HookMeUpII
AH elite
A few weekends ago, my son turned 3 years old. He had been asking to "catch a shark" for his birthday. He loves animals. He's obsessed with bugs, fish, African animals, etc. Been doing this a while, so I hatched a plan to dunk some chum maybe 6-7 miles off the NJ coast. I figured we might catch some 2-4' brown sharks, maybe a sand tiger, and the kids could have fun.
I had my father, brother, 5 year old nephew, and my son onboard. We were blessed with a really, really calm and nice day for the kids. That made me happy overall being that I don't think I was 10 before I saw the open Atlantic from a boat.
We had the slick going and the lines set for about 15 minutes when the tip rod went off. I've been doing this a while and as soon as we came tight, I knew what we had. A few seconds later, a very large thresher shark aired out.
Being my father had to work the helm, my brother had to help watch the kids, I ended up drawing the short straw of getting strapped in.
Many say, pound for pound, the thresher shark and swordfish are the two hardest fighting fish in the sea. Giant marlin and bluefin tuna put up intense fights for fish that can grow over 1000 lbs. However, threshers (and swords) have no quit in them. They basically fight till almost the death.
After about 2.5 hours, we managed to get her boat-side. At some points in the fight, I had two thumbs on the spool with the drag already at 30 lbs. A few times when she ran, she brought me up onto my toes and lifted my heels. Threshers can be a little tricky boat-side as that tail can do some wicked damage. We were able to at least get her to settle for a bit so the kids could get a decent look at her.
Every time we got her up close, she put her nose down and that tail made me real nervous. I was the only one who really couldn't back up due to the angle. The kids were safe under the hard top. Judging her size against the transom, I put her at about 14 foot or so. Granted, half of the length is tail. With that being said, that's an 80-130 lb class standup rod. You can see by the bend, I had some heat on her.
All in all, the kids had fun. Everyone was pumped. I was worked. Despite being in the harness, my legs, back, and arms ached for 4-5 days. To top it all off, it was hot. Probably 95 degrees that day and I spent all 2.5 hours in the sun. A few times I had them just spray me with the washdown hose to cool off.
I was the only one a tiny bit disappointed because I had hoped for some smaller more manageable customers vs. a 400-500 lb monster.
As you can see, the kids ended up real tired out from the "fight"
I had my father, brother, 5 year old nephew, and my son onboard. We were blessed with a really, really calm and nice day for the kids. That made me happy overall being that I don't think I was 10 before I saw the open Atlantic from a boat.
We had the slick going and the lines set for about 15 minutes when the tip rod went off. I've been doing this a while and as soon as we came tight, I knew what we had. A few seconds later, a very large thresher shark aired out.
Being my father had to work the helm, my brother had to help watch the kids, I ended up drawing the short straw of getting strapped in.
Many say, pound for pound, the thresher shark and swordfish are the two hardest fighting fish in the sea. Giant marlin and bluefin tuna put up intense fights for fish that can grow over 1000 lbs. However, threshers (and swords) have no quit in them. They basically fight till almost the death.
After about 2.5 hours, we managed to get her boat-side. At some points in the fight, I had two thumbs on the spool with the drag already at 30 lbs. A few times when she ran, she brought me up onto my toes and lifted my heels. Threshers can be a little tricky boat-side as that tail can do some wicked damage. We were able to at least get her to settle for a bit so the kids could get a decent look at her.
Every time we got her up close, she put her nose down and that tail made me real nervous. I was the only one who really couldn't back up due to the angle. The kids were safe under the hard top. Judging her size against the transom, I put her at about 14 foot or so. Granted, half of the length is tail. With that being said, that's an 80-130 lb class standup rod. You can see by the bend, I had some heat on her.
All in all, the kids had fun. Everyone was pumped. I was worked. Despite being in the harness, my legs, back, and arms ached for 4-5 days. To top it all off, it was hot. Probably 95 degrees that day and I spent all 2.5 hours in the sun. A few times I had them just spray me with the washdown hose to cool off.
I was the only one a tiny bit disappointed because I had hoped for some smaller more manageable customers vs. a 400-500 lb monster.
As you can see, the kids ended up real tired out from the "fight"
