Wide Open Thresher Shark Fishing in La Jolla

[Superduper]

Never expected to be part of a thresher frenzy today. Making bait off the condo and they showed up in force. Saw aerials, bendo's and see ya's i'm being towed... I got bit and saw my spectra start smoking... put it in gear and pop! never had a chance. 40 lb leader not enough. 10 mins later double. Had one on and the other line screaming. Pop goes the screamer. I'm still fighting the other one but thinking any minute it will go pop. lightened up the drag and off I went. By the way they were all in around 60-70 feet water. Heading out toward the horizon I realize im all alone. 90' 100' 110' 120' gradually made it to 210' and he decided to do the spiral downward. I held on. 50 mins later I gained on him. Now at the surface I realized this will be challenging all alone. So survival mode kicked in. Think Steve think...I made an attempt to cut where his body met the tail but my knife was dull. Ok now what. Decided to do a couple of head shots with knife and that worked. ok what's next. placed a rope around his tail and dragged him back to where I hooked him. Came up on Josh and his friend and asked for help getting him on my yak so I could make the paddle back in. Josh was very helpful and took some cool shots. Thanks bud. Made it to an easy landing and saw another thresher on the beach that was much bigger than mine. 1st thresher for me. what a day... Steaks tonight for me and my friends...

[YTHunter]

Nice post! Thanks for the story!

[Iceman]

free jumpers, free swimmers. Crazy, I was very happy to only be a spectator.........I was like another guy that yanked his bait away from the tail slapper, saying "No!, No!"

I could not avoid the dogs, luckily I made a bunch of greenies

BTW, launch was not open when we launched at first light, but was upon landing. Soft sand, I opted to not risk getting stuck.

[jorluivil]

Someone should post a 'How to dress Thresher' tutorial. I'd like to see what it takes to get them cleaned up while you're on the water.

[iethinker]

That's a lot of meat. Good job!

[pingpangdang]

Originally Posted by jorluivil

Someone should post a 'How to dress Thresher' tutorial. I'd like to see what it takes to get them cleaned up while you're on the water.

x2 on that...Yani I don't think I've seen any thresher recipes either. Would like to know more.

[momo fish]

Originally Posted by pingpangdang

x2 on that...Yani I don't think I've seen any thresher recipes either. Would like to know more.

Actually Yani is pretty good at both and I believe there is a video out there showing him handling one beautifully...

[broncobilly]

NICE!!! Beautiful fish.
Glad to see you made up for Monday.

Stoked to hear the launch is open too!!!

[americas911]

Congrats man! Much deserved after those skunks on mon and tues. Something told me today would be good to go, but work was calling!

Doug (Dune Outback)

[TJones]

Originally Posted by Iceman

free jumpers, free swimmers. Crazy, I was very happy to only be a spectator.........I was like another guy that yanked his bait away from the tail slapper, saying "No!, No!"

I could not avoid the dogs, luckily I made a bunch of greenies

BTW, launch was not open when we launched at first light, but was upon landing. Soft sand, I opted to not risk getting stuck.

Did have a hookup and a couple slappers . Hooraaah , the launch is open .

[pingpangdang]

Originally Posted by Superduper

Never expected to be part of a thresher frenzy today. Making bait off the condo and they showed up in force. Saw aerials, bendo's and see ya's i'm being towed... I got bit and saw my spectra start smoking... put it in gear and pop! never had a chance. 40 lb leader not enough. 10 mins later double. Had one on and the other line screaming. Pop goes the screamer. I'm still fighting the other one but thinking any minute it will go pop. lightened up the drag and off I went. By the way they were all in around 60-70 feet water. Heading out toward the horizon I realize im all alone. 90' 100' 110' 120' gradually made it to 210' and he decided to do the spiral downward. I held on. 50 mins later I gained on him. Now at the surface I realized this will be challenging all alone. So survival mode kicked in. Think Steve think...I made an attempt to cut where his body met the tail but my knife was dull. Ok now what. Decided to do a couple of head shots with knife and that worked. ok what's next. placed a rope around his tail and dragged him back to where I hooked him. Came up on Josh and his friend and asked for help getting him on my yak so I could make the paddle back in. Josh was very helpful and took some cool shots. Thanks bud. Made it to an easy landing and saw another thresher on the beach that was much bigger than mine. 1st thresher for me. what a day... Steaks tonight for me and my friends...

Went out last Saturday...few guys out and it was gusty and seas were rough. Had a screamer on a mac and it broke off my 50lb flouro....rest of the morning listening to the radio I hear airborne sharks, bendos like mine and break offs...

Seems like they have been active...

I know nothing about how they taste and how to clean etc...time for some googling

[rhyak]

Sounds like a Awesome experience.

[Silbaugh4liberty]

Nice job! A buddy hooked one in Newport today, but broke off, and I have a suspicion that a shark might have gotten one of my baits too while drifting

We might not have to drive all the way down there to get in on the action!!

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[Rambo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf3IE_tue0E



might be helpful but someone will think of a better way on the kayak.