Wire leaders while swording in case of shark bite? Yes/No??

[Lance]

Well I am buying rods, reels, power pro line, LP lights, and most everything else I am seeing reccommended here on the forums. My family & I with our twin catamaran will be staying in Marathon the entire month of February! YEA YEA!!

Anyway I wanted opinoins on using wire leaders at the bait while swording so if a shark takes our baits? I have already spent a ton of cash to do this crazy swording while we are there and was curious on opinions on using wire or not?

All information appreciated!

Lance
Sandwich Illinois

[Beerman]

No wire!!!

[Duke]

Some use and if setup right, there isn't an issue. Why the Power pro vs Jerry Brown hollow core?

[hannaman]

Forget the wire, we caught a Hammer last night in the 600 range in the corner of the jaw, 300 lb mono.

[CAPTINMITCH]

Originally Posted by Lance

Anyway I wanted opinoins on using wire leaders at the bait while swording so if a shark takes our baits? I have already spent a ton of cash to do this crazy swording while we are there and was curious on opinions on using wire or not?

All information appreciated!

Lance
Sandwich Illinois

It depends on your preference. As Cary posted, you can catch sharks on straight mono. Personally, I'd prefer a quick cutoff so we don't spend a bunch of time fighting a shark. I boxed two makos last year and they'll be the last two. I know alot of people swear mako is as good as shark but when I tasted it, it still tasted like shark. Now granted it was some of the best shark I've ever had, but it still had that slight ammonia smell that all sharks have from secreting urine through the skin.

And please, the above is only my opinion. Feel free to eat all the shark you want, I'll leave them all for somebody else.

[quack quack]

Mitch I always thought they pxxsed and that's why they were edible? Not sure.

[CAPTINMITCH]

Originally Posted by quack quack

Mitch I always thought they pxxsed and that's why they were edible? Not sure.

Never claimed to be a shark expert, but I know I didn't care for it. Anyone who has fished with me will tell you I'm a freak about keeping fish properly iced and cared for. With the two makos, I gutted both fish and packed them in ice. When we hit the filet table, I must admit they were some of the most beautiful steaks I've ever seen.

Problem is I'm very picky about seafood and particulary sensitive to the presence of ammonia. Once I smelled the steaks, I knew I wasn't going to like it. Again, maybe that's just me. Hell, I know people that love bluefish and kingfish but the only way I'll eat those is smoked and turned into dip.

Like I said, not trying to start a war about the table quality. I'm just pointing out that unless you're going to eat them and are prepared to handle makos boatside (which is no small feat), you're better off fishing mono and hoping for a quick cutoff.

[quack quack]

I agree 100% with everything you said.I like mako fried that's it.No smoked bluefish for me :razz: yuk.I just was not sure on the mako pxxs thing maybe some one knows for sure?

[jerry]

I fished with some commercial shark guys here in Jamaica. According to them a shark has one main vein that runs through its body and that carries all the urea ( i think thats the word). Anyway, like bleeding a tuna, they say you have to bleed a shark to rid it of the amonia (shark) smell/taste. The way you do this with a shark is to cut off its tail while alive and it pumps out all the urea before it dies. Sounds like a lot of trouble but there you go. A chef once told me of another method. Soak the shark fillets in milk for one hour. I have never tried that but have eaten enough shark to know they dont taste too bad.

[Capt.XXX]

All Mackeral Sharks urinate, this includes the porbeagle, shortfin mako, longfin mako, white, salmon shark (from the West Coast), and all varieties of thresher.

Although I don't care for mako much either. Make sure you cut out all of the red stuff and remove the skin as soon as possible also. It's just OK compared to all the other much better tasting stuff that swims out there. I personally think thresher is better. This coming from a Long Island fisherman that's been catching makos for over 25 years., but it is just my opinion.

Regards,
Capt. Freddy

Originally Posted by jerry

I fished with some commercial shark guys here in Jamaica. According to them a shark has one main vein that runs through its body and that carries all the urea ( i think thats the word). Anyway, like bleeding a tuna, they say you have to bleed a shark to rid it of the amonia (shark) smell/taste. The way you do this with a shark is to cut off its tail while alive and it pumps out all the urea before it dies. Sounds like a lot of trouble but there you go. A chef once told me of another method. Soak the shark fillets in milk for one hour. I have never tried that but have eaten enough shark to know they dont taste too bad.

Jerry is given you some good advice here. also folks dip the shark in the
saltwater for a while; wait on the icing. i've soaked mako in milk for an
hour. lots of milk, high fat stuff and the grilled mako was like scallops.
cheers, arthur

PS Oh yeah, I wouldn't use wire leaders for swords, you're asking
for trouble.

[Shark Tagger]

if you have a shark bait out such as a kingfish head or something, than I would fish the wire, otherwise you will pull hooks to easy and could be dangerous when wiring a fish at the boat.

[Lance]

Wow! Thank you all for the great responses!

Well since I also give most all my fillets & steaks to friends, family, & customers some of them actually prefer fish with a stronger flavor.

Not all, but I have a few that thought some of the finer fish I gave them were bland! So it looks like I might be able to bring back home some fish to please all of them! :lol:

As far as power pro line, I will actually be using a new superbraid being made by Berkeley. I forgot the name but my neighbor is a rep for Berkeley and suggested I give it a try. Will let you know the results on it too after trying!

My catamaran got delivered last week and we will be there from Feb. 4 thru March 4th. and I am getting more excited about this trip than any other in my life!

Hope to give some good reports while there! Will have laptop so I can stay in touch!

Two weeks till we head down & counting!

Lance

[RiskTaker]

Originally Posted by CAPTINMITCH

When we hit the filet table, I must admit they were some of the most beautiful steaks I've ever seen......
Problem is I'm very picky about seafood and particulary sensitive to the presence of ammonia. Once I smelled the steaks, I knew I wasn't going to like it.

Capt. Mitch:

We had some fresh Mako the other day and I would say that I did not like the flavor as much as fresh caught swordfish. People say that it is an excellent fish to eat, of course, some better and some are lesser. But I would kind-of agree with you that I could smell the raw fish and determine that is was different, like a shark. Although I could smell a difference, I could not determine it to be a scent of ammonia. Perhaps it was still too fresh for the "decay to ammonia" process to begin to set in.

But I would say that the texture of the fish is supurb and the flavor is a bit stronger/gamier than that of swordfish. I did not eat the skin but it was attached for one of the cuts.

I am careful how I prepare fish too although I was not able to prep. this fish in the manner I would ideally like to do. With this second experience with shark in my life, I would say that onging, the shark needs to be bleeded right away, gutted and cooled. (I will have to study further on this tail cutting technique). But I think at this point that a couple of appropriate slits around the gill area may work nicely to get most of the blood out.

For this Mako, I had pointy filet knife in hand ready for the surgical procedure a few minutes after boating it, but Davie cautioned me to stay away from the head. So not having any previous experience with this type of shark, other than they are limber as "can be" in general, I refrained until we got back to the dock. But he was bleeding pretty good from the flying gaff shot to the head, right in fron to the gill slots. ...
(I believe the urea channel was situated adjacent to the spinal cord (cartilage). So I depressed this area with my thumb from the gill area back to the exit to eject any remaining liquid (urea) before fileting.


We are going to have some more this week so I will have a second opinion at the flavor. I will try the Milk approach using the same recipe and see how it goes.

I have also heard the same thing as Professor O had mentioned about soaking in Milk for a little while before cooking. (I also heard lime/citrus juice as well.) But I am inclined to believe that bleeding and icing is the first priority for getting a great tasting Mako steak to the table.

http://www.ocean.udel.edu/mas/seafood/mako.html

http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/hea...uide/Shark.htm

Quck quack - I do believe that the Makos have a Pisser, if that is what you were inquiring about. But it seems like from some reading that they retain a higher urea content in their blood than other scalefish, so based upon that the removal of blood is a greater concern to prevent spoilage or reduced fish quality.

[CAPTINMITCH]

Again, I don't want to start a debate about the table quality of sharks. The original post asked about using wire for rigging. In life, everything comes with a risk/reward ratio. For this scenario we need to make some assumptions to properly calculate that ratio.

1. His target species is swordfish
2. Since he is now accumulating the necessary gear and lives in Illinois, this is probably one of the first, if not the first, swordfishing trips that he is captaining.
3. It seems everyone agrees sword tastes better than mako
4. While both of the fish have the ability to kill you in the blink of an eye, a Mako is far more dangerous to handle.
5. 15 miles offshore, at night, in the winter is no place to be stupid.
6. The captains first responsibility is the safety of his crew. There is no fish in the ocean worth risking injury or death for.

Using that set of assumptions, IMHO, the risk of boating a mako far outweighs the reward, hence he should rig with mono and hope for a quick cutoff so he can return to targeting his species.

As far as handling a sword on wire, in the 70s wire is all we used. Leading a fish on wire is not that much more difficult than doing it on mono. You definitely need to be paying attention and use proper techniques (thumbs in, never behind the wrist, double wrap, reach, double wrap, feet planted, knees locked under gunnel, ready to dump, etc) in either case

[RiskTaker]

Sorry about that derail Mitch,

No debate from me since it was in concurrence with your previous post.
Just following up on your lead-in with that Mako comment, and tying in some recently fresh experience.

I don't think a complete de-rail; because it seemed like Lance is very interested in catching shark as well based upon the context of his thread to use cable leader for that pupose. But your cautionary advice on the dangers of dealing with Makos under the conditions and for a novice, is greatly appreciated. Good advice, but I'll Take that Risk, thank you, and still sticking with monofilament leader.

Lance - What kind of Catamaran are you getting? I immediately assumed that it was a sailboat, but you very well may have meant a Power Catamaran, likely. But I will certainly be jealous if you start boating swords on your boat if it is a Sailer, before I do the same. I have a sloop "blowboat" and it is decked out for swordfishing. Rod holders go all around. (They are rail mount: and I recommend Lee's rail mount if you have a need to do the same on 3/4- 1" railing. There are quite a few whimpy rail mounts out there and generally not made to hold your ~$600-$900 rods in them, safely. ) The only significant drawback to swordfishing by slower vessel is the great distance to the swordgrounds. I figured out one time that a typical trip to/from Fort Lauderdale would take about 30 hours. That is not too practical for a nights outing; hence, the main reason I am fishing with others on their power boats with planing hulls. But there will be those few occasions when making a crossing from the Bahamas or running back from Miami when ye old "Porgee Rock" will have a couple of opportunities to make a nice long drift in the swordfishing zone.

In your case, in the Marathon area, you would have to travel to Wood's all or Floyds wall (Wood's west and Floyd's to the southeast). These zones hold some swordfish but I haven't heard of two many large ones being caught by the recreational guys. It is also quite a run out there, say about 25 miles offshore, another 10 miles more than we typically deal with of off Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Check out Home Port Chart #38, for this area. I will give you a good idea of what you have in store.

I know of another guy, that also has a 28" Power Cat that lives on Cudjoe Key. He goes out to a very few selective zones on Wood's wall. Perhaps if you hve the Swordfish bug, you may be able to hook up with him while you're in town. He posts as Gottago on Florida Sportsman forum/Keyes. Maybe between the two of you you can cover a few spots between Marathon and Cudjoe.

Good luck on your adventure and watch out for those pesky sharks, not to mention care in handling swordsfish too. :thumright:

[jerry]

Actually, wire is safer to handle boatside than mono if your taking wraps. Mono has this nasty habit to stretch and lock even though all the right procedures have been followed. With wire, with no stretch, the wraps tend to dump off your glove much easier and cleaner.
Then again, with wind=ons there should not be a problem. One word of caution here guys especially those new to big game fishing, make very, very sure you know the right way to take wraps on a leader, whether mono or wire, prior to trying it at sea at night with a big fish on the end.

[quack quack]

Well said Jerry. If you are new you should practice your leadering while at home or the dock. Tye a leader off to something and try to pull it in while taking your wraps. Make sure you know how to dump your wraps {let go without getting tangled up} a little practice could make all the difference

[CAPTINMITCH]

Originally Posted by jerry

Actually, wire is safer to handle boatside than mono if your taking wraps. Mono has this nasty habit to stretch and lock even though all the right procedures have been followed. With wire, with no stretch, the wraps tend to dump off your glove much easier and cleaner.
Then again, with wind=ons there should not be a problem. One word of caution here guys especially those new to big game fishing, make very, very sure you know the right way to take wraps on a leader, whether mono or wire, prior to trying it at sea at night with a big fish on the end.

Yep. I also suggest you keep a light stick in your pocket. That way if you wind up going for a midnight dip, somebody will be able to see you. On rough nights I'll make sure everyone on board has one plus I'll pin one to the back of the anglers harness.

[tunaman81]

With such heavy mono or wire and the use of wind on leaders, there is no reason to have to take more than 1/2 or 1 wrap. The line (or wire) is stiff enough to just grab. Plus I only use about a 6 ft leader after the wind on, so a small pull is all it takes. I don't take wraps when wiring makos, tuna or swordfish.

Also, Mitch was on point with the safety issue. Large makos are extremely dangerous and unpredictable. Many times its just best to cut them loose at the boatside. I have handled only small makos, but seeing a small mako at the boatside makes me not want to ever put one in the boat.

As for flavor, the ammonia smell and taste is from urea in the sharks blood, which the shark uses to regulate the salts in its body relative to salt water.