VA Beach offshore 7/24

[Persistence]

Surely not hot and heavy (lots of skunks out there yesterday) but we scraped up 5 or 6 bites (not counting chicken dolphins) and landed three nice fish. We were in anywhere from 30-100 fathoms with our bites coming in 35, 55 and near the 100f line...wahoo bit on the deep side. Tunas were both double strikes but only held onto one each time. I stayed in between the 400 and 440 line most of the day. Just kept bouncing east and west near my spots where I got bit.

Cody's first Yellowfin (55 pounder)



Wahoo on the deck



Cody's first citation (46 pounds)



Cody's second Yellowfin (67 pounds)



On the deck...



Some Whites as well as some Blues were encountered about 15 miles south of me and a Blue was caught in 30f about 5 miles north of me. We did not raise any bills yesterday. Maybe next time. I was mainly meat fishing but did pull in the spreader bars I normally run on the short riggers and put out some moldcraft chains with an Ilander trailer in tight to the boat to see if I could pull one up close. Hard to see them on the long baits from my small boat with no tower anyway...

[Skipjack1]

Three quality fish hitting the deck! NICE WORK!

[stockweiser]

Glenn,
Nice job on the tunas & wahoo!! Did you get a chance to crank? Cody sure had one helluva day!

[Persistence]

Thanks Chad!

No, no cranking. This was Cody's first trip offshore so we strapped him into the harness and let him have some pullage. My bud Lee only likes to leader and gaff and he and I just took care of that together...I drove the boat ...from 4am until 6:15pm nearly without a break...except to sink some steel and re-rig a couple baits here and there. Lee and Cody took care of the spread...fun day out there.

Glenn

[Sea Draggin]

I talked with Arch, out of Oregon Inlet, last night and he gave a similar report from the crowd down the beach from you. A little of everything, but no big numbers of any one thing. He said the guy running his boat did have two blue marlins the day before, so maybe they are pushing your way.

To be honest I would have a just a few really pretty fish than a bunch of little ones. Very pretty work all around.

[Persistence]

Thanks! I heard quite a few guys on the radio talking about billfish and was really hoping to see one (or two!). We were in some pretty nice water in 35-55 fathoms (bluer, 79-80 degrees, some grass, etc...) and we were watching the spread intently. I was not marking much bait though...

All of my buds know I'm now pretty much "impatiently" waiting for a shot at a blue. I left two lure pouches at home and within them were my Moldcraft super chuggers and wide ranges that I was going to pull (for sure)...instead, I had out Ilanders or black holes with Select Ballys but nothing sniffed at them other than the fish you see in the pics.

I'll probably put out all the big shit one day and the blue will eat one of my sea witches anyway!!

Thanks for the heads up on the OI news.

[Tuna Taxi]

I'll probably put out all the big shit one day and the blue will eat one of my sea witches anyway!!

You know that's exactly how it will go!

Nice job on the catch, the pics show some nice fish. Looks like it was a pretty day, glad you got out and had some success.

[ocnslr]

Nice report and pretty fish. Thanks.

I was at work, but was thinking about you.. knew you had planned to go...

[Sawdust]

Man i heard yall out there sayin yall had a nice hoo in the boat, that fish is a nailer! them hoos make my mouth water. Great job.