Show 7

Show 7

We thought we would try something a little different today so we packed the Sierra up and headed for Halifax, Nova Scotia. I picked up Joe Thompson at Cambridge Narrows on the way through and we would meet the rest of the guys down there. Seeing as this was a bit longer of a drive than what we usually deal with we went down the night before. Up at four and the mandatory trip to Tim Horton’s for coffee and we were ready to go.

We met Captain Art Gaetan of Blue Shark Charters at the dock and boarded the 42’ Black Pearl for a trip out onto the Atlantic. Hurricane Hugo had just passed through two days before so, not wanting to take any chances, we popped some Gravol just in case. That turned out to be a good idea and perhaps in hindsight some of us could have used a little more but that is a story for another day. It was a wee bit on the bumpy side as we headed out of the harbor for an hour long trip to our fishing spot. We encountered our first problem when we got to our spot. The hurricane had dropped the water temperature ten degrees. A sudden drop like that is rarely good news.

The basic idea of what we were doing was to hang a five gallon bucket of frozen chopped bait over the side of the boat. Art sets the boat up to drift across various deep underwater structures and the thawing bait bucket creates a slick in the water. Generally if a shark encounters the slick they will follow it to the boat.

Not too long into the drift Art yells out shark and everyone is on their feet. An eight footer came up and cruised right by the stern of the boat right up at the surface. It happens so fast there is no time for a shot with the camera but it gets everyone pumped up. I have been out with Blue Shark Charters before and this fish was the biggest I had seen to date and I hoped she would turn back into the slick and pick up one of the baits. Unfortunately it was not to be. Nothing was happening and Art figured the big fish was sitting in the slick and nothing else would come in while it was there.

Fast forward five hours and Captain Art yells shark but this time a rod has a big bend in it. Several of us had fished with Art before so we had decided to let the new guys have first crack at any fish that came our way. Scott was up and scooped the Teramar rod out of its holder and the fight was on. The rod was mated with a Shimano Torsa reel spooled with 80 pound Power Pro. Absolutely the biggest fish Scott has tangled with to date and he knew he had a battle on his hands from the first run the Shark made. He is a happy camper as the fish makes it to the boat and Art slides it aboard. Unlike some charter services Art is a stickler for removing the hooks from the fish as opposed to cutting the leader and leaving the fish hooked. He is also a tagging platform for the Bedford Institute of Oceanography.

The fish is measured and pictures are taken and she is returned to the sea to fight another day.

We put in a long day and the crew worked hard but that was the only shark we caught. I guess we’ll have to come back and do it again next year, only skip the hurricane part.

Today’s equipment consisted of Shimano Teramar In Shore rods paired with Torsa reels spooled with 80 lb Power Pro braided line.

In 2010 Blue Shark Charters caught and released 668 sharks including Blues, Makos and Porbeagles. You can find them on the web at www.bluesharkcharters.com. And you can find us on Rogers TV New Brunswick Cable 10.