Tough few weeks

[JDP]

Just had some old sharking friends stay with me from the UK targeting mako's. Just before their arrival I was feeling confident of ticking the species off their list, with mako just about everywhere from inshore reefs to offshore, even the day they arrived a 264kg mako was landed. However the weather turned to pretty much to 2m swell on 1.5-2m seas for the entire period they were here, not to mention a couple of boats I had lined up falling through due to a split fuel tank on our first day and other issues.

So it was down to my 15ft boat to get us offshore each day. Seals were a menace soon finding our burley trails each day, then thieving us out of baits. We had mako's just 5m from the boat very reluctant to take baits and those that did simply grabbed and dropped baits, even live bonito's weren't enough to keep their interest. Whalers sharks on the other hand weren't so fussy and took baits without issue, however it wasn't those we were targeting. Plenty of hammerheads also checked out the baits but typical to hammerheads, none would take a bait with wire. A thresher smashed a bait on the surface but only stayed connected for about 30 seconds before pulling the hook. 
 

There was a fair amount of tackle failure, with 14/o hooks straightening and specially bought from the USA mako wire traces getting bitten through. I think a serious tackle review will need to be considered before heading out again. One day we had 9 runs to just one shark staying connected (which happened to be the only bait I rigged).

We worked hard at it but just didn't manage the target, one mako even decided to jump cartwheels in front of the boat just to tease us!!! We flogged awful conditions, I even got seasick and took waves both over the bow and stern of the boat but it just wasn't to be. However one of the guests managed to top up 47 species and some 250lb+ stingrays the local bearded greenpeace warriors wanted to string us up for. 

Weather is still terrible.

[Josh]

On 3/20/2024 at 1:52 AM, JDP said:

Just had some old sharking friends stay with me from the UK targeting mako's. Just before their arrival I was feeling confident of ticking the species off their list, with mako just about everywhere from inshore reefs to offshore, even the day they arrived a 264kg mako was landed. However the weather turned to pretty much to 2m swell on 1.5-2m seas for the entire period they were here, not to mention a couple of boats I had lined up falling through due to a split fuel tank on our first day and other issues.

So it was down to my 15ft boat to get us offshore each day. Seals were a menace soon finding our burley trails each day, then thieving us out of baits. We had mako's just 5m from the boat very reluctant to take baits and those that did simply grabbed and dropped baits, even live bonito's weren't enough to keep their interest. Whalers sharks on the other hand weren't so fussy and took baits without issue, however it wasn't those we were targeting. Plenty of hammerheads also checked out the baits but typical to hammerheads, none would take a bait with wire. A thresher smashed a bait on the surface but only stayed connected for about 30 seconds before pulling the hook. 
 

There was a fair amount of tackle failure, with 14/o hooks straightening and specially bought from the USA mako wire traces getting bitten through. I think a serious tackle review will need to be considered before heading out again. One day we had 9 runs to just one shark staying connected (which happened to be the only bait I rigged).

We worked hard at it but just didn't manage the target, one mako even decided to jump cartwheels in front of the boat just to tease us!!! We flogged awful conditions, I even got seasick and took waves both over the bow and stern of the boat but it just wasn't to be. However one of the guests managed to top up 47 species and some 250lb+ stingrays the local bearded greenpeace warriors wanted to string us up for. 

Weather is still terrible.

Sounds like you guys really put your best efforts in.

Hopefully they had a great experience still and saw much more than they normally would

[JDP]

5 hours ago, Josh said:

Sounds like you guys really put your best efforts in.

Hopefully they had a great experience still and saw much more than they normally would

They'll be back again, one most likely again later this year and both next year again. Both have travelled pretty well and caught hundreds of sharks in UK waters. I believe Danny has had over 60 threshers from his boat now and 200+ porbeagles. We used to work and fish together back in the UK, just felt bad not being able to get them a mako to the boat.

[Josh]

On 3/22/2024 at 2:56 AM, JDP said:

They'll be back again, one most likely again later this year and both next year again. Both have travelled pretty well and caught hundreds of sharks in UK waters. I believe Danny has had over 60 threshers from his boat now and 200+ porbeagles. We used to work and fish together back in the UK, just felt bad not being able to get them a mako to the boat.

Oh Danny Vokins assumably u mean.

well sounds like they’ll be a next time great stuff