[tmc]

I launched at LJ around 5:05am and got out to about 80' before I hit a school of green backs. I only planned to fish a couple hours, so I only put 3 in the bait tank and went out to about 110' and saw a shark swim by. Decided to flyline a mack and didn't have any bites for about 45 min as I wsa just slowly trolling the area.

Then, after I was about ready to head back in at 7am, I handed off one of my 3 green backs to a guy who was just catching spanish macks and decided to wait another 15 min before heading in. Trolled back to the south a little, then I saw the tail. It went straight for the mack, wacked him and then thrashed a little as he ate the bugger. This was my first thresher, so I got a little too excited and clicked the reel without noticing my drag was too tight and snap... the leader broke.

I saw another one jump out of the water right before my line broke, so I hurried and got my last green back on the hook and double checked my drag. This time the thresher ran fast and hard as soon as he hit the mack and my stupid line dug into the reel and again.. snap.

So, I was stoked to hook up 2 thresher, but pissed that I wasn't prepared. I only had my sabiki pole and this one pole this morning and I was set up with heavy braid to a 30lb floro leader. Was hoping more for YT, but found sharks instead.

I am all ears for what setup your guys use to catch thresher, as I would like to give it another go, but be more prepared this time as far as setup, drag, how much line to give and when, etc.

I am pretty new to ocean fishing, so I know I probably made a lot of mistakes. The biggest fish I've ever caught is a 32" northern pike, so salt water fish seem huge to me and have way more power than anything I've caught before.

-Trent