dump 7/28, no bananas

[kidfred]

Left New Bedford @ 4:30am to check the good looking temps west of the dump. Saw halfbeaks 5 miles south of Nomans which seemed like a good omen. trolled the claw then the fingers. Headed to Ryan's, apologies to Jenny C. Except for dolphins there wasn't much of anything out there.
Went to the nw corner to work some structure without any success and heard someone on the radio say "a mako went through his spread at the fingers". No life in nw corner so time to head in. Figured we put them out in the fingers then at the claw.
Going through the fingers we get a knockdown. Lost it but now know there is life down there. Back out a green skirt 50 ft back gets taken. It's on the TLD25 with 30#. Clear the spread and set the reception up. First pass the skipper says "it's bigger than we think" then he says "it's a mako". This is on light tuna gear (read as mono) so it can't end well. 20 minutes and a gaff pass is set. We're going to need a bigger gaff. Grab the flying gaff which I have never done before and set up for another pass. First three tries I'm looking like the biggest goober that ever set foot on a boat. 4th attempt is in but, I'll never live this down. Over 60 inches and more than 160#s is one tough wrestler. The angler took the heart out and it was still beating in his hand. I thought this was amazing, then he took a bite out of it and ate it. I passed when he offered me a taste.
Back at the dock by 5:30pm cleaning up and cutting steaks. No bananas on this trip. If Ican figure out how to get pictures from the cell phone, they'll be post on this thread.

[kidfred]