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BEST TIMES: The Blue Shark is one of our biggest and most exciting summer visitors. They can be expected from mid June through to the end of September but they are sensitive to the water temperature so the length of time they are with us varies according to the weather we get during the year. If you want to be sure of being here during the most likely time it is normally from mid July to end of September.

• TACKLE AND TECHNIQUES: The tried and tested method of Shark fishing is the best and it centres around a delightful substance called RUBBY DUBBY. The base of this is Mackerel ground up until it looks like a porridge. A lot of skippers would add all kinds of secret ingredients to it but Johns preference is for day old Mackerel, nothing added, just loads of it. Once you have this made, and its not a job for the faint hearted, the boat is allowed to drift with the rubby dubby dipping in and out of the water so as it leaves a good trail of yummie smells for the Shark to follow. The bait is a Mackerel flapper suspended a short distance from the boat in the middle of this trail and from then on it's a waiting game.

TACKLE: The best tackle is good a quality rod and reel in the 30lbs class. The line should be either 30lbs Mono or Dacron and MUST be in good condition. The new superbraids are not suitable unless they are very heavy, ie 80lbs or more. The end tackle is also very important as the sharks teeth are incredibly sharp. The trace LINK TO SHARK TRACE DRAWING should be 12 feet (3.5 meters) long and made of braided stainless steel wire, NOT PVC COATED WIRE. It should have 3 swivels at regular intervals attached with crimp and offshore knot, a 10/0 bronze O'Shaugnessy or similar provides the business end. As the bait is suspended at about 40 feet from the surface a balloon is used for a float. It is attached to the main line by means of a small plastic boom and power gum stop knot and this has the advantage of releasing the balloon when a fish strikes. Floats that are solid or are tied to the line are not good as they give a lot of drag when fighting a fish. An alternative method to traditional bait fishing is fly fishing for Blue Shark. Rudy Van Duijnhoven got the first European fly caught Blue in 1997 aboard Bluewater. Its really exciting form of fishing as you must attract the fish right to the boat so as you can see your quarry. The specialist tackle required is on board if you would like to try.

• YOUR CHANCES AND HOW BIG ARE THEY: Their size varies quite a bit but they average around 55lbs or 25kgs. A small one will be in the region of 20 lbs and the Bluewater record stands at 150lbs. They can be plentiful and Bluewaters best day was 34, but this was exceptional. On an average day we should catch from 4 to 6 fish and we may well have seen a couple of others. WEATHER: The weather makes a big difference to Shark fishing, too much wind and the boat will drift too fast leaving a broken trail for the Sharks to try and follow, not enough wind and the boat wont move fast enough to spread out a good trail.

TAG AND RELEASE: All the fish caught aboard Bluewater are tagged and released, so we use hooks that corrode quickly and John is an expert at unhooking the fish causing them as little damage as possible. The tagging programme is run by the Irish Central Fisheries Board and it is the largest marine sportfish tagging programme in Europe. The Blue Shark is truly nomadic and some of Bluewaters catches have been recaptured as far away as the Grand Banks and the Cape Verde Islands.