# Sun, Mon and Tues at the rigs



## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

I had back to back overnight trips with some our customers and out to the rigs we went.

*Sunday*- I headed to Sportsman's and met with Dr Kearley, his son Daniel and girlfriend Lauren. We had planned to head out for Tuna and if time allowed, we would head in a bit for some swordfishing. We made it to the Beer Can around 4ish in the afternoon and it was pretty dead so we pressed on to Ram Powell. When I got to RP, it seemed dead. There was zero surface action and not much marking on the depthfinder. I zoomed out on the bottom machine and marked a few fish at 400ft but nothing higher until the third lap around the rig. I noticed a small group of fish tight to the structure about 50ft down but no strikes on our baits. I turned around and made another pass and this time I got nailed by a rat Blue marlin on the rigger...then a nice Wahoo on the left flat...then a 80-85lb Yellowfin on the center...all at once!

The Blue did some dancing but proved too much for the 60lb fluoro leader and quickly won his freedom. The Wahoo ate a Black/Purple jethead and after some considerable line peeling, he managed to throw the hook. Luck wasn't shared to the YFT on the center line and after a 15-20 minute fight, he met his maker on the deck of the Grady White. We celebrated briefly and then put the lines back out. Not another strike trolling and shortly after dark we pulled in the trolling gear.

I got them rigged up to jig and it was too easy. The Blackfin were like fleas and ate everything. They had a ton of fun jigging and we iced some for eating and some for chunking. After a pretty good beatdown on the Blackfin including some great topwater action, they took a break while I got the chunking gear ready. It didn't take long for the YFTs to find our chunks and we put 4 more of them in the boat before 8:00. Seeing we had plenty of Tuna and being like-minded about not overtaking, we stowed the tuna gear and putted a little northward to hopefully put a sword in the boat although there were zero signs that made me confident. I was nowhere near where I would normally want to Swordfish but everybody needed some rest so we just put out a three bit spread and relaxed. We drifted baits for over six hours without a bite or a bit of bait showing up. I wasn't particularly surprised though and we just headed in with the already full box of fish. 

*Monday*- I got finished up cleaning fish...and myself in time to eat lunch quick, visit my wife at work and go jump back on another boat with good customer and friend Don Peace. Along with Don were Max, Alan and Donald (aka Duck). We rolled out and instead of rig hopping we went straight to RP. Our first pass saw a couple Blackfin and one missed strike. A few more empty passes and we get a good hit on the center. Duck gets a belt on and boats his first Yellowfin, a solid fish just over 70lbs. Trolling died again and we started to jig Blackfin quick for chunking. Just like the night before, the Blackfin came easy.

The seas grew a little angrier as we jigged and it was a little sporty on the 27' CC. We got a 40lb Yellowfin quick and then a bunch of Blackfin, but the wind grew steady and made chunking and live baiting pretty annoying. We took a break and I finally couldn't take it and had to sleep. I had almost zero sleep in 40 hours and still couldn't stay asleep in the rocking. Finally I got up and re-rigged some things to combat the hard wind and current. I got upcurrent and Alan and I started chunking again. In 20 minutes or so we put 3 more Yellowfin on deck followed by another about 20 minutes later. The bite died after that and after the morning bite was a bust, we had enough of the beating and headed in with another nice haul of Tunas. 


Pretty much all of the tuna hit on the upcurrent side of the rig and close to the rig. If I started my chunk far off, we wouldn't hit fish until we were within 200yds of the structure. Live baiting only brought Blackfin and even they weren't killing the live bait with any consistency. Chunking was the way to go. The water temps were 76 degrees at RP Sunday night and 74.8 on Tuesday morning showing a small temp drop but there is a ton of bait. Water is blended blue and the temp break shown on the sat imaging does not form a hard rip; it just blends over the course of a half mile.

Sorry for the long post. Decided to do one long report instead of two


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## Downtime2 (Sep 27, 2007)

Sounds like ya'll all had a good time and fresh toonie to boot!!!!


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

Great report!


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## Bodupp (Oct 3, 2007)

Great report and pics. That's unusual for you.


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## Scruggspc (Mar 20, 2013)

Nice job Chris.


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## Tobiwan (Apr 27, 2012)

Nice!!


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## tee-man (Apr 2, 2012)

good haul :thumbsup:


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## sniperpeeps (Mar 5, 2011)

Nice work Chris, we got our butts kicked Tues night. Glad y'all put some nice fish on ice!


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## samoajoe (Dec 28, 2010)

December action!


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## Eastern Tackle (Jul 6, 2009)

Nicely done Chris


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## Kevdog540 (Aug 7, 2008)

Great report, Thanks for sharing


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## Instant Karma (Oct 9, 2007)

Nice read Chris.


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## Xiphius (Oct 10, 2007)

72 hour tuna beatdown way to go. Whats with the swords someone pleae catch one soon.


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## DAWGONIT (Jan 16, 2009)

Wasabi, soy, & optional ginger!
That's what I'm talking about.
Thanks for sharing-catch 'em up.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Xiphius said:


> 72 hour tuna beatdown way to go. Whats with the swords someone pleae catch one soon.


Oh, the swords are there, but I was nowhere near where I would pick to target them. Just compromised with what I had and the outcome was pretty much what I figured it would be


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## Kim (Aug 5, 2008)

Great post and pics Chris.


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## grey ghost (Jul 24, 2011)

Nice pic & report!


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## jcasey (Oct 12, 2007)

Thanks for posting with such details. It kind of sounds like you know what you are doing.


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## Fish Eye (Apr 4, 2013)

Great report Chris. Not that I expect anything less. Way to make it happen.


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