Di Hrd, Seadraggin, and I set sail with Bill on his 3490 Pursuit yesterday in search of bluefin and tilefish. We left the marina at Wanchese and passed under the Oregon Inlet bridge just as the sun was peaking over the horizon. Our first stop would be the back side of the point were some bluefin and yellowfin had been caught the previous day. Awesome ride out cruising right along at 30 knots and the only break in the calm was other boat wakes. Upon reaching our first destination, The Point, we come across a well defined temp break that was blended green and 65 degrees against 71 degree crystal clear blue.
The first stop in the area of the point yielded nothing. We tried offshore of The Point, along the temp. break, on the cool side of the break, over structure.......... nothing. Never marked any fish in the water column. We did find a few nice bottoms in 500 feet that looked like snowy grouper territory... and those will be explored at a later date.
As the sun began to shine over head we decided to make a move and go looking for some blueline tilefish. Short run 8 miles to the north and just short of our number I see a "nugget" in 265 feet and 53 degree water. I spin the boat around and the jigs are bombs away. Steve (Di Hrd) gets cracked immediately and after a good fight, a 14lb blueline is boated on a 240 gram Katana in blue hologram. Everyone else is jigging without bites when Steve drops again and this time a 10 lb blueline meets his fate. This fish sent everyone scrambling for blue hologram katana's, and the color change resulted in 11 tilefish landed between 5 and 14lbs. They would not touch any other color. I was dropping the same jig with a pink back instead of blue and it never got touched.
The technique for jigging tiles is very unique. Straight up bottom jigging resulted in a few bites but pitching the jig out away from the boat and "dragging" it like a carolina rig drove these guys bezerk. In this same area, we also jigged BIG bluefish, shark, and false albacore.
Overhearing a bit of radio chatter, we hear a charter boat say "I am marking the bluefin deep but I have only had one bite on the troll". A quick look at the GPS, radar, and sea temp, we notice a few boats to our north in a little "spur" of warm water. We take off and upon arriving we see a boat hooked up and doing battle. This location is deep, over 2000 feet, and the fish finder on the boat is not pinging bottom or anything. Therefore, we make one "blind" drift along the temp break that yields nothing. Making a move, I ease up the temp break and there it is, in 2000 feet the finder pings on some marks at 150 feet. I slam the boat in reverse and "BLUEFIN at 150!" Steve comes tight and pulls loose after a few seconds. Jim gets bit but it doesn't come tight. "Hey Steve.... What color do you have on?" He says "Blue hologram Katana". I make the switch to the blue 200 gram classic flat. We pick up and continue to look for bluefin marks and after a few minutes we see them again. This time at the 100 ft. depth. I drop to 100 ft, flip the bail, pop the jig one time and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I fish a Saltiga 6000 spinner with the drag was set at 25 lbs, I watched as my line instantly disappeared from the spool. With half my line gone, the bluefin decides to hit the turbo booster!!! I reach over and give my drag knob a good turn locking it down. The extra drag pressure does not slow her down and by now I am in danger of being spooled. I am up to 35 lbs of drag (carbontex washers) with no slowing of the freight train. Seeing my last bit of line leaving in a hurry, I start to palm the spool, the Riley Rod doubles over and FINALLY the bluefin comes to a stop. I estimate that 150 feet of line was left on the spool. Jim wraps the belt around me, pours some bottled water on my spool (it was hot to the touch) and I settle in for the battle. I started getting line back and in minutes I had the fish within 100 feet of the boat. One more blistering run and a few death circles, Bill and Steve sink the steel into a measured (lower jaw to fork) 68 inch bluefin. Jim's experience dealing with bluefin made everything seamless.... the fight, boat position, handling the fish, etc. Mike of Riley Rods sent me a 400 gram prototype rod to use for this trip. To say I am impressed with Riley Rods is an understatement.
Enough celebration, let's get back to fishing. We get everything situated, locate the temp break, and within minutes we mark another school of tuna and bombs away. This time both Jim and Steve come tight and take off on blistering runs. Jim's fish is quickly dumping his spool and Steve's fish drops the hook. One quick turn of the boat and Jim is settled in up on the bow in a dogfight after his tuna burnt of an estimated 250 to 300 yards on the first run. Remembering we are in 2000 feet of water, I look at the position of Jim's line and his tuna had sounded DEEP and went into the death circle. Saltiga 40 made short work of it though and just when we could see color, the tuna picked up a second wind a made another run and peeled off almost 100 yards. Shortly after, the fish is boat side and Jim executed a very clean release and we watched as his tuna swam away in excellent shape. Jim's tuna was a shade larger than mine and we estimated it to be 68 to 70 inches fork length.
By now, the sun is starting to fade and the boat owner is packing things up for a ride to the hill. We arrive back at the marina in Wanchese at 6:30 full of smiles and stories to tell for a long time to come.
It was good to see some Wilmington jigga's on the water! From the looks of it, I don't think there is an adjective in the book to describe the epic day experienced by those guys.
PICS ARE ON THE WAY!
68 inch fork length
Last edited by WhiteLakeBuc; 04-06-2009 at 02:24 PM.
Reason: Spelling
well congratulation boys thats one hell of a trip. Unfortunately my fish sense told me not to drive 10 hours by myself saturday night in fear of dying at the wheel to fish with Chip and now Im kicking myself.
Glad to see all the wilmington boys tearing up the bluefin that is one hell of a tuna there my friend. Congrats again
damnit Jeffro! Its going crazy!!! its gone...........
Occupation
button pushing slave
we got some jiggers down here!!!
glad to see everybody had a sweeeet day up there. good going fella's, we did the usual down here and had a good time also. where are the action photos? i guess your reel held up, i sent mike my deposit today, 3 weeks i'll have a new weapon.........the grouper shiver in fear.......
Outstanding catch Pete, especially on a 6000 spinner. No matter how much drag you can get out of the thing you have limited line capacity. Everything must hold and it did. Outstanding!
Congratulations to you, Jim and the rest of your crew on a once in a lifetime experience for most!
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watching it blow its arse off right now wishing....
