15/12/14

Shane Sanders and Brodie Carter tagged and released a nice mako (measured 2150mm est 85-90kg) off Portland on Saturday. They suspected that this fish had been previously sattelite tagged due to markings on the dorsal fin (see pic below). They took pics and sent them to Dr Paul Rogers of SARDI who heads the migratory patterns of mako sharks sattelite tagging program. He went through his data and pics and can confirm that this is 1of 8 fish he sat tagged in the Great Australian bight in the March/april of 2008. The markings being identical to the size of tag used and position on the dorsal. This is awesome info as to the survival rate of tagged fish post release and only the third time in the world that a sattelite tagged mako has been recaptured. The boys were also thrilled with this recapture as it provides valuable information relating to the migratory patterns of mako sharks in Australia. Paul will endeavour to narrow down which of the fish it is in the coming weeks but all of the 8 sharks showed similar movements for the time the tags were transmitting. The sattelite tag had deployed from the fish. They placed a NSW dpi tag which can be seen pre release. If you happen to catch a mako this season check the fish for any dorsal marks or tags. Cheers.

Ash Pilkington and TJ Symons also caught a nice mako off Portland on Sunday, which dragged the scales down to 93.6kg.

Kev McLoughlin ventured down to the South-West as well, also fishing off Portland on Sunday with Ashley Dance and Andrew Moffat. They hooked a nice mako early in the day, and after a couple of jumps early on it eventually became tail-wrapped and unfortunately died during the fight, when they were intending on tagging and releasing it.