Suddenly one of the guys sitting on the gunwale jumped up, hollered and pointed down into the water. We all looked over the side and watched the ominous shape of a large phantom glide gracefully under the boat. I saw enough of it to recognize it as a mako. The sight was enough to give us chills and goosebumps.
We were aboard my charter boat WaveWalker, several miles off the backside of the Channel Islands near the boundary of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, off Santa Cruz Island. We had been drifting casually with a slow current and light breeze, metering out chum, while soaking live mackerels and chunks of fish.
It felt fishy out there that day, and our hopes were high.
We didn’t wait long. One of our heavy reels, a Daiwa 2-speed spooled with 80-pound monofilament line and a coated steel leader double-sleeved to a 9/0 hook, and mounted on a Seeker SC 665H Classic rod, zipped loudly but briefly. One guy picked it up out of the rod holder and looked to me for advice. I motioned for him to wait.
The rod tip bounced a couple of times as the shark got a better bite on the bait, and then the reel screamed as that phantom raced off.
“NOW!” I bellowed from the bridge. The angler spun the drag down, started reeling, and set the hook hard enough to drive it through tough rawhide leather.
I always drift with the reel in gear, the clicker on, and the drag backed off completely. This prevents a backlash which occasionally occurs when a shark or other big game fish hits hard on the run, with the reel out of gear and only the clicker to slow the spool.
To set the hook and fight the fish, we spin down the drag and then adjust it after the hookup. We turn off the clicker when it becomes a loud nuisance.
We had a pretty big shark hooked up. I estimated it at more than 200 pounds. I helped the angler make the shark work hard, by coaching him to lift the stout rod and make the shark bend it. We watched in awe as the shark made a couple of prolonged runs, taking more than half the line off the spool.
An hour in, the battle still was not decided. The shark came near the boat twice, but it wasn’t quite close enough to touch the leader.
After a third pass, the shark made a couple of rapid rolls and wrapped the leader around a fin. Now the mono line was against the shark’s rough abrasive skin back by the tail and the line parted before the brute could be brought to leader.
It’s a heartbreaker, but when dealing with large prime predators, it just doesn’t always go smoothly. We were going to release that big shark anyway, but we could not honorably pronounce it “caught” because we hadn’t quite brought it to leader.
It was a productive area, and it was obviously a fine day for sharking, so we set up another drift, put out the rigs, and began metering chum once more. It felt like another opportunity would swim along soon.
— Capt. David Bacon operates WaveWalker Charters and is president of SOFTIN Inc., a nonprofit organization providing seafaring opportunities for those in need. Visit softininc.blogspot.com to learn more about the organization and how you can help. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
