California Thresher Tournament results

[Captain Fred Archer]

The first shark tournament of the year took place out here this past weekend. It was a one day, winner-take-all thresher tournament with a one fish per boat, 200# minimum weight to weigh and points for released fish. 21 boats fished it.

Sea conditions were very nice and the fish were scattered along a hundred miles of coastline. Water temps ran from 55-60 degrees. Eleven T sharks were weighed in (8 came up dead), and eleven were released. Twenty two fish landed for twenty one boats ain't bad thresher fishing. Three of the fish were over 300#, biggest 375#. Some much larger fish were lost.

Winner was our Capt Tim Marking (wrote a couple of chapters in Secrets of the West Coast Private Boat Pros and a top shark guy and charter captain) with a 338# weighed and two fish released. Tim won $10,000. Not bad for one day's work! (Team numbers were low, reason reported was proximity to Mother's Day. Huh?)

*If you are ever out this way and want to take a crack at a thresher and see first hand how it's done, arrange a ride with Tim. The fish are usually a mile to five or six miles off, so a trip is pretty easy to fit into a busy schedule. I don't recall his website addy right now, so e-mail me if you are interested and I'll get it for you.

All fish were caught trolling. Several fish over four hundred, including one over 600# were caught a couple of days before the tournament. All of those fish were caught trolling too.

To my knowledge, no one chummed in the tournament.

Interesting stuff...Tim showed me the arm off his Cannon downrigger. A thresher strike broke it clean off! There's no mistaking a thresher troll strike...it is the hardest strike I have ever seen - like Barry Bonds whacking the rod and rigger with a home run shot! Tip...do not lock your downrigger drag down. For some reason a lot of threshers whack the downrigger ball or Z wing with their tails, get tail wrapped and then rip the downrigger right off the boat if the drag is locked down. If it isn't, they either run and come off, or they spool you. Be sure to carry and extra ball or two. I use 130 Dacron instead of cable. It's a lot less expensive, is easier to handle and there is no cable hum. I always have a partial spool aboard.

Another guy had an 80# trolling rod broken. Not while fighting the fish. It whacked it with its tail during the end game and busted it, right in the middle of the blank. Be careful of that blade they carry!

[POON MAN]

Fred thanks for the Report and the down rigger tip !!

You guy's got it easy out there !!!! that is a pretty good ratio of catches for a few day's fishing

[jwalker]

Hey Fred,
We headed out to the same numbers (Tim gave Mark the numbers) on Mother's Day with Jason and Mark Levine and gave it a few hours on the troll, One nice knock down and one tapping on the door but neither stuck, had to run in before noon as Mother's day came calling for all the guys.. Would have liked to fish the second tide..
Plenty of bait holding down at 50-100' would have been perfect for a downrigger...
Heard you where on AJ's boat Sat, good to hear...
JW

Yes, it's pretty damm cool to leave the dock and be fishing within minutes, on the troll, no need to lug and disperse huge quantities of chum and still have great fishing on Threshers over 500Lbs.... Next few weeks should be outstanding although water is cooold and shitty from the algae blooms.. 53-54 degrees

[POON MAN]

Fred you got out !!! That's Awesome man glad to hear it

Ok here's the big question for Johnny ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

will you be trolling when you come east this summer ???????

[jwalker]

Fred you got out !!! That's Awesome man glad to hear it
Great to have him out there on the water

Ok here's the big question for Johnny ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

will you be trolling when you come east this summer ???????

Let's just say last year I was hit with a $200 airport charge for extra baggage/weight and about $100 to fed-ex for a couple boxes sent in
Hopefully it will pay-off in some cake this year

I sent you an email about an hour ago Chris

[Captain Fred Archer]

Oops! Biggest fish in that tournament was a 416 pounder. No releases for that boat, so winner stayed Tim Marking.

Chris,

That was a one day tournament. And the facts are, about ten years ago thresher sharks were a very rare catch out here. You have to do it right or you'll never know that they're around.

Better watch out for that JW guy...he's seen the light when it comes to shark trolling. Sounds like he's brought a trolling tool box back there to use, too. Uh oh!

Did you note the water temps? If yours are the same or close, they should be there. And AJ got one five or six weeks ago in 55 degree stuff. If you go, be sure to look close for lots of small bait before you run long. And green water can be very good if that's where the little bait is.

Good luck!

[Purple Haze]

Was a GREAT time on the water with Bart, Shadow and Master Fred. (Read Capt. Archer and his kids.)

With my lately overloaded schedule straightening human teeth, I was able to meet up with my friend Fred for a day of Trophy TIME!

Coud not have been better scene for a day on the water and even better for a So Cal Thresher tourny. We were there but not registered as prticipants, nontheless felt the VIBE.

Glad to hear the number of releases and to see the action at the dock was great. Congrats to team Intimidator. We saw the flags flying as soon as we rounded the breakwall!! Hats off to the Dream Weaver. Fred was right when we saw your profile outside of the trench. Good job!

We are Lucky here to be able to step off in these waters to such a gret zone and to see it being cared for by a great group of folks.

Till next time!

Doc on a holiday : AJer

[POON MAN]

Purple Haze nice pics

The last remains of that vessel in the pics just finished rotting away in Menemsha a few years ago

every year it was slowly rotting ,,,i wish i took some pics of the old girl

were is that model pic from ?

[BigMike's8o9]

Great report. Fred introduced me to Tim, what a nice guy. Not only a great captain but a great hunting guide too.
He looks way to young to have all hius knowlage.
Now, if you have ever met Fred he looks like the old mariner and his sage and vast knowlage could be almost expected.
Fred did you fish??
PS I will be working at the new Bass Pro in CA, so stop in and say hi.
BigMike

[Captain Fred Archer]

Hey Big Mike, howyadoin'?

If you call riding around with my mutts on AJ's slick new 33 Blackfin fishin', I guess that's what I did. The boat is called "Dog House" and it is a full blown pro boat, complete with a tall tuna tower and you know how much I love those puppies. Can't climb up in one anymore, but I suppose that's a good thing, 'cause if I could have gotten up in that puppy, we'd have been Cabo bound for sure!

It was a great day on the water and although we didn't plan it that way, we came in and to the fuel dock right when a lot of the troops were fueling and weighing fish. It was like old home week there for a bit and it was really good to see so many of the sharkers. I wish that I had gotten a picture of that downrigger arm that a thresher broke right of the rigger on Tim's boat. He said that it was an incredible blast and it sure must have been.

Good to hear from you and good luck on your new work thing, pal.

I see that AJ omitted the fact that I kicked his and Mike's (another Mike) butts when we went inshore and tried for some bottom stuff for chow. I got a humongous (well, kinda humongous...or a little, anyway) sculpin that I managed to outfight versus nothing for the other guys. Yeah, he was a biggun alright...maybe ten or eleven inches.