# The Coast Guard shouted “ Is that blood coming from your boat ?”.



## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

The Coast Guard shouted “ Is that blood coming from your boat ?”. Since the Boat was named Capital Punishment, it was a good question.


But I am getting ahead of myself. Donnie, Brad, Allen, Harvey, and I met at Sherman Cove around eleven and set off for the high seas. The target was the Tuna and the location was the rigs. There must have been a dozen or more boats in the pass fishing for sheepshead, flounder and reds as we passed to get bait. Several stops later and no live bait we headed to the rigs. We did see a cobia at the Mass, but while he showed a passing interest in the lure presented, no hook up.


Capital Punishment is a great boat and we made good time on smooth seas to PETRONAS and then to the Beercan. We soon had a good spread of ballyhoo and a couple of funny looking squid lures, that actual caught fish. Brad caught the first fish, a small yellow finned tuna. While the tuna were breaking the surface, whenever we got close they would sound ( go deep for you non sub sailors) . The first blackfin we caught, Allen and Donnie suggested we throw it back. I protested loudly , saying I loved blackfin and couldn’t tell the difference between blackfin and yellowfin. That statement would come back to haunt me. 
Brad's first tuna 









We continued to catch some blackfin and some yellowfin, on some of those funny looking squid lures that Harvey brought and on ballyhoo. Harvey is a remarkable fisherman with a ton of knowledge. Allen and Donnie also have a ton but they are a lot younger. 









Water was like glass

When the sunset came, the action picked up. At dark, Allen noted that trolling in the dark was not very productive, 20 minutes later we had a blackfin on the line. We then stopped and started popping and jigging. With smooth water we had a slow drift. We were able to pick up blackfin at will in a certain area. At this point we had caught around 7 Yellowfin and a dozen blackfin. This is point where Allen started throwing back some of the blackfin he caught. The decision was made to run over to Ram Powell and look for some more yellowfin. 









Night at the rigs









Donnie rigging gear
Ram Powell was a different type water with lots of grass and clumps floating around. Some small blackfin and some sharks. Around 0200 ( 2:00 am), the decision was made to go back to Beercan slowly and get some rest. Donnie and Brad took the first turn at the wheel and started a slow ride back while the rest of us slept.









sleeping on bean bags

At 0545, we started trolling again. Around 0620, the tuna were breaking the surface, sometimes jumping 3 feet into the air. First troll though, we got 4 knockdowns, and boated 2 yellowfin. One was a monster that Brad caught, coming in at around 70 lbs. During one of the hits, Donnie hit the release on the reel instead of the increasing the drag and we got a backlash on the reel. He swears this was a first. He was able to boat the yellowfin, but we had to clear the reel. As I just finished clearing the backlash, the line on the pole I had in my hand, took off and we had another yellowfin in the boat. The change in speed and a deeper drop resulted in the hookup. Utilizing this new knowledge ( I suspect that Allen and Donnie already knew this) we continued to troll. 

Dawn at the rigs



















One of the yellowfin, notice you didn't have to hold in front of you to look big











Allen fighting a fish
The next yellowfin was a challenge. Brad picked up a nice fish, around 40 lbs and when he got it to the boat, Harvey wanted to gaff it. Well he got it in the tail and then the fish started to swim away with the gaff still in it. The gaff came free and we could see it floating away. If some finds it, Donnie would appreciate it back. Donnie thinks it is somewhere between the Beercan and Texas.









Harvey and Allen

Fish stopped breaking the surface and it was time for jigging and popping. While there was some surface activity, the activity was no where close to the time during dawn ( to be expected). Using a diamond jig, I caught 3 yellowfin in about 40 min. They were all very deep. At this point, we had some concern of going over our limit on yellowfin and decided to start in with the idea of stopping if promising area for Wahoo or Dolphin was encountered. We stopped at 2 shallow water rigs and picked up one nice amberjack, several Almaco Jacks and missed several fish. Stopping at a large float grass mat, wielded nothing and we started in for earnest. Total count 13 yellowfin; 14 blackfin, one skipjack, and one amberjack.








fish total 


This is where my desire to keep all the blackfin comes back to haunt me. Cleaning 28 fish is very time consuming. Harvey took me by my word about the yellowfin and blackfin tasting the same and the cleaned blackfin and yellow fin with the exception of the large yellowfin and two yellowfins about 35 lbs went into the same pile of cleaned fish. Well I cann't really tell the difference but I suspect alllen can. By the time we got done, the mosquitoes were in full force and not all the blood was fish blood.


Back to the opening about the Coast Guard comment. Those of you that have been Tuna fishing, know that you “bleed “ them before placing on ice. Once they start bleeding, they go though a cycle on flipping their tail and head around. I am sure it is a last ditch effort to cover everyone and the boat in blood. They did a good job. When we pulled the boat out of the water, the water draining had red tint to and the Coast Guard, asked if it was blood. I assured him, it was blood, but not human. He smiled and said he just wanted to make sure it wasn’t fuel.









blood on the deck

Nice day, great smooth water and good company. Thanks Donnie for allowing me to come along, Thanks Allen for posting for a crew. It was nice meet Brad and seeing Harvey again. There is nothing like catching fish and enjoying good company​

http://www.gulfcoastfishingconnection.com/forums/forum25/thread12997.html#


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## sniperpeeps (Mar 5, 2011)

Always like reading your reports Ed, nice work! Hopefully we can get out with Emmanuel when he gets back.


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## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

Great job Ed!! Glad to see you returned safely from the Keys, and are out fishing. Hopefully you can show me next time we go out there on my boat how to catch the "yellow" ones, but I'm like you, I like the blackfins just as much. If you can't clean them all next time, you know who to call!


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## Kim (Aug 5, 2008)

Great post and report!


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## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

Saw the boat heading north on eighty seven yesterday, what a ride and a great report.


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## Foulhook (Apr 26, 2010)

Ditto! Great report and excellent photos.


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## hit man (Oct 5, 2007)

Cool trip, great report, and great photos!!! Nice boat too!


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

AWESOME,,,,, Just look at tht calm water, rare indeed. Great Report, thanks for taking the time to allow the rest of us to enjoy your trip.
Jim


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## fishn4fun (May 11, 2008)

Great report as always Ed looks like y'all had a good trip


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

Great report Ed. Y'all killed em. Good job


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## MSViking (Oct 11, 2007)

Great report and photos, thanks for taking the time to post!


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## Rigger (Jul 30, 2009)

Thanks for posting the report Ed, I never would have. The weather was great, my bost ran good and we had a great crew. A few more pics.


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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

that picture does justice to the size of brad's tuna Donnie thanks again for the trip When you are ready for the sailboat give me a call ed


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## Buck Wild (Feb 2, 2008)

Is that gas or water in the jerry jugs in the first picture?


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## Head Kned (Mar 21, 2011)

Great report. Was this Monday/Tuesday? I was planning to do the same trip you did those days, but decided not to, looks like i messed up with the way the wter looked.


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## scupper (Mar 22, 2009)

Excellent.....very impressed with that report.


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## Captdroot (Jan 18, 2012)

Submariner, enjoyed the read. That report has me motivated to get out of that recliner, 

Thanks.


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## ashcreek (Oct 4, 2007)

Nice trip


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## Frenchy (Oct 2, 2007)

Nice report Ed, looks like a nice trip...


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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

we had a great time with nice seas= took extra gas just incase used around 200+ gallons


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## Aqua Therapy (Jul 25, 2010)

Nice fish Donnie, glad to see you made it back from afghanistan safe! Probably one of the better rig reports out of pensacola this year.


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## mississippirifle (Mar 27, 2012)

Is the Beer Can the Horn Mountain Spar?


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## mississippirifle (Mar 27, 2012)

*Beer Can?*

Is the Beer Can the Horn Mountain Spar? (MC127)


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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

*Neptune Spar*



mississippirifle said:


> Is the Beer Can the Horn Mountain Spar? (MC127)


 
Neptune Spar is another name for beercan


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## PorknBeans (Nov 21, 2007)

wow what a great trip!!


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## PorknBeans (Nov 21, 2007)

how do you like them avets??


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## Shane Lewis (Mar 31, 2012)

Thanks for taking the time to post such an entertaining report. It's great to see pics and read a detailed fishing report from home. I am a contractor here in Baghdad, Iraq and will most likely miss my 3rd fishing season in a row. When I get done doing this crap I will have enough $$$ to get a very nice boat and start chartering. 'Till then I will be looking forward to reading more of your detailed reports. Thanks again...


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## Shane Lewis (Mar 31, 2012)

Thanks for taking the time to post such an entertaining report. It's great to see pics and read a detailed fishing report from home. I am a contractor here in Baghdad, Iraq and will most likely miss my 3rd fishing season in a row. When I get done doing this crap I will have enough $$$ to get a very nice boat and start chartering. 'Till then I will be looking forward to reading more of your detailed reports. Thanks again...


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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

welcome we enjoyed the trip thks for the nice words Be safe


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## Tidewater1 (Aug 16, 2009)

Ed: Dont know you, but wish I did. What a trip! Thanks for sharing it with us.


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## Fajah (Apr 8, 2009)

Here are a couple of more pictures from the same trip that my buddy Harvey sent me....love the bloody boat.


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## sniperpeeps (Mar 5, 2011)

Fajah said:


> Here are a couple of more pictures from the same trip that my buddy Harvey sent me....love the bloody boat.



That is the gold standard of what a boat should look like at the rigs, looks like a Quentin Tarantino flick


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