'REEL LIFE' Fishing
Here's my story and I'm sticking to it. I was invited on a fun trip on a boat owned by Travis. Also on the boat were Eric Newman, Keller, Blane and .Super bowl Sunday and we are going fishing for wahoo but will be back to see the game. Right! I met them at the dock for 3:30am. At 4 we are on our way out from the Fouchant. The weather was beautiful but cold with seas 1 to 2. After a little bit of a run we had the lines in the water. Jets, marauders, Apex plugs were all on the menu for the wahoo. After what had happened last week every one was expecting close to the same this week. Well not quite. There were no 5 line take downs, no double hits, just not much of anything. For about 10 minutes. First hit a rather small wahoo but still a hoo. Again the 5 lines go out and still not a lot of love but the Apex line goes and a bonito comes in. Lines back out and this time the Apex goes and a black fin comes in. This went on for quite awhile with most of the lines getting hit now and then. Here a wahoo there a black fin but still no multiple hits. Then finally a double an wahoo and we land one out of the double. Mostly it was black fin tearing us up. We wanted wahoo. Slowly we stacked a few fish in the boat and moved off to try jigging up some AJ's and also had a deep drop line on the bottom. I tried out my new HL speed jigs, Eric and Keller tried Frenzy Angry jigs. Red snapper were terrible. They ate up everything. The HL jig also caught almaco jacks, king mackerel and a monster sized Pearl Jack. Someone put in a amberjack along the way also. the deep drop only caught snapper and sharks. So now it was decision time, do we go in or try something else. The something else was another try for a wahoo. The lines go out and we watch as the flying fish are running for their lives, the black fin are chasing the flying fish every where, and the Mako's are chasing the black fin. We saw 3 or 4 Mako's blow up in the melee of fliers and black fin. Ten minutes into the last pass a line goes off right behind the boat. The drag is screaming out at an alarming rate at first but slows to just going out period. We all argued that it was a monster wahoo or a shark. We never really knew until the last 5 minutes of the hour long fight. I'm sure glad it was Eric Newman on the line and not me. The young guys can handle this kind of punishment. Finally we get the beast next to the boat and the flying gaff is ready. Only problem is I think the size of the shark spooked Keller because he missed a fish this size 3 times before getting the gaff to hit home. As soon as the gaff is set Kendal stones the shark with the 4th shot from the 45 cal. Now the real fun starts. For over 2 hours we try every think we can think of to get the shark in the boat. Finally we just tie it to the T-top and the back of the boat and let it drag. We could only make 25 MPH with the shark hanging on the side. All of this time the weather is deteriorating, its getting dark, we are missing the Super Bowl and we are all cold and wet. About half way to the dock its now down rite rough and the shark is bouncing pretty bad. Travis opens the transom door hoping the waves knock the shark into it. Finally about half way in a large wave tosses the big girl up and Travis pulls the fish into the boat. It was mostly the wave that did the tossing. We were all very happy that this fish was now in the boat and we could run a little faster and safer. We get to the dock and off load all the gear and other fish but we have no way to get the shark out of the boat. We decide to toss a rope over the 4X12 beam at the top of the boat shed and pull the shark out with a truck 100 feet away. Can't get any closer. We lash to the tail and pull but the shark stays put and the boat comes up. Its stuck in the transom door. OK lets pull from the other end of the beast. Well the same starts to happen again, the boat is coming up. It was one of those moments when enough is enough, every one starts jumping on the boat, shaking the fish, pulling - pushing and doing what ever we could to get this ******** fish out the boat. It all happens at once, Travis hits the gas on the boat we all jump and the fish flies out and lands hanging on the dock. Cheers all around from every one. At this moment is when the shear size of the Mako was realized. On a Sunday night with the Super Bowl playing we had no hopes of getting this fish weighted so we taped it out and she was 10' 10' long. The tail was 3'2' wide. The pectoral fins stretched out an amazing 6 feet. The girth was 5 and a half feet. This tapes out to the 700 pound range. One of the most unbelievable parts of this story is the fact that we had a Mako rig ready. Thirty feet of cable with a butterflied bonito. Only the Mako hits a orange and black 914 Marauder with only 2 feet of wire for a leader. The main line was 60 pound mono line. This was one of the most tiring fishing trips I've ever been on but also one of the most enjoyable ones. Thanks Guys for the invite! Capt Tommy Pellegrin 985-851-3304