DP Thresher take 2 sorta...

[dpasinli]

Still relatively new to the scene and this site, haven't had too much time on the water but thought i'd share nonetheless....

Launched DP at grey, got a scoop of dines and headed north to the point. Water about 71 degrees, incoming tide and great water color and viz. Trolled the dines around outer rim of the kelp bed one fly-lined and another on sliding sinker to the hook....no luck.

Then, as I'm reeling in the flylined dine,...and about 5 feet away and 8 ft deep I see the outline of a shark, holy shit! About 6-7 ft long and as fluid as water itself; a while back someone posted a vid on how Threshers use their tails to "whip their prey" to stun their meal before they devour it. Couldn't believe my eye, they shark attempted the tail whip, it came from deep and cracked its tail and totally smacked the dine, then circled back and from there it was on!!!

At this point my head is racing a million miles a min, finally, my inaugural slay ride. After 20 mins of give and take I finally got her yak side, she was pissed! Circled each other several times. Now what? Gaff shot,...no, she was way too big and pissy for me to handle on my own, probably just make her more bitchy.

I was able call over a guy in zodiac for assistance, but he didn't want any part of it, didn't want to risk puncturing his boat, he bailed. At this point i am pretty much clueless. I couldn't believe i still had it on the line, had braided but with about 50 yrds of mono top, from the looks of the pic i must have snagged it.
Thought about trying to drag her into the harbor, then realized that wasn't going to happen. In the end I opted to thank her for the NatGeo date and cut the line. With my lack of experience it was likely the best option. An amazing creature, they are truly impressive. Was shaking for an 1/2 hour after the experience and couldn't sleep that night. I'm sure there were much better ways of handling this, so if anyone has anyone has any pointers or advice i'd love to hear them. And excuse the iphone pics, i was literally shaking while trying to snap photos.....they're not that great...

[Hondatom]

GREAT REPORT! I loved every word of it. I am so jealous. Congratulations on an epic adventure and thanks for sharing it .

[easyday]

Amazing animals

[Vikingj]

Great story- thanks for reporting. I could really share in your excitement after catching a T-shark at the same place 1 1/2 weeks ago. They are totally awesome creatures to watch and delicious to eat!
I'm by no means an expert but I've learned a few things. Don't try to handle a "green fish" that still has some spunk! Wear the fish out and then slap at it with the paddle to have it make another run and get even more tuckered. When it's thoroughly worn out bring it alongside the yak and lasso its tail with a rope (in case it breaks off your leader). If you decide not to C&R and you can reach its head, cut its gills deeply to cause it to bleed out. If its foul hooked and you can't reach its head, cut under the base of the tail all the way into the backbone to reach the blood vessels to bleed out. After it has weakened from the bleeding place it on your gill clip and load it on your yak or drag it home. I would not try to gaff it or beat it with a baseball bat as I have seen others do. Of course if you are a crazy Greek like Yani you can gut it, cut off its tail and head, throw the body in the back of your yak and continue fishing. Good luck.
Wayne

[DanaPT]

great story. thanks for sharing.

[Deamon]

Freaking awesome! Jim

[dngayan]

Nice report!