Mako!...Mako!....Mako!

Mako! Mako! Mako! Those were the last words I remember, all the other details are a blur.

Every shark trip starts the same, with 3 days of preparation. Humping 5, 20 gallon barrels of fuel down to the boat, hunting down bluefish in the bay till the wee hours of the night, tying wire leaders, frequent trips to Rip Some Lip Tackle, studying charts and water temps, and giving the boat a good once over.

Come the night before and we're all damn near exhausted already, but sleep is a futile attempt when you have shark on the brain.

It was 3:45am and my alarm clock started to sing, time to fish! Amazing how I can never drag myself outta bed for work, but on 4hrs sleep I could leap from my slumber to go fishing. John John and Big John were already awake and loading the truck and In 10 mins we were on our way.

The morning air was thick with summers heated humidity and the sun hadn't come up, as we set sail 30 miles South East on our charted course.

By 5:30 we dumped our first pot of chum over the gunnel and set our drift to the wind. It wasn't long before the Blue Sharks showed up and set the reels a whizzing. JJ got him to the boat, cutting the leader and setting him free. By that time the chum pot had spread a nice chunk slick behind the boat and the Gorilla Bluefish started chomping at anything we threw down. In wait we threw some light tackle over the side and wrangled a few extra Bluefish into the box for bait. I was on the chum grinder working the ladle pot when a fin surfaced about 30 yards behind the boat. Mako in the slick! Continuing to work the pot, sadly no lines rang out.

By that time all the fair weather folks started showing up, and with that comes trouble, lack of knowledge or courtesy resulted in 5 boats running right through our slick. That was enough, one fish ran off, the chum bucket running out fast and other boats cutting off our slick gave us plenty of reason to pull in and move.

Still early in the day we ran another 7 miles east to our secondary spot and found 2 other boats sitting right on our spot, discouraged but not defeated we set up 2 miles south and started in again on the chum grinder, chunking and pot shaking.... Working feverishly in the mid days heat, we lost track of the rods till one went reeling off in a fury. FISH ON! We had been set up and working the water all of 30 minutes when the reel started whizzing. I jumped on my TLD, just as JJ yelled....MAKO!

Only this time he was on the hook and jumping straight out of the water. I worked him and he worked me, spooling out line and trying to break free, every bit of line I took in, he took back. A constant tug of war took place, as Big John got the boat in gear and worked his magic on the wheel keeping him from landing in the boat with every jump.

With both the fish and I tired, JJ took the rod as I prepared the harpoon, but this shark wasn't done, he ran another 3 times on JJ before we finally wore him down and were able to get our hands on the wire leader. JJ opted for the flying gaff, and stuck him perfectly behind the gills, as we frantically secured a tail rope. Not an easy task for a 3 man crew but everyone knew their role and played them well.

With tail rope cleated, it was officially our shark to claim, and time to celebrate! We worked 3 days, in constant preparation to be able to hang this fish on the gunnel, and with great smiles we set sail for home. Grinning ear to earn and constant elation we pointed our vessel North West and headed for port, cracked a beer and laid back happily exhausted.

Special Thanks to My Big Brother James, for getting me into this great sport, I don't know if his methods of teaching/yelling at me are all that, but his voice in my head "square up to the fish, reel down on him, don't square reel!" paid off in getting our first big Mako to the boat.

Big John Orena, Thank you for putting up with us 2 idiots, getting up early to cook, prepare lunch, run the boat and always getting us home safe. Thanks Capt!

And a Huge Thanks to Mike "Archie Bunker" Falco at Rip Some Lip Tackle in Freeport NY for the constant, motivation, advice, slimy bunker and great service. Without a good tackle shop with knowledgeable owners fishing would be a lot harder of a task then it already is. Enjoy the Steaks!!!