5/27/2008 First T-shark

[Honeygirl]

It's been an amazing two weeks of fishing and from the looks of it, it's going to get even better. I First have to say that I could not of caught my first T ever with out the help and knowledge from Jeff(FireEscape). I left the dock at 5am to make the run down to Dana point. Most of the T's have been caught there with in the last two weeks. I picked Jeff up from the dock and we headed out to make bait. After a making bait we were on our way. At about 6 miles out we had good sings of life and birds in the air. We rigged the rods and Jeff baited them up. We had our lines in about 5 minutes and Jeff was giving me the class on what to do if we get bit just about then the starboard rod goes off. Jeff jumps on the helm and I grab the rod. We get things under control and Jeff dose an amazing Job driving the boat and instructing me at the same time. the fight lasted about 20 minutes due to controlling the fish with the boat. I opted to kill the fish as it was my 1st one and everybody I know wanted steaks. the fish was tail hooked and Jeff est. the fish went somewhere around 250lbs. I cant thank Jeff enough for helping me get my 1st T on my boat, your a true bro.
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[Wa Mei]

Nice fish! You are starting the season with a bang! Can't wait to get out
on the big pound....

[DOGHOUSE26]

Are those 9mm, 10mm, or 45 cal holes in the side?

Congrats on your first T !

[sharkwaters]

Nice job on the "T". I think it very important to keep pressure on the fish and stay on top of it. You mentioned boat handling. That is very critical. I see guys allowing the fish to get too much line in the water, then they sink out and it very hard to get them back to the surface. Use the right tackle, the right drag and put the pressure on.
Nice fish.
Bob

[Professor]

Are you on a roll or what? Congratulations!

[NoSlack]

Congratulations on your first T and 50 more points towards your quest for the 2008 club jacket.

Don't get to comfy with that big lead. It's time to start thinking mako and marlin if you want it to seal the deal. Just ask Zack about getting out to an early lead. He spend the whole summer looking over you shoulder wondering when one of us is going to make our move.

Mike

p.s. A big hand goes out to Zack for sharing some knowledge and running the boat so Joe could enjoy the catch.

2008 Leader Board (http://members.cox.net/noslack/Leader%20Board%202008.htm)

[scuttlebutt]

Congrats on not catching a baby. That is a keeper. That size and bigger are keepers. To bad others won't catch and release the smaller ones. It takes many years to get to that size. Well done.

[Honeygirl]

Thanks guys and Mikes right I own a big thanks to Zack. As for keeping the shark my first thought before the trip was to release it. The more I talked to my commercial friends the more I realize the sport fishing fleet is doing very little to harm the oceans fish numbers. I do believe that taking more than one a year is over kill when you get so much meat. The commercial gill netters are getting 600 to 800 per net when the T's swim up the coast. The same goes for the swordfish when they swim in. The numbers are smaller about 200 per net but the devastation is the same. Don’t worry Mike the mako and the marlin are on the list and maybe even a swordie. If I could just kick that seabass bug.

[hijole]

Congratulations, Hijole!!!!!

[DOGHOUSE26]

Joe kick that bug my way! You hit the sportfishing take on threshers right on the head, the commercials bring quite a few to market all the time, we're just scratching the edges! As long as all the fish gets eaten, I personally don't care how many a guy takes a season all though more than 1 per day/week is alot of fish to get rid of. And by the way I think a swordy would just about seal the deal!

[NoSlack]

Easy on the swordy talk Jeff. That's going to be my come from behind, save the day fish. I'm so far off the pace it's going to take a #250 for me just to make it interesting.

Mike