Big threshers?

[lowprofile]

so our "local" fishery usually produces alot of 40-90lb models with some up to 150lbs. i seen some pics of a touney out of DP and they haul in 300lb models like its cool.

from what i've gathered and seen, in the fall, if you head south out of NPH to a canyon you can hook into some 150lb+ models if your there at the right time. But.. this is the only place i know.

so questions... what other places get bigger threshers and can you catch them all year? i was thinking La Jolla would be a good bet, especially since its so deep and all the activity, also carlsbad canyon, also alot of activity in the summer and its also super deep with shallow shelves on each side.

any suggestions? I figure since i dont have much time left in cali, I'm going to give it my all to get the biggest fish of each species i can. fishing just to fish is fun, but i want a 4 hour fight

[Iceman]

I think bigger threshers are know to stay outside of 150 fathoms, find places where water is pushing 1000 feet deep closest to shore.

[lowprofile]

Originally Posted by Iceman

I think bigger threshers are know to stay outside of 150 fathoms, find places where water is pushing 1000 feet deep closest to shore.

that deep? are they the big eye or palagic threshers?

btw, wheres a good site for maps? if any.

[Iceman]

http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/sp...resher-madness

My bad I think most work the 100 fathom contour.

Elm focuses on two different depth zones and, in effect, two different fish populations. “Depending on where the bite has been happening, I fish along the 50-fathom curve or the 100-fathom curve farther offshore,” says Elm. Although it’s not written in stone, he usually finds sub-100-pound fish tighter to the beach. The bigger fish usually work deeper feeding zones, where you are more likely to encounter a typical 100- to 150-pound thresher — with a shot at the occasional 250-pound monster.

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by Iceman

http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/sp...resher-madness My bad I think most work the 100 fathom contour.

Ha Ha Ha.... Guys using my light line leader style, Archer would be pissed.

Depth is not that important, upwellings and bait concentrations associated with depth structure are more important.

I don't know the author personally but check this quote out.

"....California Thresher Sharks

Rods: 5 1/2-foot stand-up tuna trolling rod for teaser outfit; 7-foot live-bait-action rod rated for 30- to 50-pound-test for skipbait.

Reels: Accurate ATD 30 for teaser outfit; Shimano TLD 15/20 or equivalent for bait outfit....."

You got to laugh. That's common So. Cal. Marlin gear not Adult Thresher gear. Obviously this guy has little experience T shark fishing or has only fished pups.

Big Threshers will completely demolish TLDs. I love TLDs for most gamefish but, I've got a broken TLD25 right here that was destroyed by an adult TShark. For anything over 200lbs you want an aluminum framed 2 speed that holds at least 400yards of eighty, and that is minimum. Anything less is going to get you in trouble unless your only targeting pups tight to shore. It's a no brainier. Even using cut mackerel (as the author does) your still going to tailhook some fish, say you hook a 200 to 400 pound thresher in the tail and it dies on the line several hundred yards straight down. How are you going to winch it up with a TLD15?

Small hooks "4/0", light leaders, 30 to 50 pound test, small T's in his pics and Marlin gear. It's obvious that most his experience is fishing smaller T sharks.

Jim

[William Novotny]

Jim thank you for the awesome read and insight. My rule on the t's is one for the freezer per season, the rest cpr'd. So far all of mine have been of the smaller variety 70ish with a few a bit larger. Looking to up my sizes a bit this year too.

[mtnbykr2]

Malibu ...mlpa...seen them in the sewer when it is warm

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by lowprofile

I'm going to give it my all to get the biggest fish of each species i can. fishing just to fish is fun, but i want a 4 hour fight

If you really want to fish for adult Ts you should read Fred Archers books on them. I've posted some things over the years but he's got a good general book on how to do it, that explains the special gear etc.. you need to target Bigger T sharks.

Basically there are two behavior groups juveniles and adults and they behave in different ways. Adult T's are much tougher then pups under 150 pounds they fight harder and longer then anything you can imagine. It's something you can't really get until you tie into a really big one. People say swords are tougher but I'm not sure they are right one that one. Archer claims the only thing that compares is Giant blue fin but I've never caught one so I wouldn't know.

A big T will really bust your ass and often fight itself to death. My largest was just over fourteen and a half feet long. That fish sounded 400 yards straight down when I hooked it and stayed down there 1200 feet down for almost a hour traveling five miles in a straight line, before it decided to come up and start jumping. Imagine being hooked to a airplane 1200 feet in the sky moving slowly north while you follow it on the ground. That's kind of what it was like. I couldn't even budge it, I couldn't of pulled it up, I just followed along putting as much pressure as I could waiting. Finally it just came up on it's own, so fast it created a huge bow in my line, so much so that my line was still pointing down when it start jumping thirty feet out of the water a hundred yards ahead of me. They make Marlin look like pussies. Eventually we ended up getting close enough to gaff it, but I only got it because we were able to follow it in the relative comfort and safety in a boat and wait it out.

I only keep adult Ts when they die on the line. I could probably kill a dozen or so a year if I wanted to. I quit posting about them because too many people started fishing for them, as a direct result of what me and a few others posted on BD and elsewhere. It was my first big lesson about fishing in the internet. Used to be I'd be the only one out there or maybe one of my buddies would be targeting them as well. Then due to the internet it went to hundreds of boats killing hundreds of sharks a day, after a while it made me kind of sick.

Now it seems to have calmed down a bit. Most people think there are so many more small ones then large ones, but that's because they do not understand their migration or how to target them, which honestly suits me just fine.

I will say that juvenile Ts stay tight to the coast for a longer period of the year then large ones. Big ones migrate through each spring, and they do come in close enough to target with a kayak, but I'd say you are highly unlikely to land one over 200 pounds.

When I first got into kayaking I got an idea that Id' like to take a big one over 200 pounds from the Yak. First day I tried I hooked a good one off Dana point. My take at the time was that with the same gear that I'd use in my skiff I could land one the same size. So I was fishing with an international, rollers, 80 pound. I had that shark on for longer then it took to land my 14+ T, never got it closer then a hundred feet down, when I was maybe five miles offshore I started thinking there even if I got it there was no way I could paddle it back to shore. I was dead tired, just couldn't get enough lift on it, and there was no way i could of towed it back anyway. At that point started thinking about trying to get it off. I gave it slack, pumped the rod trying to get it to spit the hook, but there was no way I was going to unhook it, and with 80 pound I could not break it off. I felt like a total idiot.

Finally after a few more miles I gave up and just cut it off. I figured better leave it towing a bunch of line then having it die on the line and then not be able to do anything with it.

If you want to target bigger ones I'd suggest finding someone with a skiff to fish them. If you want a long fight on kayak trying beating a 100 to 150 class T on ten pound. My buddy Steve does that all the time and it's a real blast.

I mean how big do you really need? Most people way overestimate their weight anyway.

This female is around 178:


This Male is around the same size.




Shark looks a lot bigger then me, but I'm 6'1" and 185 pounds.

Both those fish were taped and weighed on certified scales, and their about as big a T I'd say I could be land off a unassisted kayak, and that's pushing it. The first was five miles out of Newport, the second only a mile or so off Dana Point. Both of those I caught within thirty minutes of putting a bait in the water, if you know how to target them they are not hard to catch. Unfortunately both were tailhooked and died on the line which lead to two very short seasons for me.

In contrast a real T like this one is in my opinion right out of the question for a kayak.


I couldn't even find a scale big enough to weigh that one up here in LA, and there is no way I could of brought it in to the dock alone on a kayak.

Just my take though. Good luck. I just think if you target adult T sharks from a kayak you may end up with a lot more then you bargained for.

Jim