.I

Date:          September 3rd, 2015

 

Time:          5:30 am

 

Wind:         calm

 

Location:   Bacardi wreck

 

Bait/Lure:   Trolling Lures/butterfish/peanut bunker

 

Fish:          1 Yellowfin/ 6-7 False Albies

           

With a forecast of smooth seas, light winds and thunderstorms no longer an issue I decided to head out to a wreck that has been holding yellowfin tuna.

 

Rand, Sal and I were able to get out just as the fog was swallowing up the main land. We had thick fog for about a mile out until it broke and we no longer needed to use the radar.

 

The 55 mile ride out went by pretty quick. As soon as we arrived "radio chatter" indicated the place was lifeless. Not exactly what you want to hear but we weren't about to turn around. Plus the last few days the yellowfin bite picked up in the afternoon.

 

Within 10 minutes of our spread being out we hook up with our first fish. It turned out to be a false albie. We would end the day catching 6 or 7 of them including having 3 on at once.

 

With no one doing anything on the troll, most of the fleet of about 60 boats started to chunk after someone on the radio informed everyone that they had just picked up a 50lb YFT on the chunk.

 

At 1:30 we decided to join in on the chunk. It took about 2 minutes before we spotted our first YFT under the boat. I'm not going to lie, with the sun beating down on us, Captain Angry came out. We were moving way too slow to keep this fish under our boat and sure enough as quick as they appeared they disappeared even quicker.

 

To make matters worse, a big goofy blue shark comes along side of the boat. At this point we had to move. Tuna and sharks don't go together.

 

With frustraion mounting I start to get the boat ready for the long ride home. I start to unload the live/dead bunker that we have in the livewell. I start throwing small net fulls of bait into the water. All of a sudden the slick calm water around the boat starts to boil. The YFT are chasing the few live peanut bunker that I tossed in. I quickly search for a live one and send it out. 2,3,4,5 tuna are all over the bunker, however I can't hook up and my bait disappears. If you could only see my face at this point...

 

We have one last live bait. I throw it on a light spinning set up and within 10 seconds being in the water my line comes tight. After a quick fight and a great gaff shot by Rand we finally have dinner. It was a little guy but a keeper none the least. I didn't bother with a picture because I was still trying to cope with the fact that we missed out on a great chance at a slew of tuna.

 

On the long ride home I began to realize how great of a day today actually was. You don't become a great fisherman over night, it takes time and learning experiences like today. I learned just how important live bait is. Don't leave home without it!

 

The ride home was nice and smooth. As you can see Sal was out cold in his bean bag. He tried using Rand's bean bag to keep him warm. Sal has no idea we took that picture. All in good fun.

 

I can't say enough about my electronics. Every time I told these guys I was marking fish a rod would go off.

 

 

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