A nice specimen and a scare
 

First off is the bass. Wasn't really shooting for her, but a nice catch anyway. And, surprising what a fight she gave, even on my heavy gear. Took a full 8" live Mac.

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwegall...80449_6001.jpg

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwegall...80450_6001.jpg


.





.





Second was the interesting part of the day. This day had some of the biggest and widespread porpoise feeding frenzies that I had ever seen. From south of the shores to the north, they were everywhere.

So I'm passing by an area that had just seen the activity about 20 minutes prior. The birds were dumb and fat sitting on the surface relaxing. To my right about 50 feet away was a large splash. I figured it was a leftover porpoise coming out of the water chasing bait. As I watch, I see this object underwater, coming toward my yak, and I'm thinking, odd that it doesn't take off and dive or go away. As the object is getting clearer and clearer I realize that's no porpoise, it's a good sized shark.

Using the yak as a reference, I'd put it at 10' long, and the width was as wide as my yak - 28". It was big. And the circumference was no skinny lean mammal of the ocean. The one fin was centered, and when he came to the surface and it was out of the water, it was a good two feet in height, and pure light gray.

It was now parallel to me, coming off my back-side, and about 10' off my rear. It really felt like some of the movie from Jaws. All I could think of was grab my gaff and hit the water as hard as I could, and sure enough it went around the back of me, and continued to coast near the surface and off into the distance.

At first I was thinking GW, then others thought Mako. Looking at pictures this morning it had characteristics of a Basking. So now I'm not sure what it was. Basking are filter feeders. Whatever I saw came out of the water and I'm guessing got himself a bird. Got any guesses from my description?

The only video I got was after it had come and gone .... needless to say I had other things on my mind at that moment :)

A shark is a shark is a shark......that's my guess.

:iagree: x2

big mako? Nice experience to come away unscathed from.....:D

let's see da pichers...

A nice calico biting your line is better than a shark biting your ass.

Great experience, glad it turned out well!

From the behavior I would say Mako. 2' tall dorsal is pretty big for a Mako, but I had a 10'-ish long mako say hi to me and a buddy in the middle of the night last month out there (and acted very similar to how you described), with maybe I'd say a 1.5' dorsal, pretty big. I am calling it a Mako instead of GWS because of his speed, splashing and quick turns that I haven't observed of GWS. Who knows though for sure, it was dark and my headlamp sucks. Either species has the same pucker factor, maybe even more with Mako.

Would be cool to see the pics if you have any.

No pictures taken by me until it was already out of range. First I had to wait for my heartbeat to slow down a bit :)

All I can add, is that I did mark it as a waypoint and just brought up the distance. It was appx 3.25 miles from the shores.

I was out there on thursday and there were big schools of maks eating on krill.

i'm okay with not seeing sharks out there!

hammerhead. :D we do got 'em

Regor,

You should of mentioned how you tied BOTH of the fly lines you were running up around your rudder when you started hauling a$$ out of the area, this could have been written incredibly humorous. How you then came up to a fellow yakker and WCW competitor and asked for a hand with the lines around the rudder who in turn vocalized his inner turmoil over whether or not to help out because he was also in the WCW...and who after clearing your lines heartily wished you a goose egg on the day and all the by-catch you could handle...

Like we said on the water, definitely Mako. Glad you got that by-catch.:D

That would be a very small basking shark. Many species are commonly mistaken for basking sharks. In most cases they are usually white sharks... but I would go with mako. Sounds like an exciting day to me! You almost got taxed!

Thx Whizz :)
It was selective writing, and that was the part I left out.

Love my Hobie, but that darn rudder is a magnet for the lines hanging out the back. I've even had a big lively Greenback come full turn around the back end of the Yak (while trolling) and get the line caught on the rudder. I also need to make an adjustment, since the rudder doesn't always pull all the way up, allowing me to untangle. And at that very moment while in the middle of nowhere with the tax man around, just didn't feel like turning around and hanging the feet in the water to address the lines :eek:

You got your wish, nothing was caught that could be entered in the WCW that day :(

will mako's take a bite?