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Like many of you, because of other commitments (work, damn work, dockage, etc.), I reached a point where I had to make a call as to when to end my season. Looked at the weather reports the beginning of the week. Since I was going to be away for the weekend, and was going to be slammed with work the following week, the window on Thursday looked good to make my last trip on my boat. So I started making all the calls and emails. Wow, it's definitely not summer anymore. No one was available. Reasons were: Can't get away from work, I'm in Florida, I'm in Canada, I've got swine flu.... you get the picture. Ahh, but one hearty soul was available. My buddy Pete (Reel Pursuit on SFC). So it was to be just the two of us. No problem, Pete's a good fisherman and we've fished together numerous times both on my boat and on his chasing all manner of pelagics. I can't say it enough, if you are only going to have one other person fishing with you, it REALLY helps to have someone that knows what they're doing! We decided that Thursday would be a tag and release day.
So Thursday morning, 5:30AM we cast off lines. The dark and chilly morning could not dampen our enthusiasm though! We were determined to go out on a high note. Ran to the SWC. Small fleet already there. Setout the spread. Decided to just go with spreader bars this final day. The weather was almost perfect for trolling. Overcast with a little chop on the water. We were immediately marking fish down deep, and seeing small groups of fish breaking sporadically. Trolling in a fleet is always interesting. If everyone were on the same page, it would work wonderfully. But that is never the case. You have the run and gunners, the first timers, the "what are the rules of the road" guys, the "I don't care, they're all my fish" guys, etc. So, you do the best you can.
(Side note: Last week I was running ballyhoo on my long riggers and shotgun. A big pile of birds were going nuts on my shotgun bait, divebombing it and chasing it as we trolled. All of a sudden, a center console comes flying in from behind me and off to my starboard side. He literally charges up to within 30 feet or so of my long rigger and shotgun baits, shuts it down, and two guys run to the bow and start casting lures right over my baits!!! I've seen a lot of messed up stuff out there, but this for me took the cake this summer. I think it was just sheer luck that they didn't hook my lines.) But I digress...
We trolled for about an hour or so, and had only heard one or two hook ups on the radio, and didn't see anyone hooked up around us. But we were marking decent numbers of fish, and they were still up popping here and there. Then ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz..... FISH ON!!!! RIGHT LONG!!!!! Sweet!!! Pete goes into action to get into the harness and get on the rod. I come out of the tower to get the lines in. The fish took a decent amount of line on his first run, but after that a fairly straightforward fight. About 15-20min later, leader is up. I grab the leader, Pete gets the gaff and lips him. Quick measure (60", but man they are FAT this time of year), add the nice spaghetti jewelry, and start swimming him. I am always amazed at being able to watch them from a short distance as they regain there strength. Didn't take him long to let me know he was ready to go, and with a couple quick tail flips, he was gone.
Quick high fives (and a revelation that this was the first time Pete had done a tag and release), and we began to re-set the spread. At this point a couple of things had happened. A dragger had moved into the area (and all the birds were now solely focused on him, the surface activity had ceased, we weren't marking many fish, and most of the fleet had dissapated). From earlier observations, and a couple of quick calls, we decided to troll towards the east. We were about halfway to the SE corner, and could see where most of the fleet had moved to. We also started to mark fish again, and as we got a little closer started seeing surface activity and birds again. Again, started to do the dance within the fleet. After a couple of passes, I decided to move out of the fleet and head ENE, as I was seeing surface action and birds.
About 10 mins later, ZZZZzzzzzz.. FISH ON!! RIGHT SHORT!!!! Same routine as before, except that something was different. The fish didn't take line for very long. A couple thoughts ran through my head, questioning if it was a tuna at first. But as I ran though all the pieces, and looked at the bend in the rod, it had to be a tuna. Then it dawned on me, small tuna. As I had a clear path ahead of me (the fleet was behind me), I decided to leave all the rigs out except for the corners (just to make it easier to get back on the troll after this fish). Pete got him to the boat in about 5-10min., measured about 52", added the tag, swam him, and off he went to grow for another season. High fives! Cool, we've tagged two, let's keep going and try to tag some more!
Well, we trolled for another hour and a half with no further joy. But, we continued to see sporadic surface activity, and marked MASSIVE numbers of tuna on the FF, as well as BIG piles of bait. I was in the tower, Pete was in the pit, and it seemed like every couple of minutes I'd yell down "Pete, you gotta look at the FF, HOLY S**T look at all those fish!" Pete had to be back, so we called it a day, brought everything in and ran for the barn.
We started the ride home talking about the day, how much fun we had, how great it turned out, how the seas cooperated. Then we grew quiet. I started to think about this season, the highs, the lows, things me and my crews did right, things we did wrong. But mostly I thought about how lucky we are to have this amazing fishery right in our backyard, and how lucky we all are to be able to enjoy it with our friends who share our passion for this sport. I reflected back on how beautiful nature is, and how we sometimes forget that. That even on days when we don't catch a fish, we still probably saw an amzing sunrise, or whales frollicking, or in the case of Thursday, a seal popping up in the spread while we were doing a weed check and almost getting hit in the back of the head with a spreader bar! (That was some funny chit!).
Now I will deal with the stages of tuna grief:
1) Depression that my season is over (1-2 weeks)
2) Sadness that my season is over, but starting to feel better (1 month)
3) No longer sad, and looking back at fond memories of the season (winter, and it keeps a tiny ember burning)
4) Starting to look forward to the season, starting to check gear (early spring, and now the ember is a campfire)
5) Chafing at the bit for the boat to go in the water! Already looking at weather reports! Trying to look into the weather crystal ball to predict what the weather will be like in August! (Late spring, and now the campfire has exploded into an inferno that will consume my every fiber until that first ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!)
You've gotta LOVE the sickness!!!
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