Point Nurple & The Search For Crazy Ivan???

Short Version;
Hooked a FAT Thresher off of Nurple Point today, close to the infamous surf spot Pt. Zero.  5" fishtrap with a leadhead, dorado colored body on 20 lb. mono with a 15-25 lb. rod. (Is that a record???) Fought it for over an hour & it pulled me (and at points me AND greg) over 1.1 miles.  Landed it thanks to greg!  Would not have come close to boating it without him!  We guesstimated it to be 60 lbs. & measured out to be 8 feet long!!!

Long Version;

Ahhh the smell of coffee @ 5 in the morning!!!  Greg & I had a chance to go see my bud @ his swank pad on the Hollister Ranch, a large private ranch in northern Santa Barbara Co., a place that's not to be missed.!  Last time I hit it down there I scored my personal best 35" 16 lb. Pig Ling so I was itching to get back down there.

I was dead set on heading back out to Pt. Zero but Greg had talked me in to checking a new place, somewhere he believed would be much more fishy than PZ.  I was beginning to have my doubts about Greg as he would belligerently launch into tirades in Russian, often screaming about someone named Ivan?

My friend said the locals call the place Nurple Pt. after the great Fred Nurple, the 3X World Champion from Australia.  Greg insisted that Fred Nurple was actually Russian & had changed his name from Ivan to Fred upon illegally immigrating to Oz.  His claims were odd & I'm still not convinced they both aren't conspiring to make me look like a fool with all this ranting about Russia & Australia.

After continued pestering from Greg, we checked the spot, it looked good, we carted our boats out to the cove & away we went.  I noticed Greg taking a swig from a flask & couldn't believe he'd be hitting the bottle @ 7 in the morning.  His head would cock back the bottle would go up, he'd take a swig & yell, "CRAZY IVAN, CRAZY IVAN, CRAZY IVAN!!!"

The paddle was around a mile out.  Greg was lagging in his Russian built fishing yak.  It had all the speed of a Yugo & with his intermittent swigs from his Vodka flask we weren't making much time..."CRAZY IVAN, CRAZY IVAN, CRAZY IVAN!!!"

The wind was up a little bit, there was windswell which I would categorize more as wind ripple, but we're fishing on a weekday so who cares!  We paddle out to the spot.  It was further out than I thought & had the feeling of being extremely exposed to all types of weather...not to mention all types of fishes.

Finally Greg showed up & the fishing began.  I was a little nervous passing on a good spot for an untested spot but hey what can you do.  We both drop our rigs.  The current was very strong, possible a good sign of structure.  My line is going sideways with a 2 oz. croc spoon.  Greg drops a 4oz leadhead fishtrap & is still @ 45 degrees to his line.  I felt a couple hits but felt i needed more weight.

I switch to my 2oz. leadhead with my dorado fishtrap & go 75 feet to the bottom.  A couple bounces, 3 rounds on the reel & I feel tension on my line.  Within 5 seconds my line is @ 45 degrees?  What the ....???  Something weird is going on.  I yell to Ivan, I mean Greg, "hey check this out!!  this is weird!  look @ my line!"

I have slight tension on my line & I notice that it is very quickly coming up @ a sharp angle.  35 yards in front of me & Greg, a thresher shark bursts through the surface, vaults 6-8' in the air, hangs completely horizontal with his tail wagging, and dives straight back down!!!  "WHAT THE %^&*!!!!"  My reel starts stripping line & I start screaming!  Greg goes back into Russian & seems to be almost manic @ the sight of the shark.  "CRAZY IVAN, CRAZY IVAN, CRAZY IVAN!!!"

I adjust my 1 dollar reel I purchased @ a yard sale last year, a Penn 500 Jigmaster, & say nice things about my Berkeley 20 lb. mono.  The shark repeats his antics-goes down to the bottom-cruises along for a clip-darts back up to the surface-jumps straight up in the air completely out of the water-dives back down again and cruises around.  Greg & I discuss our options.  Are we going to boat it?  He's convinced & says he's knows exactly what to do.

After the threshers 4th impersonation of Shamoo, I become concerned that he may see fit to land on my boat from one of his swan dives.  I constantly check my drag & feel I have pretty good tension as my rod is pretty bendo, but the thresher seems to do whatever the heck he pleases.

I turn around & look for greg & notice he is now a good 100 yard to the south.  I look @ my gps & notice that I'm moving at a pretty good clip to the north.  I radio for some assistance from greg, he tells me this could go on for a while, so I sit tight & let the thresher do his thing.

20 minutes go by & the thresher has finally stopped his ariel show but is still clearly in control.  My gps says I've gone 1/3rd of a mile.  Another 10 pass & it's a war of attrition.  My left hand has turned white so I begin to alternate between my left & right as I stretch my whole left side.  I'm cruising north & slightly out to sea.

Greg catches up, asks how it's going, & takes another hit off his Smirnoff flask.  The shark begins to circle. "CRAZY IVAN, CRAZY IVAN, CRAZY IVAN!!!" Greg screams @ the top of his lungs!  I tell him look, he can take my gps, go back to the spot, fish & i'll meet him at the beach when this is all over.  He says he's staying & we're landing the fish.

15 more minutes go by & I can feel the fish tiring.  Greg has been paddling to keep up & ties off to my yak to thwart the momentum of the fish.  My line goes extra heavy.  We look @ each other & see that the fish is now towing us BOTH!  It's killing my left arm so I switch from arm to arm.

I noticed that I had significantly less pressure on my arm when I was the only one being pulled so Greg casts off & paddles along.

50 minutes into the fight & I can now bring him up to 15 feet where he pulls me in a circle before continuing on.  Greg explains to me that the fish is pulling what's known in submariner tactics as a "Crazy Ivan".  He begins insisting that the shark is a Russian shark & is checking to make sure no one is following him?

3 more Crazy Ivans, 60 minutes & 1 mile have passed since I hooked the fish.  I tell greg it's time for this thing to end one way or the other.

I cinch down my drag & begin increasing solid pressure on the fish.  I bring him to color & he pulls a half-hearted Crazy Ivan, letting us know that he may be running out of gas.  He dives back down again & I keep my drag on tight but the fish is still firmly in control of the show.  I use more strength on him thinking I'm definitely pushing past the limit of 20lb. mono.  I don't care, this needs to end.

Slowly the bastard comes up.  He is sauntering 6 feet under the water, heading north at around 1 knot.  He looks magnificent!  Seems to be around 7-8 feet & way bigger than the thresher I hooked before.

Greg swings around with the glove on & we struggle for a few more minutes till he finally grabs the tail.  The fish just lays there lifeless.  My left pectoral & lat muscles go into a solid cramp.  I flail my arm to break the cramp.  The battle is over.  Or so I think.

I take rest for 5 minutes as we discuss how we're going to get this fish back to the beach.  I suggest we slit it's throat, let it die & throw it in the back of my boat.  "I'M NOT CHUMMING OUT HERE!!" greg responds.  There goes that idea.

We have him tail tied. So greg pulls his tail up onto his lap & attempts to paddle with one hand as the fish hangs over the side.  No luck.  We try to lift his head out of the water to see if he'll fit in the back of my Scupper.  No way, to dang heavy.

I tie off to greg & try to pull him the mile & a quarter to shore.  After 10 minutes we're not making much headway.  Since my boat is faster than his sleek Russian beauty, I suggest I throw him over my lap & paddle.

We do this & it's brutal going.  I literally am making around 1 knot as the thresher drags along the side of my boat.

I paddle for 20 minutes & greg decides to go ahead of me, run to the store & get some ice so we can get this bad boy cooling asap.  After he paddles for over 10 minutes I see him run up the beach.  "Damn!" I think, "I'm still way the %^&*  out here!"  I feel pain in my arms & chest.

I keep my eye on kelp heads to convince myself I am making headway.  After a long arse haul I'm in the kelp.  I accidently come to close & the thresher, hanging off the side, gets wrapped in the kelp & begins to thrash around.  I'm having trouble but can keep him upside down.  He settles & I paddle more.

I'm finally 20 yards offshore & check for currents in the cove.  I know if there is even the slightest of rip currents I can get sucked back outside & will have to start all over.

Finally I make it the beach.  I see greg laughing with his fillet knife in one hand & smirnoff in the other.  "CRAZY IVAN, CRAZY IVAN, CRAZY IVAN!!!"

Thanks Greg, there was no way I could have done it without you!  Crazy Ivan!!!

PJ

REPORT OF THE WEEK!
Congrats on the killer thresher shark PJ.

Nyet. Comrade PJ story not complete truth. Ivan jump 3 meter out of water. For Motherland!

Nyet. Comrade PJ story not complete truth. Ivan jump 3 meter out of water. For Motherland!

Crazy Ivan!!!!  Hilarious!!!

Just got the 3rd call from my neighbors telling me how good the shark was.  I was too beat to cook so I made a microwave burrito & some chips & dip!!!!

PJ

Are you sure you are not a professional writer. You should submit that one to Field & Stream. Two personal bests in a row is very impressive. You may want to check the drag washers on that Kmart reel they are probably shot now.

wow. plugging for threshers!

Wow.  wow....   

wow.