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August 11th, 2019

 

I don't know where to start. It was our best day of bluefin tuna fishing ever.

 

We left a 5am and headed to the numbers that I had from last Sunday. In total we would end up being 46 miles SE of Moriches Inlet. The ride out for the first 30 miles was great. Things got a little lumpy as we approached our destination.

 

I was very nervous that I made the wrong decision. I can hear all of the radio chatter about guys hooking up near the Coimbra Wreck.  The bite was on to the west so what in the hell was I doing to the east!

 

As we were about a mile from my numbers I pulled back on the throttle. Just like last Sunday I smelled fish. We spotted a few tuna chicks but nothing like last week.  I decided to start to troll. Once we were set up I pointed the boat to the east. I grabbed my binoculars and started screaming like a lunatic. Reel everything in. Yes I know we just put everything out.  My crew would soon find out what I was screaming about. I can't explain it but in the same location as last week we found the same scene unfolding. 1000's of tuna chicks, the odor of a fish feed and slick calm water among the white caps.

 

I can't begin to tell you how many tuna we hooked up with. We had them on RonZ, Hogy Harness and Sluggos. However the real fun took place when we used poppers. It was simply awesome. We made sure to use poppers that did not have treble hooks. I wanted to release these fish in good shape. Along with all of the tuna were many tax collectors. What's a tax collector on he water? Sharks! There were a lot of them. Don't worry, the video shows one of our tuna being sharked. In fact it was attacked by 3 sharks at once. They were around the boat all day.

 

Matt had the biggest fish on the day. He caught our first fish and last fish. His last fish was the biggest of the day. It was released because we already had our limit.

 

Gina even got into the action. She had her hands full with a shark. She also plays a huge part in keeping all of us safe on deck.

Gina has become very comfortable behind the wheel when we are hooked up. That is a huge help to me.  

 

Around 1pm I got on the radio to see if people were having trouble finding fish. One guy replied and I gave him our numbers. I couldn't stop laughing when 14 boats showed up within 45 minutes. I'm a big believer in fish karma. The boat that I orginally called into the bite came over and gave us 2 packs of RonZ's and a plug. He knew that we were running out of gear.

 

I never mind making fun of myself so here goes.. our outriggers were still out from when we used them briefly in the morning. I forgot they were out and I went to flip out a RonZ. Sure enough I cast it over the outrigger. Easy fix, I will just real it in and flip it back over. Wouldn't you know it, a tuna hits the RonZ before I can flip it back over. The stupid mistake ended up costing me $189. That's the price of a new rod. Either the outrigger or the rod was going to break. The rod didn't stand a chance.

 

 

As we packed up the wind really started to blow. The ride home was a bumpy one. The Cape Horn ate it up! Matt heads back to Texas on Monday. It's always sad to see him go. I'm sure he will be back once again next year. 

 

This is what life is all about. Another day the four of us will never forget. 

 

One last thing.. That photo of my crotch almost ended very badly as you can see.