Shark Fishing 08/08/05

[Pross]

Well, I finally got out on my first ever boat fishing trip when I got aboard Jo-Dan, one of the Shark Angling Club of Great Britain charter boats out of Looe for a full days shark fishing. I had been nervous in the build up to my trip as I haven't been out on the open sea in a small boat before and sea sickness was an unknown factor. I awoke early on a beautiful sunny morning but it was cold with single figure temperatures. The forecast was for a warm day and winds of 3 to 4 and, by time I arrived at Looe at 8.30am the sun was already getting warm and there was just a slight ripple on the surface in the harbour, sand eels were breaking surface everywhere being chased by school bass making me wonder whether a bit of spinning from the harbour wall might be a better day, things were looking good.

We left Looe at 9.00am and steamed south-east for about 2 hours or so before the engines were cut and the mackerel rods came out to get the days bait. The mackie were thin on the ground at first with just a few joeys being brought up from the bottom some 70m down but we finally got enough as the larger fish became attracted to the top by the scent trail from the rubby dubby and by 11.30 the shark rods were being set up.

The lines were all out by about 11.45 and I tucked into my sandwiches as we gave the fish a chance to detect the scent trail. I was just starting my crisps when one of the ratchets went screaming, this had been sooner than anticipated and took virtually everyone by surprise. The run had stopped and we weren't sure which rod had the take but fortunately one person had been looking "it's the cork float at the bow" he said. After a few seconds it dawned on me it was my rod and I grabbed the rod and waited for the second run that was anticipated by everyone. The regular shark anglers on board had said it had been a very strong run although not very long and the general feeling was it was a big fish. The second run never came and after I few minutes I had to retrieve the bait (slowly in case the shark was still about) to check if it was still intact. The skipper, Mally, was shocked with what he saw. The bait was completely intact other than a single tooth mark but the size of that tooth mark, about the width of my thumb nail, led everyone to believe it had been a huge fish. Several suspected it was more likely to have been a porbeagle, although they are usually caught on the north coast of Cornwall, rather than a blue. I was gutted but Mally was even more upset as the Looe boats have had a poor start to the season and he thought it was the sort of fish that would put them back on the map. He was also at a loss to work out why the fish had dropped the bait.

My bait went back out and immediately a reel went screaming again. This time it was the stern rod and the second run occured. Tom struck into the fish and had it on. After a fight of about 10 minutes the shark came aboard, a decent blue of about 7 feet at first estimate. The qualifying weight for SACGB membership is 75lbs which equates to 80 inches. The fish was measured and came in at 79.5 inches but forunately Tom has qualified for membership before. Things were looking good, the rods had been out about 45 minutes and the boat had one fish and a missed bite and we continued drifting along at a brisk 1.3 knots. However, the drift slowed and the fishing stopped completely without another bite all day. One of the other SACGB boats out that day had a bite but it was lost as it tangled up with the other anglers aboard so our one fish was the only one taken that day, continuing the poor start to the season for the skippers. 2 of the others aboard fished the bottom throughout the day on their second rods and took a good bag of whiting using baited feathers including one of around 3lb and the rest of us had a slow day trying to pick up a few mackerel for the skippers evening conger outing.

By 3.00pm it was time to start heading back. The sea, which had had the slightest of swells in the morning, was like black glass by this time and the sun had been blazing all day. We returned to port at 5.00pm with decent sun tans and a fish which was more than the other boats had managed. Will I go again? Well, I was told before leaving that shark fishing can be slow and boring and it certainly helps to have a second rod for some sport while waiting but I have to go back now or I'll be rueing the one that got away for the rest of my life although I'll probably never catch one of that size (the teeth of the 75lb fish caught must have been less than half the size of the tooth mark in my bait!). For all the waiting that moment of picking up the rod and wondering if the second run is going to come or not was worth the £40 on it's own although I'm still disappointed that I didn't at least get into the fish to enjoy the scrap. I'll post a piccy of the shark we landed once a get a chance.

[Norfolkboy]

Lovely read Mark, sounds like you had a great day. Shame you land or even hook up into the beasty that had a nip at your bait, but that's fishing.

[pingu]

Great report on what sounds a great day there mark, pity about the fish, but if we caught everytime we would never go back.

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Brill read mate

You will be back and next time it will not get away

Any pics mate

[Rob M]

Brilliant report mate! Look forward to the next one! Looe is a beautiful place, been there a couple of times

Rob

[Pross]

OK, here's the picture of Tom's 75lb blue taken on the trip. Sorry it's not brilliant but it's hard getting a good position when a 7.5 foot shark is thrashing around the deck of a small boat!