Monster Mako and Mahi in the Washington

We left the Ocean City Inlet at 5:00 am headed to the tip of the Washington Canyon. Today was Day 1 for us in the Mako Mania shark tournament. We were blessed with beautiful sea conditions as we arrived at our destination @ 62 miles offshore. The 72 degree blue water was full of life.  We suspended 4 yellow tuna carcasses off the bow and stern of the boat with hopes of luring a giant canyon mako in for a pitch bait. Within 20 minutes we had a mako circling the boat and attacking one of the tuna fish carcasses. I pitched a blue fish bait out to it and it took the bait only to spit it out after eating the back half.  As the day wore on we caught two other sharks, a hammerhead and dusky, as we continued to pick mahi up in our chum slick. Around 1:00 the non stop action ceased. With 2 hours left of fishing time left we patiently waited and hoped for a mako bite. At 2:45 pm the bait the farthest from the boat started screaming drag. I grabbed the rod, felt the fish taking line and then all of a sudden it stopped. I began reeling the line in slowing and noticed a large dorsal fin swimming straight towards the boat. As I cranked on the reel faster to catch up with the shark I noticed the shark had taken the bait whole and bit through the mono where it attached to the steel leader. I set the rod down and immediately rigged a pitch bait. The large dorsal fin was attached to a 8-9 ft mako shark. The largest live mako I have encountered to date with an approximate weight between 350-450lbs. The large shark came up to the back of the boat and inhaled a tuna carcass whole. I then pitched a blue fish in front of the shark and it ate it. I set the drag and the fish took off only to snap the line. Thinking the fish was gone forever I rigged another pitch bait just in case. While rigging the bait the crew said the shark had resurfaced and was eating the tuna suspended off the bow of the boat. This shark was in full feeding frenzy mode. It now had to (2) hooks attached to steel leaders hanging out of its mouth.  I went to the bow and pitched another blue fish bait to the shark who immediately ate it. Again, this shark was HUGE!!  The fish began to swim away from the boat and I set the drag on it. The fish was hooked and began to thrash around wildly. It made a deep dive and then came back to the surface thrashing wildly trying to dislodge the hook. The fish came at the boat like a torpedo and dove right under the bow. Within seconds of the deep dive the line snapped at the swivel. Amazing day offshore and a memory that will last a lifetime for everyone aboard that day.