Shark night

Duane took Chris and I fishing last Friday night. It was my first experience deep sea fishing, and let me tell you, it is not the same as fishing for bluegill in Lake Griffey. The lures we used while trolling were as big as the fish I'm used to catching in Indiana. After dark we set out a parachute in the water (it's too deep for an anchor) and we baited the lines and let them down 200 feet below the surface. And we waited....

...Finally we heard the reel click, click, clicking and wrrrrrrr the line was flying out of the reel. A few minutes of cranking revealed an 8-foot shark, so we cut the line and let it go free. A couple hours later, another hit! Click, click, click, wrrrrrr. This time, I got to the reel first, and this fish was fighting. It kept swimming straight down and the reel spun until it was hot to the touch. I knew this fish was strong because the tension on the line was set so tight I could barely pull it with both hands, yet this fish had the reel spinning like crazy. Then it stopped. It had broken loose. It took several minutes just to reel all the line back up to the boat. Duane determined by nicks on the line we had hooked a 12-foot thrasher shark. I guess they can be pretty dangerous so we were relieved the line broke and the shark never surfaced.


We didn't bag any eatin' fish, but it was still a pretty exciting time. We saw dolphins, a flying fish, creepy swimming creatures, and who can beat spending the night out on a boat with such good company?

Sunrise over Hualalai:

Duane preparing the lines for trolling: