[Tman]

That was definitely a fun hook up. I wanted to try to land it, but had no takers.
Tyler, thanks for the pics. Long version....

Cabo and I had been fishing and not catching, when we started to head in a bit. From a distance, I saw the tip of a fin break the surface, was hoping it was something else. I paddled closer, and saw it closer, more out of the water, bigger than what I thought, and grey. Hoped it would be a thresher.

I had an iron rigged with 30 lb set up, and decided I wanted to pull on something. I flung the iron, perfect shot, right in front of his nose. I think it was retaliation, because in a pissed mood, he turned and attacked the lure. Turned out to be a perfect corner hook, and he bolted, in a big way, so much so that as line peeled off the reel, I got a backlash, and after getting some line back, I could reel no more. That's when I noticed I had slack in the line, and thought he was off, so I started trying to undo the tangle. I decide to break the line, and as I started pulling in the line, big boy was still on, coming towards us. I hand my reel to Cabo to undo the tangle while I hold the line. Cabo gets it undone, and hands me the broken off piece of line. I try to tie a blood knot as fast as I can, to no avail, and decide to just tie any knot I could tie fast - forget what I tied, but it held.

I'm now on, with Cabo telling me to cut the line and let him go. I actually was thinking of ways to land it, and had Cabo get the rope out of my seatback. At one point, Cabo decides to call for backup, and the response was simple - Good luck, have fun, and cut the line. At one point it was asked if we were sure it was a Mako. Played tug of war with him for a good half hour, with Mr. Mako not only pulling me, but trying to dive, spinning my yak, and the fun part, having to feed my rod tip over the yak since he felt like making passes under my yak, and with every pass, I did my best to (try) to lead him out from under the yak. At one point, the thought was to tow him N of the pier, and with Cabo paddling, I am roped in reverse to his yak, while I maintain pressure on big boy. Needless to say, we got nowhere.

We see Tyler, ask if he'g got a camera, and he says he does then tells us to hold on. And he puts on his life vest. For added flavor I guess.
He gets some shots, but now, after a half hour of me pulling on him and more importantly, him towing me wherever he chose, I decide we need a close up shot. I begin trying to lift him up, and gaining more line, I get him closer to the surface, and positioned next to the yak. He showed some pearly whites a couple of times, and I decide more pressure is needed. Now, I've got him about a foot from the surface, thinking, "Ooooh, this is gonna be a nice shot."

Wrong. He starts doing a head shake, then bumps the bow of the yak, and tries to take a bite of the yak. That's when I start spanking that big dog with the rod tip - worked a bit, now I'm laughing, and turn to Cabo and Tyler to ask if they saw that. I look back, and they had decided to distance themselves from me. With a pissed off Mako now, decide it is best to cut the line. So I start reeling in some more line, getting some back, and he's now coming at me again. I put the reel in free spool, let him take some line, grab the knife, and cut the line.

Was fun tugging on something that big, I estimate at least 8', prob between 8' - 9', and easily over 200 lbs, realistically around 250, as he was thicker than me and I weigh 220, big pec fin span, and the most beautiful, yet ominous, black eyes.

In all the fun, I forgot to name him....