Charters this weekend not only had great codfishing but we landed our first tuna of the season and had great shots at others as well. I always bring spin and jig rods on board my charters in case the footballs show but on Friday we got a taste of fishing for big fish on "light tackle" ....here is a brief description of the day's events....



Last Friday, we were on our way to the Bank for a codfish charter when I spotted a tuna feed. Asked the sports if they could cast ( I only had on board spin and jig sticks)...sure no problem. Setup up on the school and had the bow caster fire off a shot...dud...went twenty feet and hit the water. Meanwhile the jig man couldn't figure out how to get the T16 into free spool...I love charter fishing . School is now about to blow by us and as a despepartion I grab the rod next to me a fire off a shot with a popper. Two pops and I watch a silver bomb explode on the bait. Fish ON!

I immediately pass the rod off and game on. These guys had never caught a fish bigger than a fresh water salmon but thought this should not be a problem. Well we worked through the 3 man crew 3 times changing off the rod as each guy got wasted fighting this fish. In their defense I must admit this fish hit a 20-40 St Croix rod, the oldest in my arsenal. I have caught many 50" class fish on this rod but never anything this size. Near the end, I took the rod as I wanted to get this fish up and boated as I expected it was not a market fish. I took the rod and started to work her to the boat. I finally got over her and was amazed how hard she was to move upwards even while using the boat to plane her up. Even at 35lb+ drag I still had to palm the spool!



Finally, brought her boatside and my best estimate off my floating tape meaure I would say she was between 67 and 68". I wish I could have taken a girth measurement as she had a big barrel shaped body but I didn't want to risk someone trying to hold a fish this big as I tried to measure her. I swam her for 10' and after she nearly ripped my arm off. I released her from the lip gaff and she kicked hard away . We wished her well, and we gave high fives all around. These guys had never caught a tuna in their lives and couldn't have been happier. The only guy more pleased was ME as that what I love to do ...take people fishing to try and catch the biggest fish of their lives!



And now the bad news. Being a one man crew and between hooking the fish, coaching the anglers, driving the boat, landing and releasing the fish I asked one of the guys to do the photograpy...As a result I have a great 20 minute video showing 30" of the fight followed by shots of the sky . boat deck, and the inside of my camera case as he got so excited he put the camera away ! Ya goota love it!

However, he did get a great shot of my arm leadering the fish at least.



All in all a GREAT start to the season with a GREAT group of guys!"



On both Friday and Saturday we limited out on cod and came within 4 fish of doing so on Sunday except a school of tuna blast through the grounds and of course we chased them for a half hour. No hookups but we had great shots at them...they were not on a feed and just showing off their acrobatic skills for us.



A great weekend with a great group of guys. If you like UNREAL ground fishing as well as a shot a tuna now is the time to GO FISHIN!