|
The first in a series on Mako shark fishing.
By Bill Markland
This is the first in a series on Mako fishing west coast style. I hope you find some helpful tips that can make your trip more successful. Let me start out by saying that the resource on makos is healthy for the time being, BUT it’s up to you to help keep it this way. So with that being said remember don’t kill your limit, limit your kill and practice CPR .
I would like to start this series with what I feel is the single most import aspect of shark fishing, SAFETY. Let me start with a story of a friend that went out sharkin alone not long ago.
So it’s early morning and he heads out to fish makos off the coast, alone. So there he is out 10 miles off the beach and he hooks up with the first of two fish. After a short fight he gets his mako to the boat and he decides to keep this one for the BBQ. Just as he sticks the fish his deep line goes off and it’s game on. So picture this, he has one fish on the side of the boat, just barely tied off, and he’s fighting what appears to be a very large fish. After about one hour he looks down and sees that the mako has come untied and is sinking out, with the gaff head still in him. Lucky for him the fish was still on the line so he was able to reel it back to the boat and tie it off right. Now the whole time the fish that he’s fighting is running out more and more line. Please remember he is alone and fighting a very large fish. He’s now into this fish for two and a half hours, no fighting belt, no harness and it’s hot with now shade. Finally he gets it to the boat and it’s a very large thresher, over 350 lbs. It’s his biggest fish ever.
So let me recap this for you . He’s alone ,has a mako tried up next to the boat, with a gaff in it.He has his biggest fish ever and he’s all alone. He has no choice but to cut the leaded off on the thresher,as close to the hook as possible. As he is doing so he sees something below the mako. Once again the mako still has the hook in his mouth but the skirt is dangling down about 10feet below the surface. Just then he sees it’s a large mako, maybe 300 lbs. or so, comes up on the skirt and flies out of the water right next to the boat. If that fish would have landed in is 22 foot Whaler no telling how bad the out come would have been.
Luckily for my friend everything worked out ok. But as you can tell it could have been a disaster. So the first part of the safety issue is always fish with someone that knows what to expect and has experience fishing for big game.
This is part one on safety. Next time I plan will go over the does and don’ts of releasing a mako and the safest ways I have fond in doing so. Until then remember, Please fish reasonably and limit what you kill, don’t kill your limit. And practice CPR.
|
