The Annual Shark Trip

The sun rose as we trundled down the M5 on our way for our annual Shark trip off the Plymouth coast. Two aborted trips last year both lost to the weather has us keener than ever and there was no fear of mother nature stopping us getting out this year.

As always we were aboard Sea Angler II with Malcolm Jones, one of the most experienced and trusted skippers in the area. This year he had a first mate on board too although Robbie did seem to be more there for company rather than work but he did mash up the rubby-dubby as we steamed out to our drift. The (not so sweet) smelling mixture of Mackerel, bran and oil used to attract the toothy critters to our mackerel flapper hook-baits.

The sharks have been about in numbers this year and within minutes Nath was into the first shark of the day. Year on year shark numbers seem to be on the increase and the variety also seems to be getting more varied, Porbeagles are getting more regular and Threshers have been spotted. In future years it may be possible for us to even target Tuna and other Pelagic species.

What followed was a procession of Sharks at regular intervals weighing up to about forty pounds.

Just after lunch a fish took the bait on the drop and as line screamed from the reel I realised that I was attached to a much more substantial fish. An arm aching battle ensued, several times the shark was brought alongside the boat, Malcolm grabbed the leader but each time the shark wrestled away and I was forced to haul her back to the surface.

Eventually she was dragged onto the side of the boat, holding her down the trace was unclipped and the hook removed.

Three of us lifted her into the boat. She measured 66 inches to the fork of the tail and had a 33 inch girth which equated to 90lbs in weight. The girth squared multiplied by the length divided by 800 equals the weight in pounds. As accurate as it gets on a boat!

A quick couple of photos with my new pb and she was returned to her watery home, hopefully the only thing that was hurt was her ego.

We still had time for a few more fish including one which I battled on a spinning rod and fixed spool reel which was a lot of fun before we steamed back to port. Sixteen sharks landed between us made for a fab days fishing and all that was left was a night out around the nightspots of Plymouth.