vrc-rods

Although I'm no biologist, I'd have to agree with CaptDom. Trout fishing in Labrador, it's the small fish that are kept, the larger ones of breeding age are left to do just that, breed. Plus killing only the larger fish will do more harm to the gene pool.

Nice catch Jim!!

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hoopa drives the boat

GOOD GOING JIM

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"Here's to swimmin with bowlegged women"

Andy

Nice fish congrats

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ubettcha13

To answer a few statements directed at me
1) the largest females are past there prime for breeding but are the dominant fish so they have first dibs on food, sex,and best location
2) Sharks breed so dominance is key
3) prime breeding size/age is the 300-700# class of fish in the females from what I have been told
4)When the largest fish are taken the more productive fish will be breed
I'm not going to bust on the man's fish it was a suggestion as I'm sick of seeing all these 150# fish that weigh 70#(not that this is the case in this fish)or listening to the radio as to what size does a mako have to be to be "legal" to keep
I won't respond to this thread again it was a suggestion do whatever you want
BTW I have wired 6 makos that were over 1000#one of those was 1028# with nothing left inside again you don't catch fish that size by killing fish this size

Possum

ubettcha13,

I get your feelings and opinion, and they are both cool.

The bottom line however, is with the minimum size for these fish set @ 54", they are legal to take. I really do not want to start seeing the catch & release versus filet & release threads here.

If it's legal, then the fisherman can take it. This fish was 70" fork & over 100#, granted not huge, but legal and completely above board.

On the other note, regarding the large fish, I would prefer to steak a smaller fish, for the table, as opposed to taking one of those 1,000# monsters. They may be beyond breeding (females) but fish that size typically do not taste as good either. Granted, it is all opinion and preference.

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74Formula233

ubettcha,

I think the discussion is worthwhile, as it only stands to offer information to many.

That said.....and with your previous comments:

While you were fishing Oak Bluffs MST this year, if you were to land a "minimum weight" (per rules) 200# Mako, would you NOT have weighed it? Would you have cut it loose and only accepted a Mako over 300#?

I find that hard to believe. I know I'd be weighing it in a second. The winning points this year were pretty "skimpy".

It's kind of a paradox to be fishing tournaments like these yet chastizing the taking of fish under 300# by rec guys. It would be one thing if the tournaments you were fishing had minimum weights of 300#, but not many, IF ANY do.

Just an observation.

Again, for the record, I actively participate in the tagging program, and also have no problem bringing in a couple steakers.

I ALSO have cut off plenty of legal exotics.

And what Brad said about the taste of a 1000# Mako....LOL.....I can only imagine ...... ugh. I'll take a 150#-er any day

Again, I offer these comments in the interest of discussion, I'm not interested in "taking my toys and going home"

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gman

drag that 1,000 lbs of bad tasting breeding Mako meat back to the weigh station and break the frigging scale HA!

74Formula233

Well, I'll join ya there too LOL...... butI think I'd donate the meat to a soup kitchen or something LOL

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gman

LOL, Im sorry maybe Im bad but there is no way that fish is swimming away so your on, lets donate the meat to the soup kitchen but save some steak to really see if its that bad LOL

ubettcha13

During Oak bluffs we didn't fish for the points we were looking for a large fish from the getgo we fished 62-65 degree water and we had a large fish up for awhile and couldn't get her to eat If we hooked that fish the odds we not good that we would land it in my boat that day My boat is 23' and if you look at the reports from day 1 you know we took a beating Day 2 same stategey but didn't produce
This isn't the best way to fish an event like this for obvious reasons but I wanted to fish this event this way only!
When the OB is held the colder water is intolerable for the smaller makos under about 400# 2-3 weeks later and that changes because the water is warmer deeper in the water colum
As far as the taste of large Mako's if you let them hang in a meatlocker for a day so they come out of riggor they are 100% better tasting The fish we caught were all sold most likely as sword fish as Mako wasn't as popular in the 80's n 90's as it is today
If you look at the teams that always do well in OB they don't ever take the smaller fish they will throw a goose egg up instead It's the yahoo's that bring in the undersized fish in most events You can tell they are usually displaying for all to see and it barely goes if it makes the weight at all Watch Damon you don't know what he has till it is hoisted then the needle drops almost as fast as the jaw's of the crowd
To answer your question on weighing a 200# fish for points it would have swam away if it was under 8' on day one and if it wasn't the largest fish by a good margin at 8' on day 2 it would have as well I wanted the largest fish if it won great if it didn't who cares it would still be the largest fish We were not in it for calcutta money we wanted the largest fish in the smallest boat Next yr if the weather is no worse we will try again with the same philosophy