Best terminal tackle for Mako's ?

[TuffTackle]

Hi,
Going to chase mako's this summer, season starts now and generally runs till March in Vic.
I was looking for some experienced ideas on the ideal mako terminal rig.

I fish on my own mostly on weekdays to get away from the hussle and bussle, so landing fish up to 40kg on my own is important, as well as being able to easily release anything that is too big to handle on my own.

The area is big swells mostly about 8 miles off shore, and they are up to 200kg.

I'll be using 15kg rods and game spinning reels, and most likley 50lb mono on one rig and 80 lb braid on another.

And what is the quickest way to kill the one I'm going to keep, without having my boat interior destroyed ?

I've been told a noose over the head then clamped to the tail and drag it behind backwards.

Only landed up to 23 kg Gummies on my own before, not 40kg with rows of razor blade teeth.

[sleepygreg]

Simon,

As somone who has caught, and been in the boat when others have, makos from 15kg to 300kg............YOU ARE CRAZY!!!

Makos are the fastest sharks in the sea, and also the best fighters, hence why people target them. They are also more dangerous than a Great White when at the side of the boat, They are one of the few sharks that jump when hooked (point to remember is they always jump up and backwards when first hooked) and can be mistaken for a blue shark (docile and sluggish). NEVER bring one into the boat....they will go berserk no matter how tired YOU think they are after a fight. NEVER fish alone when targetting Makos. It would be safer to try climbing mount Everest by yourself. On the dragging backwards scenario....I have seen one that had been caught mid morning and tailroped behind the boat, then dragged back from Browns Mountain to botany (about a three hour trip), put in the back of a Ute and taken to Campbelltown for weighing (another 1 hour trip) come to life when it was being strung up on the weigh station and take a chunk out of the leg of the person trying to winch it up. If you are serious about keeping one - and are not into fishing IGFA or ANSA rules...then a powerhead or a Shotgun with solids is the only way i would be certain of keeping it quiet (check your local gun laws). I dont like to be the doomsayer of your intentions.....but geez you picked a mighty dangerous foe to go up against one up. We used to get the 'Buzz saws' (15-30kg) makos as a by catch when we were targetting Y/fin and Kingies off Sydney and the south coast of NSW when we were fishing one up (with other club boats around) and there was no way any of us would bring one into the boat (though a couple of guys had them land in their boat after trying to hook them close to the boat - destroyed the interiors of the boat....and on a couple of occassions had the angler over board for fear of his life).

Please think carefully about what you want to do...for your own safety....you are playing with Dynamite. Make sure you have a big enough boat, and experienced deckies with you. A gummie is at the opposite end of the aggression table to the mako.

The easy release on something too big to handle is to cut the line!!!! $20 shark rig v damage to boat $$$$$$$/loss of life/personal injury....no brainer.

Sorry to sound so negative....and I admire your intent...the sort of things I used to do when i was in my late teens/20's.....but I have seen the results of these persuits and can only offer caution.

Cheers
Greg

[TuffTackle]

Hi Greg,
Thanks, I've heard many stories similar, and while fishing for snapper, have lost half my berley cage a couple of times, and had a couple of snapper come up chewed in half.
On one occassion I was trawling 7" diver lures, and saw flock of birds diving in an area ahead, so looked like good spot to troll through.
When the rod loaded up, I started retrieving and found half a pacific gull hooked on the lure, I guess a shark chomped the bottom half of the very large bird.

I was thinking of throwing a 6mtr drag net over it, then a spear gun in the mako's head with some strong cord when the fish was next to the boat.
The main reason is to get descent footage of a reel in action, and in Vic game fish are few and far between, mako's are about the only guaranteed game fish in a 1 day session, without going half way to tassie to (maybe) hit some tuna schools.

I'll take you're advice and won't go out alone, but I'm so over snapper, it's not funny.
At the start of the snapper season in September, I was bagging out in 2 hours on 8kg plus fish, good fun, but bored with it after many many BBQ's of the same thing.
Kingies are few and far between, mostly rats up to 5 kg.
Threshers are about, but the bast#rds always head straight under the boat and launch up into the air on the opposite side, and cut themselves off on the prop or keel.

If these mako's take that long to tire out, might be worth cutting them off after a descent amount of footage it taken.

Simon

[reidy]

Have some mates down this way who target big Makos off Tassies east coast and the Tamar River mouth over the warmer months.Will find out from Paul Snare what rigs they use and report back.Have heard some heart thumping stories from some of these boys.Another bloke i know hooked up on a small specimen whilst flattie fishing off Petal point in the states north east a couple of summers back and all he could say was "buggered up my flattie session "Give me the Mako any day.
Cheers
Reidy
50LB Gummie was quite a capture well done
Tail roped,gill roped and draged backwards kills them but be carefull they can appear dead and come back bniting and slashing.

[TuffTackle]

Hi Reidy,
I'd be keen to get some finer points on the rigging best suited.
I'm in it like most fisho's for the adrenaline rush, I think mako's would be almost heart stopping, but I'm only going to live once.

Cheers

Simon

[tailorboi99]

Mate, Mako's fight hard. You'll need bigger tackle than 15kg, I would use a 24kg stick with a reel which holds around 700-800metre's of 20kg line (mono). Use large baits aswell.

Good luck,
Tom

[spears]

Wish I could go with you simon,I’ll bring a camera and a first aid box.

In my teens we put a 5 foot bronze whaler in a 12 foot tinnie and held our feet up in the air for a few minutes..that was bad enough and taught us a lesson not to do that any more.

[TuffTackle]

I had one suggestion for berley from a local guy.

" tie some slashed up draft board sharks on a long piece of rope out the back"

No thanks !!

In this area I've seen a 60ft humpback with a calf, white pointers are not far away either and bronzies are fairly common, there's some big stuff in this area in summer.

I think a live slimey and some pilchard berley will do and fish the bait about 100mtrs out.

I also think a 6 mtr net wrapped around it and spear gun in it's head should slow it down, or at least give it less chew time on my eskis.

I think the worst thing would be if it ended up head first in the motorwell (outboard) and chewed through everything in there, I've dropped a few fish in there before, nightmare trying to get them out.

Appart from that it couldn't do much else damage, while I sit on the bow cr#pping my dacks.

[mattooty]

Have a noose and secured flyin gaff pre-prepared to subdue it. Tie the flying gaff off the an appropriate anchor point, at either the bow or the hand holds towards the rear. If at all possible use 2 or 3 to secure it. 1 flyer will hold it, while the other 2 are used to keep it in place, eg, one flyer tied off to the rear of the boat through the gill/shoulders and one flyer tied to the bow to go through rear of the fish.
Or alternatively, have the noose ready for the tail, noose it and tow backwards.

[reidy]

gday Simon.
Paul is away until next monday.Will catch up with him then (have not forgotten)
Will get info on rig,baits and berley for you.I know he uses bulk and i mean bulk berley (always after Aust. Salmon frames or whole fish for his mincer)
Will get back to you.
Cheers
Reidy

[TuffTackle]

Hi Reidy,
Suits me, After new years I'll be off fishing anyway till monday, looks like the pressure should start going up on Friday, so I'm hoping for a perfect weekend.

I won't be chasing Mako's with the misses in the boat, the nagging (" You're not catching sharks with me in the boat you %^*&%*^&*").
would somehow take away all the fun.

I'm going to chase gummies, I've found an awesome spot, and just about set the rods and look at the watch to know when I'll be on.

I've got a regular Coota spot, all good bait size, so start trolling there, pick up 10 or so, then head off to (the spot)

Unfortunately the gummies seem to be good mates with massive stingrays, so alot of time gets wasted on some rays up to 8ft in diameter. Best way I've found to move off them is use 6/0 hooks that are slighly thinner than mustads, and with 50lb mono and a 80lb Fluro leader and some aggressive yanking, I can pull the hooks striaght most times with a hand line. I just pull some slack line off the rod, then wind it 3 or 4 times around the hand line then yank it hard a few times, takes a few minutes and saves me about 20 sinkers a session.
That's right about 20 rays to every gummy.
But they've been big gummies up to 6ft, so worth it in the end.

I'm sure the fishing is better down your way in Tassie.

Melbourne is unfortunately not near the continental shelf so we basicly get bucket loads of snapper and rays and not much else in 5 - 40mtrs of water.

The mako's are at the 70mtr drop.

[TuffTackle]

Wish I could go with you simon,I’ll bring a camera and a first aid box.

Thanks for the reminder Spears, I went out and bought a bigger first aid box today, hope I don't need it.

[reidy]

Bag some decent gummies down this way but nothing around 6 foot.4-5foot seems to pull them up down here.Yep rays are a problem by catch as well in the bigger water ways (Tamar ).Do all my gummy fishing offshore,mainly around the North East tip of Tassie (Tommahawk,Petal point etc).Read in a well accredited fishing mag (one of the big two)around 12 months ago that gummies were not present in Tasmanian waters so what have i been catching for 20 years LOL.
Find this interesting though if gummies are present in Sourthern Tasmanian waters why not jews?,Caught many gummies out off beach gutters over the years but never a jewie (Mulloway)?
Its only 300km to Vic
Had some very good results on gummies/flatties recently using Silstar jig-um rigs ,the small pink squid pattern.I put a bit of salmon etc on the hooks for a bit of taste and away i go.Even if the taster is picked off they still hit them well.
between tides is the most productive time down here.
Good little fighters and top chewers
Hope you bag a couple.
Cheers
Reidy

[reidy]

Good day Simon,
terminal rig as follows.
15kg rig
7.5m 300lb wind on leader (400lb 15kg+)
swivel
4.5m 400lb s/s wire trace (400lb 15kg+)
11/0 or 12/0 s/s hook
complete length will not exceed 12.14m to qualify for records
Full Aust Salmon or squid bait.
One big bucket of courage
Be careful when at the boat with the leader,they will roll and if your hands get caught in the leader its over the side.
Mate hope you bag one soon
Cheers
Reidy
Have a spare outfit baited up in case one desides to cruise your berley trail,eg drop the bait under it,s nose at the transom and hope it picks it up.
Hibbsy and Paul do well on Mako.Hibbsy holds the current 15kg Tassie record at
over 200kg i think.
Both are fishing off Devonport this week-end chasing Mako in a local comp.
These boys fish Petra Blanca in Autum for biggggg blue fin (Off Tassies South Coast where those guys recently filmed surfing those monster waves on Petra reef a few weeks back.)
Bloody scary place that.

[sleepygreg]

A word of caution. Do NOT use a flying gaff on a mako. They will roll up the rope and cause all sorts of mayhem. try a fixed gaff in the mouth, then gently lift the tail with another gaff (dont stick it in the fish...you just make them madder) and slip the tail rope over the tail...then remove the mouth gaff. practice the method on some more docile sharks first. Sheesh.....the more I remember about what we used to do the more I have to shake my head in wonder that I am still here to tell the story. (this is where the experienced deckies come into play). You are talking about going from park cricket to playing in the test team, thats how serious these fish are.

Greg