Mega Shark Tourney Fishing

[jasoncooperpcola]

I fished the Outcast Mega Shark Tourney this year with Captain Jim, and Todd. We put together a trip on the local fishing forum. We fished it in a late 70's Silveton 32 Baha Hunter powered by twin 425hp V8 454s.

Friday night was a bust, Captain was about to have a heat stroke, gulf was slick as glass and not a lick of wind. We decided to head in about midnight.

We left Saturday afternoon about 2 o'clock, after fixing some issues with the boat. We got to our fishing spot on natural bottom about 6 o'clock. Before dark we had one run on my Penn 80VSW, i hooked up and fought it for about 20 minutes and it run under the boat and cut my 200lb braided main line on the prop.
ABout 10 o'clock we got our next run, and it was Todd's turn on the reel. He fought his for almost an hour, while we got the anchor pulled, and tried to keep him out of the marker bouy. Then the crimp pulled loose on my cable and the cable pulled free from the hook. We almost had the shark beside the boat and everybody got a glimpse of him, it was at least 10' long. Didn't know which species. We got anchored back down, dropped back two baits under gatorade bottles with glow sticks (we only use the top notch expensive stuff).
I just got dozed off and was woke up by a screaming drag on a Penn 80. This time Capt Jim got on it. This time though we had rigged the anchor line on a bouy so we could throw it over and get away from it. But..... no sooner than the buoy hit the water the shark wrapped it. I got a first hand lesson in running the boat. After making two circles around the buoy we got her free. Almost two hours and 3 miles later, Capt Jim got him boat side and Todd got the leader. After 3 .45s to the head he was still kicking Jim's a**. Two more runs and he was boat side again.
Todd got my big flying gaff through his mouth. Me and Capt Jim worked on getting a tail rope on him. No sooner than we got a wrap of the tail rope on the cleat, the shark threw the flying gaff out. After another 5 minutes of pure hell we sank the flying gaff through the middle of his head. We winched him into the boat, and after high fives we were headed in. Got to the dock about 5 o'clock. Had him in freezer at 6.

WE weighed him at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. We was expecting 3rd place. He weighed 268.2, we didn't even get on the board. Even though we didn't win anything we all had fun and a good time. 1st place was almost 900 lbs. 2nd was 800 lbs. 3rd was 363 lbs.

These first three picture are of the shark after welcoming him aboard.

[jasoncooperpcola]

These pictures are the shark at the weigh-in.
First one is Captain Jim with his shark.
Second is just the shark.
Third is him in the air coming off the boat.

[jasoncooperpcola]

I will upload more pics tomorrow they keep failing to upload.

I have pics of the 1st place shark and of the boat we fished.

[SkunkBoat]

Nice! Sharking is fun but I haven't done it in 20 years. My best is a 110# Mako but we also got a 250#Tiger that trip. I want to try it on my V20. There were big Threshers inshore of 3 miles this past June on the bunker schools. Guys trolling wire line and spoons for Stripers were hooking up and getting spooled. I got me a premade shark rig for my tackle bag for "oppurtunity" fishing.

[Road King Cole]

You are #1 in the V20 shark fishing tourny!'

Great job.

rkc

[Orlando]

the v will definitly handle a big one, buddy managed to land a 10+ fter on a 19cc bayliner. and i've brought in 5fters on my v. love to hear the reel peeling and getting my exercise

[jasoncooperpcola]

Next year if i fish the shark tourney in my V20, i think i will have some work to do to the boat. The swim platform will definitely have to come off, so i can bring sharks around the boat if need be. Doel-fins will stay off the motor, just something else to snag a line on. Then i have to figure out how to get around the splashwell and motor if i have to. I have lost a few cobia in that position. But then agian if somebody can run the boat, we can keep the shark on one side, and not have to play ring around the V20.

Also i plan to have a hard top with lifting eyes by next year. It was nice being able to winch that monster in using come alongs and not having to lift it manually. (Captain Jims boat had a solid transom and no door)

These are Pictures of Captain Jims boat. "Victory at Sea"

[Orlando]

just make sure it is dead before you bring it onboard, dont let them fool you and "wake up" when your not expecting it. your fishing partner might bail out of the boat on ya while cruising back to the dock.

[jasoncooperpcola]

Here are pics of the winning shark. I wasn't too impressed with these Tiger Sharks. Once they get on land they turn into spaghetti with a head and teeth.

[lumberslinger178]

graet pics jason