Fishing on the Big Boy with Capt. Jason Neadel and mate Rudy and myself we started off an average night of swording with a quick bite 10 minutes after setting up, but pulling the hook. Around 8pm i am letting the short rod out and he grabs it on the fly...after letting him eat for a while I set up and fight is on. He screamed line for a 100yds and then i slowly winched him to the boat. Unfortunately he was tail wrapped and pretty much dead when he got to the boat. So we keep the 51" sword for the table. Just as we are letting lines back and the swords blood starts working its way into the slick Ms. Mako shows up. We quickly get the shark rig out, a 10lb hunk of the sword and after 2 missed chances FISH ON! She screamed out 100yds easy and then we had total slack and she was screaming back at the boat. Capt Jason caught up to her on the rod and I grabbed the leader just as she passed by and got her close enough to get the job done early.
She measued 128" from fork to lower jaw and had a 67" girth. No scales around Hillsboro are big enough, even Tom Greens only goes to 600 and he says he has the biggest scale around those parts. So the length girth formula puts her at 718 and the mako length weight chart says 740. Instead of letting her sit in the warmth overnight and ruining the meat she is cleaned and packed so she stays nice and fresh...
This is by far a once and a lifetime fish, Capt. Jason and Rudy are top notch and I feel lucky to have been a part of this experience, especially as leader man! This is an event we will enjoy for the rest of our lives!
Justin
canyon Runner Sortfishing
Congratulations man thats incredible. Like i was saying in another post i would love to catch a mako of the size of the one on the front of sportfishermen. Well, heck i would just take one as big as yours .
I see the bottem pic and it looks like the gaff's are bending alittle. So my question is how much gaff work was involed and how long did it actually take to secure him and calm him down to bring on board.
Just wanted again to say Congratulations you arew correct that is a once in a life time fish for most people including myself.
it took over an hour to subdue and secure him boatside...it wasn't easy man handleing her. After the first shot, we sunk the gaffs, and she went nuts and twisted two gaffs like pretzels...but he held on and lined her up for another and then she was done.
Thanks for the kind words! definately a memory for the rest of my life!
Justin
I think the one reason i like shark fishing so much is probably that hour you spent tring to get her under control. It really goes fast and mistakes can be leathal . Its a very big adrenaline rush tring to get them hooked up to the boat safely.
I would have loved to seen pictures of her jumping 15 feet out of the water like those sail shots you had the other day .
Hey did you read the article in the last saltwater sportsman ? They have a article in there about the mako that free jumped into a guys boat . His was only 200 lbs can you imagine a 700 lb shark landing in your boat lol .
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
Congratulations
