When does the commercial BFT season end?

[WAHOONBOX]

I THINK YOU CAN TAKE ONE A YEAR OVER 73" THOUGH RECREATIONALLY....RIGHT?

[d-a]

I THINK YOU CAN TAKE ONE A YEAR OVER 73" THOUGH RECREATIONALLY....RIGHT?

YES

d-a

[Nauti Natured]

With just a regular ol fishin license???

Well Hot Diggity!

[Surfacegrinder]

You have to have a tuna permit to take any tuna to the beach. You can get a recreational permit for $23 or so from www.hmspermits.gov. It is an annual fee and is worth it if you want to keep yellowfin or blackfin tuna as well.

[Big Fish Billy]

Thanks everyone. I am not planning on killing a bluefin. I am not licensed to do so. I am simply interested in the chase / experience and the slim chance that I might feel one on the other end of a line if even for a brief moment. I know I can jump on a charter and have a much better chance of making that happen but there is just something about doing it on my own boat and making it happen from zero.

Here is a link to the latest rules:

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/new...n_Listserv.pdf

I think most of us followed the route you are proposing, get a little advice, go out and give it a try, fail, get some more advice and go out and try it again. Some better advice would be to meet up with some successful guys in your area and go out and participate in some fashion with the crew or watch it happen. There is a lot that goes on, or should go on, when you hook up to even a small bluefin that will take quite a while to learn on your own....after losing a lot of fish by myself, "pulling the hook," "snapping the line", cutting my own anchor off with the mono, I'll never forget the first one I got back to the boat, a 600 pounder, small for that day. When I describe the feeling of hooking up, it was like reaching your hook out your car window, and hooking it onto a speeding train. The fish hit my mackeral spreader and never looked back. If it wasn't for my three other buddies on the boat, it would have been another in the loss column...

Good Luck, Fish Safe,

Billy

[Surfacegrinder]

Big Fish Billy is correct, I'm still looking for my first. I retired back in Oct. and now have some time to fish for them if the wind will lay down under 20 knots. I would love to go out and be a deckhand for a few days at no pay just learn some of the finer points. But I understand the money on line for these guys and would not wish to be in the way. So I guess I'll learn things by reading this site and dragging bait till I get one.

[Big Fish Billy]

Big Fish Billy is correct, I'm still looking for my first. I retired back in Oct. and now have some time to fish for them if the wind will lay down under 20 knots. I would love to go out and be a deckhand for a few days at no pay just learn some of the finer points. But I understand the money on line for these guys and would not wish to be in the way. So I guess I'll learn things by reading this site and dragging bait till I get one.

If you're lucky enough to be around a marina when the tuna tournys are going on, try to get invited out, it's pretty easy to stay out of the way up on the bridge or tower. I was lucky enough to get invited out with the guy that always won the tournaments, my shit job was to run the 45' Hatteras for the day, 3:30am til 8:30pm, 7 days straight, what a life. It couldn't have been better, everything happened right in front of me on the deck below. Backing down on fish in 12' seas was quite a thrill, three giants on at once, etc. What you learn is the right way to do it, the right way to treat fish, tag and release, the whole game. And the futility of trying to do it on your own. Granted the size of the fish have dropped off from when I used to go, but the methods are still the same. Find three like interested buddys, and put the time in, and you'll get them......

[Surfacegrinder]

Thanks Big Fish I'll give it a try.

The reason I'm waiting on the wind is because of the boat's size and shape. It is a little narrow only 8' with 24 degree deadrise. Great running out but if the sea rolls it will wear you out. I don't mind the work out but my fishing partner can not take it. So I guess I'll take myself down to the dock and see if I can find a Capt. that needs a hand.