Porbeagle, a cracker at last.

Hi all,
Well half the country knows about my porgie from the kayak on the 12th of June.
It has all gone a bit mad since then, from RTE, Unilad and even over to Arizona where 4 presenters had a right laugh with it.

Back to the fishing, 
Ivor [aka fisher man] met near Malinhead for an early launch. He had his nicely rigged out van with him so he was there ahead of me.

We geared up on the pier and paddled out in search of bait. From reports of shark about the previous weekend I was trolling baits the second I had a decent one.
I had one 50lb class standard rod with a big Okuma multiplier, and the other rod which was handed the other week an asked to catch something decent on it. The convo went along the lines of its a " bit thin, I'll probably break it". The response I got was " heave as hard as you like it's under warranty".
The rod was a Big Bite 30lb to 80lb class can cast 200g. It had a Fin nor lethal on it loaded with 300yards of 60lb braid.
The 2 rods had 15ft of 250lb wind on leaders and 3ft of 400lb 49 strand AGF wire, one had a 10/circle hook and the other had a cat fish hook on.

Fresh baits rigged and out we went to the mark.
I also had some huge soft lures with me to try as we went.

 Although the weather was to be good later it was still pretty wild out there. So we had a bash in the shelter. Ivor went after Pollock and had 2 shark set ups on. Fishing was just ok Ivor had lots of coalie and small Pollock but still wasn't great.
But things began to pick up. Ivor start getting better Pollock and I had red gurnard and 2 nice bullhuss , each a new PB as they came 8lb3 and 10lb6 I was delighted.

The weather finally eased.
At last the weather settled and we moved out closer to where beasts are meant to frequent. But this time when we moved I tried a short drift to check the ground out. But I didn't really move. The wind and tide cancelled each other out, so no anchor needed a huge bonus when fishing for beasts.
We fished away and that's where I had my 10lb6oz huss. I was happy with when.

A SHARK A SHARK,
Ivor shouted a shark a shark is after my fish. I laughed and assumed it was a basking shark passing by. But he said no its a blue one.
I turned that quick I near gave myself whiplash lol.
As I looked over there was a beast of a porgie head butting Ivors kayak looking for a coalie.

With that I reeled in my swim bait rigged mackerel and casted it at Ivor. The mackerel sank as nice as you like down in front of the shark and he didn't even give it a second glance, no interest at all.
Ah but I had an ace up my sleeve. With it rigged swim bait style I started reeling in and it swam like one of those tru line lures. As I reeled this shape appeared from behind it and gave chase.

My heart was going like steam train. She was catching up fast but the bait had made it to my kayak.
I stopped reeling and waited for the bait to be engulfed.
But no, as soon as I stopped reeling she stopped opened her mouth and dodged the bait.

OH SHIT
But it could never be as simple that she turned away with her mouth open and got the wire in her mouth and the circle hook on her pectoral fin. So I quickly shook some line off and with that she sat there thrashing the water until the wire came out of her mouth and thankfully the hook just fell off her pectoral fin.
With that she put her head down and swam away. I was in a state of shock, get the cameras out or recast.
For fear of missing my chance I cast in the general direction she went and half way through the retrieve up she came through the water and again stopped at the side of the kayak.
So I thought I'd troll the baits as I would get a longer run if she chased. I had the 2 rods out 1 with Pollock and 1 with the swim bait mackerel. The Pollock was spinning as I trolled and the mackerel was swimming away nicely.

Trolling away.
I was now trolling and with info from Alastair to keep the baits close I had them about 30yards behind me or even less. The baits where high in the water no more than 6inches under the water as I trolled.

Up came a Fin.
5 minutes later Up came a fin, Oh and what a sight. I nearly forgot to keep paddling lol.
Paddling away and that fin was coming up on the baits like jaws after that water skier in the film.
As I was afraid of a violent take I stopped paddling and began reeling. She sped up and grabbed the bait. No real panic and passed me as she did. I tightened the line as she passed but the bait pulled from her mouth.
I was heart broken, and convinced that was my last chance. But now I was convinced that I needed a live coalie. I shouted to Ivor could he catch one while I kept the shark entertained.

Knackered mackerel and Pollock rerigged as a swim bait I trolled as Ivor got some livies.
Again she came and now was keen on the Pollock swimming away up right. But this time the hook folded over and the hook went into the Pollock instead of the shark and again she was gone.

Ivor to the rescue.
Over he came with 4 lively coalies. Swim bait rigged and again I was trolling and again jaws came to the surface fin out of the water and she was making an impressive bow wave as she charged after me. This time she meant business. She was coming much faster and was not playing this time. She tore through the water and grabbed the coalie. But this time I kept paddling and she swam straight past me.
As she did I grabbed the rod held on and let the line tighten.

FISH ON.
Well it was like hooking a bus that didn't know it was hooked. She just sped up a bit and kept going and I held on and away she went. She was not that really bothered. she would go a bit and then shake her self as if she was just going to snap the line and carry on. This went on for a little while and she towed me into the rocks. But still it was as if she was going for a look around and taking me along for the craic.

But I put heavy drag on her at least 20 to 24lb of drag to get her coming up. I was sure the rod would break. But after 40 mins up she came I had the leader in my hand she done a circle around me, I heaved the line, I even had the 3ft wire in my hand and THEN.

Then she looked at me.
She went on her side as I grabbed the end of the wire and looked at me. Ye one of those looks. With that she turned and darted down and out. I let the line go and she came around and rammed me as hard as she could. What a slap. She sent me at least 5ft through the water.
Ivor got it on camera.
From then on the fight was seriously tough. She dragged beside every rock she could find.
At one point she even tried to get me into a gulley.
Thankfully Ivor was on hand and towed me out away from the rocks as the shark done her best to get me on the rocks.

Down deep and very tough.
She gave up on the rocks and headed out down deep and a seriously heavy fight was on I had at this stage at least 24lb of drag [which is a ton of drag on a kayak] on and heaving like hell. But she had no interest in coming up. This went on for hours and I was in bits at this stage, the long butt on the rod was making it tough. I wasn't able to heave the rod anymore and my back was aching. I was now using my knee to lift the rod and reeling any slack.
But I was getting no more than an inch of line at a time. But eventually She came up and I thought it was over, well she came up 4 times before the end and every time she powered off with big drag on her. I had to slack it off several times as she went off so strong. One of these times she came up and breached in front of me and smashing the water as she went.

Eventually up she came.
She eventually came up for the last time and she was immense. Bigger than I had thought. Her body was twice the girth of her head. She was like of those big fat ones Andrew Alsop gets on his boat.
As she did come up the wild life ranger/basking shark tagging team came by.

 They got a couple of nice pics and Emmet our shark expert reckoned she was easily 300lb. I reckoned it was comfortably 250lb but she was very hard to fathom her size when she is right beside you. All I could get into the pic was her head.

But it was great to see the shark I was sure I'd never get up. I had her along side and as the lads where in a boat I got them to tow me for a few seconds and she swam along side nicely. hook out and away she went.

The beast released and I was delighted and set to paddle home. Oh but I was wrecked lol. So a ditch on a rocky bay was in order, and a quick call to Linda my wife for a pick up.
So a week to recover from that one, Rod handle cut shorter and ready for the next one.

So until the next round of mayhem, Tight lines.