11-26-2009, 06:40 AM
This past Monday (Nov 23rd) my son in law and I went on a guided fishing trip in search of sharks on the fly..
It was a beautiful San Diego morning. The sky was all but cloudless and the temperature was in the 60's. We left Dana harbor out of Mission Bay at 7:00 am.
We laid out a chum line about 7 miles off the La Jolla shores and then set up for our first drift.
Within an hour of starting to drift Jeff (the guide) yelled that there was a shark in the water. I grabbed a 10 wt scott rod rigged with a bright yellow tube fly. Jeff teased the shark in with a large fly that had about half of a large sardine hooked on it. He pulled the fly into mine and then jerked it out of the water. As I watched the shark turned and took my fly. One quick hard jerk on the fly line and the shark was hooked and the fight was on. I have never had any fish pull so hard on any type of line on any rig before. I had to circle the deck of the boat twice to keep control of it. At one point I backed off the drag a little and the shark took of making the reel sing.
After a few moments the shark stopped taking my line and that is when I started pulling him in. He still fought hard and I swear he bent the rod near in two. Less than 10 minutes after hooking it I had the shark to the side of the boat. Even then he was pulling and tugging the line hard.
I was a two and a half foot mako shark that Jeff guessed weighed in at 15 - 17 pounds. I was amazed at how hard it had fought for its size. Jeff told us that the mako pound for pound are the hardest fighting and strongest of any sharks in the water. He also stated that it is very rare to see a mako this time of year. So even though it was small it was special to of hooked into it.
Soon after that we left that area and set up a new chum line. We spent almost an hour slowing going south and letting the chum do its work. ONce we finished the chum line we started our second and last drift.
As we were drifting a seagull decided to join us. He stayed within a few feet of the stern of the boat for almost the entire three hours. I kept saying he was an albatross and bringing us bad luck.
We drifted for almost three hours and saw nothing. Jeff was getting ready to call it a day and in fact was packing up his gear in preperation for going back into the harbor.
All of a sudden the seagull took off and relanded off the bow of the boat. We all looked at it and thought that it was strange that it had decided to switch positions so suddenly.
About five minutes later as we were making final preparations to go back into shore Jeff yelled that there was a shark in the water. It was Larrys (my son in law) turn so he grabbed the st croix 12 wt and got ready to toss the fly into the water. Jeff teased the shark into the fly but Larry pulled to quickly and missed the hookup. Jeff teased the shark away and then back into the fly. This time there was a strong hookup and Larry was in for the battle of his life. This shark was bigger and was pulling line off the reel at will. He was also pulling Larry around the boat. At one point he pulled so hard that Larry almost lost his balance.
After about a 20 minute fight and the shark going in and out Larry was able to start getting it to the side of the boat. It was then that we realized the size of Larrys shark.
Larrys shark turned out to be a seven foot 120 pound plus beautiful blue shark.
Needless to say we were all happy and tired on the way into the harbor. It was a great day of fishing and I could not of asked any better result of our efforts.
MacFly [cool]
[signature]
It was a beautiful San Diego morning. The sky was all but cloudless and the temperature was in the 60's. We left Dana harbor out of Mission Bay at 7:00 am.
We laid out a chum line about 7 miles off the La Jolla shores and then set up for our first drift.
Within an hour of starting to drift Jeff (the guide) yelled that there was a shark in the water. I grabbed a 10 wt scott rod rigged with a bright yellow tube fly. Jeff teased the shark in with a large fly that had about half of a large sardine hooked on it. He pulled the fly into mine and then jerked it out of the water. As I watched the shark turned and took my fly. One quick hard jerk on the fly line and the shark was hooked and the fight was on. I have never had any fish pull so hard on any type of line on any rig before. I had to circle the deck of the boat twice to keep control of it. At one point I backed off the drag a little and the shark took of making the reel sing.
After a few moments the shark stopped taking my line and that is when I started pulling him in. He still fought hard and I swear he bent the rod near in two. Less than 10 minutes after hooking it I had the shark to the side of the boat. Even then he was pulling and tugging the line hard.
I was a two and a half foot mako shark that Jeff guessed weighed in at 15 - 17 pounds. I was amazed at how hard it had fought for its size. Jeff told us that the mako pound for pound are the hardest fighting and strongest of any sharks in the water. He also stated that it is very rare to see a mako this time of year. So even though it was small it was special to of hooked into it.
Soon after that we left that area and set up a new chum line. We spent almost an hour slowing going south and letting the chum do its work. ONce we finished the chum line we started our second and last drift.
As we were drifting a seagull decided to join us. He stayed within a few feet of the stern of the boat for almost the entire three hours. I kept saying he was an albatross and bringing us bad luck.
We drifted for almost three hours and saw nothing. Jeff was getting ready to call it a day and in fact was packing up his gear in preperation for going back into the harbor.
All of a sudden the seagull took off and relanded off the bow of the boat. We all looked at it and thought that it was strange that it had decided to switch positions so suddenly.
About five minutes later as we were making final preparations to go back into shore Jeff yelled that there was a shark in the water. It was Larrys (my son in law) turn so he grabbed the st croix 12 wt and got ready to toss the fly into the water. Jeff teased the shark into the fly but Larry pulled to quickly and missed the hookup. Jeff teased the shark away and then back into the fly. This time there was a strong hookup and Larry was in for the battle of his life. This shark was bigger and was pulling line off the reel at will. He was also pulling Larry around the boat. At one point he pulled so hard that Larry almost lost his balance.
After about a 20 minute fight and the shark going in and out Larry was able to start getting it to the side of the boat. It was then that we realized the size of Larrys shark.
Larrys shark turned out to be a seven foot 120 pound plus beautiful blue shark.
Needless to say we were all happy and tired on the way into the harbor. It was a great day of fishing and I could not of asked any better result of our efforts.
MacFly [cool]
[signature]
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