| Pennsy Guy |
11-08-2019 11:52 AM |
11/6-7 Gambler 36hr tuna
NOAA was mostly spot on with forecast for this trip...Ride out to our spot was with cool air temps and an almost perfect "tuna chop"...2 minutes after start fishing whistle blew I had the first runoff---a nice blue shark--yep, that started it, another day & night with the blue dogs. First afternoon's drift in 65*+ water produced a 40# yellow & a 60# bird. We finished the drift @ evening and Bob took us to an anchor spot for the night in 66* water. Other than the blues, 1 60# bird boated and a sword pup released. Wind died to "light and variable" with an almost glassy sea on long period ocean swells. Porpoise showed throughout the night along with the catchable squid, a couple of free-swimming mahi, some ballyhoo type fish and a few Portuguese Man-of-war jellyfish drifted by. Morning and early afternoon produced more yellows and birds for a total catch of 21 tuna---8 longfin, 13 yellowfin; all longfin were 50-65# (big 'n round), yellowfin were all 35-45# (fat 'n tender). About half the tuna were on jigs---more than half the yellowfin were on jigs. After the sun was full up, the breeze gradually increased to a South wind with some 7-8' shorter period swells making for a very bumpy ride in 'til we were about an hour out. Looks like the tuna are finally here if we can just get out there with a weather window. Kudos to Capt. Bob for the call & 2nd Capt.'s Greg, Todd and mates Nico & Jill(chef & office manager). Congrats to her for her first jigged tuna...well done!
Bob has one more unscheduled trip--a 24hr leaving next Wednesday night 8:00, returning Thursday night 8:00 ---weather permitting and enough guys sign on for the trip. I'm going, how about you???
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