bluefinforme

anyone in to it? State record blue is 107 pounds....we hooked into 2 last September over that but broke the leader

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~Capt. Ben
http://www.kristinKcharters.com

Lattitudechange

I haven't yet sought a shark on a fly rod. That doesn't mean I won't ever entertain it. I keep hearing a lot of guys are getting into it. You busted your leader, my luck I'd bust my rod.

74Formula233

Makos and flys are a good combo......

Seriously, you get a Mako swimming around the boat and start tossing a fly, damn good chance you're inf or some fun :confused1:

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H'Islander

I know i'm gonna get blasted for this - and I suppose I'm posting this polar-opposite view to solicit information that I might not have or understand about the issue....(I'm really not what you'd recall as an all-knowing intellectual type person...)...but...

I honestly don't get the whole ultra-light tackle thing for the sake of claiming a minimalist's approach to bagging a trophy. Please tell me your not C&R fishing apex preditors on light tackle....there's no way you can convince me the animal is properly revived before release. (I wouldn't be tailing a mako...YIKES!!)

Fly fishing orginally was a way of getting bugs out to bug eaters, the light tackle was a necessity to avoid spooking the wary stream trout, etc...

I guess that I feel that to exhaust a fish to the point that it can be landed on light equipment only risks mortallity for C&R if not adequately revived (key point) or adds a butt-load of ammonias into the flesh of something that you intend to eat. If you're taking the fish simply for the trophy, which is fine in my book, I trust you're breaking off any fish that you immediately identify as a non-trophy rather than wearing the animal out to get your $2.00 fly back....

OK - so maybe I'm walking down "Tree-Hugger Lane" a little here, and maybe I'm a little overly sensitive about the health of a few fish, but fly-rodding in the salt has taken off in popularity like the space shuttle from it's pad, and I have seen fads, in the hands of the uneducated, (another key point) take their toll on resources before.

I don't think I'm ever going to "get" light tackle practices like the deep sea kayak activities where a trolling billfish charter hooks up, launches a yak, and some knucklehead hops on and becomes a light tackle, human interpretation of a flying gaff, but I guess in light of the sizzling popularity of ultra-light tackle fishing I'm trying deperately to see the attaction of this endeavour as something other than some macho challenge to achieve greater dominance through finess (sp?) at the expense of the resource.

Or myabe I'm just a pontificating *******?

Roy

A Class All Its Own
Blood-and-guts fly fishing for sharks on the Gulf.
By Steve Kantner



Sooner or later, we all think about it. I mean cranking a fly reel drag down and seeing how hard we can pull. Friend and reel-maker Ted Juracsik did it 30 years ago when he trolled a cedar plug on a fly outfit for tunas. Call me crazy, but some anglers may be happy to know that the spirit lives on.


You can almost hear "that sound-track" as a hefty hammerhead closes in on Brian Saners' streamer.




For fly fishermen, the great offshore represents the final frontier. It?s out here in the domain of tunas and billfish that we still find quarry too tough to boat with regulation fly gear. Sharks?at least the large oceanic varieties?are prime examples. Although inshore fly fishermen have managed to land some pretty impressive specimens, some sharks of the open sea continue to elude capture. This, for a masochistic few, makes deepwater shark fishing with its attendant physical torture, worth the effort.



Chasing sharks with fly gear has always been considered an iffy proposition. The big ones suffer from limited vision and aren?t likely to pursue a castable fly. Then there?s the all-too-frequent problem of cutoffs, normally not the result of angler error but usually because of the shark?s abrasive skin. Stated simply, you can do everything right and still lose the fish of a lifetime. That brings the audience rating for offshore shark fishing down near absolute zero.

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Lattitudechange

Mabey true, more reason to stick around. It's an entirely different way of fishing, both physiclly and mentally.
Ultra light would be something like 4wt or 6wt gear. If your targeting bigger game then you would be using 12wt or 14wt gear. You would be suprised the power these rods have. Don't underestimate them because they don't look like a 5' tuna stick with a 50 or 80 on it.
It still is. When fishing a quiet back bay or estuary watching a bass surface to slurp its meal, I want to do everything I can not to disrupt it's feeding as to decieve it into taking my fly as well.
Most flyfishermen will use the proper rated gear for the species they're after. I will never use an underated rod and reel to catch a fish and tire it to the point of death. Why call it C&R then? $2 fly? I tie my own, They wind up costing between .20 and .50 cents each tying them my self. I'm a Piker, but I'm not that cheap.

Only you can truly answer that. I hope I've answered some of your curiosities

Lattitudechange

Hey Roy,
Any friend of Ted Juracsik is a friend of mine. Thanks for the good read.

74Formula233

Don't get me wrong on my comment above.....though Makos/flys could be fun, I personally fish gear stout enough to get 'em in as quick as possible. Both for tagging and for keeping if it's going to come in with me. That goes for any shark.

Anything C&R should be fished on sufficient tackle IMHO, to get it in and released without being exhausted and/or having "excess tackle" still attached :confused1:

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H'Islander

Toldja so.....

H'Islander

Latt-Change -
Thanks for the info - Don't get me wrong - I get the idea of a long wand being the best tool for stealthy backwater fishing, and I get the idea that many folks who cut their teeth on and/or are comfortable and versed with fly-fishing gear to take it into the suds - it makes fine sense -

But give me a little credit here...I'm not completely unfamiliar with the equipment - Just 'cuz don't get it doesn't mean I haven't looked into it....

It's just that I've bent my share of totem poles into a "U" over the gunwale for over an hour, some upwards of 3 hours, on 100-125 lb mono and I can't imagine the amount of time it might take on lighter tackle. Even a mako or thresher pup would challenge a 9 wt rod unless you play 'em to near death - or so it seems to me. Again - I'm not saying I'm 100% right, I'm just applying the knowledge and logic I've aquired over the last 40 years or so.

Granted, I have pals who are into it and swear they can whip a cow in faster on their 9's than I can with a heavier custom surf stick - that challenge has yet to be realized (we keep trying to hook up at the same time and run that race)

If the shark/fly record is a meager 109 lbs, a juvenile fish, it indicates to me that there have been some whooped 125 lb'ers breaking off after being tuckered out - again, this is purely speculation, but not unknowledgable speculation. Even On The Water Magazine has a video out of some knucklehead trying to land a 30 lb striper on 2 lb test line and releasing the fish. He hooked and lost about 20 fish but not before some were almost landed - meaning they were exhausted to the point that 2 lb test was adequate to control a fish that can otherwise burn the bearings out of a mid-grade spinning reel. Not cool, man....but just my opinion.

My point is that reviving a striper is possible and likely given the opportunity to do so. Holding a toothy meat shredder with fins is not likely and I just get the feeling that for every one responsible steward of the evironment such as yourself, there are 9 meat-heads killing juvenile fish in a fishery that is tenuous at best.