Sea Cure 8/3/08 55" Bluefin w/ pics

[Sea Cure]

Sea Cure ran to the Lobster Claw for a chunk/Jig trip with Kevin Lee, his brother John Lee and Fran Hancock.
We arrived to the Claw around 7:00 am and anchored up. It wasn't long after we started throwing bait that we got the 1st fish. The 1st fish hit a sardine at 80' as we were setting lines. Of course he had to go under the boat around the rudder and prop. But it didn't end there. We cut the line off, retied to another rod. We fought this fish for about 2 hours, including the whole line in the rudder prop ordeal.
The other 3 hit butterfly jigs, mackrel color.
The one we boated was 55". All the fish were in the same size class. Kevin and Fran got to work out there new jigging gear, and really put them to the test.
These were very powerful fish and each fish made us work. Kevin, Fran and John did a great job as they shared angling each fish. After the 2nd fish it wasn't sharing anymore, it was "I need a break, someone else get a belt on." All 4 fish were hooked up for over 1 hour each, so these guys spent about 4-5 hours fighting fish throughout the day.
Thanks Kevin, Fran and John. It was a pleasure fishing with you guys, and you have some Awesome gear!

[Tuna Meltdown]

Nice fish on the jig. Let me ask you as a beginer to the jigging scene. I fish up off Massachusetts for bluefin and just wanted to know if you mark fish before you drop the jigs or do you just stop in an area that looks good or has produced for you in the past and just start fishing.

[paul708]

nice fish
glad to see you guys getting them on the JIG

[dunn6253]

Very nice fish, and a bonus on the jig. I was pretty much going to ask the same question as Meltdown did, as I am also new to the jigging game. Thanks for the help.

[austin ensor]

nice fish on the jig!!

[Nauti Natured]

Nice work ... damn that Stella.

[giantfan]

Pretty work Ron.

Did you guys fish the B.H. tourney last weekend?

I didn't see your boat listed.

I think that Jeff and I are going to come down to Cape May for the 500 as spectators. Are you going to be around?

Ted

[madgaffer]

Nice fish on the jig. Let me ask you as a beginer to the jigging scene. I fish up off Massachusetts for bluefin and just wanted to know if you mark fish before you drop the jigs or do you just stop in an area that looks good or has produced for you in the past and just start fishing.

when you guys are fishing for the bluefin you wanna find yourself structure and bait. i stopped by Capt. Rons boat sunday when they got in and saw the stomach was loaded with sand eels. water temps generally dont seem to affect the bft as much but if your not marking fish or bait in an area you tend to wanna move on and look for another lump thats holding bait also getting away from the pack also tends to help

[giantfan]

when you guys are fishing for the bluefin you wanna find yourself structure and bait. i stopped by Capt. Rons boat sunday when they got in and saw the stomach was loaded with sand eels. water temps generally dont seem to affect the bft as much but if your not marking fish or bait in an area you tend to wanna move on and look for another lump thats holding bait also getting away from the pack also tends to help

What's up,

Have you made it out to the deep yet?

Looks like the first day of the WMO had a lot of action. Still trying to get out there myself. When I have the time the boat is out of the water. When the boat is ready I have no time or the weather sucks

I hope all is well with you and I hope to see you at the 500

[Sea Cure]

Nice fish on the jig. Let me ask you as a beginer to the jigging scene. I fish up off Massachusetts for bluefin and just wanted to know if you mark fish before you drop the jigs or do you just stop in an area that looks good or has produced for you in the past and just start fishing.

I have jigged on bait with no luck and jigged blind with luck. Try to at least mark bait, your chances are better to catch. We didn't mark very much before we anchored, but we had a confirmed catch from a friend minutes prior. We knew there were fish in the area. This trip we relied more on our chunks to bring or keep the fish near us rather than idling around looking for bait pods. The best marks we seen were a few boomerangs at 40' right before we hook one, and a deep pod of bait as we returned to our ball after fighting one. Very little bait marks this trip, but our fish was full of sand eels. You can't always go back to an exact spot because you caught fish there a week ago or a year ago, but they do run through the same areas. And you don't have to be right on the numbers to get them. Just because you caught a 150#er there 5 years ago doesn't mean there there today (I know people who do this). Know a little about the area you choose to fish, where some better bottom contour and structure may be, where the current is running to create an upwelling, where better water temp. and structure are closest together, what depth range is holding the bait. Getting up to date catch reports on the areas you are looking to fish is great, ask around for local reports.


Good Luck!!