Mako Shark fishing

The Mako is a huge fish and that is an understatement. The female Mako can grow up to 12.5 foot while the males reach 9.5 feet. Being one of the fastest sharks in the ocean, the mako shark can easily attain speeds of 35 km/h and can even leap clear into the air to heights of 6 meters and more. This is what makes the Mako shark a favorite among anglers. The Mako sharks are abundantly found in tropical and temperate offshore waters. It is spread all around the world. The Western Atlantic has the Mako in the area ranging from Argentina to the Gulf of Mexico, to Nova Scotia. They are lesser in number in the Canadian waters because they prefer warmer waters. Mako sharks are quite often found in waters that house the swordfish, because the latter is a source of food.

The Mako shark can very well give an angler the fight of his life. It is on the top of the food chain and can rip through a school of bait like a car going over 45 mph. Mako sharks are caught both commercially as well as for recreational purposes. Tuna longliners make the bulk of the commercial catches. About three quarters of the mako sharks thus caught are processed and the rest are discarded. The recreational catch of Mako sharks is also sizeable as these are highly prized as game fish. Big game fishing clubs and individual fishers catch these fish in large numbers. Mako shark fishing is popular in areas like Maine, Nova Scotia and New England.

Chumming is almost always the best way to go Mako shark fishing. Mako sharks love food. They hunt using their sense of smell more than their sense of sight. If you do not want to buy chum from a local store, save up all the vitals, guts and other waste from any fish that you have caught. You can add in some mackerel, tuna or other fish in it. Chumming is the method that is effectively used to coax fish like sharks to come to the surface of the water and to keep there for as long as necessary. Since sharks do not easily come to the surface, this is one of the most common methods to lure them out. Placing the chum squarely in the exact area that is known to have a large Mako shark population will bring in the sharks by the dozens. Not all Makos will be prize catches. A large number of sharks caught are much smaller in size. No wonder this because the Makos take about 6-8 years to mature and attain respectable proportions. A 6-foot long 500-700 pound single strand wire is used for the rig. The hooks should be about 8 inches - 1 foot apart from each other. The fish may jump clear out of the water. Care has to be taken to keep the line tight around the fish.

Once you get the mako shark to the boat stick it behind the dorsal fin with a gaff. If you stick the fish in front of the dorsal fin, it may go berserk, and you still have it tied to your boat. Get a tail rope on the Mako and the fish is yours. Finish it off by drowning it. This can be does by hanging it off a cleat. Once the mako shark is in the boat, secure it. To do this, cleat off the tail rope and loop a rope around the shark behind the pectoral fins. Stretch the fish and cleat off the ropes.

Shark fishing

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