos,” Mills continued. “We had that shark on display and even cleaned it up to make it a nice display. Why would we take its teeth? It doesn’t make any sense.”

A DFG biologist who inspected the shark Tuesday said there appeared to be damage to the gums, and perhaps some cutting had taken place, but he would not comment on whether any teeth had been removed. He added that the steel leader attached to the fishing line might have knocked out teeth and damaged the gums.

A shark expert with the National Marine Fisheries Service said he had never heard of a shark’s teeth retracting long after its death.

Barry Andersen, a veteran shark fisherman who once put a 780-pounder on display at Capt. Kidd’s, said during a brief interview inside the restaurant that removing a mako’s teeth intact is a delicate procedure that takes hours to complete. He sided with the owners.

Whatever happened, the controversy lingers like the stench of bloody chum.

But some good came from all this.

For starters, they’ll be dining on mako shark for the next day or so at Fred Jordan Mission in downtown Los Angeles.

“The steaks were big enough to fill [the grill of] a Weber barbecue,” said Kent Williams, owner of New Fishall Bait Company in Gardena, where the shark was taken for dissection on Tuesday.

The liver alone weighed 150 pounds.

Inside the stomach were the remains of a seal or sea lion, which is significant to scientists because makos typically eat fish, not mammals.

John Ugoretz, a DFG biologist, said large mako specimens are rare and this full-grown female affords an excellent opportunity for study.

He removed samples of the backbone cartilage for aging purposes--makos are believed to live 15-20 years--and the internal organs to inspect the shark’s reproductive structure.

Little is known about the fastest and one of the most powerful sharks in the world, Ugoretz said.

But one thing is clear: They’re not much without their teeth.

MORE MAKO

An even larger mako was caught recently by a fisherman off the East Coast.

Massachusetts angler Kevin Scola, while fishing for tuna, hooked a mako that tipped the scales at 1,324 pounds. It measured 11 feet 2 and had a 96-inch girth.

Though it was caught on rod and reel, after a two-hour fight, it does not qualify for an IGFA world record because it was reeled in with the rod in a fixed holder. It does, however, qualify for a Massachusetts state record.

Scola sold some of the meat but was quoted as saying, “I saved 300-400 pounds of its delicious flesh for friends and family.”

EVEN MORE MAKO

Those interested in fishing competitively for makos can still enter the “Mako My Night” tournament beginning Saturday at 6 a.m. and running through Sunday at 3 p.m.

The team entry fee is $250, with optional daily jackpots. There are cash prizes, but 20% of the proceeds go to the Kids Awareness Program, which treats underprivileged children to fishing and boating.

A captain’s meeting will be held tonight at 7 at King Harbor Yacht Club in Redondo Beach. Details: Barry Andersen, (310) 420-0805.

BAJA BEAT

* The fleets at Cabo San Lucas and the East Cape suffered no major damage because of Hurricane Greg. But effects were felt by tourists in canceled fishing trips and postponed flights.

“As long as it goes away, I’ll be happy,” said Stacey Sparks of Denver.

Greg’s rains did temporary displace some of the poor in low-lying areas away from the hotel district.

Said Gary Graham of the East Cape’s Baja on the Fly, “With an increase in debris washed out of the arroyos by the tropical rains, we expect dorado fishing to re-explode in the next [few days].”

* Pepe Murietta spent the last couple of days beachcombing the East Cape. But you wouldn’t want to get near what he has been picking up: dead fish. A red tide is presumably responsible for suffocating thousands of reef and bottom fish, mostly triggerfish but also cabrilla, snapper and grouper.

Murietta, director of the marine park at Cabo Pulmo, said about 6,000 fish have washed ashore in that area alone.

If a red tide indeed is responsible, the phenomenon posses no threat to humans. Murietta pointed out that “vultures and hermit crabs have been eating a lot of the dead fish, and not any of them are dying.” It is hoped that Greg has flushed away the problem.

ALBACORE SCORE

The local overnight fleet has found it increasingly difficult to reach the elusive tuna, which for the most part have moved well offshore. The San Diego fleet is even having to travel 85-90 miles. Best bet is to pay a little more and board a 1 1/2- or two-day boat, or risk a dry run.

The Polaris Supreme out of Fisherman’s Landing is in the middle of the first nine-day trip of the season and already its hold is bulging. Day 1 produced hundreds of albacore just beyond 150 miles. Day 2 at the Alijos Rocks, halfway down Baja, produced dozens of 20- to 50-pound yellowtail, and Day 3 produced a wide-open wahoo bite, and more than 200 fish were plopped on the deck.

The presence of so many exotics ought to make be an interesting fall. Exotics are also showing up north, from fair-sized albacore off Morro Bay to humongous, but line-shy, bluefin tuna off Santa Cruz.

WINDING UP

Surf’s up--well, it’s not totally flat, anyway--and just in time for the Malibu Surfing Assn.’s annual club contest, the largest amateur meet on the West Coast with more than 250 competitors.

The spectator-friendly longboard event, all day Saturday and Sunday at Surfrider State Beach in Malibu, features contestants ranging in age from 10 to 80. Among those expected are longboard world champion Joe Tudor and the venerable Rabbit Kekai, 78, an active surfer from Hawaii who will receive an award for his contributions to the sport.

Proceeds from team entry fees will go to Heal the Bay and the Surfrider Foundation.