Bent Rods, Big Fish, Bloody Decks and Fishy Sunsets!

[Latimeria]

Okay, I was desperate.  After not going on a local overnight open sport boat in 18 years, I gave in.  My buddy at work called and reserved two spots... It's official!

I stopped at the landing office to check in before grabbing a beer with my co-worker and saw my buddy behind the counter.  He was just as surprised to see me going on a boat as I was.  He removed me from my buddy's ticket and gave me a 1/2 off ticket which saved me a ton!  That right there made the entire trip!

Project Bluefin is now underway....
(My only and biggest tuna all year was only a 14# Skippy)   



We get to the grounds and scratch at some medium sized yellowfin from 20-30 pounds. 

Find out we have a really diverse group of people on the boat...  a few with Ego's that I have only seen on social media before.

We left a steady pick to meter some cows!  They started brailing baits and 100-200# fish came up busting all around the boat!  INSANE!  Capt Kley yelled nothing lighter than 40# gear and wanted us to use 80# if we had it.  None of the right gear rods got bit, but of course a few of the dummies would put out baits with Fathom 15's got ripped!  One kid had the help of the capt and crew (as well as god) that got spooled 4 times, but somehow didn't snap it off the spool.  They got 3/4 of the line back after 2 hours and it finally broke off.  In the meantime, a few of us got bit and got smoked!!!  Basically, zero fish at this stop.

Capt went to look for a smaller grade of fish because we were not geared for these cows and they only wanted the light line apparently.

We drove around again and found the school we were looking for.  It all started as 20-25# BFT and YFT.... before I started the mad rush of bigger BFT...

I couldn't buy a fish up until this point.  They would hit the bait and the hook would not do it's job.  I finally grabbed my old ass albacore rig loaded with 20# that i used to use to cast chovies with.  I pinned on a sardine and made a small cast.  The second it hit the water, a BFT grabbed it.  I knew I was in trouble at this point with an 8.5 seeker noodle rod and a Daiwa 20SHLA reel..

3 or 4 trips around the boat...
20+ tangles with other people and a crowded bow for most of the day.  For some reason every hooked fish runs to the bow on this boat...

Bent Rods



I could feel all of my fresh 20# test all frayed the entire length of the spool.  I almost got spooled a few times, but decided to lightly thumb the spool for added braking power.  I knew that would have been it for me, but I told myself I'd rather lose the fish because of myself than to have another person wrap into me and bust me off.  Sure as sh!t, after what felt like a lifetime, I got it to gaff...

Big Fish



My shoulder was killing me and I think I tore a muscle because of that fish...
Meanwhile it was a constant pick.  Capt Kley said no more fish because we had to run in and when the last fish is gaffed, we're running in hard.  Well, no one stopped fishing....  And we kept hooking them.  LOL, even the crew was like WTF!?!?!?

Bloody Decks



The dude in the previous picture needed to lay off the steroids or whatever he was on.  Screaming like crazy when he caught a nice yellowfin and chest bumping himself.  "That's how you get sum!  WHOOOOOO!!!!!  I'm a DAMN Straight Up Killa!"....  you know the type...  LOL
Actually, we had a pretty great group of guys on board.  Only a couple were very Aggro and some others were, well, just different, but it was a pretty good group.

Heading in 2 hours late and we still had to gas up.  It was a turn and burn to get back to the full boat's worth of passengers back at the dock.  Pretty pissy also since the trip was supposed to leave at 9:00 and we didn't get back to the docks until 10:30.  LOL

...and Fishy Sunsets



Here we were just underway from somewhere between the 43 and Clemente.





Some lady got this slug!  Probably 65-70 pounds!  Pretty awesome stuff!



Ended up with a couple (or limits) of BFT.  I had my fish gilled and gutted (and bled them soon as they came on board)and went straight to processing after the bodies deep chilled overnight in the kill bag.



Weighed the big one and was a hair shy of 50# minus the guts, blood and gills.  They say add 10% of body weight to get the real fish weight on board, so probably 54-55 pounds upon being gaffed.



The old american series rod with old reel that didn't even have anti-reverse.  LOL



The filets are huge and just gorgeous!  We'll be eating good this week!  Toro, Kama, Steaks... lots to do with these beautiful loins!

Thanks for reading.

[sasquatch]

If I hadn't remembered my anniversary plans I would have been there. Had the booking page open and was about to do it.

Glad you got your tuna. Hope the shoulder is ok.

[xjchad]

Congrats on your great success there Tom!  Sounds like a blast!

Steve, congrats on remembering your anniversary plans, that was a close call!

[sasquatch]

Congrats on your great success there Tom!  Sounds like a blast!

Steve, congrats on remembering your anniversary plans, that was a close call!

I remembered in the morning, but almost got tuna fever later. Would have been cool either way. Only number 29, not like a big deal. She understands.

[vdisney]

If I'm reading this correct, you hung a 55# tuna on an old Sealine 20??  That in and of it self is impressive.......................nice fish Tom

[jrodda]

Congrats on the BFT, and in fantastic fashion. It's taking a lot of willpower for me lately to not drive 150 miles to San Diego and jump on an overnighter.

[BenCantrell]

That's nuts Tom, congrats on catching and bringing home some nice fish. They definitely aren't guaranteed!

I'm not sure I could ever do a trip like that. Too much pressure. I think it's awesome that people are able to pull them off though.

[skrilla]

How to break an 18 year hiatus... tuna in November.

[Pinoyfisher]

Ah Kley and the Old Glory and Ollie was working! Sweet deal! Shocked you went on a sportie, stoked that you got yours!