Porbeagle shark are present around most locations are Orkney although the most prolific marks are out west and to the east around the island of Sanday. The Porbeagle offers the best of British shark fishing for the sporting angler. It grows to a good size and is a strong and tenacious fighter. Porbeagles are tolerant of cold water and as such can be found for most of the year around Orkney. Porbeagle Sharks easily grow to 100lbs (45kg) and are fairly common up to 200lbs (90.72kg). The current British and World Record Porbeagle was captured close to Orkney off Dunnet Head weighing in at an incredible 507lbs (229.97kg), but fish are known to grow bigger even approaching 1000lbs (453.6kg).

Porbeagle can be identified from other sharks as they are much stouter and heavily built fish. The vertical tail is crescent shaped but the upper lobe is longer than the lower. Porbeagle Sharks also have small secondary basal cusps at the base of each tooth, this maybe absent from younger fish though. The teeth are long, slender and pointed and the eyes are large. They are usually a dark bluish grey colour shading to white underneath.

It is best to fish for Porbeagle with a 50lb class rod and reels taking 500-yards (460m) of 50lb (22.68kg) line and size 6/0 reels are needed. Porbeagle are a tough and hard fighting fish that are resilient and difficult to tire. If you are experienced with shark fishing then you can drop down to 30lb gear, but we recommend sticking with the 50lb class tackle as you never know what you might hook! Fights with Porbeagle will generally be long in duration and a rod with a long fore grip will be needed to place both hands on the rod to apply more pressure at any time during the fight. It is essential to use a butt pad and for larger fish a harness may be needed.

The most popular bait for shark fishing is Mackerel. These baits are presented by threading the hook in and out three of four times from the tail downwards along the body in a stitching motion eventually bringing the hook out at the back of the gill cover. These baits are then suspended on special shark wire traces by balloons at various water depths. It is best to set a series of balloons with baits at different depths to maximise your chances with an effective pattern as follows:

The furthest balloon should be about 60-yards (55m) away and set at 60-feet (18m) deep. The second balloon should be 40-yards (35m) away and set at 40-feet (12m) deep. The third should be 20-yards (18m) away and set at 20-feet (6m). With these baits out the skipper will deploy bags of rubby dubby which consist of minced fish mixed with bran. This carries a large scent lane away from the boat and attracts the shark.

Traces for shark fishing are made from multi strand stainless steel wire. A full length 14ft 4.27m) wire trace is needed, the first 4-feet (1.2m) of wire will be 400/600lb (181.44/272.16kg) biting trace and the rest would be standard 275/400lb (124.74/181.44) wire. Only use top quality big game swivels in sizes 5/0 or 6/0, cheaper alternatives are likely to break under the strain of a large angry shark. For all Orcadian shark fishing you should use only bronzed hooks which will rust out of sharks if there is a need to leave a hook behind. Sizes from 10/0 to 12/0 are about right.

Constructing the Trace
The biting wire needs to pass through the eye of the hook, then the loose end brought around over the previous wire to form a circle, then wrapped inside the circle twice, passes through the hooks eye again, then wraps around the wire twice more, then tightened and crimped. This overlap (called a Flemish Eye) gives the ultimate strength and spreads the pressure away from the crimp which almost eliminates the possibility of the crimp slipping when the shark is held by the trace at the boat side.

Use a crimp big enough to take the wire diameter three times. This means the actual biting trace, the free end that leaves the hooks eye goes back through the crimp, then is bent over and pushed through the crimp a third time and then the three closed together with proper crimping pliers, not ordinary flat nosed pliers. Close the crimp from the centre and do not shut down the very end. Leave these slightly open to avoid wear contact with the wire.

The free end should not be left hanging from the crimp end as this can cut unwary fingers and hands when trying to hold a shark on the trace.

Use the same system to crimp in a 5/0 swivel, now add the mono or wire upper trace to the free eye of the intermediate swivel. There is no need to use this crimp system for the top trace swivel. This only needs the wire passing through the lower eye once and then crimped with the mono or wire passing through the crimp three times.

Conservation
It is vital to protect the Orcadian stocks of Porbeagle shark and as a consequence all fish (except any potential record fish) will be tagged and released to swim and hopefully be caught another day.

British/World Record – 507lbs (229.9752kg approx)