With the fishing slowing down the past two weeks and bites being few and far between for the fleet, Capt. Shane did what he does best and put us on em yesterday morning. After 30kts of wind out of the southwest Friday night when I arrived at the boat Saturday morning I waited to get the rods out and untie the bow until I was told for certain that we really going. Without hesitation, Shane got on the boat and said we were going to give it a shot, all I could think was "we are going to get it handed to us today." Lets just say things were a little chunky going out the inlet and did not get much better as we made our way out. A short time later I was setting them out in 6 footers watching two downriggers struggle to hold those Old Saltys doing their best dig into that swell.
Shortly before 7am BAM the right planner comes tight and starts leaving in a hurry. One the guys with us jumped on the rod as I went to get up the planer when the right long came tight. Here we were with another double and they were melting braid off those 130s like nothing I have ever seen. With Todd on the planner rod three of us tried our best to get everything cleared and keep both fish tight but with only about a quarter spool of braid left on the rigger fish he pulled the hook. This left me with an estimated 500+ yards of braid and top shot to clear before we could take the fight to the one that was still tight.
The guys that were with us were no ordinary fishermen, they were lobstermen who had driven from Gloucester Mass. for a little get away before Christmas. In the previous two days they fished with us they had told us of how the used to tuna fish full time but had switched to lobster when the bite slowed down up there and the dogfish made chunking nearly impossible. Well we gave them a chance to show us what they were made of.
That being said, we knew we had a great crew aboard and someone on the rod that had played this game hundreds of times before. The only difference between our fish and their fish was theirs go down, ours go out. You should have seen the look on Todd’s face when that 60 footer started going backwards at over ten knots and his jeans and shoes were soaked in sea water. After getting back the braid as we went back and Todd cranked like a mad man, John jumped on the rod for the up and down, in and out, round and round battle that was to come. This fish was mean and fought us for every inch. After nearly an hour of battle Shane gave the honor of the poon to Todd and we could tell this was nothing new to him. With the fish in the death circle about eight feet down I saw Todd lining up his shot, I cringed as he let it fly. Well, like I said this was not his first time and thirty seconds later we had the swimming hook in him and I was breaking out the saw-zaw.
Our 5th fish of the year taped at 92 inches and cored at 330. With the slow fishing and warm weather we felt very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time with the right stuff. It is blowing 20-25 today and tomorrow but looks like we will get in Tuesday before we take a few days for Christmas. Hopefully the new year will bring the tuna down so I can continue writing reports. Merry Christmas to everyone from the Fight N Lady crew. www.secondtononecharter.com
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Last edited by birdhunter; 12-21-2008 at 05:08 PM.
Nice work Brad. You guys are hot with 5!! I fished 10 days with no fish and 1 pulled hook. I left on Friday night to drive home. I will be back after new years for more!! Good job.
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