Did a trip Friday for a guest (Ben Lew) from New Jersey who was on his return leg from a fly fishing trip to Loreto where he caught 3 sailfish on the fly. Ben sought me out over at
www.danblanton.com, as he had read about my wife and I's efforts on light tackle records for threshers and makos. He wanted his first mako on the fly and his dream was to get an IGFA World Record mako on the fly. I don't run charters, but I agreed to take Ben out for a record effort as I'm always game for those when I have the right people and Ben filled that bill. Ben helped out with costs and it got me down to SD where I was to fish Yellowtail on Saturday. I stayed at my brother-in-law's in Rancho Santa Fe.
We launched out of Mission Bay to fish La Jolla Canyon. Conditions were not great with green to grey blue water. Did a drift in the Canyon for nada and then moved up to Carlsbad Canyon where a buddy got 4 on Tuesday. Conditions were worse there with green water. Did a short drift for nada and pulled to head to the upper 9. By now I'm getting frustrated as I'm mostly just running, looking for condition. I decided not to head to the 9 mile and turned back to do another drift deeper in tight in LJ Canyon. This was the right decision.
As our last chum bucket was nearly drained and beautiful, petite Ukrainian wife "Val" says "look at the big shark!" I was in the middle of receiving casting instructions from Ben who specializes in tarpon. He could cast the feather duster of a shark fly and easy 60' into the wind with a beautiful type loop that just punched into the wind. Myself, I could get a 30' to 40' cast out there with a big floppy, dumpy loop. So I was all ears on the instruction. But when I heard "big shark" I was all captain and handed my guest the fly rod.
He really wanted the Men's IGFA 16# tippet record which is currently a 72 lb 8 oz fish. I came prepared with a load cell scale and a stretcher to weigh a 100 lb mako live from Scripps Pier and then release it for a record. There are a number of charter guides who target makos on the fly gear out of San Diego. Anyone of those guys could easily break most of the IGFA mako records on fly, but they are all strident about releasing these fish. Being a newb, I really don't want to step on their toes by killing a fish for a record. Nope, if we're going to do it, it would be a live weigh and release. But really, this is no easy task. IGFA fly rigging allows only a 12" bite tippet (wire) and then you must have at least 15" of the 16 lb class tippet before you can have any semblance of a leader. All this means is that your 16 lb is right next to the fish which will abraid through it and you can't horse the fish on the leader. You can't use flying gaffs, only straight gaffs, but since we were aiming for a live weigh and release, I'd be tail roping it to subdue it. Then I'd slide it into the stretcher and haul it in, subdue it, sit on it and stuff a wash down hose down it's throat for the short run into Scripps Pier. We'd hang it from one of the chain ladders on the Pier, weigh it, dump it and be done with it. All very simple. Right. Somehow, 95% of that catch I just described is all in the end game. Did I say we were looking for about a 100 lb fish?
Well what showed up in our chum slick was the biggest mako I've ever seen. I'm not experienced with estimating mako weights, but this was an easy 250 lb, if not 300 lb fish. Ben tried a green/yellow fly on 16 lb tippet rigging and the mako showed no interest. I quickly switched him to a pink/orange tube fly and for 20 minutes we played with this fish. I teased it with filets and it would swim at the fly, roll and eyeball it. It even chased it when it was stripped in, nosing it and turning away. Reality was we stood no chance with this fish on the fly gear. Eventually, I grabbed the only conventional gear I brought which was a 16 lb line class rig consisting of a TLD 15 and Shimano rod with Light Weight Roller Guides. I nervously tied a bimini and then connected up to a mako leader made of 2' of 175 lb single strand and 12' of 200 lb mono, for 14' total. (This is what I'd use for my wife to target 100 lb makos on 4 lb conventional for an IGFA record.) Threw out a mackerel filet and handed it to my guest. He got picked up and the fish went on a run but he got back everything. So he threw out again and this time he was on good.
Some blistering runs, but the fish never jumped. His wife Val took many photos that I hope come out. He's flying home today, but will send them to me. He was on the fish 1 hour and 13 minutes. Prior to this he had not so kind words for the boat handling skills of the Mexican panga captains while on big fish. I asked him if saw any difference in boat handling skills between the Mexicans and myself? He said that he now understands how much of a difference it really makes. He got an eyeful of some boat handling skills as I showed him how to raise a big fish on light tackle using proper boat techniques.
Anyhow, we both agreed the fish would be released as neither of us had the need for the meat nor really wanted anything to do with this fish at the end game. Plus I had him on the rod and his 100 lb Ukrainian wife Val on the camera. So it was really just me at the end game. My best hope was to leader the fish, get some photo shots and stick a tag in it. I leadered it, got wraps on the leader and as I pulled the fish's head up for a photo shot, the leader blew up in my hands.
Remember I said that the leader was 14'? Well I ended up with a 3' piece in my hands and it was severely frayed there. Subtract some for the filet being down it's throat and such and suffice it to say, THIS WAS A BIG FISH. Even though it was on "gear guy stuff" (his words for conventional gear), Ben was pretty stoked. I mean he just released the biggest fish of his life on 16# tournament tackle. I've never seen a mako that big, let alone catch one. I usually just usually focus on the small fish (150 lb and less) on light tackle.
Fact is, I haven't even worked a mako on the fly gear yet. Only guests of mine have and the first was Just this week. I need to make some time for Steve to get this done for himself. Maybe that will happen this week.
For the inevitable BS without pics, well the photos will be coming. Hopefully photos of the fish in the water came out ok. Oh this fish showed up on the south wall of LJ Canyon on the 300 fathom line in clear green water. Looks like Ben just arrived home as he posted the following photo over at
www.danblanton.com 
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