The real screamed! I was stood by the rod just bringing the other rods in i do wonder whether the fish had seen the flappers as I wound them in and had rushed down the trail to find the distance rod with its big mackerel flapper some 150 ft below the surface of the ocean. The real was emptying fast the skipper was in White Waters cabin preparing to set sail back to Milford haven and the calm waters of the marina, I picked up the rod and pushed the drag up to strike i then slammed into the fish the first strike I knew would not have set the big hook so i would down again and pumped the rod upwards again and again till the fish finished its frantic attempts at shedding the forged steel razor sharp hook and powered off once more. The skipper was now by my side strapping on my oversized butt pad and back harness the lugs snapped into the real as the fish stopped for a second and i got a chance to pump a few yards of line back on the half empty real.
For the next 30 minutes there was nothing i could do with her every time i got a few turns of line back on the real she ripped another 20 yds off then she swam up to the boat but stayed deep the skipper said wait for it she's just coming for a look sure enough 50 or so feet down we saw a flash of blue or ' Colour' as its known in big game circles i laid into her hard trying to keep her off balance the skipper looked knowingly at me as if to say 'save your energy she's going to do it'. As predicted a few seconds later she turned again the deep blue of her back now making her virtually invisible as she kicked her big tail and dived push a turbo charged shot of water though her big gills, she kept going she must have been virtually scrapping the bottom when at last she stopped, I put as much pressure on her as the 50lb mono would allow, the sweat at this point purring off of me but she ignored me and took off the hard won line yet again spilled from the big multiplier.
We continued this game of me pulling her 5 yards and her taking another 10 for about 30 minutes i was completely knackered at this point and i knew two things from events earlier in the day one that if i lost my patience with a big fish i would lose it and two that this was a very big fish. She made 3 more big runs each time with me fighting for every yard of line to bring her back to the boat. The forth run as about 50 yards and the skipper said now, now give her some shit son, go on lay into her so i pushed the real back up into the higher gear ratio pumped the rod till my arms burned i knew i had her she came to me with big wide shakes of her head but she had had enough, she was all in and then she was beside the boat what a beautiful sight as i touched the leader she was mine.
This was the last fish of my first sharking trip with whitewater see links below, in total over 6 days and 2 boats i boated over 3000lb in weight of sharks, i had some painful lessons when it came to tackle the main one i think being 'these are deep water sharks you need lots and lots of line'. Andrew is a top guy if you can get out with him you should.
I haven't been able to go this year due to a nasty divorce and having to cancel trips, i hope to try to get out next year if Andrew has any slots. I have managed to get out on a couple of other boats this year. I hope in 2008 /9 to go to Kenya for tigers as well watch this space.
Tackle
I have been asked about the setup and tackle i use while sharking so i have included some diagrams and am happy to answer questions and supply addresses for suppliers etc।
Drifting Setup
A plastic drinks bottle is attached to a knotted 10lb weak link this is attached to a clip and clipped to slip freely on the line at the right depth a peice of cocktail stick is used to jam large piece about 2 inchs of runner tube on to the line in such away that when the shark hits it the line pulls out of the the tube and the float slides free. Electrical earthing wire insulation is good for the tube the green and yellow stuff.
Trace Build Diagram
A length [8ft] of 400/600 lb wire is treble crimped with a 600lb swivel on this slides two 4oz barrel weights the other end of the swivel is crimped to a 600/800lb swivel snap. This is the running wire the length of this can be adjusted to suit. Clipped to this is another 600lb swivel triple crimped to this is a length [8ft] of 600/800lb wire i twist the last 2 ft back over its self to give a double thickness if anyone wants a better diagram of this i can send it email me at this end i place a 12/0 southern tuna hook with the bard crimped down and hand sharpened to a knife point all crimp points also have off shore knots applied again i can supply more detail on this if required. [ Hook size vary on bait size ]
Use full links:
Good information site
http://seaanglingorkney.com/species/shark.shtml
For lots of sharks this is the guy see the story above:
http://www.whitewatercharters.co.uk/
This is the place to go for gear i recommend 50lb outfits but Paul can kit you up for what you need , the only word of warning is there standard shop built sharking traces are to short and the nylon running leaders they recommend leave you liable to bite off, but if you tell Paul you need 16ft traces of 600lb stainless cable with a 600lb clip after 6ft with each connection double crimped you should be ok i would also recommend asking for the addition of running barrel weights on the running length of not less than 4 oz. Anyway he’s a good guy and i personally use the diawa big game reels and the star plasma rods from him. Real should hold at least 600m of 50lb line and be dual speed in my view. I also use a little 30lb outfit for the shallow rod this is a shamano tlb 25 loaded with 30lb mono this tends to get hit by blues but has enough beef in it should something a bit tastier come along. On my last few trips i have also put a 80lb outfit deep below the 200ft line, but that is because i believe there are big shocks weighting down there i bait this with a 10lb Pollock or there about.
Anyway Paul can help you out with anything you need.
here is his details :
UNITED KINGDOM Rok-Max (UK) Ltd PO Box 87 Truro, Cornwall, UK Tel: 44 (0) 1872 864422 Fax: 44 (0)1872 865845 http://www.rokmax.com/ enquiries@rokmax.com
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