An Offshore Breakdown (8/2)

[Latimeria]

It's not quite what you think though as the boat ran perfectly. 



We got a killer scoop and a half of sardine at the receiver's at 5am and headed offshore to pick up on the bountiful tuna.  The first stop had a ton of boats around and some crashing fish, but it was a parking lot, so the Don said "Let's go find out own fish" and off we went further west.

Prior to getting where we were going, it was noticed the gaff was left at home.. DOH!  Tommy and I scrambled to see if we had a big enough hook in our tackle bag to rig as a gaff.  We  all chipped in a red neck effort and made a few scrub brush gaffs. Not pretty, but they were effective to a degree.



Tommy on the look out.


We then got to an area and saw jumping packs of tuna.  Friggand much different than the aggressive strikes of the surface, but more of a lazy popping through and jumping through small bait balls.  They were very skittish and would sink out soon as you got near.  Thankfully we had one really good shot at them here.

My friend Bob who looks like Nugent here is a Ph.D from South Dakota, who now lives in the 1000 Oaks area came down to do some salty fishing.  He's only fresh water fished and only has salt water fished one time before this with me.  He only knows how to use a spinner, so luckily I had something that would fit the bill for him.  All of a sudden we heard "Hey Guys... I think I'm on!"  How killer!  Bob's first tuna fight (He needed some coaching as this wasn't some little creek trout he had on). 




Just as we were dealing with Bob, my rod goes off!  Double!  Then Steve is on... Triple!

First tuna for Bob! And he was a happy man!



Double shot of two in the boat while Steve is fighting his.


Then the Squatch, hunter of hunters, turned into a farmer of farmers and lost him.  Bummer, but this is a great start to the day, right?

Not when you drive through 74 degree water and it kills all your bait!  CRAP!


The next few hours were chasing bird schools and tossing mega baits and lures to them just to have them sink out by the time we got there.  Lots of tuna around, but it was tough without bait to do any soaking or lure them in.  We chunked a few times, but they were concentrated on whatever the hell they were feeding on.  We trolled for hours for not a single knock down and finally came across another school about 5 miles from the original place we saw them and they stuck around long enough for Don to hook one on the megabait!  Got him boat side and when Tommy went to gaff him, snip!  cut off at the side of the boat.  It looks like our Mc Gyver job was the culprit for losing this one.  Looks like the line hit the hose clamp... Damn it!

Oh well, It rained pretty good on us out there and the weather was not exactly what they were calling for, but it was a fun if not educational trip.  I came out of this one knowing how to rig a new gaff with almost nothing and realized that Shearwaters are a great tuna spotter.  I use to call them sh!t birds and look for the terns, but saw something today that I will use in the future to help spot when these buggers know the tuna are coming up to feed.

Bob giving "Tails Up"


Not many fish 2 for 4, but saw a ton of cool stuff that made it worth while.  Breaching Humpback whales, Marlin next to the boat, jumping mako, as well as the rest of the cool sites. 

Oh well, once again until next Tide.

-Lat

[sasquatch]

 Like you say, lots of fun, but not so many fish. I was happy to see Bob get his first tuna. Thanks to Don for the invite.

[Limits]

Not often that I get skunked but can honestly say I had a great time... 


Thanks again for the invite.  Glad I could head gaff a few of the fish.  Of course, the one I missed was the captain/boat owner's.  DOH.