OB next weekend...I will not be fishin but who can I expect to see down at the weigh in?

It's next weekend. Friday & Saturday 17-18th.

your right...I am losing my mind again.

Originally posted by Mr. Sandman
I am losing my mind again.

again???

That would imply you found it after you lost it the first time Mr. Sand! :smash:

just kiddin'! ;)

I'll be there. Won't be fishin i, but I'll be checkin out the catch.

Is there a website to keep tabs on the weigh-ins?

The OB shark Tournament is run by Boston Big Game, but they don't currently have a website up and running. Last years results are on newenglandsharks.com. I don't think they will be posting the results realtime on that website.

I will try and post the status after each day. I will be down there with my kids eating ice cream and gawking at the big fish.:eek:

Thanks, I'll check out the shark website and eagerly await Mr Sandman's updates:happy: :happy: I don't know why I'm so interested, as any attempt to hook up on a boat with standup gear would probably teach me water skiing:smash:

Sorry I never got to post the results... I was feeling poorly this weekend and stayed away from my computer. I did manage to drag myself down to the dock around 4:30 each day for a few hours of looking around. I think the "winner" was a 506# thresher, a new state record for MA. Attached is a pic of the tail.

IMO there should be some improvements on how they show/display and communicate with the crowd in OB.
1st they need a leader board....Know one knows who is winning.
2) They need some bleachers
3) They need to hoist the fish in a different location...no one can see.
4) they need to do the cleaning elsewhere. Most people are turned off by the blood and guts of shark fishing. They want to see (close up if possible) the fish hanging...not being chopped up into steaks.


They had some very sweet boats in the harbor, which was jammed. I got more pleasure looking at the sportfishing boats then fighting the ground level crowd to get a peak at seeing a blue shark cleaned.

here is a pic of a mako's head:

Looks like hes getting ready to SHOTGUN that beer....
:gu: :gu: :gu: :gu:

The 500+ catch wasn't entered for the Calcutta and didn't grab the $... too bad, it was a nice catch!...

The next largest which may have been about 460 something? took the $$$ for the contest.

That was a $50,000 mistake, not entering the calcutta! This was my first shark fishing experience and we had a great time. We managed to release 4 makos up to 6' and 40 or so blue sharks to around 9'. The leader board was across the street from the boats in the hotel. I don't know if they updated it on Saturday but according to the board no fish were counted on Saturday (there were minimum weights depending on the kind of shark.) I now know why boating a mako is considered the most dangerous act in sportfishing. We were in the process of trying to cut the leader on a 6' mako when the thing just jumped straight up the gunnel, it's head being about a 1' 1/2 from ours. Then it hit the boat twice before racing to the bow and doing another sumersalt. Very mean fish!

It was a strange year, there were a-lot more Mako's & Threshers cought than normal, we released a few small Mako's as well. A few boats cought 20+ blue sharks a day, but most captains said they didn't see half as many blues as they usually do. It was a good time as always and it's great to know that all sharks brought in go to the Boston Food Bank and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute for study.

I like the structure of the contest...most fish end up being released...not like the old days where you end up having a dump truck haul away tons of dead sharks.

What was the rule on makos? (how big to take?) I would have brought a smaller one home to eat myself...its a lot like swordfish.

I like the idea of a penalty for taking a small blue shark they put in. That is the right way to do it IMO.

There's actually no penalty for bringing in a small Mako, but they have to be 200+ pounds to count for points. I wanted to keep one of ours as well, but I figured it would be better to let them go.

I was there a couple of years ago - what a sight. Anyone else got any more pics?