Fresh Makos......

freedivr2 · Jul 25, 2004

I thought maybe you guys might like a change of pace in pics. BigPig invited me out on his boat yesterday for some Mako fishing. Here's a couple of pics of some critters that bit my line yesterday and helped fill up the freezer a little today. The smaller Mako is 50 lbs (usually a throwback but, like I said, empty freezer). The other one is approx. 100 lbs. on the hoof, a little more acceptable.

Only one anxious moment with these two. While on gaff but before boating these "chainsaws-with-an-attitude", it's considered a smart thing to do to put a lead bean in their brain. When we did that to the bigger Mako, he tailwalked right up out of the water right at us (nerves reacting, tail going crazy). That made it kinda interesting..........

Here's the little guy......
http://www.jesseshunting.com/photopost/data/533/17150_lb_Mako_1a_7-24-04.jpg[\img]

[img]http://www.jesseshunting.com/photopost/data/500/17150_lb_Mako_6a_7-24-04.jpg[\img]

And here's the larger of the two (no, not me, the FISH!);
[img]http://www.jesseshunting.com/photopost/data/500/171100_lb_Mako_1a_7-24-04.jpg[\img]
Always something fun to look forward to after the trip...cleanup
[img]http://www.jesseshunting.com/photopost/data/500/171100_lb_Mako_4a_7-24-04.jpg[\img]

RACKMASTER · Jul 25, 2004

UMM FRESH MAKO's! great eatting sharks! where did you get'em?
thank's for the great pics!
Jack

huntsonora · Jul 26, 2004

Thats awesome, where were you guys fishing out of?

Drum

LookinForBuck · Jul 26, 2004

Great Pic's Myke, thanks for sharing. That's about the only thing I miss about CA - the deep sea fishing. That and the Bikini's

BigPig · Jul 26, 2004

While I cannot give specific location, since I get my dope from commercial fishermen, we were off San Diego several miles on the edge of a large underwater canyon. It was a great time. Pleasure to have you on board Myke.

stanley · Jul 26, 2004

VERY, VERY COOL GUYS!!!!

I love to fish, but unfortunately am cursed with severe motion sickness so I really have to stay away from the off-shore adventures. :-( I've tried a couple of charters out of San Diego, but they have tended to end-up in misery as the curse hits. I'll be out for our annual family trip next week, and when I see those boats working the kelp off of La Jolla, it always gets me wanting to be out there!

Nice to live vicariously through shots like this though.

Good show!

S.

ICMDEER · Jul 26, 2004

Nice pics. Given a choice, I'd want to be the guy putting the "bean in the brain" and not the guy on the end of the gaff. That gaffing could get fairly wild. Sounds like a fun adventure!

DeerKing · Jul 26, 2004

Myke
Looks like you and Nate had a boatload of fun! Good to have you back in one piece. Nice fishies.

BigPig · Jul 26, 2004

DK,
Myke should have your jaws to you soon. Sorry it took me so darn long to come up with another set.

jhibbs · Jul 26, 2004

Looks like fun. I'm still waiting for my first mako of the year. The action must be better on the west coast than it is here in Maine. The waters are just now getting warm enough. nothing like some fresh mako steaks to hold you over until deer season.

JHibbs

dakotakid · Jul 26, 2004

>While I cannot give specific location,
>since I get my dope
>from commercial fishermen, we were
>off San Diego several miles
>on the edge of a
>large underwater canyon. It
>was a great time.
>Pleasure to have you on
>board Myke.

_______________________________________________________________

Thats the awesome thing about offshore, you can share the pics and not have someone say "hey, I recognize that water behind you"

Nice fish too!!!

Mike

freedivr2 · Jul 26, 2004

Thanks for the nice words guys.

Rackmaster.....Whoa.......FINALLY, someone here on MM asking me for a hotspot? Sorry, I'm sworn to secrecy on this honeyhole. All I know is it was WAY farther out than where we fish for halibut

. We had 5 sharks on hooks within 3 1/2 hours and could've I think sat there all day long and caught em (we headed home at noon). When it's good out there, it's GOOD.......

A sidenote....we also had the pleasure of seeing two huge whales (we think they were gray whales) pretty close, one while we were fishing, the other while halfway back to port. It was neat to hear the noise they make when one of them spouted out of it's blowhole. Also ran across a few thousand white sided dolphin and some Pacific common dolphins on the way out. Seaworld without the ticket price

Fun day, good skipper, great company. One of those days I'll always be thankful for.

RACKMASTER · Jul 26, 2004

Ha Ha ! 30 out! Mako's are never close! Your safe I live in the Bay Area! (sold the boat 2 yrs ago! I want a Jet now for the river!) Just bought the camper! Maybe next year I will get my
a$$ up into ORE and just by it! I want to get my son into steelies bad(hes ten)and hunting game is not his bag yet! however he wants to try duck hunting and I am a Waterfowl nutcase! Hunting and work just soak up the time! And the kids are growing fast,hes love fishing!
Rackmaster

huntsonora · Jul 26, 2004

I would love to head out to Cortes Bank off the coast of San Diego and watch the big wave surfers surf it, the problem is it is only good about 2 or 3 days a year from what I hear. That is the only spot I know of off the coast of San Diego. Actually, by answering what town you answered my questions. Ever see any BIG fish out there, cousins to the ones you caught?

Drum

MartinHunter · Jul 26, 2004

Cool pics, not your everyday trout, lol! NE one here members of the North American Fishing Club? I joined last year, its ok, I only get is for the mag, but it helps a lot with tips and things.

Micahel

freedivr2 · Jul 26, 2004

LAST EDITED ON Jul-27-04 AT 00:00AM (MST)[p]Drummond......I'm sure BigPig has (seen bigger Makos "in the flesh") down that way. This was only my third time out in the last couple years with him Mako fishing, I'm a newbie but "catchin on" purty quick I think.

I do know that up in my "neck of the woods" (the South Bay area), they catch fewer Makos in number, but they tend to be very large, up in the 500-600 lbs. range. A couple of years ago, though, a diver off the Coronado Islands (just south of San Diego) speared a 650 lb. mako literally in self defense. He was in a spearfishing contest for Yellowtail and a Mako came up from underneath at about 2:00. The guy aimed right at the open mouth and the spear broke it's "backbone" and severed the spinal cord, stopped it cold. It is the current Calif. state record for spearfishing in that category (duh.......). I think that guy used up about 50 years of good luck with that shot

BigPig · Jul 27, 2004

We dont get the real monsters in any numbers down here in SD. About the biggest I have seen in my chumslick would go about 250lbs. Fortunately that one did a somersault right next to the boat, tying a knot in the leader, and snapping it (400lb, 49 strand wire). That one may have been a challenge to get in the boat. I have seen others 400lbs or so free jumping but never all that close to the boat. The real big monsters are up FD2's way from Dana Pt. North. The Redondo Canyon in a well known rookery for shortfin makos. That is where most of the So Cal brutes come from. Most of them are also female. I'm kinda glad we get the smaller ones down here. They are much easier to manage.

huntsonora · Jul 27, 2004

I was actually talking about a Great White. Its big and a cousin of the Mako. I have always wanted to do a cage dive with a Great White. My sister beat me to it and did it in South Africa a few years ago. Said it was unbelievable. There are quite a few out off the Cortes Bank area.

Drummond

_droptine_ · Jul 27, 2004

I saw a shark cage on the Discovery channel one time that was a plexiglass cylinder. When you got in the water, it looked like there was nothing there. I would think that would be the ultimate way to view great whites. Just recently I saw a show where the guy was getting out of the cage and swimming with the great whites. No Thanks!

freedivr2 · Jul 27, 2004

Droptine.......there's a no brainer for ya. When I asked a very well-known pioneer of spearfishing and freediving about what to do if I spot a great white when in the water. His response; "do the same thing you'd do if a 30 ft. tall Doberman was growling at ya" (in other words, he owns ya.......).

Drummond.....while I can appreciate the rush folks get from that, I think that being in a cage in the same neighborhood as a great white wouldn't be my cup. To each his own, but after wondering what it would be like to step on a rattlesnake (and coming close too many times), I figger that's something I can live a lifetime without needing to experience. My preference is being in the water with critters my size or smaller, cage or not.

Scary deal there.....