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Or should I say the three stooges versus Sharks. My friend Craig, his Dad and Myself headed out for a off shore shark trip, we were supposed to head to Mudhole, but on the advice of Capt Bill Brown, and knowing the knowlege he has, we made a last minute change to the CLAW. Craig and his dad have never really caught anything bigger than a striper and have never shark fished before, so we boarded their boat DOUBLE TROUBLE a 28 foot Conquest with twin 225 Mercs and headed out 36 miles , yes we asked are selves " what the hell are we doing. I"ve sharked fished with Bill Brown quite a few times but never had to set a hook or release a Shark, and although Craig has top of the line equipment and tex book knowlege, he didn't have any hands on experience. Well that all changed on August 12th........ The three of us made the run to the CLAW in about 1 hour and 15 minutes from Craig's family Westport Ma. beach house.
So we get to the edge of the claw winds are blowing from the north@ 10 to 15 , and seas are 3 to 4 feet, water temp is 68 degrees, we set up on the 20 fathom line and drill holes in our first chum bucket. The bucket goes over the rail and we start to drift at about 1.8 miles per hour, and so the waiting game begins! We put three lines out with bluefish fillets on each, about 1 hour goes by and Craig and his Dad are starting to question our methods of attracting sharks, Craig wants to throw our second chum bucket over also, I tell him one is plenty. I decide to take a 32 inch blue fish out of the cooler, I run 50 lb test through its mouth and drop it over the side " no hook" and tie it to a cleat. Within a few minutes Craig yells " SHARK"
He takes the bait with no hook, but drops it. He circles the boat several times, he was very curious and came within inches of the boat. I put the bluefish back out and here he comes!!!!
This is where the amature part comes into play some how the chum bucket lets go, and starts drifting out to sea. We put the boat into reverse, thinking the two lines are way out, well we wrap a line around both engines along with the 300 pound wire leader, the engines stop. At this point all lines are in the boat, the chum bucket is 40 feet away with several sharks circling it!!!. Craig and his dad are hanging over the water trying to free up the props when I see our friend coming back, with the glare from the water you can't see him, but the shark is heading towards the boat " I yell to Craig and his Dad " SHARK INCOMING" they quickly get back on the boat!!!
The shark wouldn't leave us alone, probally because of all the noise from freeing up the props. Finally One prop is freed and I have an Idea, I will hook the shark, that will keep him away from the boat, so I load up a fillet, Craig tells me not to do it they have enough problems right NOW!!!! I don't hear to well out of that ear and the fillet hits the water... Shark ON.................
Craig finally free up the props, the second chum buckets goes over and its fishing TIME... I get my shark to the boat, and then the tricky part, never had to release a shark, thats what mates and Captains are for, several attempts to hold the leader and cut it failed, the shark kept diving down, but finally with the three of us working together we cut him loose!!! We quickly toss out another bait, seconds later Craig has one on
The shark was a little tougher than the blue Fish and Stripers that Craig and his Dad were use to catching Craig gets pulled toward the rail at this point
After an hour or so Craigs gets this massive shark to the boat, as I held the leader we tried to measure his length onthe side of the boat, We all agreed it was 12feet LONG!!!
The picture doesn't give it justice, but trust me it was a big one!!! We eventually cut him loose and decide that if we catch two sharks at once we are in big trouble. So we decide only to have one line out at a time. Fillets goes on, hits the water and Craigs Dad " we'll call him Capt Wally from now on" has a shark on within a few minutes!!! After fighting this shark for a while Capt Wally needs to sit down and REST...
At this point we have several blue sharks swimming in our slick, we catch a small blue shark and he gets wrapped in the leader and as I'm unwrapping him a Mako, comes into our slick and attempts to take a bite out of the blue shark, we quickly cut loose the blue and toss a fillet back out, the mako takes the fillet and the reel starts screaming, I mean SCREAMING!!! He peels line out for 1 minute, straight down, then turns and comes straight back up, I'm trying to reel in the slack, but I have no chance......He's GONE. About thirty seconds later he come back at the boat and tries to bite the prop on the left motor for a second then dives back down. It was almost like we were being hunted.... All I have to say about the power of a MAKO is " WOW"
A few minutes later we had small tuna in our slick, I tried throwing a deadly dick to them, but they were gone just as fast as they arrived! About 5 minutes later the pole bends over again, I fight this nice 12 footer for awhile and release him safely.
This continued until the chum bucket was empty, each shark took between 20 minutes and 1 hour and 15 minutes, we only fished one line and never waited more than a few minutes to hook up again! We saw sharks the entire day. Our total was 13 sharks on, 10 were successfully released at the boat side, the others either broke the line or came off...Biggest around 350 to 400 pounds, could have been bigger!!! smallest was around 175 pounds! Craigs Conquest is a awesome fishing machine, and for our first off shore trip everyone did a great job. We will be doing this alot more this summer, and we are even going to enter the Oaks Bluff Shark Tourney in 07 or 08.
A special thanks to Craig and Capt Wally for having me on the Double Trouble, it was a great TRIP. Also a thanks to Capt Bill Brown, sharkin with him taught me enough hands on to get us through the day, and his seminars aren't too shabby either! Thanks Bill.... PS...setting the hook is the best PART And On the water Magazine, they have some great articles, with great info...Thanks Guys!!!
Thanks for the detailed report and photos!! I've done alot of offshore fishing and for a first trip you guys did very well. I bet your arms were sore for awhile. Too bad you lost the Mako, they are great on the grill.....I fish the Chesapeake bay and offshore Maryland and Virginia. Can't wait to get back out there after reading your report and viewing the great pics!!!
