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Reel-Time Feature

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by Capt. John Pirie

All eyes are focused on the slick trailing off the stern of the boat. Twenty minutes into the drift, the first fish glides into view. Despite all of the preparations, pandemonium ensues. The first fly hits the water and is rejected summarily as the 7-foot Blue Shark snubs the first offering. On the third pass, the fly is stripped in front of the shark who suddenly accelerates and takes the fly. He turns away and the angler strip strikes the line twice. Feeling resistance and the sting of metal the fish departs in a shower of water. The fish remains on the surface until the very end of the fight. After 20 minutes of give and take the tired fish is leadered, tagged, leadered again and the hook is removed. Free to go the shark melts away into the depths.
  Wild Blue Sharks in Massachusetts Bay
 
Such scenes are commonplace in the waters of New England during the months in August and September but, weather permitting, double.jpg (8748 bytes)October can also be red hot. July in Massachusetts Bay waters features mostly small female Blue Sharks in the 3-5 foot range. As the waters warm, the larger males and females push in from the east. The shark fishery, while only a pale reflection of the glory days of yesteryear, offers anglers a chance to catch from five to 25 fish a day with fly rods. While the majority of fish are blue sharks, makos, porbeagles and threshers are seen annually.

One of the primary reasons for the strong blue shark fishery is that they have not been a commercially viable target. Resources can dwindle though, and previously overlooked speciesjaws.gif (22689 bytes) be targeted. In the meantime, anglers can enjoy the opportunity to pit their skills and tackle against a truly worth opponent. Blue sharks will test every knot, line, drag and ferrule you use. Gear will break, fish will be lost, but the sharks keep coming. A good day in mid August can include leadering over 20 fish. Such days are quite common. Anglers often go home not because the charter is over but because they are exhausted. In fact, often we leave our drift with four to six fish still working the slick.


 

Setting Up
  The critical activities in this game are picking the spot and setting the drift. I look for an area where there are a bunch of contour lines stacked together indicating a significant change in depth. When you get to the area, look for water temperature shifts and baitfish or other "action" like tuna or dolphins. Once you have found the perfect shark.gif (19908 bytes)spot, calculate the drift by shutting down and letting the boat drift. For most boats, wind is the dominant factor in determining your direction of drift. Once you have determined which direction your boat will drift, head "updrift" (180 degrees opposite the expected drift) until you are two to three miles away from the area you want to fish. Put your chum bucket in the water, turn on the I.V. and "power chum" (run with the engines on at about 6-8 knots for about a mile in the same direction as your drift will take you). Once you have power chummed for about a mile to a mile and a half, turn off the motors and drift. You should drift at around a knot to a knot and a half – any faster is no good. Deploy a sea anchor on really windy days to slow your drift. Using this method you have essentially jump started your slick and in a short time it is over a mile long. Also, you should reach your "destination" after about two hours of drifting. You don't want to start over the optimum spot, you want to drift across it when you have a two mile slick trailing behind you.

Have faith in your selection. Breaking a slick is almost always a bad idea. Stick with it and if the season is right and you have built a good slick, they will come. Don't get nervous and move. If after four hours you haven't seen a single fish then you might want to reconsider your choice of location. Last year, we had some clients on board who were tired of fighting nothing but huge blue sharks in the 10-12 foot range,bend1.gif (22102 bytes) I offered to move to a spot where I was confident I could find some smaller fish. We set up our second slick after moving about seven miles. A nine foot blue shark showed up. He was acting a little skittish but seemed interested in flies. Suddenly he vanished to be replaced by a 700 pound, 11 foot female Mako who was a nasty creature in a particularly foul mood. Her head was all bitten up from breeding encounters with an aggressive male. Of course we yanked the fly out of the water as she sauntered up to the transom. Never break a slick.


As far as chumming is concerned we basically use three types:

A frozen bucket of fresh ground herring in a milk crate is the primary system. Tie the milk crate so that the bottom of the crate is just barely under water. That way the rocking of the boat will suck the chum out of the bottom of the bucket and you will only thaw a small bit at a time.

  • Refined herring oil is an important ingredient in a slick. Think about using a drip bag to dispense the oil. This stuff is incredible. We get old I.V. bags from hospitals (they are not hazardous bio-medical waste) and fill them with oil. We then set the flow valve to the correct rate for the day's drift.

Finally, we cut small chunks of mackerel to help keep sharks interested once they are in sight.
 

The Presentation
Tagging programs
National Marine Fisheries Service's Apex Predator Program provide scientists with valuable information regarding migrations and growth patterns of these sharks. Tags can be obtained by contacting the NMFS Apex Predator Study in Narragansett Rhode Island
Casting for blue sharks often requires minimal effort on the part of the angler. Sharks will often eat the fly close to the boat minimizing the need for long casts and experience with big rods. There are times when "hot" fish will actively pursue stripped flies right to the boat. Such fish are easy to hook. Well fed, more complacent fish are much harder to hook. Sometimes these fish must be repeatedly fed with chunks of mackerel before they will accept a fly substitute. Once there are a number of sharks around the boat, competition will often create a feeding frenzy and sharks will eat any fly thrown into the maelstrom.

Most of the time, anglers will witness the shark eating the fly. Once the shark turns its head at right angles to the angler, the hook should be set with one or two strip strikes. Since the hooks are razor sharp and sharks mouths fairly soft, setting the hook is not a difficult prospect. In fact most hooks are kept seated by the steady pressure of the fight. Donąt treat the shark like a tarpon and try to rip its lips off.

Once the fish is hooked anglers should attempt to put maximum pressure on the fish immediately. If you have taken care to preset your drags with a hand scale you should not have to make many adjustments during the fight. If you give up more than 200 yards you should either start your motor and chase the fish, or back off the drag due to the line drag increase caused by having so much line in the water. One of the added benefits of the backing I use, gel spun polyethylene, is that the small diameter (compared to Dacron) greatly reduces line drag in the water. Since fly hooked sharks generally fight near the surface until the end of the battle, use low rod angles and side pressure to shorten any fight. Once the fish is near the boat, care should be taken. If the fish is tired, one can often successfully tag and remove the fly from a fish. Barbless hooks and careful leadering improve the odds of this operation greatly.

A quiet blue shark can often be held by the short piece of metal wire or at least the monofilament adjacent to that wire. Green fish are almost always broken off prior to hook removal and often before tagging. Don't be in a rush to bring your fish to boatside. Tired fish are far easier to handle!

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  Rigging
  All equipment must be of the highest quality. Large arbor reels with smooth drags are a pleasure to fish with. Drags must be heat resistant since runs are long and drag pressures are high. Orvis' new Vortex series are a good case in point. Tibor has a series of quality reels as well. Lines should be fast sinking such as the Orvis Depth Charge flies.jpg (4825 bytes)or Teeny sinking lines. Rods should not be less than 12 weights for the majority of fish. During the early season, one can catch small female blues on 9-10 weight rods. However, once the larger 6-10 foot fish show up 12-17 weight rods become the norm. Extended foregrips are a must to reduce arm fatigue. Twenty minute battles are not uncommon and good rod design will become evident during such a fight.

Our leader systems are fairly simple. We use 8-10 inches of wire -- usually #7 to #9 will suffice. I prefer the coffee colored wire. A simple Haywire twist at both ends completes the bite protection. The next section is not compliant with IGFA standards. We put a 4 foot section of 80-100 pound Jinkai against the wire since this makes for easier fish handling alongside the boat. For the system to be IGFA legal, one must put the class tippet against the wire. This will cause the leaderman to have to either grasp the wire or the class tippet to try to control a fis. Since we are not interested in records for the most part and would rather see our fish tagged and the hook removed, we rarely use IGFA systems. Our third section (from the hook ) is a break off section of 20 to 30-pound material. This is a must or one risks losing the entire fly line to a large fish. This "weakest" link allows one to break off large fish without fear of losing the whole system. Finally, we finish off with a butt section of 80 to 100 -pound. Jinkai. The knots are surgeons loops and surgeons knots. This allows quick leader changes and ease of construction. I prefer the Jinkai because we have found it easy to tie with and very durable in regards to abrasion.

Our flies are mostly tied on 6/0 and 8/0 hooks. While one can use 4/0s they do not sink fast without the addition of a lot of weight and can be straightened with a lot of pressure. We use Mustad 3407s because they are not stainless and any lost hooks will rust out relatively quickly. Flies are designed to imitate squid and large baitfish for the most part. All flies have heavy eyes and/or lead weights added. They should be hand sharpened to a triangulated razor-sharp point. Barbs should be crushed down for easier hook removal.

I have become a huge fan of the use of gel-spun polyethylene backing. While this material is often two to three times the cost of Dacron, I find it to be an economically wise choice. I have one shark reel on my boat which has had the same backing on for six seasons. I have to replace the Dacron on my boat at least once a season. Gel-spun polyethylene backing is far more UV resistant, it resists rot and mildew and generally lasts far longer than Dacron. In addition, gel-spun polyethylene backing has a far smaller diameter allowing anglers to use greater pound strengths and increased yardage on their spools. Furthermore, this smaller diameter contributes to a reduction in line drag as the backing cuts through the water. This material does have some drawbacks. The material ust be wound on very tight. If a fish is broken off well into the backing, care must be taken to wind the material on tightly for fear of the backing cutting into itself on the next fish. One must also take care to avoid line cuts since the material will easily slice a finger.
  More about Sharks
  Given the depletion and poor management of our shark fishery, all sportfisherman should endeavor to release the majority of sharks. Blue sharks are basically inedible. Fisheries biologists advise that makos should not be harvested until they have reached sexual maturity, which often does not occur before they reach 250 pounds. .

The New England shark fishery remains a fantastic opportunity for fly fishermen. To get started, fish with an experienced captain on your first trip if you can, or do a lot of reading: Pete Barrett's book Shark Fishing is a must for anyone new to the sport. Until you have battled a 200 pound shark on fly gear, you likely have not experienced what 8 pounds of drag setting will do to your rod. When you see the first blue shadow slip through the clear blue waters, you'll be hooked for life.
 

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