# RAM POWELL APRIL 20



## TARPON01 (Apr 22, 2008)

Well I have been reading reports on this site for a long time so I figured since I finally made a rig trip I would post the report. Went out to the Ram Powell yesterday for the first time and ended up hammering the tuna. We caught 4 yellowfin up to 86lbs and a ton of blackfin. We most have lost 5 or 6 more yellowfin due to not having heavy enough tackle. They were killing the top water poppers and with 40lb power pro on 8000 Spheros we did not stand a chance. We ended of breaking 3 off at the backing to keep from losing all the line. I have never thrown a popper for yellowfin but it is truely a sight to see when a 100lb fish hammers the popper on the surface. The biggest tuna we landed was on a Yo-zuri popper and took around 1:15min.(all the yo-zuri poppers cracked in half when they were hit by the tuna and the through-wire was the only thing holding them togther, has anyone else had that happen? ) We also saw one huge blue marlin crashhardtails rightnext to the boat while trying to catch bait at whatever rig is 10 miles northwest of the Ram.


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## M L (Nov 16, 2007)

Great trip. Any pics from the trip? Were all the yellowfin caught on poppers?


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## BLKFLYZ (Sep 30, 2007)

what was the water temp? Good report!


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## Xiphius (Oct 10, 2007)

Nice catch, looks like the bluewater bite is happening. Pass any sargassum lines on the way out?


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## need2fish (Oct 2, 2007)

Great trip and report - Sounds like they wore you out...but not before taking four of them.Guess its time to reload and head back out.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

great report! Next time you spool those spheros, don't use any backing fill it all the way with 50 pound power pro. Make sure you put a strip of electrical or duct tape down first so the braid has something to hold to. You will get around 375 yards which is enough to hold most tuna up to the 90-100 pound range as long as you use decent drag pressure. There are better reels out there for the job but those will work I've used them before and have caught tuna to 97lbs. on the 8000 size. I can't wait to get out there myself.


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## TARPON01 (Apr 22, 2008)

I will try and post pictures later today. There was a huge weedline about 60 miles south west of perdido pass that was in dirty green water. We caught 2 small schoolies off it and an 8 lb tripletail. Water temp was 73 from what I remember. Two of the yellowfins where caught on ballyhoo and the other 2 on poppers. Most hits were on the poppers right at daylight.


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## TARPON01 (Apr 22, 2008)

Tuna popper.....I only had about 15 yards of 20 lb mono for backing and still couldnt stop them. Guess I needed to apply more drag but the line seemed to break when that happened. I'm sure we could have caught them if they would have stayed near the surface but they all went striaght down into the depths.


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## TCAT (Oct 9, 2007)

Man...this was the report I've been waiting for... God job!


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## ilander (Oct 2, 2007)

Good job.It's about that time. :bowdown


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## how2fish (Jan 21, 2008)

Great report!! yellowfin on a popper!


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## bellafishing (Oct 1, 2007)

Nice report! Glad to hear the tuna are still at the rigs!!

Bob


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## David Ridenour (Sep 28, 2007)

Great report! Thanks for posting. Keep it up. Look forward to the pics.


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## John B. (Oct 2, 2007)

> *TARPON01 (4/21/2008)*...at whatever rig is 10 miles northwest of the Ram.


horn mountain??


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## Bryan Bennett (Dec 29, 2007)

Horn is south of the Ram...I'm guessing 10 nm NW is either the Spirit or Elf, one of those near where the weather buoy used to be...in about 600-800 feet of water. Great to hear about a blue in that area, can't wait to get out and drag some baits. RegardingtheYo-Zuri poppers breaking, Williamson is making a new popper that is 4 oz. and roughly 7" that seems to be pretty bullet proof. Also, the braid system I've been using on my Shimano Spheros 14000 is Jerry Brown 60 lb. hollow braid (about 350 yards as backing) spliced to a top shot of about 30 yards of 40 lb. mono on top. I have never had a YFT even think of spooling me on this setup, and the average fight time on a schoolie (50-70 pounds) is about 20 minutes. I have caught them up to 100 lbs. using this rig and paired with the proper rod you can whip a big fish fairly quickly on the Spheros. The Spheros gives you up to 24 pounds of drag...I'm interested to get some reports on the new Saragosa 14000 and 18000's we've been selling. The book says they are capable of exerting 44 pounds of drag, quite impressive and the spool capacity is huge. Spinning tackle has come a long way in terms of big bluewater species, but the line system you utilize is crucial...the hollow braid seems to be the ticket. Let us know if we can help further...Bryan Bennett, Sam's Orange Beach (251) 981-4245. Good luck out there.


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## bottombumper (Nov 6, 2007)

I used my new Saragosa 14000 this weekend. It put a 45# jack in the boat in about 3 minutes. I was impressed.


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## Reel Rowdy (Oct 4, 2007)

Outstanding Report!


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## Tom Hilton (Oct 4, 2007)

Howdy,

Here are some shots from April 20th - remember that we are compiling an open-ended database of imagery...each time an image hits our server, it is catalogued and filed away for your access. The sea temps, altimetry, chlorophyll, and salinity are all being compiled continuosly, and will be for years to come (I hope).

So, not only are we trying to figure out what to do when we go fishing this weekend, Realtime-Navigator is a learning tool to look back in time (like we are now) to see why the fish were caught where they were. I call this "Fishing In The Rear View Mirror". 

Say you fish the same tournament each year - you probably know where the fish were caught at that tournament...use the search features on the archives pages to go back in time to the fishing days of last year's tournament. Look at what was happening relative to the sea temps, water color, altimetry, etc...then look at today's imagery and see if there any similarities, any overlapping favorable conditions...it will provide some valuable insight to help you to determine which way to go when you leave the dock.

All the best,

Tom Hilton


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## LuckyLady (Oct 2, 2007)

Tom, the scale is so large and the font so small that I can not discern any real information. I would be interested in subscribing if better views are available. You can send me some historical views via PMor post on the forum. Thanks.


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## TARPON01 (Apr 22, 2008)

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## TARPON01 (Apr 22, 2008)

Little late but here is a few pics from this trip


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