Another OC sharkin' report 6/13

[Hroonk]

Headed to the hambone first thing in the morning. Trolled five lines for bluefins anticipating finding bluefish. Had enough choppers for bait within 45 minutes of trolling, but hung out for a wishful bluefin. By 0830 and no bluefin love, we decided to set up for sharks.

Got the slick out nice and had a good drift going by 0930. Was thinking about repositioning around noon after not seeing anything too exciting when the close rod with a whole bluefish fillet went off. I fed it, and fed it, and fed it - the damn thing wouldn't run with it......After a good 25 count, I set the hook. Passed the rod to the angler thinking it might be a blue shark b/c it just didn't want to fight. Withing a few minutes I could see that it was a decent mako and had the leader in my hand. The WAY green fish was about 6.5' long. When it ran at the boat side it slingshoted by the line and aired out ~20' in front of the boat - not really being sharkers, we all WANTED this fish.

Within another couple of minutes with still not much fighting, we had it boatside again. This time, while getting ready for the shot, the mainline somehow wrapped around the rod tip....fish ran and BAM, gone. That was it for us.

So I am not a sharker and have some questions for the pros out there.

First, how much does a 6-6.5' mako weigh?

How long does a fight usually last on 50 class gear?

The fish was still very green and I wanted the thing away from the boat so we could fight it before shooting/gaffing it. Looking back on it, two things come to mind. I could have

a) repeatedly set the hook to piss it off and get it away from the boat to tire out before handing the rod off

b) started the boat up and motored away from it.

I thought about starting the boat up, but at that time, the leader came up for the second time....then the line broke.

Any comments?

Longfin, Bills 4 Bill - good talking to you out there and congrats bills 4 bill on your thresher.

Larry
My Turn

[Green Machine]

Larry, sorry to hear you lost the fish... I'll give my answers below and perhaps a few of the real pros will comment.

First, how much does a 6-6.5' mako weigh?

This depends, especially if it is a male or a female, but you are talking 72" to 78" roughly. The size range is anywhere from 125 to potentially close to 200 lbs, as a fat 78" female might be that heavy.

How long does a fight usually last on 50 class gear?

There is no particular expected time. Quite often the mako will come straight to the boat and won't put up a fight at all. They are apex predators and they seem to have a nasty disposition. I think they want to see who is pulling on them so they can attack, so they allow themselves to be coaxed to the boat. Of course, there are other times where the mako will immediately take off like a missle and shoot itself out of the water repeatedly, doing backflips, multiple 360 degree spins, etc.... almost like it is trying to wrap all the leader and snap the line. You never know what you are going to get, so the fight time could be 1 minute or you could be on the fish for a while. Bottom line, what happened in your case is very, very common. Threshers are a completely different ballgame.

The fish was still very green and I wanted the thing away from the boat so we could fight it before shooting/gaffing it. Looking back on it, two things come to mind. I could have

a) repeatedly set the hook to piss it off and get it away from the boat to tire out before handing the rod off

b) started the boat up and motored away from it.

I thought about starting the boat up, but at that time, the leader came up for the second time....then the line broke.

Any comments?

Yes. All makos must be handled with extreme caution since they are a threat to jump in the boat and are dangerous to handle. The fish you had was certainly a nice fish, however it wasn't big enough to present a real problem if you had taken your shot when the fish was at the boat (assuming you did it right).

When you get them up to the boat green like that, it is always a little concerning... but if we are going to take a fish (generally in tournaments) we will take our shot when we have it. If it is at the boat, it's getting the flyer and if permitted in most cases the shotgun as soon as we can do it. As long as you do both correctly it will bleed out and enable you to tail rope it and haul on board.

If you have never shark fished before it would be an excellent idea to charter a professional, especially to learn how to execute the end game correctly, or perhaps bring a pro or two along on your boat one time. The experience and knowledge you will gain will be invaluable.

That's my two cents and hopefully others here will share.

John

[Hroonk]

Cool thanks Jon....we've done a little sharking and killed a few, just never really had one so green at boat side and so unwilling to really fight. Usually they've been so tired at boat side that it really wasn't a big deal at all, while still using caution of course. But like I said, I'm not really a sharker. The guy with more experience killing makos than me got sick the night before and couldn't make the trip.

Thanks for your input....looking back, I still think the first thing I should have done was get the boat farther away from the fish to avoid the problems we had.

[Sterling Tackle]

I bet everyones heart was pumping in that short time. Tough one.

[SharkJP]

Tough luck on that one Larry.

I have seen your boat a few times in the Yacht Club Marina. We will be heading out this weekend for the Small Boat tournament. You going again this weekend?

[tunatales01]

At least you were able to fight a mako, many boaters this past weekend were fighting the bluedogs like us. As soon as we hook up the firtst thing we do is staret the motors and two guys clear the other rods. Once everything is cleared we will put the boat in a slwo big circle and fight the fish like that until it is ready to be gaffed then shot with the gun a.s.a.p. I would try to put a flyer in it as soon as possible and then shoot it unless it is a really big fish. If a big fish i would run away from it and in a big slow cirlce until it gets to the boat. Frist thing we do though no matter what is get the motors started to avoid the fish going under the boat. We keep the fish off the back corner for the entire fight as much as possible. Stick himm first chance we get. We want that shark on the flyer as soon as we can. That is just how we do it on our boat. May not be the best way but, it works for us.

[Hroonk]

Thanks for the advice guys....Hopefully I won't forget it over the next year, b/c that's when I'll be sharking again. Now that the bluefins are here and the yellowfins are tantalizingly close, the chum stuff will be put away until next spring.

Hey Shark, I was wondering if you were still in the marina. You still on that glacier on the southeast side of the lagoon? No, I'm not fishing the small boat.......my stupid ass got married last year on the 21st...I didn't know that would mean that I would have to give up fishing it this year also!!! It's all good though, for our anniversery, we're going to oregon inlet and hatterass...may try to get on a boat down there to get the little lady her favorite fish - mahi. My pops will be down running the boat somewhere.

We'll be doing the Canyon Kickoff and tuna tournament, though. Good Luck!