is it me ? (wicked tuna )

[Bass_Appeal]

does anyone not agree with fv-lilly harpooning and being on the show with rod and reelers ...i dont know i kinda think the harpooning is cheating

[CatchEmUp]

I totally agree - especially with the plane spotter!

[youngdumbandfulloffish]

I think it is cool to see/learn about. It is definitely a completely different ball game and don't think it's fair as far as the leaderboard.

[Bass_Appeal]

dont get me wrong the harpooning takes skill, but just doesnt measure up to rod and reel , i mean to talk crap about the rod and reelers when ur spotting from a plane is kinda rediculous

Good TV is all about drama. Just as you post suggests, harpooning adds a different perspective but one that will intentionally include controversy between the rod and reel guys and the dart guys. Personally I think it's a pretty interesting technique. Many years ago we had a charter for stripers out of Massachusetts and the Capt. said if we agreed to go for giants that morning he would charge us only half fare for the striper trip and we could go on the tuna trip. Only caveat was the boat kept whatever tuna they caught. It was a free trip for us. They opened the season for a few days and the Capt. wanted to take advantage of it.

We ended up not far off Cape Cod, sand eels all over the place and more whales feeding on them than I've ever seen before. The Capt around mid morning, without the benefit of a spotter plane, found a school of giants on the surface. It amazed me because he tracked this school for about 20 minutes before I could even see there were fish there. He'd say they're going to the left, now they're going to the right and at one point said they broke up into two schools. I actually thought he was pulling my leg at one point because no matter how hard I tried I couldn't see a thing. It was dead flat calm and again I couldn't spot the BFT's. Seemingly from out of nowhere, all of a sudden I could just make out a small wake and see the dorsal fins breaking the water about 50 yards in front of the boat and saw exactly what he was looking at. About 5 minutes later, the guy on the pulpit had his shot and as you see in the Wicked Tuna footage, about 30 giants boiled on the surface and sounded. Unfortunately the tuna the guy was aiming at veered precisely at the same time he threw the dart and he missed. That was the only shot we had that day but I will tell you it was an absolutely amazing thing to experience. It is definitely different than rod and reel but I will tell you it takes a skill to catch a BFT that way. Spotter planes have no doubt made it easier but you still have to stalk these trophies in stealth mode and throw a dart 30 to 40 feet at a moving target, not an easy task.

Personally I think it's pretty cool and I would imagine the harpoon guys have a more limited season than the rod and reel guys. At least it seems that way.

Dakota

[PeteyHD]

Like Dakota said its all for TV drama. However, I do think it is very interesting seeing the harpoon boats and the technique they use. Despite the plane helping them from above I strongly believe that dart shot and maneuvering of the boat take a LOT of skill. I am a rod a reel fisherman and strongly discourage netters and draggers but these harpooners actually have to hunt the fish and dart them at the perfect moment while taking into consideration water refraction. Harpooning seems like some sort of Olympic athletic sport and thou many may not agree with the unfairness of hunting the fish I think its pretty neat and adds for good TV as well.

[ScowardNJ]

I think its pretty cool. It's one shot at one fish. Not like the spotter is guiding a net boat to clean out an entire school....

[chrislars]

i think they had harpooners during the first season, or maybe it was on another fishing show because i have seen them on TV before

[PeteyHD]

Originally Posted by chrislars

i think they had harpooners during the first season, or maybe it was on another fishing show because i have seen them on TV before

They did last season.

[Ol Pedro]

Stick boats are a tradition in the North East . They targeted Swordfish then switched to Bluefin when the Market exploded. I think that it has a place on the show.