What started out as just any other day, turned out to be one for the records. We had a an awesome family with us on our private fishing charter and we knew today was going to be special. With the seas flat calm and the ocean full of life, the fish were bound to be snapping. But little did we know that the sharks would be in close and feeding today.
The fish were snapping. We caught kingfish and bonita. I knew that with all these fish around, that the sharks were surely lurking and could be an option.
Mako Sharks are absolutely my favorite shark and I think the top predator in the sea and yes over the Great White Shark. A mako is extremely fast, get huge and can destroy big fish such as swordfish in a highly efficient manner. They start by chopping off the tails of their prey and the come back when they are wounded and finish them off.
Our shark today was no exception. This fish may have been a male as it wasn’t quite as big as the females we catch around here. The males can be vicious and come in for the kill immediately screaming drag and jumping.
Our angler did a great job battling this fish and we finally got it to the boat. The Mako Shark was a bit too heavy to get over the the gunnels and with only a short distance to our marina we towed her back.
Once back at the dock, we were greeting by reporters and anglers for our next trip that were all in awe. The mako shark is truly one of the most amazing fish to catch here off our coast. We are very lucky to have such a wide variety of species and this is why I love what we do everyday.
We called NOAA researchers and scientist to come take tissue samples for research as we normally do. They came out and got their samples. The fish was cleaned and none of the fish went to waste as their was plenty of steaks for everyone at the dock and even some of our customers use the head and fins for soup.
Here at Lady Pamela Sportfishing, our shark fishing charters are typically catch and release. We are in the tagging program and just about all the sharks we catch are measured, tagged and released so that we can learn more about them and protect their species.
The shortfin mako shark is on the only sharks we will keep as the food quality is extremely high grade, much like a swordfish and if our clients want to keep it, we will bring it back to the dock and make sure every bit of the shark is used. Otherwise sharks such as hammerheads, threshers, long fin mako’s, reef sharks, etc are all tagged and released.
Back at the marina, we got the fish up and onto the dock:
Here you can see just how big this shark was as our boat is one of the biggest in the fleet and it is almost as long as our boat is wide. To keep the kids safe, we decided not to bring the shark in the boat right away.
And is the shark on the dock:
And some of the high quality steaks. Great on the grill!
If you are looking to go shark fishing, now is a great time of the year. The tuna are in the area as well as bonito, and the sharks love to feed on them.
Tightlines,
Captain David
Monster Mako Shark Caught On Fathers Day
