BFT MADNESS CONTINUES 11/13 CC BAY

[captdom]

These tuna just wont go away.

My charter was a bit smaller than anticipated, with just 1 of 3 showing today...probably the worst mistake the other 2 ever made.

We got off the dock at 0530, and blasted straight to the south west corner of Stellwagen Bank at a brisk 32 knots to go with the nice 32 degree air temperature.... The water was FAC and a "hard" 50.7 degrees, with no other boats running out with us. Made great time, and arrived to all the right signs at 06:15.... whales everywhere, gannets up in the pre sunrise grayish blue light, shearwaters already dipping their heads under slurping at the sand eels which were already getting a bit squirrely at the surface, for very good reasons.

Chilled out for a few minutes trying to warm our hands, and got a chance to make sure all our gear was ready for battle. I would be fishing today with my guy, as he would have it no other way. We putted around after catching the sunrise on film, and decided to just shut down and start casting blindly. Within 15 minutes fish started to break in ones and twos, and the birds began frenzying about, wheeling backand forth over the small pods of big BFT starting to roll at the surface. A nice large school came together and began to crash pretty good, no more than 150 yards from the boat,heading straight at us. With just 2 guys on the boat, we had plenty of room to get great casts in, and we both were able to place our offerings right out in front of the lead fish. We both got hammered instantly, but I never got a hook in mine, while it wasnt the case up in the bow, and the first fight of the day was on at 6:43 am. 15 minutes later, and we sunk the gaff in a FAT 58 inch fish.

After a few pics and a short rest for my angler, we decided to send a white sluggo waaaay back whil;e motoring around looking for a new batch of hungry tuners. Within a few short minutes, that single, $3.50 lure all by itself drew a vicious battle between several tuna, and the winner proceeded to dump almost all of what wasnt out already on the spinner before geting released boatside for fish number 2 of the morning, all before 8 am.

At this point we had already basically had a stellar day on spinning gear, 2 for 2 with a whole 2 hours into the fun.

At this point, we both decided to try the iron for a bit, and began dropping down to the many marks on the finder. It didnt take long before a green Braid 424 jig with single stinger was swallowed. This fish was hot from the get go, and more than likely became either fin or tail wrapped very early, and swam away sporting a new green tongue ring.

2 for 3 on big BFT on the whippy rods, not quite 8:30am, and in the middle of Novemeber in New England!!!

The signs of life where we were quickly died, but a call from a good friend put us running 4 miles to the east at warp speed, to find a good number of fiesty tuna crashing bait and skying out all over the place. We shut down and immediately began casting. I was up in the bow on the casting deck, and watched 3 tuna commit suicide on my tiny mackeral swimmer, with all 3 swiping and missing. I jerked the rod tip one more time, and an unseen follower came up from under it and left a hole where the plug had just been. This little epsiode will play over and over for me all winter...what a rush.

I got beat up on pretty good by this guy, as he had the line under his chin and around a pec fin, and after a tortuous 16 minute tussle, we released our second fish of the day. We had 2 more hookups minutes later, but broke one off instantly at the spool, and the other pulled the hook after a brief 2 minute battle.

Now it was getting pretty late at 9:45 am, and my client had pretty much had enough....or so he thought. A hot meal and dry land was calling to us, so we heeded the call, packed up, and pointed the boat back to the dock. We made it off the bank, and were just about 10 miles out when we came upon a huge pod of bigger tuna than we had been seeing up on the surface hitting mackeral. This was a sight we couldnt pass up, and the very first cast into the ruckus was met with an angry take and a major dumping of line....this was a biggun!

We gave it a valiant fight, and after 40 minutes at around 25# plus of drag on the big Shimano spinner, and 4 turns each on this bad boy, we thought we had him. I wanted to get him up for a measure and a release, but as he came into view for his first pass at color, he decided he had enough and parted the 130 pound shock leader like it was dental floss.

I got a real good look at this slob, and he was in the 67-68 inch territory, 200 plus pounds easy. I managed one quick phot of him just before he made his escape....never touched the leader, but felt like we bested him despite not getting his pertinent info before sending him on his way.

Hit the dock at 11am, tired and happy and 3 for 7 on big BFT on spinning gear. This was by far the best trip of the season for me, good guy to fish with, late season action , and getting to fish all morning, besides making a honest day's pay!!!

That was my last booked charter on the tuna for 2008, but I plan on heading back up there if anyone else wants a shot next weather window.


If it was my last tuna trip, what a way to end a great season.

sunrise



early morning visitor



action shots









"the big one that got away"

[juicyhook]

Nice report and pics

Thats the way to end the year

[yellowfin 110]

Dude insane fishing! Ive never fished em that way before. I live in south Jersey and get my share of tunas Offshore with heavy tackle. That by far looks like some awesome stuff. Ive been checkin out the reports and pics from up there for weeks now Ive got to try it next season. Thank you for the report and pics Friggin awesome bro

[Dads Dream]

Hey Dom-

Always a great story and awesome pictures~

It'll be hard to head south where only SHORTS are required....no winter woolies allowed, eh?

Your crew was tired for sure- WTG Dom!

[clt_capt]

Nice day of catching. There are 2 bummed out guys reading this story...

[fishinmagician_IV]

Great report Captain and some excellent pics to go along with it. Congrats!

[captdom]

Nice day of catching. There are 2 bummed out guys reading this story...

There are more than just 2....LOL. I had a cancellation at the beginning of the week when they saw the weather...then tried putting a crew trip together with 6 different calls, including two fellow SFC members I have been meaning to finally fish with after sharing online intel, to no avail. Everyone had this horrible disease called job


After the weather forecast improved, I put a single and a double together on an open boat pretty easily after the last few weeks of action, only to have the double drop out at the 11th hour. I opted to go for it anyway, and am glad I did.

I know I'm not going to be able to quit until I am sure for myself that they are truely gone till 2009.......

[captdom]

Hey Dom-

Always a great story and awesome pictures~

It'll be hard to head south where only SHORTS are required....no winter woolies allowed, eh?

Your crew was tired for sure- WTG Dom!

Hey Rich, thanks for the props as always.... I think both me and the tuna need a bit of R&R at this point, I wish they would just leave me alone.....

[fightingcouch]

Capt.Dom way to go again. Congrats on some great top water action.

Let me know if you plan to get out next weather window i may have to head up there to end the 08 tuna season off with a good tuna bite. give me a call 203-843-1563

~Catchem up

[swell rider]

Hey Dom,

Glad to see you guys are still getting them, need to start chasing them south to NC so we can make some money!!LOL
Congrats on a great season.. Ken

SWELL RIDER SPORTFISHING
www.swellriderfishing.com
ATLANTIC BEACH,NC
910 233-1714
910 200-2502