And finally a San Diego horn shark!

Horn sharks are really cool fish, and they have eluded me. They're in San Diego Bay, Mission Bay, tucked in rocks and reefs offshore, and in the surf at night. They're everywhere around San Diego, but I haven't been able to find one to call my own. This year I made catching one a priority.

I started my earnest search for a horn shark in August when Steve was in town for a visit. We had a good location in Mission Bay from my friend Josh. In fact, I had fished with him there on several occasions, and nearly every time someone in the group caught a horn shark.



We got our baits out after sunset, casting far enough out to clear the eel grass beds. The rest of the night was a waiting game. I've become used to out-of-town visitors catching species that I still need - while standing right next to me - so I wasn't surprised when Steve pulled in a horn shark in the first 30 mins. I got a hit as well, but it was a small guitarfish.

Shovelnose Guitarfish (Rhinobatos productus)

After that it was bite after bite, but none materialized into a horn shark for me. Mostly it was smoothhounds and round rays, but a decent butterfly helped round out the catch.

Gray Smoothhound (Mustelus californicus)

Haller's Round Ray (Urobatis halleri)

California Butterfly Ray (Gymnura marmorata)

The night was getting late, and we were ready for that one last fish before calling it. Right on cue something bent my rod over hard. We assumed it would be a bat ray, the surf tractor of the sea, but when got it to shore we saw that it was a big diamond ray! I forgot all about horn sharks as we scrambled up the rocks to do a photo shoot. Afterward, Steve and I agreed that the night went well with him getting the shark and me getting the ray, since he already had the ray from a past trip to Mexico.

Diamond Stingray (Dasyatis dipterura) - new hook & line species #644

I managed to avoid thinking about horn sharks in September, but in October I was back at it again. The water was still warm from the summer, but it would be dropping soon. I'll admit that I started to become superstitious about the person next to me always catching the horn shark, so I went by myself to eliminate that possibility. It has been a while since I used the auto timer on my camera, so I took some practice shots. Just imagine a beautiful big horn shark in my hands!

It turned out to be an extremely slow night, with the only catches being a couple of smoothhounds and one extremely small guitarfish. It beat wearing the stripe, but it's too bad one of them couldn't have been a little horn shark instead.

Gray Smoothhound (Mustelus californicus)

Shovelnose Guitarfish (Rhinobatos productus)

This was the smallest guitarfish I've seen, and one thing that stuck out to me was the sharp scutes along it's back, similar to the "thorns" on a thornback. It makes sense that the juveniles need a little extra protection, but I wonder why they don't just keep them as adults. Guitarfish really don't have any defense other than their camouflage.

My next horn shark attempt was in November, and this time Josh and my running friend Ryan joined me. It was another slow night. We were definitely into fall, and the water temps were dropping. I caught a couple of round rays, and Josh caught a small diamond ray with two barbs on its tail. Can you guess what Ryan caught? That's right, a great big horn shark. Unfortunately it unhooked itself in the water as I was trying to grab it, so we didn't get a photo. It was a tough way to end the night.

Haller's Round Ray (Urobatis halleri)

Diamond Stingray (Dasyatis dipterura)

Finally it was December, my last chance of catching a horn shark in 2019. I invited two of the researchers I had recently met from Scripps, Jimjohn and Zach, to join me. Zach was interested in having a live horn shark to use in one of his research projects, but I think mostly the two of them came out to enjoy a nice evening outside. After all, my track record of catching horn sharks was pretty dismal.

This was the slowest night yet for this location. Not even the round rays or smoothhounds would show up. The hours ticked by, and I was feeling defeated. But then... my rod tip bounced a little, I felt something small on the other end, and I reeled in the fish I had been looking for, a San Diego horn shark. Mission accomplished.

Horn Shark (Heterodontus francisci) - new hook & line species #649

I was so happy about this catch that I took a photo of it from every angle. It was covered in cute little black spots, and you can see the horns at the base of it's two dorsal fins.

It's belly and fins were also covered in the same black spots. Adorable!

From above it's head looks like a little dinosaur. A really cute dinosaur.

But then things get weird when you take a look at it's mouth. It's like a cute little pig somehow crossed with a cute little wood chipper.

I've run out of things to say about this fish, but here's a view of it's mouth from below. Pig crossed with wood chipper crossed with cute alien. It's impossible not to love it.

I held the shark in the water while Zach jogged back to his car to get his bucket and aerator. We were lucky it was such a small specimen, because a larger one probably wouldn't have fit. I packed up my fishing gear, and the little lady (it was a female horn shark) headed off to Scripps.

I've considered horn shark to be my nemesis for so long, now that I've caught one I'm not sure what should take it's place. Midshipman, cabezon, and staghorn sculpin come to mind. I'll have to give it some more thought and officially declare a nemesis for 2020. Stay tuned!