Mako Shark on the fly

[chased]

Since it's been miserably cold lately, I been browsing fly fishing videos. I came across this really cool video of fly fishing for Mako Shark the other night and thought I would share it here. I hope this isn't against the rules....

[ame=http://vimeo.com/54174540]FOR THE SPORT OF IT- MAKO SHARK ON THE FLY on Vimeo[/ame]

Hope you enjoy!
Chase

 

[pkins44]

Great video thanks for sharing.

 

[mcnerney]

That was great! That was an awesome fight and some amazing jumps that fish made. I'm assuming when he says "slick" that what he means is that he is chumming to get the shark within casting range. It would be interesting to know what size rod and reel setup that you need for that size of fish.

Larry

 

[cptxkirk]

That was great! That was an awesome fight and some amazing jumps that fish made. I'm assuming when he says "slick" that what he means is that he is chumming to get the shark within casting range. It would be interesting to know what size rod and reel setup that you need for that size of fish.

Larry

I have customers that go out and do that....one of which is in her 80's!

Her rod of choice is a 14wt with an ABEL super 14! She specifically asks to only cast to the 100lb and under fish. So when upping it into the bigger Mako's we like to send people with 16wts.

 

[chased]

How much does a reel and rod in that weight range weigh in terms of pounds or ounces? Seems like your arm would be dead after a day of casting, not to mention fighting a beast of an animal.

 

[woodrivertroutbum]

Really hoping to get my first fly caught Mako this year. Fingers crossed.

 

[cptxkirk]

How much does a reel and rod in that weight range weigh in terms of pounds or ounces? Seems like your arm would be dead after a day of casting, not to mention fighting a beast of an animal.

You don't cast all day. As for the weight it's heavy but how you catch them does not require a ton of casting. You tease them with a lure so to speak and then bait and switch. So you "cast" very little!

 

[woodrivertroutbum]

Same trick works well for bluefin.

 

[lthrnk03]

That video was redonk-ulous!! His fly reel was the size of a manhole cover! I can't even imagine what it would be like to have that beast putting a bend in your rod. How does one simultaneously manage fighting a fish like that and having just crapped your pants?? :yikes:

 

[Guest1]

I'm assuming when he says "slick" that what he means is that he is chumming to get the shark within casting range. Larry

The thing with Mako sharks is, they are a more wary species than a lot of sharks. Getting one in range is not as easy as it sounds. One time for my birthday a bunch of my diving buddies bought me a shark dive in S. Cal when I lived there. We had a bunch of Blue Sharks show up in no time at all. We had one, maybe two Makos show up. It was hard to tell. It, or they, would stay way out at the edge of the waters visiblity and never got close. I tried to take pictues of them (or it) but you couldn't tell. To far away and not clear enough. They are one of the more spectacular fighters around though. And fast like a rocket. They have been clocked at better than 50 km/hr, and for being in water, that is smokin fast.

 

[theboz]

Have seen this vid several times and find it amazing! Dan nailed it when he said how wary and powerful makos can be! Blues in the Atlantic will show right in the slick next to the boat where as the makos may show 100 yds out and then drop out of site to feed . I've caught blues on a fly and it's basically a tug of war where as the makos Ive gotten on conventional tackle was a war! They are speedsters and jump without warning and go way up! I can only imagine how wicked a battle let alone getting them to take would be! Not that I wouldn't want to have it happen at least once in my lifetime!

 

[thorsten]

Awesome video - THANKS for sharing I never saw such a big brown trout :thumbsupu

 

[woodrivertroutbum]

You're right Dan, blues are big dummies! It is like they know people don't want to eat them anyways. When the seas are calm and there is a ton of boats out fishing the ledge the blues seem like they go boat to boat to see if anyone has anything to offer. I have seen Makos while spear fishing and even then they kept their distance even though I was the only one in the water. Is it summer yet!?

 

[wjc]

Great video. I'd love to get one of them on.

The reel the guy in the small center console was using is a Tibor spooled with a Rio Leviathan WFF, 550 grain head. I'm pretty sure it's a Gulfstream but could be the Pacific if he has huge hands.

As for weight, my older Gulfstream with the Rio Leviathan line (some running line cut off) and 500 yds of 65 lb hollow spectra weighs in at a bit over 16 oz.

I actually blind cast with mine a lot for extended periods (using a 12 wt line on that reel), and it's not something you want to jump into without working up to it, or it will almost ceretainly ruin the rest of your trip. But it is not so much the weight of the reel or the rod, but the weight of the line out there 9 feet from your hand that is the killer.

Makos here are too scarce to bother with. My hope is to get into the thick of the spinner shark migration one of these years. They migrate south right along S. Florida beaches by the thousands and they average just over 100 lbs. They are easy to hook but difficult to catch because they wrap the line around themselves when they jump.

Here's an aerial view from a chopper off West Palm Beach (like 100 yds off the beach). Each dot is either a spinner or a blacktip. Most are spinners.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxmlJSgZ8ik]Palm Beach Shark migration - YouTube[/ame]

Here's a blurry video of how they jump. Looks like about 4 complete revolutions in this jump.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTWcVEJnqhY]Shark Jumps Over Surfer - YouTube[/ame]

 

[mcnerney]

Jim: Very interesting, the way they jump with that twisting motion makes it look like it would be pretty hard to keep a line intact. that spinner shark migration looks pretty thick, I would think some of the commercial guys would be offering trips targeting them.

Larry

 

[chromebright]

cool, thanks

 

[Guest1]

How much does a reel and rod in that weight range weigh in terms of pounds or ounces? Seems like your arm would be dead after a day of casting, not to mention fighting a beast of an animal.

You don't blind cast all day for fish like that. It would be a pain quite literally if you did. They chum them in, and cast teasers with spinning or casting gear to get them in fly range then bait and switch them. When I lived on the ocean I found that Mako's are a less trusting shark and are hard to get close. Blue sharks will swim right up to the boat, you and anything else around. Makos stay way back at the edge of visibility. Hawaii that was 100' or better. Guam it's more than double that. San Diego even out far was not all that far (In close I was happy with 6' of visibility) but you would not want to be casting blind all over all day.

 

[woodrivertroutbum]

With makos you can tell that with age comes wisdom. If there is a group of them, the smaller ones will usually move in first, then medium sized and finally the larger ones. I assume that it is because the larger ones are more wise. Blue sharks are just big and dumb really, makos are just bad ass fish all around. Like the raptors of the fish world.

 

[roofish]

1st of all I Love San Diego & I believe I've seen that video before, if I remember correctly that Mako did 21 to 24 of those flips.

That is truly a once in a Lifetime God-given experiences!!!!!

That possible never happens again.

 

[sandfly]

Biggest problem I found with shark fishing is not to wade in shorts and try to catch sharks. They grab anything close to them when they are on your line.