Wicked Tuna - On Spinning Gear and Topwater Plugs!

[Arbutis]

The following report is very long (and maybe long winded) but I wanted to start by giving proper respect and thanks to my fishing guide who got it done for me today. This guy – Captain Josh Zacharias from Outermost Angling Charters – is a true tuna killing machine! He’s an easy going guy with a great disposition and an incredible knowledge of the local waters after growing up and fishing there his whole life. If you’ve EVER had the desire to hook and land a true giant of a fish using standup spinning tackle and top water plugs and poppers, Josh is the one to call and Cape Cod is the place to go. I travel from NJ a couple times each year to this fishery but people literally come from all over the world to experience the same thing. Don’t let an opportunity for an experience of a lifetime pass you by because of silly things like work or money or family obligations. Life is too short for that so if you are a fisherman who has not experienced this kind of fishing then you need to make the time to make it happen. The time is NOW and the dates in Captain Josh’s book are filling up fast.

On to my story. . .

The reports of tuna - big ones - had just started coming in for the 2013 season as I sat at my desk in front of my computer at work. Coming from NJ, I usually have to plan my trips well in advance and hope that the weather and fish are cooperative on some random date in the future. For this trip however, I only had two days advance notice and I had many doubts that I was going to be able to make it happen. First, I looked at the weather, wind and tides. The outlook for Wednesdays sea conditions were looking ideal.

Next, I started looking for a guide service. Captain Dom Petrarca, owner of Coastal Charters Sportfishing had just posted on his facebook page that he had a short notice cancellation for Wednesday and was looking to get it re-booked. I quickly sent some texts and emails to my network of fishing friends to see if anyone was interested but before I even got one commitment, a new facebook message popped up saying that the trip had been booked. That was fast. That should tell you something about the power of having tons of facebook ‘friends,’ ‘shares’ and ‘likes’ if you own a charter business!

This is when our hero enters the story – Captain Josh Zacharias, owner of Outermost Angling Charters. I have been looking forward to fishing with Capt. Josh for a couple years and had his phone number and email in my contact list. Up to this point he had been charter fishing for striped bass (one of his specialties) but has been itching to get out for his first tuna trip of the year. I didn’t yet have a crew but the captain was available so I begged him to hold the spot for me while I scrambled to find at least two more guys to fill the boat and share the expense.

Guess what? I couldn’t find a single person to share this trip with me. I tried over 15 personal friends and tried posting on a couple fishing forum sites that I regularly visit - not one taker. I understand that it was very short notice during the middle of the week but the perfect storm of fishing conditions was upon us opening a small window and when this type of opportunity knocks, you need to be prepared to answer. I was. Work will (usually) be there tomorrow. This window may close and never open again as Mother Nature is a cold hearted bitch sometimes. This was one of those decisive moments in life to call in sick with a bad case of “tuna fever!”

Well, I wasn’t about to let a little thing like money stand in my way of this potential experience of a lifetime – especially after considering the amount of time and money that we spend on this crazy obsession of ours called fishing. I wasn’t especially looking forward to the six hour drive each way or the continuous 39 hours of sleep deprivation that I was planning to put my body through – but I kept telling myself it will be all worth it if we are successful.

Captain Josh was willing to take me along as a single and our adventure began the next morning at 4:30 am. It was a somewhat slow start and as the sun rose we saw all of the usual suspects out there – the humpback whales, seals, basking sharks, acres of sandeels, herring, a variety of fishing birds and the typical midweek fleet of boats searching for the same thing – a shot at this elusive and powerful beast known as the giant bluefin tuna. So where were the tuna? Josh decided to separate from the pack a bit and go in search of schools of herring because he had a feeling that the tuna were keying in on this type of baitfish.

After a couple hours of searching, we finally saw what we were looking for. Off in the distance was a frothing, bubbling surge and we immediately switched into total ‘run and gun’ mode. We arrived on scene to witness a massive school of bluefin tuna pushing and leaping out of the water presumably attacking a helpless ball of herring. This is pure speculation but the fish we were seeing were massive and must have been in the range of 200 to 500 pounds and maybe higher. They were not at all put down by our presence and gave us all the opportunity we needed for an almost instantaneous double hook-up. Tight and tight! This is what it was all about.

I wasn’t paying too much attention to Josh’s fish as I was preoccupied with the line that was screaming off of my Stella 18K. I wondered if my drag was working correctly because prior to hooking up I could barely pull it out with my hand. And yet this fish had no trouble dumping line as if there was no drag at all. I tried pumping furiously to set the hook deep but there was no change in the momentum of this fish. After a long, steady run I felt the fish stop cold in its tracks and give a tremendously violent head shake. It must have been over a hundred yards away and I felt every thumping of its head through the 80 pound spectra that connected us. Well, that fish didn’t want anything to do with the Dorado Slider that was embedded in its mouth and after several vicious shakes it managed to dislodge the plug. But WOW – what a strike and what a run. I can only imagine the size of the beast on the other end of my line. And although it was only for a brief moment in time, that memory will last forever.

With only two of us on the boat, a double hookup would have been extremely difficult to complete to the end – especially after what we went through to get this other fish on board. Josh’s account of this battle said it lasted for about 40 minutes but I have time stamped video evidence that puts the fight somewhere in the range of 85 minutes. The longer than usual duration had a lot to do with the incredible display of strength put on by this animal as well as my relative inexperience in dealing with fish this size. It is exhausting to watch parts of my video - and my muscles are still aching several days later. Captain Josh was a champ. At several points in this battle we both thought this fish was much bigger than the 70 inches it turned out to be. We switched on and off the rod at least seven times due to muscle fatigue. And when the end was near, he knew exactly what to do. I totally panicked. When he told me to stick the gaff in the fish’s head, I have to be honest – I didn’t want any part of it. I was hoping for a harpoon but to gaff a fish this size and have to hold onto the gaff with arm muscles that have been turned to jelly for an hour and a half – I was afraid I would not be up to the task. But when Josh yelled “NOW,” I got down to business. A perfect head shot - and despite the tuna’s last effort to escape by violently thrashing its tail like a boat engine, I held on tight. I held on just long enough for Josh to get a rope around the tail. I was physically spent. But we had won the battle – tails up!

There’s a lot more to this story and more fish this day but I feel as though it is getting a bit long. So I’ll cut it off here and say that part 2 will be coming in the near future for anyone who is interested. Let me know what you think – pictures (and hopefully some video clips) to follow.

Doug

[action]

cool fishing story doug fishing adventure at it best.big boys on a plug got to love it good job nice pic

[jiggingworld]

Congrarularions. We fished pickedhill through golf ball. A lot bait but no tuna for us. Did you guys fished inside bay?

[FisherDan]

Nice job buddy! Thanks for the loin steaks for dinner!

[Arbutis]

[aruvio]

Congrats on a great day Doug, one we all wish for up there. Where can I get some delicious tuna like that? You did a great job preparing do you work in restaurants?

I believe we spoke on another site regarding Bermuda in the past.

Anyway, congrats on a great trip

Angelo

[IrishAngler]

Great story and awesome fish. Tip 'o the cap to your efforts to fly solo. And thanks for the "chunk". Steaked it up and will enjoy some tonight.

Cheers,

[Arbutis]

You're welcome! Hope you liked the toro sashimi as much as I did. Be ready! There are still slamming them up there in the Cape. We need to plan a trip up there together very soon. No telling when it's going to slow down and the class of fish up there is HUGE. Borderline - too big for spinning gear - but there's always that shot at a record! Could be us man. . .you never know.