When avid outdoorsman Jim Sollecito isn’t busy running his Onondaga Hill nursery, there’s a good chance he’s out fishing.

Salmon River in fall, Florida Keys in winter. Panama for sailfish, Alaska for halibut.

But last month Sollecito went on a fishing trip to top them all: fly fishing for shortfin mako shark off the southern California coast.

“It’s definitely not for everybody,” Sollecito said. “But for the people that like adventure and fly fishing and up being up front and personal with an apex predator—this is the deal.”

Rehearsals

Sollecito knew this wasn’t going to be a normal outing when he met charter Captain Conway Bowman at the dock at 9 a.m., a late start.

That’s because mako shark fishing has little to do with the usual variables that turn sport fish on and off. During the

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