Left the barn at 5:30am with Don, Pat and Tommy and rounded the hook into some large swells which was an indication of how the ride was going to be. We ran through some swells going 5-6' on the way out, arriving at the Monster Ledge at 8am.
Plan was to shark until our limited supply of chum was gone and then hit the troll. It was a relatively quiet morning as I had expected with "shark season" being over and the water temps 74-75*. At one point I turned to Don and told him I'd give him $20 to take a spoon full of the fresh chum he was working on, Pat quickly matched the $20 for a total of $40. Minutes later Don says, "hey, look over here" and as he opened him mouth and poured the chum in, Tommy ran to the side of the boat and leaned over. Rumor has it that no chunks came up, but man it didn't sound good! At this point Pat and I rolling, Don's trying to get fresh water to rinse, and Tommy's turning green. Priceless! A short time after, the first balloon comes free, but no click of the reel. Tommy grabs the pole and says he can feel him playing with it. After a couple of tense moments, Tommy says "got em" and we begin clearing the other lines. Tommy hands off to Pat and we wait for an indication of what's there. As it comes to the surface, Pat says it's a "blue" but as it comes boat side, I'm staring at a mako. It didn't really matter as it was 4' at best and was only going to be released but she spit the hook for us! Reset all the lines, and bang...fish on. It was a short but exciting fight as I grabbed the pole and moments later watched another mako pup breach and spit. Reset again, deep line takes off, Pat grabs it and goes at it. Then the largest mako of the day does the breach and spit as well. I didn't see it breach, but I was told in the 6' range. Reset one more time and all lines are sent deep, Don's turn as he now is solidly hooked and being walked around the boat. We get her boat side, a tagged 7.5' blue shark and still angry as she runs deep on Don who at this point hands off to Tommy and now the line has found the outdrive. Raising the outdrive, line comes free and now Tommy is on the swim platform fighting the shark....he hands off to Pat. Good thinking there! We get her boat side and released. Should have pulled the tag! Time to clean up and hit the troll.
Well, the brief trolling we did produced nothing and the wind and following sea was a little "sporty" at times. So we bit the bullet and headed in. A little wet, very tired but definetly enjoyed the day. Haven't decided on this week's adventure yet, I guess we'll play the 'wait and see' game.
Last Call
