On The Edge

Headed out friday morning from Falmouth for our 4th and last Shark trip of the season.

Crew was Chris (Hoopa drives the boat), Chris (Hard Core) Tankis, Tim Hendricks and myself.

This was a trip that ended up haveing the worst conditions we could have asked for. Foggy/Rainy (150'+- Vis) No resent Temp shot, No live or fresh bait, and we were going to target a location we have never fished (Tuna Ridge)..

We hoped to get some live blues for bait in vinyard sound but in typical fashion we could not find even 1. After 2 1/2 hours of looking we bagged it and desided to head out with what we had for bait, 4 fresh frozen bluefish filets and 25 frozen Mackeral.

The ride out was a bit slower then we liked at about 23knots due to the fog and heading into a big swell.

We arrived at Tuna Ridge around noon to find no temp break, no sign of life and only about a 5 knot breeze. Not haveing high hopes we droped in a bucket of out magic chum and deployed our typical 3 rod spread. Long rod was a bluefish filet, middle rod had bluefish filet with a skirt, close rod was a butterflied mackeral..Now the wait, and wait and wait and wait...

2 1/2 hours passed and no signs of life or activity.

As our hopes of hooking up on somthing were fading fast, Chris (Hoopa) desides it may be time for a little Nap. So down to the cuddy he goes.


Well needless to say he did not even get to put his head down and the long rod goes screaming with no warning.

It was agreed appon earlier that i was going to be first on the rod so i grabed it and just as i got the gimbel it in the belt it stopped and turned on me so i reeled like a a madman, a few seconds later it turned again and i was tight, so i crossed it eyes . Almost instantly we knew we had a nice mako on cuz she went to the sky and did a nice backflip 8' in the air for all to see, and started to peel line off the 50VSW again.


Well i get all straped into the bucket harness and prepare for a long battle, Rods and the deck are being cleard and we are preping for a chase. she peeled around 50 yards and then stoped for a min or two and then started to make her way towards us slowly. Less then 30 min later we got out first upclose look as she did a "swim by" to check us out and then down she went. 10 more mins and i got her boat side and we were ready take her.. Chris HC Tankis is filming, Hoopa was Gaff man and Tim was leader man.

Everything went exactly Textbook perfect Tim did a great job Leadering and Hoopa got a perfect shot with the flyer. When he stuck her she went completly Ape $%IT, Slamming the side of the boat, Death rolls with water flying everywere.

After the Flyer was applied and she was under controll, I backed the drag off and set the rod in the rod holder and got the tailroper. Got her roped off raked the gills and Game over... At that point it was getting late so we desided to call it a day, so while we dragged her we cleaned up, stowed the gear, and preped for the almost 50 miles back to port... we dragged her untill we were sure she had expired and then pulled her in the tuna door tail first just enough to get her out of the water so we could run..

By the time we got back to the barn and got out of the water it was after 6 and the only place we could find with a scale was Falmouth Bait and Tackle. We got some stats and pics and headed for home to do some cutting and cleaning..

She taped out at 88 1/2" CFL and 230 lbs

Here are a few pics of me and the crew at Falmouth Bait and tackle



This has been a unbelievable sharking season for Chris and I. We have been out sharking 4 times and have hung a fish every time.

#1 was a 207 lb Thresher
#2 was a 145 lb mako
#3 was a 130 lb mako
#4 was a 230 lb mako

I could have not asked for a better shark season and would like to thank Capt Bill Brown who had alot to do with it..

Chris and I attended one of his seminars this past winter and while I have not had the oppertunity to sit and talk with him 1 on 1, i did get alot of valuable info from it that i believe had alot to do with this years sucessful season..

Thanks Capt. Brown For sharing your many years of experience with all of us that are just starting in the game....

After our last shark trip Friday we Went east for some BFT Action on Saturday and ended the day with 1 knockdown which yielded us an 80lb butterball..

__________________
Catch um up

1999 proline 2202 wa
1999 200 merc

Bob & Mag

Nice catch and pictures.
What beautiful color in that fish.

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Smoke free 9+ Months!

fightingcouch

nice going we might be heading out monday around that area for some sharking possible. congrats on the makoooooooo

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Blake Conlin
tight linzzzzzzzzzzzz
F-troop Ch.68/19

http://www.lennysnow.com/history.htm

fightingcouch

what did you have for water temp at tuna ridge???????

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Blake Conlin
tight linzzzzzzzzzzzz
F-troop Ch.68/19

http://www.lennysnow.com/history.htm

Possum

Nice fish, perfect tasty size. Congrats on the score on the final sharking jaunt !!

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On The Edge

Blake,
We went blind with no idea of water temps except for a 3 or 4 day old temp chart that had between 66-68 degree water in the area west of the fingers to tuna ridge. When we got there the warmest water we found was at 66.5 with no break more then a tenth of a degree or so..

__________________
Catch um up

1999 proline 2202 wa
1999 200 merc

Captain Curt

Congrats on the Mako Nice pic's

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Capt.Curt Maxon
www.relentlesscharters.com
"we are a full service charter boat"

BluewaterTops

nice job....tell chris the arch's warranty is null and void..........lol

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Custom Built T-Tops/Towers/Hardtops, Etc...
Bluewater Tops, LLC CLINTON, CT

Albatross

Congrats on that catch! We were in the tackle shop right after you guys left and they were all telling us about your catch. Are you the same ON THE Edge located in MacDougles marina in Falmouth?

On The Edge

Jim,
You may want to check your records..
When i asked chris if the arch would hold that fish he said if it doesn't he got a 100% replacement lifetime warrentee on materials and labor... So no worries..

Albatross,
Nope different 'On The Edge"

Nice bunch of guys at Falmouth bait, very helpful, letting us rig their scale on chris's boat to get a weight, cuz thier setup was not tall enough..

Good thing the arch held. or someone would be working OT getting a new one done before the end of the season

__________________
Catch um up

1999 proline 2202 wa
1999 200 merc