Portland Trip Day 3 - Final Day

Aqua Naut · December 13, 2010

Well it was on for young and old and with 1 day to go to make it count Team Whitewash was out at the crack of dawn to see if we can steel the trophy which is looking like going to Team Pascoe with 23kg's being the top of the leaderboard. Not far behind us were all 4 other boats so it was game on. With no playing around Terry was headed to the 100mtr line and hopefully burley up another Shark. Out 22 km's and water temp a beaut 18.2oC and not even a swell it was just heaven outside. With Team Viking Team Pascoe and Team Tournament all within 500 mtrs of each other from us steeling our Burley trail it seemed like they were out to take an advantage. Hardly any drift we bottom bounce for a few hours bringing up the same Reef fish as the days before. Some nice Tiger Flathead to 45cm Nannygai to 30cm a few Barracoota and Spurdogs as well. On 4hrs of drifting the 100mtr line Terry decides to pull up lines and maybe head into 60mtrs. As we were about to start up and head off Team Viking yells out over the radio I think we have a shark sighting. So it looks like the action may start. We decide to burley like there was no tomorrow it looked like someone had thrown up for the last 3 days not stop. Outcomes the brinocs and it sure was a shark about 200 mtrs from our boat and heading straight for us That was it up come all the rods out of the way rope ready harness on and Terry was ready to rig a Bonito on the Shimano game rod and it was a waiting game. After a few seconds the fin disappears and out of know where A freekin big Mako is about to smash the burley bag. The bag is up in the boat and he is very interested now circling the boat and disappearing several times it was scarey. Kev and I were wondering how in the heck are we going to get this beast in the boat without losing a lim or 2. Terry sends out the bait and within 2 to 3 mins of looking at the bait the shark decides to attack It a hook up and were on......It was time to start up and get ready to chase. Video rolling the mako decides to leap bout 10 foot in the air twice trying to throw the hook but he wasn't coming off. Awesome sight seeing what a Mako realy does when it's not happy. At this stage he was taking some line and going down deep unde rthe boat so we try to move forward incase he decides to leap in the boat. This went on for about 30 mins and moving around around half a km we tired him out and the gaffs all 3 of them are ready Gaff 1 straight under the throat and he was going nuts all 3 gaffs are in and half his body in the boat we rope his tail the shark turns and a few teeth marks leave a print on the side of the boat At this stage 1 gaff decides to snap right off and head to the bottom at 100 mtrs we have 2 left just. It was an amazing struggle and we were out of breath by the time we landed it. The tape going straight around his mouth incase he snaps. We did it and it was time to party. With just looking at it in the boat we knew we had the winner and estimating at least 60kgs +...........We headed to the others and started dancing. That was it we knew we were going to have a few hours back at the ramp weighing and cleaning so we called it in and headed home. It was an amazing day and memories we all will remember for a long time. The last supper was going to be a meal of Mako for all the boyz before we headed home. Thanks to Portland Bait and Tackle for there time to come down and offical weigh in of the shark was 65.6kg's a PB for Terry who took out the 2010 SFA Trophy for Team Whitewash and amazingly the last day seems to bring the best and the prize winner yet again. Thanks to Shimano for there great gear. Can't wait for 2011. Tight Lines