I have heard allot of people are having encounters with some nice sized blue shark off of umitilla. Has any one tried to actually land one. The state has no record for this fish. I have landed a few small ones off of westport during Elninio years. Blue's are great table fair. atleast the small ones (2'-3'). I'm heading up next week and figured I'll keep a rod ready incase of a swim by. A black lable herring should do the trick. Has any one seen any makrel?

I have seen one each time I have been out. The biggest being about 5 feet. I wanted to give him a try on the flyrod but i always seem to be busy with a fish and he swims away before I get the chance.
If you can put something infront of the shark you should be able to hook up.

I saw a good one on friday at umatilla. I did cast to him but no go. I also hit one on the run back in. It scared the hell out of me when I heard the thump, then I looked back and saw it tearing off along the surface. I tried to find it to see how bad it was hurt. As far as fishing for them, i know topwater from the board here, flyfishes for the sometimes out of Neah. He has great pix on his website. do a search for neah bay fly fishing.... topwater charters and go to photos.

How big do blue sharks get? My dad told me a story about a one of his friends hooked at La Push back in the 70s. He estimated it at 14 feet long (said it was only a couple feet shorter than their 16 foot boat) and was dark color. It was down eating the bottomfish they were hooking before it surfaced and took a big herring. They way dad described it made me think it would be too big for a blue.

might have been a sixgill. i think a few 13 footers have been landed around the sound, the sharks are usually a dark color, and they live really deep

or it could have been a salmon shark, a relative of the mako. they're usually farther north, such as alaska or bc. they can get pretty big and are usually dark

Could have been a thresher also. I have seen ones brought in by the tribal netters. Awsome looking shark!

I hooked one yesterday at Westport while charter salmon fishing. Everyone pulled up there lines while I battled what was thought to be a large king, only to find out it was a 6 ft blue shark. It gave ma a heck of a ride, I was wore out after that. We cut it loose after I got it to the boat. Is this a sign of elnino? or are they always off the washington coast?

Never get out of the boat! NEVER!

boated/relaesed one out of westport last summer great fighting fish on salmon gear!

Several years ago, I was jigging for bottom fish at a place called Miller Reef in BC. I was using a 13" split tail worm and a 16 oz lead head tipped with a squid. I hooked into something that I fought for about 10 minutes, never did see it. I reeled up to find it had bitten the worm completely through just below the hook. There was a toothmark in it that was about half an inch long. I sure would have liked to see that fish.

blue sharks are not all that difficult to catch. the easiest way and the way most people shark fish on the east coast and down in california is to chum them. i like ground herring, mackerel chunks, and menhaden oil all mixed up and frozen in 5 gal. buckets. use a milkcrate to invert the bucket and secure with rope or bungies... and then hang it off the back of the boat. if you are in warm water (i've found them in water temps ranging from 57-60 degrees, and higher water temps would be better imo) they'll show up quick. for using gear, i'd probably just use any piece of bait on a wire leader (those xtra halibut leaders should work just fine). using bait for them is easy... just ask all the moochers who have hooked sharks while salmon fishing (especially if a fishhold is pumping out blood from salmon being bled out.)

for flies, streamers tied on large hooks and wire leader using 11-12 wt. rods do the trick. look for fish approaching the chum versus fish allready on the chum for the grabbiest sharks.

http://www.fly-fishing-neahbay.com/images/02-11-022big.jpg

the chum doesn't have to be all that complicated, i hooked one on the 11th with just blood from bleeding salmon attracting them, but the flyline wrapped around the reel as the line came tight and the hook pulled out... although i didn't have a chance landing a 5-6 ft. shark on an 8 wt.

good luck the next time you find warm water.

chris

I just got back from a week in Neah Bay, there was what appeared to be about a 4 foot Thresher on the dock at the fish cleaning station, never got a chance to talk to the guy who got it. As I recall they were pretty good eating.

If it looked like a thresher, most likely it was sixgill shark.

i never understood the closure of sixgill season, i mean, i'd probably never keep one, but i hear theyre really common, just not seen often because they're typically deep water fish. i'm (not) suprised that a guy who kept a few of them for the frying pan got press and got the season closed