Newport T whipped (Long read...)

[jbara]

I took dad out for his second journey out of the harbor. Made macks outside as usual and started the troll just south of the wall. I told him I was going to take him south to the point just to give him a tour of the place. Within 15 mins my line is screaming and I'm yelling out "Dad! I'm on!" Unfortunately I didn't bring the gopro because I was already bring so much gear. My dad is now filming with his Iphone. He is within 20 feet or so of me and yells out "How big is it?" Just at that moment the shark jumps out of the water straight at him. He said he could see the white of the belly on the video and I'm sure it was a killer shot but we'll never know because the phone eventually got wet by the time we land and all was lost. I have some really nice waterproof phone covers but they were not used today. Anyways the shark put on quite a show. I bring him to the yak and every time he is facing right at me so I'm having a hard time getting hold of his tail and I'm a bit nervous that he's going to make another jump straight at me. So of course the line gets cut clean with all the fumbling trying to grab the tail. Its was about 5' of 30lb fluoro to spectra with a "Red Phillips" knot. (Thanks to my fishing brother Bennyblanco for showing me how!) So I tie on another leader with my little 2/0 hook and I'm on again about an hour later. (Dad was pointing and yelling "Thresher!" as I gave him line before setting the hook) This one breaks/cuts the line within a few minutes. Btw I'm not into early mornings so this is an afternoon trip and by now we've been dragged down to crystal cove. Its time to start a leisurely paddle home on our outbacks. (Since this is dads second trip I don't want to wear him out and the afternoon wind is going to be in our face.) Dad hasn't hooked up yet and I tell him were going to hook up again on the ride home for sure so make sure you feel confident in your setup and have a nice fresh bait. (I had just seen another thresher go airborne in the horizon for reasons unknown.) About 15 mins later my line is pulling heavy again and I tell Dad to just paddle on and I'll catch up with him. I guess dad got hit just as I was taking off with mine but his broke off soon into the fight. He didn't want to leave me alone so he followed me back out. I buttoned down hard on this fish because I wanted to break off and catch up with dad. I was thumbing the spool and pulling with all I had. (Hats off to 30lb fluoro and the knot.) This is where my first really big fish lesson was learned. When I'm fighting a really big fish and you button down the drag hard, the fish may decide to run suddenly from 12 to 8 and you will flip if you are not carefull!!! I didn't flip because I backed off the drag quickly and repositioned the yak. So now I have the T next to the yak. Lesson #2 Watch that Tail! I was smacked hard across the chest over my buttoned down lifevest and it was quite an impact. Glad it wasn't the face. So now I have the shark by the tail and I have a rope tied around the tail. Its now sunset and were at least 3 miles from the harbor. I know I'm going to be paddling in the dark and I don't feel like making the news by what happens to me for dragging a bleeding thing in the dark. If I can't bleed it now I'm definitely not going to try lifting this thing onto the yak (it was impossible anways.) So I end up dragging this 8'4'' (nose to tail) thresher alive, backwards, 3+ miles back to the harbor. Took me and dad about 3 hours. When we were back in the harbor I tried to get the shark up on the yak with dad pulling on the rope and the rails of my yak looked like they were going to go under so we left it in the water and pulled it all the way back to CGS against a river current. When the shark hit shallow water he went crazy. Dad landed his kayak and I threw him a rope to get me to the sand. We pulled the shark up and bled him there. Once we were on the sand I realized (WE) had to carry this thing up to the truck. I never did weigh it but I'm guessing somewhere between 75 to 1 thousand lbs. I don't know what I would have done if I had actually made it all the way back to the beach alive with this thing solo. Lesson #3 Don't play with T's solo! I cut him up that night and fried some up in the morning to make sure I hadn't ruined the meat by stressing the shark for so long without bleeding. I didn't taste anything wrong and I've handed out a bunch and still have lots left over in the freezer. Everyone has enjoyed so far! Like I said; no go pro, water logged iphone, but I still have my original droid phone that won't die for some parking lot pics...