# Yft 8/22-8/23



## CaptainStew (Apr 28, 2014)

First time poster here, so go easy.

I decided to throw the Reel Experience on the trailer and head out to orange beach for the second rig trip this year. Accompanied by the Barnhill brothers from Robertsdale AL, we got launched around 6pm Friday night. It was smooth sailing out to the Petronius. Took us about 2 hours to get there in the Gamefish 25. I tied them some jigs on and we commenced to catch BFT after BFT for about 2 hours. We caught a few blue runners and put one on a freeline. Sharks kept breaking us off, and there were no signs of YFT anywhere. We decided to head over to the Ram Powell (beer can) for a while. Nothing. headed to the marlin for a while. nothing. about an hour before sunrise we headed back to the Petronius and started chunking. it was ON! the first hookup was a YFT. As soon as we gaffed him Nathan hooked up on a beast of a YFT on a VERTICAL JIG!!!! After we landed the second YFT we decided to chunk a little more but the ice was almost all melted, we caught one more YFT, about 20lbs. and 3 rainbow runners!!! Its tough to admit but we just didn't bring enough ICE:001_huh:. We had to leave while the action was HOT:thumbdown:. We will be better prepared for a long trip next time. most of the charters I run in Destin are 4-6 hours so I really just got caught with my pants down... how embarrassing. At the end of the day we had 26 large BFT, and 3 YFT. Good times!!!


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## sailor (Oct 29, 2007)

Heck yeah! GREAT first post. Welcome to PFF! Did you keep all 26 BFT??? No wonder you ran out of ice!


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## CaptainStew (Apr 28, 2014)

yeah, man when you pan sear em with a little peppercorn, its hard to tell the difference in species. I just about had to whack the guys with a boat paddle to get them to reel their lines in to leave!!!


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Great report and nice to see some tuna action at Petronius again. Did you see any fish on the surface or all deep?

Ram Powell and the "Beer Can" are two different rigs. The Neptune is what we call "Beer Can"


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## CaptainStew (Apr 28, 2014)

Lots of surface activity


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## CaptainStew (Apr 28, 2014)

sorry about the confusion, I don't make it over that way but about twice or three times a year. Wish I had the range to go to horn mountain!


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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

looks like a great trip thks for sharing


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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

Great report Capt. 

You never know!


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## fishmagician (Jun 4, 2014)

It all worked out, and your crew has enough great tuna to last till Xmass. LOL...Great job


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## Aqua Therapy (Jul 25, 2010)

Nice catch, we stopped by petronus on Sat evening and was run off as they had divers down.


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## DISANTO (Oct 1, 2007)

Good job, Captain!


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## bcahn (Jan 10, 2013)

Now I know it's time for me to make my second run, great report and cool pics.


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## Reelbait (Mar 3, 2013)

Great tuna run. Really impressed at the time you can get to Pretorius.


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## SH27GameFish (Jul 4, 2014)

What size Sea hunt and how much ice did you start with ....going to make a run soon!


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## CaptainStew (Apr 28, 2014)

its a gamefish 25. we had a 150 qt cooler full and 100lbs in one of the fishboxes. next time I will have the cooler, and every fish box in the boat full, maybe some dry ice in the bottom of each locker to keep the ice longer. the problem was mainly when I took my boat to legendary marine for them to do some work on the hatches, they forgot to put the damn gaskets back on, I didn't notice till the other day. I'm pretty sure that made the ice melt MUCH faster. Idiots... they never do anything right.

on the gamefish in 1-1.5 foot seas you should be able to get to the Petronius in under 2 hours. anything bigger than that and i'd recommend a bigger boat. I have to pick my days!


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## CaptainStew (Apr 28, 2014)

P.S. 
I don't recommend anyone going that far in a boat under 30 ft without a radar and a few years experience running a boat.


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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

Box gaskets will help a lot. In addition, it's got to do with the 'Quality' of the ice. 

Ice is not ice. The harder the ice, the longer it will last. If you can get 'block' ice or just freeze ice in milk jugs. Also, if you can store ice in one location, start putting fish in and put the ice, on top....it will help. Cold air sinks and it's best to get the ice working for you. Plus putting a little salt water in with ground ice, helps to get the heat out of the fish faster.

Ice management. Add foiled insulation under your coffin box lids. Keep lids closed, as much as possible.


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## Cap'n Davey (Mar 26, 2014)

Awesome!!!! :thumbup:


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## Cap'n Davey (Mar 26, 2014)

CaptainStew said:


> P.S.
> I don't recommend anyone going that far in a boat under 30 ft without a radar and a few years experience running a boat.


I don't recommend going offshore without that, and an *Inflatable Life Raft* and an *EPIRB*. I'd hate to be treading water thinking about all the money I saved!

Stew, you ever think about making a couple fuel drums (******* git back tanks)? Like these- http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/f37/fuel-drum-329778/


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