Well we just finished our first week of tuna fishing out east of Chatham on the “Tammy Rose”, and it has been a great first week with some highs and lows that big game tuna fishing will bring. We fished 5 days this week since returning from the Shark Tourney last Sunday. We raised 13 fish, had 10 bites and landed 7 fish. The fish ranged from 62 inches to 68 inches, all measured not “quesstimated”. We started the week off in tough shape with zero visibility fog. The fish were there but we couldn’t see them. We got a huge fish up, easily 400lbs, and he crushed the right long rigger and was dumping the new Fin-Nor 80W. All was great until we somehow broke the main line down by the hook. He was gone. The next trip again, foggggg!!! No visibility at all. We get the bite and battle the fish to the boat only to have him wake up and go apes#@t at the transom, too much pressure by the leader man and pow, he is gone. Next day back at it again and we get a fish up hard on the rigger, my brother goes over and works his magic and gets the fish to eat again and we our tight. No fooling around and we get the “Poon” out. After 35 mins we get the fish up on the leader and I drill him through his head and button hole him threw his gill plates. Game, set, match. He tapes out at 68 inches. Day four brings us a pleasant surprise, we can see. It takes us awhile but we get called into a bite by my buddies. My brother’s boat doubles up, another 2 boats go tight and we swing in and we get bit. A nice fat 63 incher hits the deck and the faith is renewed. We start to see the fish both on the machine and up under the surface. It’s around 11:30am and I mark a huge bunch of fish down at 50 ft. Before I can say anything the short rigger gets piled on and dragged under the water but no hook-up, then the left long gets crushed but again no hook-up. I pause for a second and call my buddy behind me on the radio and as I am talking to him the right long gets hit and again no fish. Three bites and nothing to show for it. I hit the GPS mark and bring the boat around back to the numbers. I mark the fish again and this time pow we are tight. We tag and release this fish and our day is done.
Today we battled the fog all day and the huge fleet trying to get in the same 1\4 mile of ocean. Left at the 0400 time as always and hit the fog for the whole ride out. Hit the numbers from yesterday. Trolled for awhile and the fog lifted for a little bit. Big swing and miss on the left long. Did not come back. We have been playing around with some new spread designs this season for the "Tammy Rose" and the last two days have me thinking I am pretty dialed in. We trolled up into a good spot with lots of sign and I had been marking some fish. Turned to watch the spread and the short corner bar gets clobbered. We get the angler belted in and start to clear some of the other lines. The fish is under control and Corey starts to reel in the center rigger when a nice fish explodes on it and we are doubled up! Really cool. The first fish comes off. The other fish fights like a trooper and we get him to the boat and gaff and tailrope him. He tapes out at 63 inches. Back out goes the spread and in comes the fleet onto my spot. I trolled way down to the SW and got the fish bled and made another run back up on my numbers. I see the whales and we get another fish on the long rigger. This fish fights like a bear and we get him on the deck and he tapes out at 67 inches and we tag and release him. And that was our day. We did not get another bite for the rest of the morning and we left at 12:15pm. We have openings so give us a call. Capt. Eric
Eric, good seeing you on the water today. Had to leave early. My buddy is a newbie and I didn't have the heat to keep him on the water after blowing chunks.... Wish I was there sooner.
Headed out to my numbers after starting out late. didn't see a single boat until about a mile short of the destination. Suddenly a sportfisher trolls out of the fog, birds pick up, and we put our lines in. Within 15 minutes, the 1 boat turns into 4, then six and finally 27 as the fog lifted. Surprised we didn't hook up. The water looked fishy with all the birds and marking so many fish and bait. Need to forget about my beauty rest and head out sooner.
Great report! What a first week out there! Laughing here, my wife sometimes peers in at me while I'm reading LONGer posts....and she still can't understand why I'm laughing and OOOing and AAAAing at a few words on a computer screen....
She probably thinks I'm looking at internet ****, again....
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