Ya' Mamma Big Eyes - Oregon Inlet, NC

[seavee32]

I was lucky enough to be a part of a pretty hot tuna bite this weekend out of Oregon Inlet. It would have been a blast to do on my boat but we were entertaining some people we work with that had never been offshore so we opted to charter Ya' Mamma run by Capt. Butch Monds and give the offshore rookies some creature comforts.

A few boats in the fleet got on some Big Eyes late in the day Saturday and there were quite a few blue marlin seen the previous couple of days so we had high hopes for Sunday. After a 40 mile run we started to set out the light tackle to catch some dolphin and Butch stopped us and told us we better put the tuna gear out since boats were already hooking up on big eyes. I had never caught a big eye before but from what I have seen out of OI there doesn't really seem to be a rhyme or reason as to when they show up but when they do, it's game on. We put out a spread of ballyhoo on 50's and a couple of 80's. All the boats in the area were hooking up on multiple bites. We decided to get serious about things so we cracked open the first beers of the day and made our offering to the fish gods. No sooner had I taken the first delicious sip of the day and I look up to the bridge to seen one shotgun and both long riggers doubled over and drags screaming. We started jigging the other baits and got one more bite on the short rigger. After the chaos settled we had 3 of the 4 fish still on and got to work on them one at a time. Over 3 hours later 3 big eyes had hit the deck. 3 of the people we took out had never been offshore before...not a bad way to start things off. While we were fighting the fish, every boat in the area was fighting multiple big eyes or blue marlin...it was insane.

We capped off the day with a 60 lb wahoo. The big eyes went 167, 167 and 185.

Here are some pics...

[knock down]

Sweet Catch ! Congradulations !!!!!!

[Agitated88]

to get introduced to off shore fishing! Congrats to all!!!

[canyongear]

Congrats that's awesome 3 outta 4 great job!! on the eyes..

[DH171]

day for your friends first time. I'll be on SkirtChaser this Sunday, hopefully the fleet left some for us! Congrats on a good day, that trip raised the bar for their future trips!!!

[austin ensor]

Thats bad a$$ hope we see them up here soon.

[Rob C]

Kick A$$. Did y'all look for the blues at all, were they hitting Jigs or bait?

[HOLWACHAGOT]

Pretty work Capt Butch!
Holwachagot

[Capt Josh]

Damn damn damn damn damn!!!! Soooo stoked for you and Butch amigo. That is one HELL of a day!!!

Looking forward to hearing all about it first hand in the near future...Panama rematch this winter?!?!?

Tell Butch Panama City misses him too...

[pmcgucken]

Nice work Greg! Those are some beautiful big eyes.... Do you ever make it back to Tampa anymore? we will have to get together and chase some fish the next time you come back... Hope all is well with you and tight lines.

Pat