Years ago I skippered a shrimp boat working in the Gulf of Mexico. One day after a long night going after the brown shrimps in St. Joe Bay in Florida, we pulled the nets up from our last drag. While my deck hands were culling the last batch, I saw a school of jack following our boat to grab the trash fish. I put a big croaker on a hand line and hauled in a big jack. Not liking jack for dinner, I decided to use him as bait. After we dropped anchor, I used 1/4" nylon rope for a line and a big rubber balloon for a bobber, I put the jack on a 6" hook and threw it out there. I got no action for the next hour so I ate breakfast and headed to my cabin for some sleep to get ready for the next night. I took the nylon rope to the top bunk and put a loop on my toe to wake me up if any thing bit.
Well, I was yanked off the top bunk and pulled out of the cabin with me frantically grabbing anything to keep from going overboard. My deckhands grabbed the rope, allowing to free my almost purple toe. We watched as a big shark took the line, went under the boat, wrapped the line around the rudder and propeller, straightened the hook, and freed itself.
I tugged on the rope, found it tightened down below, and couldn't free it. I said: "Someone has to go down and get the rope off the rudder and prop."
To that my deckhands answered: "Capt.! You fished. You untangle the rope. We are not going down there."
To say that it was a short but scary dive for me is an understatement.