Though we were fishing for shark, the 6’ mako I caught was luck. Four friends and I were fishing off the coast of Huntington Beach and at one point we noticed our boat was being circled by a shark. It just happened that at that time I was the only one with my line out of the water and I had just baited with a fresh anchovy. I cast the anchovy just in front of the circling shark and it took it. Aside from a sand shark caught in the surf it was the only other shark I have ever caught.
Way back we vacationed in Mission Bay and we would go out about 20 miles (near the Coronado Islands) and catch albacore.
It was quite a sight to see small 12 year old kids fighting 20-25lb albacore on 20lb test line.
Each of us would last about two or three fish before we ran out of steam. There was a cannery in Mission Bay (Seaforth)where we took the fish for canning. It is long gone and now the travel is a lot further than 20 miles for the Albacore. Great times, though.