[B.Attitude]

I m still waiting for my first thresher,maybe this year.After a thresher is ready for a head or gill shot with the gaff head and you let him back out a little for a tow when and how do you get a tail rope on him safely without getting clobbered with the tail.
Thanks,paulie

 

[MakoMike]

Paulie,
Use a weighted tail rope and slide on over the head. Keep a sharp eye on the tip of the tail.

 

[togmaster]

did you see this last night?

I was watching got to see this on sports channel . the guys were fishing from small rounded boats like 6 ft long. they were shark fishing and catching 100+ lbs threshers. when they got them up they would not gaff or release them they Wrestled them into the small boat and actually brought them in the ****pit took a picture then released them. I bet in time you'll read a good one on these nut jobs!

 

[Capthookem]

Paulie,
It has been my experience that these fish fight until they are totally exhausted. Add a 9" gaff to the head, and you can do what you want with them. No problems applying the tail rope so far. You will know if the fish is ready. At this point, it's easy to apply a second gaff if you think it will help. MakoMike's idea is good in theory, and does work. Just remember that a 450lb thresher has a wing span of about 7 feet. (that's a guess)

Capt. H

 

[B.Attitude]

Capt.H
I'm going to Sea Isle saturday to let Ronnie set up a pair of 7" Reliable gaff heads that I have with cable and a swivel.Do you think its necessary to carry a bigger head like the 9" you mentioned or will 7" be good enough.
Thanks,paulie

 

[Makoman16]

H0w?

MakoMike,

How do you "slip one over his head?"

If you still have the hook in his mouth ~ wont the leader stop the weighted tailrope from making its way to the tail???

Do you mean you don't loop it ~ you start with 2 open ends and wrap it around the fishes head, insert one end into the loop & then drag it towards the tail?

 

[MakoMatt]

MakoMan16, you don't need to loop it around his head, just over the line.

MakoMatt

 

[MIKE TUNA]

B.Attitude I have on of those stainless steel cable tail ropes that I believe would fit into that reliable pole . I only used it once many years ago if your interested let me know . Its only collecting dust in the basement .

Mike tuna

 

[thefishingfreak]

is this common?

the one thresher i've caught was snaged on the side fin and when we wired him in he fliped over on his back and actualy went to sleep
guys were petting his belly and we held him there for about a minute or so
very kool to witness

just another fish story , no real help w/ the post i guess

fish on!

 

[MakoMatt]

Here's a weighted tail rope you can make. Wrap the cable around the leader and attach the spring loaded snap to the cable and you are ready to go down around the fish.

MakoMatt

A. SS spring loaded snap with swival
B. Coated SS stranded cable
C. Reg 5/8 nylon line
d. SS Swival

 

[MIKE TUNA]

MakoMatt comeon whats that ? Wheres the Shark in that picture !

 

[B.Attitude]

MikeTuna,
No thanks on that weighted tail rope.I too have one of those collecting dust somewhere.Thanks for the offer.
paulie

 

[Capthookem]

7" vs 9"

Paulie,
I like a 9" flyer on the big fish (300+). You could certainly get the job done with a 7" gaff. When your at Sea Isle, pop a 9" on there and see if you like the way it feels. That is half the battle. Go with what your comfortable with. A 7" gaff will however do the job.

Capt. H

 

[captainlarry84]

The final shot!

B/T,
Hookem & I have gaffed sucesfully six threshers, the largest 600 the smallest 448. With the big fish, if you fight them right and do not take a shot at what I call the "Curiosity Appearence"(spoken about in early chats: the early appearence of the fish ) they will come up spent.
Once gaffed in the head with the boat motoring forward the fish will swim with the boat. What we like to do is we start pulling on the gaff line(s) and start to walk the fish up the side of the boat. Once along side, and the boat still boating we just drop the weighted tail rope around the fish. Once secured, we slack off on the gaff lines and the fish is now being towed backwares tail roped.
We have also found that their skin is much softer that the makos and it is easy to sink the gaff.

 

[617783]

B. Attitude
We got this one this past Fri night while swordfishing off Miami. It was 375 lbs & 12.5 feet. We were sure we had a sword on so fought it like one with 80lb. on a stand up 80. After 4 hours it came up spent. Boated it just like CaptainLarry explained. Had no problem sliding a tail rope around it.
(Hope the picture loads, I'm new at this)

 

[Capthookem]

bluefin22,
Congratulations on a great fish !!

Capt. H

 

[B.Attitude]

Bluefin22

Thats what I'm talking about,thats a beauty!!!
paulie

 

[MakoMike]

Makoman,
The tail rope that I have is similar to the one in Matt's drawing, but instead of the spring loaded clip it has the regular, large size fireman's clip. You just loop it around the leader and the gaff line and then clip it back on itself to form the loop.

 

[captainlarry84]

Beautiful Thresher

B/F22,
There you go! Way to go! They are the hardest fighting shark in the sea. There is nothing like them. Each one will fight to the death.
Here is a picture of Captain Hookem thresher after gaff & tailrope.

(This post edited by captainlarry84 on 02/22/2003)

(This post edited by captainlarry84 on 02/22/2003)

 

[captainlarry84]

save the tails

If you have a cathedral ceiling in any of your rooms, the thresher tail makes a great filler and conversation piece. This tail is fom the 471 Thresher and it fills the entire 14 foot wall space in my Florida room

(This post edited by captainlarry84 on 02/22/2003)

(This post edited by captainlarry84 on 02/22/2003)