CaptBillB

One & All,
Although warm water temperatures have limited the numbers of sharks caught during the course of a day's angling, be aware that they're are some very nice makos swimming around to the SSE of Block Island. While there's no one magic spot.. trolling around for awhile will allow you to find areas holding some of the 'cool water bubbles' that are holding the sharks. The temp breaks usually go from 74- 77 to 70- 71. If structure is found in the area where you find the temperature break.. that's a bonus. If you find clean green or blue/green water with decent clarity.. rest assured that there will be some sharks swimming around in the immediate area.
We've managed to put four keeper makos on the deck out of the last five shark trips running over the 200-lb. range.
If you're willing to take a long ride.. there are spots quite a bit further to the east that definitely hold some very nice threshers.

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Bill
www.billfishcharter.com

dbaker

Thanks for the tip Bill..

it is the spot to be..always come up with something there.

gman

awesome intel, were hoping to get anthony one this weekend in the Star Island Mako Thresher Shootout

hopefully there are some whiptails with our name on it

ubettcha13

Capt Bill B I was the capt for the team that used your slip in OB this year On Friday we had the "right"fish swim by the boat but it refused the cocktail size livies we had I didn't have any tuna and it swam right by all the fillet baits Then disappeared what could/should I have done We could find any large bluefish in the 8-12# range the largest we had was about 3# and she didn't have any interest in it The fish was a Mako in the 6-700# class about 10' is an educated guesstimate of her size I know that if we did hook her we had about a 30% chance of landing her in Friday's conditions (23' CC) any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Thanks Rich

CaptBillB

Rich,
Few things to try:
Bring your live bait up to the surface with the balloon/float placed right above the leader so that it's very shallow- no weights what-so-ever. Then.. float that offering out and leave it there. For some reason.. makos and theshers that won't eat deep will often jump all over a live bait that's run shallow.

'Stinger rig' a bluefish rack (remove fillets from bluefish so that bone structure and tail are all that's left)... drift it back shallow with a 12- to 16 oz. weight attached via a #33 elastic band right above the leader/just below the balloon/float. This technique has resulted in some really nice makos and threshers.

Stinger rig a 'butterflied' bluefish (remove backbone and tail) so that the two fillets flutter. Set this rig up similar to the above and drift it back.. shallow.

Another little trick... drift a single, sliced bluefish fillet bait with a 13" Mario's Squid Strip (plastic) out a decent distance and slowly reel it back in. Keep doing this until you're sure that the fish you've seen is no longer in the area/slick.

If a pickup occurs using any of the above methods.. let the fish take the bait for a good run before setting up on it. Fish that come in a and won't eat tend to be somewhat 'hinky' and will often mouth the bait awhile before finally chewing on it.

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Bill
www.billfishcharter.com

ubettcha13

Thanks Capt Bill the rack trick I haven't heard We did try sliding a fillet back one with a pink skirt one naked We had a fillet down 120' out 150' a butterflied blue 100' down 100' out 2 livies one 60 out 30 down and one off the rod tip 30ish' out in the t-top This bait stayed right on the surface for the whole day (hooked through the back/dorsal) the dead baits were bluefish of about 8# thanks for taking the time to reply I do appreciate it

74Formula233

Here's a pic of one of Bill's Makos from his report above.

This one was estimated 275-300# before gutting. Note that it was already gutted in the pic

Attached Images

Mako__8_2007.jpg (232.3 KB, 26 views)

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