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It was an agonizing decision as to what species swimming in the vast ocean we would chase yesterday. Agonizing until the thought of mouth watering Mako steaks on the grill tipped the scale towards sharking! With a 15kt SE winds forecasted, the My Baits Dragon was out of the slip before 5:30am hoping to get into the deep before the morning breeze started. The easy run out of the back bay let us know we would get down south to our intended destination. Ten miles off the beach, morning greeted with an ominous looking sunrise. A wary eye would clearly be needed to watch the radar for a stray thunderstorm…
It was our intention to troll up a few bluefish at the Jackspot to fish live under the kite. However, apparently the bluefish were not made aware of this plan. After two hours the fish box had nothing to show for our efforts. Lines were cranked in and the bow was pointed southeast for a 12 mile run to one of our mako locations were frozen mackerel would be counted on to entice a set of jaws to a hook. Arriving at the location, which has a slight depression in the ocean floor, the chum bucket was deployed along with three rods staggered at various depths. A forth rod was set under the kite with an enticing splashing mackerel. Everyone sat back to relax and discuss all the topics that come under the title “what is said on the boat, stays on the boat!” Fortunately, we were just scratching the surface of our first topic when the unmistakable click-click-click sound came from our surface bait rod. Line screamed from the reel when the hook found its mark. Moments later, a shark skyrocketed ten feet out of the water as a shout in unison proclaimed ”MAKO!!!”. The shark performed a patented twirl & somersault ending with a large splash. Even 100 yards from the boat, it was clear we would kill this shark if the opportunity presented itself. Mass confusion erupted, which is pretty much status quo once the decision has been made to harvest instead of release. Everyone on the team was given an assignment. All the required tasks were covered with the exception of one…someone taking photos, oops! I’d wire the fish, Tom was responsible for sinking the flying gaff into the many pounds of dinners, Mo was charged with the tail gaff while Mark would maneuver the boat. Derek had the easy job – he only had to get the shark to the boat! Nevertheless, during all the chaos, someone did manage to get this shot after a 30 minute battle and the shark was at boat side…
Confident that the mako was secured tightly to the port side of the boat and could not jump into the cockpit, lines were again redeployed. It did not take long until the sweet sound of a drag let us know another shark was playing with a bait. Moments later a rod came tight on a Dusky which was released after a 15 minute tug of war...
Rods were reset and one more dusky was released before calling it a day.
The weatherman was mistaken with his forecast of 15kt winds, on our trek back to Ocean City the wind was pushing 20, however the crew of the My Baits Dragon didn’t seem to care as spray flew over the boat. Arriving at the slip, we had the opportunity to try out the new lift system we just installed while taking photos of the crew and mako…
I’ll leave you with this last photo, which clearly indicates why caution must be exercised with the business end of a mako!
After the mako was butchered into steaks, boat cleaned and tackle put away, another great day spent on the ocean with family and friends was embedded into memory…
John Unkart
Author of Offshore Pursuit
www.getgup.com
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