DP Thresher take 2 sorta... - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

dpasinli · 07-29-2013, 08:41 PM

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... Name: IMG_0204.jpg
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07-29-2013, 08:41 PM	#1
dpasinli Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: San Clemente Posts: 118	DP Thresher take 2 sorta... 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...