KILLER DAY

[KEY-LIME-PIE1]

HI GUYS, THIS IS TOM FROM THE KEY-LIME-PIE, I AM POSTING FROM THE FIRST MATES SITE..YESTERDAY I TOOK MYSELF AND A GOOD FRIEND AND TWO GREENHORNS OUT TO SEA...FOR SOME OF WHAT I WOULD CALL THE BEST TUNA BITE I HAVE EVER SEEN OR HAD.

WE CAUGHT 14 BLUEFIN TUNA RANGING FROM 40 TO 70LBS. THE FIRST ONE HIT ON THE LONGLINE WITH A WAHOO WACKER ON IT.. POINT IS THAT WAS THE ONLY BAIT WE HAD TIME TO PUT OUT.. WHILE WE WERE PREPARING THE BALLYHOO ALL HELLBROKE OUT. WE LANDED THAT ONE "SHE WAS 70LBS ON THE NOSE. ON ICE WITH HER..

THE REST WERE STEADY UNTILL 1330HRS WHEN WE ALL HAD OUR ASSES HANDED TO US BY SOMETHING MUCH BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN ANY FISH EARILER.. WE FOUGHT A VALIANT FIGHT AND SO DID WHAT EVER WAS ON THE SHORT RIGGER...WHEN IT STRUCK IT PEELED ABOUT 250YARDS OFF THE PENN 50 BEFORE WE COULD GET THE ROD OUT OF THE HOLDER! ALMOST ONE HOUR AND 4 MEN LATER AND ALMOST AT THE BOAT IT TOOK A HARD RUN FROM LEFT TO RIGHT AND DOWN. THE HOOK PULLED... HEART BREAK OR JUBILATION? NO MORE PAINSTAKING STROKES OF THE REEL!

WE DECIDED THAT WAS IT WE WERE DONE ENOUGH FUN. WE PACKED IT UP AND HEADED FOR THE OC INLET. AND OF COURSE THE WEATHER TURNED TO SHIT...ROUGH RIDE HOME FROM POORMANS CANYON.. TOM...KEY-LIME-PIE

[Proheat]

Tom- Glad you had some pullage!

[Dead Eye]

Nice Day. Fire up the Grill!
Dead Eye

[WAHOONBOX]

WTG 'PIE!!!! GLAD YOU GOT INTO 'EM!!!

[Deep C]

Dayummm! That is good fishin... Seems to be a lot of that goin around... Pretty work!

[ROCKNREEL]

Tom,
Glad you guys got on them. I knew you would. Too bad the hook pulled on that fish. The big one always gets away.
Brian

[KEY-LIME-PIE1]

I NEED SOME INPUT. I WAS TALKING TO REEL WORLD, HE THINKS THAT IT MAY HAVE BEEN A BLUE MARLIN ON THE OTHER END OF THE LINE...THE ONE WE FOUGHT FOR AN HOUR. WE NEVER SAW IT JUMP. BUT AS IT GOT CLOSER TO THE BOAT HE THINKS IT MAY HAVE SOUNDED AND PULLED THE HOOK! THAT IS POSS I GUESS WE NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT. BUT IT WAS DEFINATEY NOT THE SAME FIGHT AS THE BLUEFINS WE WERE CATCHING ALL DAY. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK? TOM...KEY-LIME-PIE

[Deep C]

Not all blues jump... Big ones are notorious for being dogs.
The typical non jumping blue will bow up, take line slow for a few seconds then hit the afterburners... They may stop then cook again before slamming on the brakes and heading for the basement...
What happens there is they will go down 200-300 yards and just extend their pecs. The harder you pull the more the pecs act like planers and make it all that much harder to budge them... When I know its a blue and its doing this. I will stop backing. Pull away and change the line angle. I'll try several different ways until I can get the fish to start some kind of a circle.
In the circle I will run ahead of him following the same loop. Slowing once in a while to let my angler gain some line. Then continue. This is called the cork screw, they actually swim to you. The subtle gain of line in theory will hopefully not evoke panic and instead will screw him to sleep without raising the alarm. When the fish gets near the top... do some quick backdowns to gain even more line. Shortening the gap will reduce line stretch and give you a much better handle...

The other possibility is a big eye... The beast of all the tunas there. Blistering run/ runs and then they will circle often for hours... Hardest fight of all the tuners... Cork scre will work on them too but just not as well as it does on a blue or bluefin... much less gain per pass on the circle. Then the circle can get tighter than you can turn the boat. Thirty feet out and thirty one feet back kind of stuff...
I would say the big eye more likely than the blue. In cold water the blues are sluggish and usually give up the gohst pretty quick as far as that sounding crap goes... Its already cold and the deep is even colder and more oxygen deprived... Ususally I find they start the deep dive bull crap at about 77 degree surface water...