# Hot yft bite 3/17-3/18



## HawaiiSkinDiver (Mar 22, 2015)

Aloha Everyone!

Me and my friend Jason planned a last minute overnight trip. I scrambled so find a crew since most of the people i normally fish with some of you included were not able to make it. It ended up just being the two of us. We left out of Orange Beach at 3am friday and headed straight out to Horn Mountain. Seas were very calm so we made to Horn in just over 2 hours. When we got there we were pleased to see a drill ship a mile off from Horn. We took out our jigging rods and diamond jigs in an attempt to get some black fin into the boat. No takers on the Jigging so we decided to get the trolling gear out and make some passes on the rig and nearby drill ship. Made our first pass on the drill ship and got a double of dink yellowfin. We mad a few more passes but had a big sporty continually trying to cut us off or run us over i laughed my ass off when i later heard him hailing the drill ship on channel 16 asking him which direction the current was going! We left the drill ship and drew a line to Na Kika. Not 30 minutes later we got a double of big skipjack in the blind on my 5" Menehune Series (See Attached Photo). Boated one but the other spit the hook close to the boat. Both were 25-30 pounds. Continued towards Na Kika and when we got there we found another drill ship and lots of activity at Na Kika but not the kind we were looking for. There were at least 3 supply boats all right up on the rig. Trolled a little more around there with no love so we headed to the rig we had planned to spend our night. Made it to Blind faith around 3pm and had some dolphins working the area. No knock downs but it was promising seeing the porpoise there. We caught a few hours of sleep and at sunset broke out the jigging gear again. We were seeing some solid marks less than 100' down i assumed were yellowfin. I told jason once we got a dozen blackfin on the boat we would try chunking. Luck would have it as soon as i dropped my diamond jig down for number 12 i hooked up to a screamer yellowfin. He was taking all kinds of line and heading right between two rig pilings! We were lucky enough to maneuver the boat and steer the tuna away from the rig. My reel was definitely capable of handling the tuna. I recently bought a 10000SW Spheres but the rod was just getting by. Twenty minutes later we got the yellowfin to the boat and sunk the gaff. Ended up being around 70 pounds. With action that hot i decided we start chunking immediately so i began cutting our blackfin into 2"x2" chunks and meticulously disguised the 6/0 hook into on. I got about 5 chunks off the boat and we were tight on a nice yellowfin. Ended up catching 2 more on the chunk in no time at all. THEY WERE VERY HUNGRY. We made an easy 2 man limit in around an hour and decided to hang out for a while and watch the large squid and fry flying fish swimming through the transom lights. We made our way home and stopped by Horn Mountain again to visit a friend who had came out friday afternoon. He reported to us that they had seen no yellowfin caught at Horn Mountain. We wished them luck and made it back to Orange Beach around 5am due to our much needed naps along the way home. Turns out a two and crew and two mornings out on the gulf can wear you out! 

Tight Lines Everyone!
Nick Hudson
Screamah Lures
@Screamahlures


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## floorman1 (Jan 10, 2012)

Very nice report. Great catch.


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## lastcast (Oct 12, 2007)

Sounds like a blast, great report! :thumbup:


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## amarcafina (Aug 24, 2008)

I'm Going soon , great trip


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## Frenchy (Oct 2, 2007)

*Nice catch !!*

Thanks for the report Nick, sounds like it was a great trip with good action...
Wow, Jason surely got his range extended to reasonable range now on his beast of a boat.:thumbup:
Did you catch the name of the sport fisher cutting you off ??
Wish I had been home.


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## fishsticker (Jan 11, 2009)

Great report. Nice for you to take the time to provide all that detail and conditions at each rig/drill ship. Congrats on the fish and going that far with just the 2 of you is definitely an investment in effort and cost. Nice job. :thumbsup:


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## HawaiiSkinDiver (Mar 22, 2015)

Thank you Floorman!


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## HawaiiSkinDiver (Mar 22, 2015)

lastcast said:


> Sounds like a blast, great report!


 Thank you!


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## HawaiiSkinDiver (Mar 22, 2015)

amarcafina said:


> I'm Going soon , great trip


 Wish you the best of luck. If your able to get that far on your vessel it should be worth it.


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## HawaiiSkinDiver (Mar 22, 2015)

Frenchy said:


> Thanks for the report Nick, sounds like it was a great trip with good action...
> Wow, Jason surely got his range extended to reasonable range now on his beast of a boat.
> 
> 
> ...


 We defenitly missed having you out there Frenchie! I didn't catch the name of the sporty trying to kill us. It easily could have escalated to harsh words but we decided to just laugh at the situation. Stay safe out there we both are looking forward to getting out again when you get back!


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## HawaiiSkinDiver (Mar 22, 2015)

fishsticker said:


> Great report. Nice for you to take the time to provide all that detail and conditions at each rig/drill ship. Congrats on the fish and going that far with just the 2 of you is definitely an investment in effort and cost. Nice job.


 Thank you! It was defenitly a long trip for a two man crew. Played it safe on the way in making sure the driver was fully awake. It's so easy for things to go wrong that far out at night especially with the wind that picked up substantially.


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## GRADYMAN (Mar 7, 2017)

*Yellowfin jumping*

Went out last Thursday night with a crew of four out of Pensacola. Worked Petronius with just a couple of bites on jigs. Headed to marlin with a lot of black fin and seeing yellowfin jumping. Started chunking with no bites. Moved on and in the morning after catching almost 40 black fin, hit our first yellow fin. About 40min fight but worth it, hit our 2nd about 30 min later. Had a third hit but snapped at the leader. Trolled in from Ram Powell to Petronius but got nothing. Still a good trip with the yellow fin.


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## HawaiiSkinDiver (Mar 22, 2015)

GRADYMAN said:


> Went out last Thursday night with a crew of four out of Pensacola. Worked Petronius with just a couple of bites on jigs. Headed to marlin with a lot of black fin and seeing yellowfin jumping. Started chunking with no bites. Moved on and in the morning after catching almost 40 black fin, hit our first yellow fin. About 40min fight but worth it, hit our 2nd about 30 min later. Had a third hit but snapped at the leader. Trolled in from Ram Powell to Petronius but got nothing. Still a good trip with the yellow fin.


 well done! Those look like some nice ones. What rig were they on then? Marlin?


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## GRADYMAN (Mar 7, 2017)

Sorry cut the post short, was torn between heading to horn or ram Powell had hit two tuna the week before at ram Powell, so I decided to head back to ram Powell and glad I did. I too had a sportsman run up behind my boat at the ram Powell with a fish on. I was getting upset but the other two guys waved him off. Like you I laughed but we did have a fish on.


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## HawaiiSkinDiver (Mar 22, 2015)

GRADYMAN said:


> Sorry cut the post short, was torn between heading to horn or ram Powell had hit two tuna the week before at ram Powell, so I decided to head back to ram Powell and glad I did. I too had a sportsman run up behind my boat at the ram Powell with a fish on. I was getting upset but the other two guys waved him off. Like you I laughed but we did have a fish on.


 How ironic it may have been the same guy. Here is how it went down for us. He was stopped alongside the middle of a drill ship which I took a mental not of as we came around the corner. Both riggers popped on a double YFT I slowed the boat down and pressed the auto pilot as we had a clear course at the moment. Both me and Jason "2 man crew" went back and started reeling. I look over my shoulder at the front of the boat and he's steaming straight at us at like 18 knots! He leans over and says you gotta watch where your going Hahahaha! It was a big sea foam green boat probably over 50 feet.


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## Bill Me (Oct 5, 2007)

Nice trip Nick. You got that Purdue yellowfin all dirty though.


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## Bill Me (Oct 5, 2007)

Purdy*


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## GRADYMAN (Mar 7, 2017)

HawaiiSkinDiver said:


> How ironic it may have been the same guy. Here is how it went down for us. He was stopped alongside the middle of a drill ship which I took a mental not of as we came around the corner. Both riggers popped on a double YFT I slowed the boat down and pressed the auto pilot as we had a clear course at the moment. Both me and Jason "2 man crew" went back and started reeling. I look over my shoulder at the front of the boat and he's steaming straight at us at like 18 knots! He leans over and says you gotta watch where your going Hahahaha! It was a big sea foam green boat probably over 50 feet.


It was the same boat, I remember the sea foam green on the bottom. Wish I would have gotten the name of the boat, but I for sure remember the sea foam green and was a hi king it was like a 47ft boat.


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## GRADYMAN (Mar 7, 2017)

It was the same boat. We were on the Ram Powell with a fish on and he charged at behind our boat. I tried to hail them on 68 but got nothing. So two of the guys on the back of my boat waved him off, but he got within 100 yds of my boat knowing we had a fish on.


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## Bite Me Baby (Jun 19, 2016)

*We weren't so lucky!!*

Looks like you guys had a great trip. Thanks for the advice the other day. We did head out of destin Friday evening and arrived at the Petronius around daybreak with nothing but sharks to show. Moved over to the Marlin with no luck. Trolled all day without a single bite. This is my second trip to the rigs since getting my boat and would love to hook up with some experienced offshore fisherman to maybe learn the ropes. That's a hell of a long trip for no fish x 2. Thanks again.


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## Hatman013 (Feb 6, 2017)

Hang in there man. I'm new to this thing too and completely understand the disappointment that comes with the results not meeting the expectations. I'm telling myself to look at it as a learning experience. Just like anything else, you have to put in the time and pay your dues to be successful. I wish I could offer more, but my limited experience doesn't qualify for more than encouragement. There are people on the forum that are very helpful. Bad on sky Buccaneers and Grady man have been very forthcoming with experienced advice and encouragement for me. I have a post in the BW Q&A titled "This wknd"that Grady man responded to that you may find helpful as well. Keep plugging away and hopefully we will both get the riddle solved soon. Tight lines.


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## GRADYMAN (Mar 7, 2017)

I know I put it in the other Post but don't loose faith guys, I didn't get a YFT until my 7th trip, I have been on 8 trips and felt the same way. To be honest I haven't heard a lot of success trolling for yft. Chunking and jigging. I'll be making another run next month. More than happy to pass on all I have learned.


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## PELAGIC PIRATE (Oct 10, 2007)

GRADYMAN said:


> I know I put it in the other Post but don't loose faith guys, I didn't get a YFT until my 7th trip, I have been on 8 trips and felt the same way. To be honest I haven't heard a lot of success trolling for yft. Chunking and jigging. I'll be making another run next month. More than happy to pass on all I have learned.


small tip for trolling :


Try pulling your lines 200-300 yards back or more for yellowfin troll bites : they are very boat shy and we get most of our troll bites on the center rigger way back bait :

Last year i decided to try and run 3-5 baits way way way back : BINGO on the yellowfin troll hook up ratio:

I caught more yellowfin on the troll last year than i had caught previously in the gulf over the last 15 years. The only issue with this method is that when u hook up they are a mile out before you can get the other rods in so having a few crew helps a ton : and if you don't have the crew just troll two off the center rigger way way way way back .


I set up with 3-5 baits way back off the long riggers and the center riggers, then 4 lines in close off the riggers with twin daisy chain squids running off my teasers: we run up to 9 baits , but again having the crew to handle the lines is key .

Last tip : Try 80-100 fluorocarbon leader and smaller seastar Islander baits for your trolling lines : you get way more bites but you can and will loose a few toads due to line size : we didn't loose a fish last year trolling but did loose a few chunking.



Due to boat repairs Our first trip of the year is coming at the end of the month weather permitting the Viking will be headed to the RIGS 

good luck to all and see u on the water:thumbsup:


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## HawaiiSkinDiver (Mar 22, 2015)

Bite Me Baby said:


> Looks like you guys had a great trip. Thanks for the advice the other day. We did head out of destin Friday evening and arrived at the Petronius around daybreak with nothing but sharks to show. Moved over to the Marlin with no luck. Trolled all day without a single bite. This is my second trip to the rigs since getting my boat and would love to hook up with some experienced offshore fisherman to maybe learn the ropes. That's a hell of a long trip for no fish x 2. Thanks again.


 keep faith buddy. It's a little early in the year for much action trolling besides wahoo. Most guys having success with yellowfin this time of year are running their lures on planars. The key to understanding the night time yellowfin is understanding your sonar. Max out your ping speed, set your depth manually to 150', adjust your TVG to help eliminate some surface interference, set your color to between 45-47, turn your gain down till you start to only see specks of snow on the screen (normally -7 to -8 for us and turn off your fish ID. Yellowfin don't really have swim bladders so look for large broken marks. Troll a few laps around the rig to locate them. They will can be anywhere from 100 yards or less from the rig to a mile. Normally you will find them on the up current side. Stop and monitor your drift on your gps to find where the current direction. Once you find some marks drop 4-6oz diamond jigs. I normally start dropping mine 30 Mississippi counts and increase. You will normally hook up before the 30 count so if your line stops moving out the bail or increases in speed close your bail be REEL! I've caught lots of yellowfin jigging with this me athos also. For chunking assuming you have some blackfin in your boat find those marks again and plan a drift to avoid the rig. Cut your blackfin into fillets and then cube them into 2"x2" or 3"x3" chunks. These bigger chunks help them sink faster in current and the yellowfin can't inhale them anyway believe me. Put all your chunks into a 5 gallon bucket. I like to take an extra long piece of 60 or 80 pound fluorocarbon maybe 2 fathoms and tie it to my main line with a blood knot. Attach that leader to a 6/0 circle hook. If you can find a non cutting circle hook at the tackle shop GET IT. It will help you land more fish since you won't be making holes in their mouth. Take a fillet knife to a piece of chunk and slide it down the chunk on the skin side. This makes a hole/slit for you to stuff your hook down. Jan your hook in and catch the opposite side of the chunk with the barb then gingerly pull the line so only the leader is exposed and exiting the chunk. You will want to through 5 or so chunks 30 seconds apart or so before you "disguise" your hooked bait into the chunk trail. One man on your boat should be throwing a chunk off the side ever 30 or more seconds. Remember not to through them too fast or the tuna will stay down eating chunks and won't come up to your bait. Once that 5th chunk is out toss out your hooked bait and engage the clicker on your reel. This will prevent a birds nest. Pull the line off your reel fast enough so you always have some slack line floating on the surface. And finally when the line starts moving fast or starts screaming drag DO NOT SET THE HOOK. Reel up to the tuna. If you set the hook with a circle hook you may loose the fish. If during the fight it feels like you lost him keep reeling as fast as you can until you see leader. He is probably making a run at your boat. Anyway I hope this helps. I'm far more experienced in trolling but I'm willing to share how I chunk tuna. This is all just the way I do things. I'm sure many people may do it other ways but there is more than one way to skin a cat. Aloha and tight lines!


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## HawaiiSkinDiver (Mar 22, 2015)

Bill Me said:


> Nice trip Nick. You got that Purdue yellowfin all dirty though.


 Haha I know! Missed being out there with you but I'm sure this summer we will get on them again! I guess I make a lousey fishing camera director hahaha


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## GRADYMAN (Mar 7, 2017)

You bring up some very technical points about the sonar. This is something I am still learning. I have read my manual from Garmin. Not very helpful. What should you set your TVG setting on the sonar? I usually manually look down to 350. Turn my color up, but did not turn my gain down. I will try this next time out. I stopped using the fish symbols several trips ago. I know everyone says look for the upside boomerang on the sonar and that is yellowfin. Last two times out I hit yellowfin but never really saw that upside down boomerang. Maybe I didn't have my sonar setup correctly. I also have dual frequencies 50/200 and use a 1 kilowatt transducer. I use 200, should I be using 50? I always thought 50 was for bottom fishing. Thanks


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## HawaiiSkinDiver (Mar 22, 2015)

GRADYMAN said:


> You bring up some very technical points about the sonar. This is something I am still learning. I have read my manual from Garmin. Not very helpful. What should you set your TVG setting on the sonar? I usually manually look down to 350. Turn my color up, but did not turn my gain down. I will try this next time out. I stopped using the fish symbols several trips ago. I know everyone says look for the upside boomerang on the sonar and that is yellowfin. Last two times out I hit yellowfin but never really saw that upside down boomerang. Maybe I didn't have my sonar setup correctly. I also have dual frequencies 50/200 and use a 1 kilowatt transducer. I use 200, should I be using 50? I always thought 50 was for bottom fishing. Thanks


 Sorry for the late reply Gradyman I've been absolutely slammed with lure orders recently. I'll address some of your questions and expand on what I brought up earlier. I set the TVG to 2 or 3 really just enough to clear out the surface interference in the first 8-10 fathoms so your numerical value may be different. I would look down a max of 250 feet. This will help you observe your returns better. Yellowfin beyond 250 feet are not worth targeting. If you look for marks under 250 those will be fish you have potential to bring into your chunk line. Like I said earlier make sure you turn your gain down a bit. Auto gain on a rig is usually too much since there is so much going on. Turning this gain down will make it easier to focus on the big yellowfin while not eliminating all your blackfin marks. I never really see that upside down boomerang but I may be understanding it wrong. I look for big marks where the center of the mark is very thin or broken. As stated earlier yellowfin don't really have swim bladders which explains a mark with a very slim or broken center. I highly recommend you use 50khz when targeting fish on a deep rig. This lover frequency will give you a larger cone of coverage so you will be able to see a wider view. And DONT FORGET to set your scroll speed to x4! I forgot to mention this earlier but this will help tremendously. The yellowfin are always moving at 8 or so knots in the water while your drifting so this increase of scroll speed will give you more "up to date" info on what's happening below the boat. If you have any other questions feel free to email me [email protected] id be happy to connect with you and give you a call some time. Tight Lines!


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## GRADYMAN (Mar 7, 2017)

HawaiiSkinDiver said:


> Sorry for the late reply Gradyman I've been absolutely slammed with lure orders recently. I'll address some of your questions and expand on what I brought up earlier. I set the TVG to 2 or 3 really just enough to clear out the surface interference in the first 8-10 fathoms so your numerical value may be different. I would look down a max of 250 feet. This will help you observe your returns better. Yellowfin beyond 250 feet are not worth targeting. If you look for marks under 250 those will be fish you have potential to bring into your chunk line. Like I said earlier make sure you turn your gain down a bit. Auto gain on a rig is usually too much since there is so much going on. Turning this gain down will make it easier to focus on the big yellowfin while not eliminating all your blackfin marks. I never really see that upside down boomerang but I may be understanding it wrong. I look for big marks where the center of the mark is very thin or broken. As stated earlier yellowfin don't really have swim bladders which explains a mark with a very slim or broken center. I highly recommend you use 50khz when targeting fish on a deep rig. This lover frequency will give you a larger cone of coverage so you will be able to see a wider view. And DONT FORGET to set your scroll speed to x4! I forgot to mention this earlier but this will help tremendously. The yellowfin are always moving at 8 or so knots in the water while your drifting so this increase of scroll speed will give you more "up to date" info on what's happening below the boat. If you have any other questions feel free to email me [email protected] id be happy to connect with you and give you a call some time. Tight Lines!


Thanks for the knowledge. The sonar has been my biggest problem since the manual I see just technical. By the way do you sell your lures at outcast. Glow in the dark squid? I will be in contact. Thanks again


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## HawaiiSkinDiver (Mar 22, 2015)

GRADYMAN said:


> HawaiiSkinDiver said:
> 
> 
> > Sorry for the late reply Gradyman I've been absolutely slammed with lure orders recently. I'll address some of your questions and expand on what I brought up earlier. I set the TVG to 2 or 3 really just enough to clear out the surface interference in the first 8-10 fathoms so your numerical value may be different. I would look down a max of 250 feet. This will help you observe your returns better. Yellowfin beyond 250 feet are not worth targeting. If you look for marks under 250 those will be fish you have potential to bring into your chunk line. Like I said earlier make sure you turn your gain down a bit. Auto gain on a rig is usually too much since there is so much going on. Turning this gain down will make it easier to focus on the big yellowfin while not eliminating all your blackfin marks. I never really see that upside down boomerang but I may be understanding it wrong. I look for big marks where the center of the mark is very thin or broken. As stated earlier yellowfin don't really have swim bladders which explains a mark with a very slim or broken center. I highly recommend you use 50khz when targeting fish on a deep rig. This lover frequency will give you a larger cone of coverage so you will be able to see a wider view. And DONT FORGET to set your scroll speed to x4! I forgot to mention this earlier but this will help tremendously. The yellowfin are always moving at 8 or so knots in the water while your drifting so this increase of scroll speed will give you more "up to date" info on what's happening below the boat. If you have any other questions feel free to email me [email protected] id be happy to connect with you and give you a call some time. Tight Lines!
> ...


 I don't sell to outcast at this time. I have an order of 36 real ballyhoo I'm dropping off at J&M in Orange beach this weekend thought. But I absolutely love outcast. I always talk story with one of the guys there. He is the thinner guy in the store about my size. Not sure if he's the owner.


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## GRADYMAN (Mar 7, 2017)

No he is not the owner but a good guy. The owner is a taller older guy. I too love the guys at outcast. Super helpful. I want to order two of your lures.


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## HawaiiSkinDiver (Mar 22, 2015)

GRADYMAN said:


> No he is not the owner but a good guy. The owner is a taller older guy. I too love the guys at outcast. Super helpful. I want to order two of your lures.


 Shoot me an email Gradyman. [email protected]


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