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Ol Pedro
11-05-2024, 09:10 AM
Left the dock at nine pm to bumpy cold conditions. Anchored up around 3:30 after looking around for a while. It was a little sporty on deck as the weatherman was wrong again. Caught a squid and fished it through magic time without a bite. The bite didn't happen so Capt. Bob made a move to the east. We set up for a drift as the conditions started to improve. Had a pick going with lots of bird life and some porpoise. I was snake bit and wondered why. I had brought an ice chest that I left in the truck did that jinx me? I never seem to catch good when I bring something to put fish in. Should I downsize my leader/rods ? I decided to change setups on the next drift. We moved back to redrift through the same area. I dropped down to my Fathom 40 /Ocean Master 60lb set up. By now we had half the Shearwaters in the ocean around us trying to eat any bait/chunk they could get to. We were seeing tuna boiling and in the slick. It was starting to happen ! Had a strange pickup, locked it up, and ping bite off. Re rigged ran it almost to the backing. Had a runoff, locked her up, and fish on ! Had a lot of line out and gained it back quickly. Thinking that I had another 30 yards to go I went to look for color but the fish was right there! Joe stuck it and over the rail it came. A 25-30 pounder that broke the hex. Got back in the game and hooked up again on the long soak. This fish was a little better getting into the backing. It moved to the stern and settled down. I had it at a stalemate and dropped her in low. Continued to gain. Got color and we started the dance. I gained a couple cranks on the outside of the circle every time it turned back. The fish got a little squirrely at ten feet. Pushed up the drag ,regained the head, and Stevo stuck it. This one was 60ish. Took a water break, re rigged, and jumped back in the game. dropped my Sardine next to the boat. Got down around ten feet and saw a tuna engulf my bait. It headed towards the stern, with me in hot persuit, reel screaming. As I hit the corner the line parted. All too soon it was time to go. The weather was calm all the way home.
I would like to thank Captain Bob, James, Joe, Caden, and Stevo for doing such a good job as always.
We caught on everything. All my bites came on Sardines. 50-60lb leader seemed to get bit more. 1 to 4 ozs of lead worked when you could get it past the Shearwaters. There were some jigfish . We lost way more fish than we should have. Customers tackle was suspect in a lot of instances. Too lite, not serviced, drag fiddling, and bad knots.
My Fathom 40 performed flawlessly. That combo is a fish killer.
I hate Shearwaters !!! Those bait stealing line tangling little pirates ! We had to release quite a few. Had one tear up my hand while I unwrapped its wing. The little sh#t drew blood.
There's still a lot of warm water and fish around so I'm thinking that this will go through November weather permitting.

Ol Pedro
11-05-2024, 11:54 AM
Just finished processing.

captbogan
11-07-2024, 11:58 AM
Thanks for putting up the report. Pete.


It's been a great canyon season and it's not over yet. A few more trips to go in November

AndyS
11-07-2024, 02:06 PM
Perfect size, thanx for the report !! At this rate you could probably go out there in December and catch tuna.

Pennsy Guy
11-07-2024, 11:49 PM
Great report Pete--thank you. Yea, those shearwaters are a real pain, gotta pick your moment to get in safely. Scheduled on the next 3 24's. You on any?
If we go this Sunday, it'll be a bit more than bumpy.

Pennsy Guy
11-07-2024, 11:55 PM
Perfect size, thanx for the report !! At this rate you could probably go out there in December and catch tuna.

Andy, I can only hope to go tunaing again in December. Tuna in the snow off Jersey---gotta love it!
Although it rained out there, it was snowing while the mates loined tuna at the dock...

Ol Pedro
11-08-2024, 06:33 AM
Chuckie, hope to be on at least one of the last two. It felt great to just fish !

2na
11-08-2024, 10:41 PM
Tim taught me a pretty good Shearwater avoidance technique on our last trip...
Hold onto you bait and drop your egg sinker down into the water as close to the boat as you can. Let the sinker down about 10'-15' so that it creates a bow in the line. Then drop your bait in as close to the boat as possible. The egg sinker will slide down toward the swivel dragging your bait down quickly away from the Shearwaters. It worked more times than not.
The fish I caught on the last 36 were FAR away from the boat (500'-800'). All were loaded with chunks...

SHORTS

Ol Pedro
11-09-2024, 09:02 AM
Great technique Shorts ! The light eggs and the long soaks also worked for me. I wonder if Shearwaters can nick mono with their beaks ?