[Kramsey]

Alrighty ladies and gents,
I have searched all the shark threads and would like to start a new one and see what people's experiences are offshore with sharks! Let's hear those shark stories! Especially from recent years. I have caught sharks from land in California, rays too, but this year when I am offshore going for halibut and tuna I would love to try and catch mako, thresher, or salmon sharks as well. Sharking is such a fun and undeniably cool sport. I was addicted to it land based in Cali but figure the best bet here in Oregon (Southern Oregon) is offshore.
Please share tips, tricks, and stories. I'd love to hear them
-K

 

[Halibutt poker]

I’ve never targeted them. But hit one in my buddies 25 glass boat running wide open back from halibut fishing. Stopped the boat pretty fast. I ran to the back as he was trimming up the twin 200 and a 7’ blue sank below the motors.

 

[oregonoutdoors]

We see blues all the time halibut and tuna fishing. I have seen salmon sharks a few times out at the ranch halibut fishing. We targeted them a couple times and hooked a salmon shark that was 7'+, fight didn't last long before he broke off. Planning on a trip to target them this spring / summer especially with chinook being closed.

 

[TheFishingWookie]

We had (what I believe was a Thresher shark) hit an inline spinner behind a 360 trolling for salmon in 400 FOW last August outside Garibaldi. We had been catching a ton of Mackerel that morning on anchovies which was annoying so I switched over to spinners and when it initially hit I thought sweet we got a salmon finally, but then a really long tail starting sticking out of the water and then after a few minute fight we got it within 10 or so feet of the boat and it took off and just cut the line. I was ****ed I lost the spinner blade but in hindsight I'm glad it happened because I was the only one thinking about bringing it in the boat 😂 . Pretty cool story and I wish we would have gotten a picture. So I do know you can catch a shark trolling . I just don't know how effective it would be again lol.

 

[Liquiddeath]

My dad and I were salmon fishing off neah bay once and the water was a bright green color I had never seen before. There were blue sharks everywhere. After we had our salmon limit we hooked salmon gills on a steel leader and heavy hook and casted it out in front of them with our halibut rods. Let them take it, counted to 10 and sett the hook. What a fight those gave. We landed 2 of them about 7’ and ate one. Tasted good from what I remember. But that was a long time ago.

 

[Ocean Invader Aquaholic]

I’ve hooked several blues jigging for tuna but I only managed to get a small 4’ to the boat. Wife saw it and said ”you’re going to need a bigger boat”😁

 

[Threemuch]

Caught many, many blues to 10 feet fishing dead bait for albacore. Have landed 2 salmon sharks fishing at the rockpile for halibut. Have hooked a large thresher by the tail trolling for albacore on a plug. Have had an albacore bitten clean in half by something that had a bite width larger than 18". Killed a small thresher salmon trolling in Monterey Bay before I moved here. Caught 100s of leopard sharks in SF Bay, along with a few 6 gills and one 7 gill and alot of bat rays too. A couple of huge skates halibut fishing.

I'm not a huge fan. Thresher or Mako, if there were a good way to consistently have success, I would fish for, but they aren't around in concentrations that I have observed.

Bay shark fishing is fun, kinda like fishing for sturgeon or catfish. But I am not sure I would eat any bay sharks, much like sturgeon or catfish. Still, a 50 inch leopard is a fun tussle, and we called bat rays mud tuna because of their strength and power. I am not aware of any bay sharks except for 7 gills in Willipa bay and I think that is closed now.

Blue sharks are annoying bait stealers and gear wreckers. They roll on the line, don't fight that well, and love anchovies. Inedible. Potentially dangerous. I have seen more than one person have a close call trying to recover a live bait hook because we were running out. Blues can reach their tail. Quickly.

Good luck to you, hope you find some.

 

[Kramsey]

Caught many, many blues to 10 feet fishing dead bait for albacore. Have landed 2 salmon sharks fishing at the rockpile for halibut. Have hooked a large thresher by the tail trolling for albacore on a plug. Have had an albacore bitten clean in half by something that had a bite width larger than 18". Killed a small thresher salmon trolling in Monterey Bay before I moved here. Caught 100s of leopard sharks in SF Bay, along with a few 6 gills and one 7 gill and alot of bat rays too. A couple of huge skates halibut fishing.

I'm not a huge fan. Thresher or Mako, if there were a good way to consistently have success, I would fish for, but they aren't around in concentrations that I have observed.

Bay shark fishing is fun, kinda like fishing for sturgeon or catfish. But I am not sure I would eat any bay sharks, much like sturgeon or catfish. Still, a 50 inch leopard is a fun tussle, and we called bat rays mud tuna because of their strength and power. I am not aware of any bay sharks except for 7 gills in Willipa bay and I think that is closed now.

Blue sharks are annoying bait stealers and gear wreckers. They roll on the line, don't fight that well, and love anchovies. Inedible. Potentially dangerous. I have seen more than one person have a close call trying to recover a live bait hook because we were running out. Blues can reach their tail. Quickly.

Good luck to you, hope you find some.

Thanks for the well thought out reply Threemuch. Sounds like you have seen your share of sharks! I wonder if the success rate would go up if a guy was to put in time trolling actual shark gear and setting chum slicks? something I'm looking at doing this summer. Thanks again

 

[Gun Rod Bow]

Blue sharks are annoying bait stealers and gear wreckers. They roll on the line, don't fight that well, and love anchovies. Inedible. Potentially dangerous. I have seen more than one person have a close call trying to recover a live bait hook because we were running out. Blues can reach their tail. Quickly.

Spot on.

Yes Blues can and will bite your hand if you grab their tail.

I only see threshers and Makos while tuna fishing. 60 plus degree water. Id rather catch tuna than a shark. Its not unusual to see one but not on every trip. Blues are everywhere and annoying. Ive caught them salmon trolling as well as been plagued tuna fishing.

I have seen and hooked salmon sharks while salmon fishing but dont really have a desire to land any of them. I dont plan to eat them. So it just takes time away from fishing.

I would say you can follow the tuna fleet and chum up as many blues as you want and might get lucky on a thresher or mako. I have seen both on bait stops.

 

[Kramsey]

Spot on.

Yes Blues can and will bite your hand if you grab their tail.

I only see threshers and Makos while tuna fishing. 60 plus degree water. Id rather catch tuna than a shark. Its not unusual to see one but not on every trip. Blues are everywhere and annoying. Ive caught them salmon trolling as well as been plagued tuna fishing.

I have seen and hooked salmon sharks while salmon fishing but dont really have a desire to land any of them. I dont plan to eat them. So it just takes time away from fishing.

I would say you can follow the tuna fleet and chum up as many blues as you want and might get lucky on a thresher or mako. I have seen both on bait stops.

Great info, thank you very much!

 

[Cathunter1]

 

[Broadoak]

Blues are a pain and don't fight much from my experience with them halibut fishing and jigging tuna. Had about an 8' mako eat a tuna bird off the hand line 30' from the boat last year. Was cool until I realized I just lost like 40$.
Wanting to target a salmon shark myself, like others have said with chinook closed. We've seen them pretty regularly around the rock pile when trolling for salmon. I've heard they're decent to good eating and I'd like to try it.
Our plan is it find one finning, set up ahead of it and deploy a chum line. If we get it's attention we'll send out 2 shark rigs, one down line, one on a balloon in the chum slick. Ideally we're after one in the 3-5' range to take, any bigger and I think it'd get a bit tough to deal with. Can't cut them up to fit in coolers according to the regs, so we'd want to dispatch it, gut and fit it in a cooler to care for the meat and remain legal.
Harpoon then bang stick, tail rope and bleed is the dispatch plan.
Might be fun to have a few boats out looking for them with a similar goal, big ocean to cover looking for the right shark.

 

[Scouty]

We fin hooked a 5 or 6 foot blue last year and I had my brother bring it in on a pretty weak salmon rod with an ABU 5500 to save the gear. He was cussing me in the end! My nephew really want to keep it. I finally convinced him it was nasty with ammonia in the meat. He’s still motivated for an edible shark but just getting it to port and through the gauntlet I’d want to be real sure I was going to enjoy it.

 

[Kramsey]

Blues are a pain and don't fight much from my experience with them halibut fishing and jigging tuna. Had about an 8' mako eat a tuna bird off the hand line 30' from the boat last year. Was cool until I realized I just lost like 40$.
Wanting to target a salmon shark myself, like others have said with chinook closed. We've seen them pretty regularly around the rock pile when trolling for salmon. I've heard they're decent to good eating and I'd like to try it.
Our plan is it find one finning, set up ahead of it and deploy a chum line. If we get it's attention we'll send out 2 shark rigs, one down line, one on a balloon in the chum slick. Ideally we're after one in the 3-5' range to take, any bigger and I think it'd get a bit tough to deal with. Can't cut them up to fit in coolers according to the regs, so we'd want to dispatch it, gut and fit it in a cooler to care for the meat and remain legal.
Harpoon then bang stick, tail rope and bleed is the dispatch plan.
Might be fun to have a few boats out looking for them with a similar goal, big ocean to cover looking for the right shark.

Sounds like maybe we should get some guys together this spring and go look for em! Do you see them around the Rockpile in the spring or summer months more?

 

[Puffin]

Alrighty ladies and gents,
I have searched all the shark threads and would like to start a new one and see what people's experiences are offshore with sharks! Let's hear those shark stories! Especially from recent years. I have caught sharks from land in California, rays too, but this year when I am offshore going for halibut and tuna I would love to try and catch mako, thresher, or salmon sharks as well. Sharking is such a fun and undeniably cool sport. I was addicted to it land based in Cali but figure the best bet here in Oregon (Southern Oregon) is offshore.
Please share tips, tricks, and stories. I'd love to hear them
-K

Up here in Newport we’re at the southern end of the salmon, shark migration, and they’re quite common. Mako occasionally while out tuna fishing about three years ago they were very common threshers, occasionally turn up during tuna season as well. Two years ago, while out fishing the mud hole for halibut late season, we had a long fin Mako at the back of the boat nosing around near the scuppers. Look up migration routes for salmon, sharks and you will see that it looks like your kid got a hold of the Etch-a-Sketch around the rock pile in Newport and again up in southeast Alaska. This is basically the terminus of the salmon, shark southern migration, from what I can decipher.

 

[Kramsey]

Up here in Newport we’re at the southern end of the salmon, shark migration, and they’re quite common. Mako occasionally while out tuna fishing about three years ago they were very common threshers, occasionally turn up during tuna season as well. Two years ago, while out fishing the mud hole for halibut late season, we had a long fin Mako at the back of the boat nosing around near the scuppers.

That's great to know Newport is the south edge of the migration. I will definitely come give it a try up there in the summer from the info you have all been giving. I wonder if Makos and Threshers would be more common south towards Coos Bay/Charleytown? Anyone got input on seeing more Threshers and Makos down south vs north?

 

[Starr]

We hooked and landed a big Mako last year North of the Twins.
We hooked and lost another the year before straight out of Winchester. Both times trolling for tuna on the way back rod. They will seriously kick your ass. I was physically drained. Fight lasted about 45 minutes.
You will get tired of fighting blues when they show up. You don't need to go very far offshore in August to find them. Use minimal tackle because they will destroy everything and you will need to re-rig between every fish. They do a alligator roll and wind themselves up in the line. The first couple are fun, then it's just a PIA. Any bait will work, just heave it out there and they will find it

 

[Kramsey]

We hooked and landed a big Mako last year North of the Twins.
We hooked and lost another the year before straight out of Winchester. Both times trolling for tuna on the way back rod. They will seriously kick your ass. I was physically drained. Fight lasted about 45 minutes.
You will get tired of fighting blues when they show up. You don't need to go very far offshore in August to find them. Use minimal tackle because they will destroy everything and you will need to re-rig between every fish. They do a alligator roll and wind themselves up in the line. The first couple are fun, then it's just a PIA. Any bait will work, just heave it out there and they will find it

What do you mean by the Twins? I've never heard that reference before.

 

[geterdone]

If I didn't catch another shark the rest of my life I would be thrilled. Can't stand spending time fighting them, but I am cheap and want my gear back most of the time.

We occasionally catch them halibut fishing and have had a number of encounters with them while tuna fishing. I consider them a major annoyance.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[Puffin]

That's great to know Newport is the south edge of the migration. I will definitely come give it a try up there in the summer from the info you have all been giving. I wonder if Makos and Threshers would be more common south towards Coos Bay/Charleytown? Anyone got input on seeing more Threshers and Makos down south vs north?

I think basically you will see Mako’s with the tuna migration, pretty much anywhere. I was out with my buddy on the commercial vessel about three years ago, and we were cutting loose 3-5 Mako a day because he didn’t want his crew handling them. On a 10 day mission and can’t afford to have somebody get hurt.