Shark fishing: So good it’s all a blur

Many summers ago, before the Winston daughters left for college, I chartered a shark fishing boat out of Montauk and with a friend and his son, went about 25 miles offshore.

We landed a nice assortment of makos, blue sharks and a grey and all the kids got one. We also had a beluga whale broach in our chum slick and, finally, we were within waving distance of three of the U.S. Navy’s attack submarines as they headed into New London.

It was the most fantastic day I’d had on the ocean. To have all those things happen and no one got seasick was an experience of a lifetime.

Fast forward to this August 7 when several of the next generation of our family, including two of the sisters who went last time  — Donna Winston and Deirdre O’Donnell — and one of my grandsons, Matt O’Donnell, and his sister, Morgan, went out shark fishing.

We were up at 5 a.m. and caught a South Ferry ride at what felt like midnight, heading to Montauk to meet our captain, Bert, and mate Chris at West Lake Marina. The wind was up, blowing 10 to 15 knots out of the ENE. Normally, wind from the east is not a  good omen when fishing — the old saw says wind from the east, fishing the least.

We plowed out of the harbor heading to a “secret” fishing spot that both the captain and mate kept to themselves. The boat was well used and the potty was out of order that day but these two guys knew their stuff, had excellent tackle expertly rigged and great baits ready for anything. We proceeded generally to the SW for awhile when Chris ran out two trolling lines looking for small tuna in the area but nothing developed as we continued out.

After about 75 minutes we cut the engine and put a bucket with 3 quarter-inch holes in it and full of offal (politely called “chum” in the trade) over the side so it could leak out and spread the blood and oils oozing from it along with small chunks of fish and other meats.

The chum spread out over an area about 500 yards out and 40 yards wide, so sharks idling along could run into the fish oil and blood scent and try to follow it to its source, which was us.

When they found us we would be ready for them with four stout shark rods all baited and trailing in the water near the boat as we drifted with the nice breeze. All the rods were baited with bluefish filets about 12 to 14 inches long, deployed at different depths starting at 5 feet deep about 30 feet from the boat, to others held up by bright balloons holding the baits down to 100 feet.

We assigned each of the anglers a number so that the first fish to try us out would be Matt’s to fight since he was the youngest. We sat down to wait, expecting a long delay before the chum slick did its work.

But 10 minutes later one balloon took on a life of its own, scooting several yards, signaling a bite on that rod. We leapt to it but the fish just tore the bait a bit and disappeared. It was good news. That kind of a strike is the kind delivered by the highly prized, hard-fighting  mako shark. The captain yelled down from his fly bridge perch that he could see a nice and tasty visitor from southern waters eating chunks of bait in our slick.It was a dolphin, or mahi-mahi as it’s popularly known,  absolutely gorgeous and lit up like a multi-colored neon sign as it swam around.

The mate quickly hooked up a light tackle rod with 15-pound test and a small piece of bait.

Since I had never hooked one I begged to have the shot. The kids grudgingly allowed  the old man to hook and land his first mahi after four magnificent jumps. It was about 50 inches long, weighed about 15 pounds and produced enough filets for all aboard and a great photo for my album.

Next up was a 100-pound-plus blue shark that ate two of the baits before we knew what had happened and was spotted by the captain as it took the second bait within 15 feet of the boat.

Because Morgan and Matthew  were on the two rods hooked up, the blue was overmatched and soon was wallowing in the boat’s wash.

Following that double-hooked blue was Deirdre’s mako, giving us a great “Jaws” photo of a mouth full of three rows of jagged teeth that made us think seriously about never swimming again in saltwater. In typical mako style, it went a bit crazy and darted back and forth through all the other lines, leaving us with some untangling to do after we let the fish swim off.

After that release, a big blue shark was hooked. Donna worked hard before she had her “teammates” assist her, since the fish was over 7 feet long, weighed just under 150 pounds and fought wonderfully, acting more like a mako than a blue. Think about this — we were fighting each fish standing up on a bouncing boat deck and holding the rod, not sitting in a stable fighting chair.

Also, each of the females on board weighed at least 20 pounds less than  that blue shark so you can see why the rod was often passed to a teammate to help wear it down for landing. We kept that shark because Captain Bert wanted the meat and while I was not thrilled with the idea, I relented and got it on board after dispatching it. The positive of that was we have some great photos of the gang and the victim for our albums. And the captain got his meat.

The action remained fast and furious and things became a little confused after that. The bites kept coming and although the fish were not giants, each one tested us in a different way as it tried to shake the hooks. Chris was busy keeping things in order on deck as we fought fish  and lost count of who did what and when. Trying to piece it all together, I remember landing several makos and another blue, the last within five minutes of our agreed-upon quitting time.

As near as we could figure, our final total was four makos and three blue sharks, plus that beautiful mahi.

As  we started back toward Montauk Point we found we had drifted 7 miles, so our ride back in was a little longer than going out. It gave us time to rest a bit, enjoy the bright sun and the clear waters and think about what a lucky bunch we were.

How To Corner: The trick to having a successful offshore trip is to make sure you’re arranging it with a top rate captain who has a good sized, well-equipped boat, good fishing gear and a first rate mate. The trips are not inexpensive so it’s worth it to take along some fellow anglers to split the tab and the mate’s tip. Six is a good number. While I had never used the boat we went on this time, it came highly recommended.

They were among the best offshore team that I’ve ever fished with. Aside from quality gear and boat, they were knowledgeable, expert in their craft and really fun to be with. Email me — [email protected] — if you want the website of the boat and if you plan to fish for sharks this year, give it a try before the water starts to cool off.