Mako Mania Rules wrong ?

[algdog]

saturday fished the tournament. me and one other boat sitting at the bell buoy at 6am
every other boat had left earlier and was running

the printed rules #6 state no boat shall pass bell before 6am

did they change the rules and not change the written rules?

did attend the captain's meeting and no mention of a change on rule #6

anyone know the real story?

[Deep C]

I think with the congestion they had they made the radio call to get going... I cleared about 5:50 and there were guys out to the horizon already... I heard somebody ask and the committee just said go...

[LuckyLady]

From thier website
Mandatory Check-out will be required, between 5:30AM and 6:00AM on the morning(s) you intend to fish. The check-out location and procedure will be announced at the Captains meeting.

http://www.makomanianj.com/rules.htm

[algdog]

if they made that call? I never heard it

can a committee boat make a sudden rule change the morning of the tournament?

did one boat go early and everyone said screw the rules?

[Green Machine]

They did change the rule this year and it was announced at the Captains meeting. I agree with you that they should have done a better job of making sure everyone understood the rule.

[Capt. Brian Daley]

They did change the rule this year and it was announced at the Captains meeting. I agree with you that they should have done a better job of making sure everyone understood the rule.

Hey Green Machine how the mako trolling been for this year for ya Got some
new lures to start trolling with good luck

and as for waiting at the marker as soon as the boats broke the inlet there
were off like a bat out of hell WOT we tryed to call committe but with all the
checking out of boats you would never get a hold of someone just cause
more problems interfearing with broadcasting so off everybody went

[RobB]

I thought they said at capt. meeting check out starting at 5:30 then you can go after that, no shot gun start

[Green Machine]

Hey Brian,

I have trolled several times inshore this year before MM - in the mudhole and north fingers areas - without much success. I have had three huge hits which I think were thresher tail smacks all in the mudhole area. I sharpen the crap out of my hooks but they never stuck. One hit almost ripped the outrigger off the boat and made a 50-120 lb class rod lay down flat so I think it was a decent fish. Another missed strike was followed up with a boil five wakes back on a ballyhoo that I had set out for the small bluefins in the vicinity - again no hit though.

For Mako Mania we did our trolling thing Saturday in the area we like to fish south of the triples with no success whatsoever. Not even a touch the entire day. We started to question whether the conditions and average at best clarity of the water in the area made trolling less effective or something. Also perhaps the lack of bluefish in the area might be a concern - there were obviously a ton of makos there but they must be keying on something else and there is a lot of bait in the area.

Given the amount of fish caught on bait on Saturday and that we really wanted to at least hang a fish for surf & offshore we decided to revert back to Gak fishing on Sunday. We fished the same area, had three makos come to the boat that would not eat. They seemed really spooky. One fish was better then 150 the others were smaller. Also had two smoking run offs that were likely mako or thresher hits that didn't stick. Nothing to show for the day but a bunch of blue dogs including one real big one that we caught twice before he would leave!

BTW - I happen to have heard the rule at the captains meeting that everyone could just take off after check in but I had to ask to confirm it. They definitely should have done a better job informing people of that change. Wasn't fair to the guys that thought they had to hang around.

How did you guys do in the tournament?

John

[Capt. Brian Daley]

Hey John I didnt hear the change of rule at the meeting but its not fair for
the guys in the river and on the other side of the R/R birdge waiting to call in
I know on saterday when both turneys are jammed together its a real miss
in the inlet not fun. have not tryed trolling this season yet but when
conduction are right I will, fished on sunday bluesharks every 15 min all day long we have good life a couple of whales breaking and big sharks free jumping
so we stayed and had a 900-1000 lb Great White stay under and swam aorund
our slik for an hour and of course the sharks took off so we had to move and
reset w/ just one one bluedog the the day (but we jigged up a 25lb pollack
off the bottom)

[Green Machine]

Hey Brian,

I totally agree with you on the rules side hopefully that does not happen again.

That stinks to run into the white during tournament time but that had to be cool to see up close! I bet that pollack tasted good - at least you got some meat in the boat!

Please let me know if you do troll sharks. We are sticking with it and are trying our best to get good at it. It is a lot more fun IMO (when it works of course). I'll let you know if we have any success over the next month.

We are still planning on trolling for the Monster Shark since we will be targeting Threshers.