# Rig Trip 12-3 Friday



## MSViking (Oct 11, 2007)

Made the call to leave out early Fri morning as the forecast for Sat had deteriorated. Left Sportsman's around 8:30 AM and headed to the 252s to catch bait. Bait was scarce but we were able to catch ample hard tails at a nearby rig. Made it to the Marlin by 11am or so. Tons of bait on the surface, but no sign of any YF either on bottom machine or busting the surface. chunked and floated live hard tails from noon till 730 pm and only caught one YF. We did jig up some blackfin and caught a few blackfin on poppers. the only YF we saw was the one we caught. Made the dec. to run to Ram Powell. there was at least 8 boats there but we did not see anyone catch any YF then either! There were a zillion blacfin but no yf seen at all. At 10pm we decided it was just not going to get any better so we came on in and arrived back at Sport'smans little before 1 AM. While we only caught one YF we still had a blast, water was glass smooth.

Friends made fun of my face but I was doing some serious groaning!









My brother preparing blackfin chunks








chunked a zillion chunks of blackfin to no avail









Fighting a blackfin that hit a popper









up current gaggle of boats at Ram Powell









Herb's perfect kill gaff shot!









Steven fighting the YF on the new Tiagra 16s with 80lb braid the Chris hooked me up with, awesome rod/reel combo for tuna!


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

nice pictures, man o man was the water nice! Thanks for the report.


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## snapperfan (Aug 30, 2009)

:thumbup:


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## ateupwitit (May 26, 2008)

we saw you guys out there last night, nice boat you got there. We ended up with 4 yft largest one around 80lbs and plenty of bft I'll report with pics later.

the weather was perfect for fishing


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## superchicken (Jan 9, 2010)

Awesome day on the water! thanks Robert had a blast! Good to see all t will only get better!!


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## superchicken (Jan 9, 2010)

all the life in the gulf


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## Island24 (May 12, 2008)

Looks like a pretty good yellow fin and with the weather report only chance for a while - hard to get the window this time of year.


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## specktackler04 (Mar 16, 2009)

Glad you got a YFT we were out there Friday thik we saw you pull up to patronis and then again at a closer in rig tring to catch bait we were in the 24ft sea hunt. We didnt have any luck on the YFT but did catch some BFT and some AJ's.


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## sail7seas (Oct 2, 2007)

nice yellowfin. looks like it was a great day/night to be on the water.


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## doradohunter (Aug 8, 2010)

I got 14 yf and 11 snowies


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## bonita dan (Oct 3, 2007)

Nice fish guys. We couldn't buy a yellowfin bite but could have sunk the boat with blacks. Good thing yall left when ya did,got a bit sporty coming back yesterday afternoon.


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## MSViking (Oct 11, 2007)

Dorado: 14yf! Where were you!!? I heard the bite was hot at Petroniuus, but we did not stop there. I am thinking we need to reorder the PFF flags for us all to fly out around the rigs so we know who our buddies are!


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## bonita dan (Oct 3, 2007)

I'm curious too about these 14 yellows. It's after the fact so the wheres and hows don't really matter now.
Ms.Yellowfin the bite was like everywhere else out there,Blackfin! Was pretty blue water at the Petronius yesterday morning with a few smaller dolphin hanging around but couldn't get a bait to them due to sharks and cudas. Only surface activity we saw was a school of bonitas around the Marlin rig but heard from one Captain that caught a YFT on a ballyhoo.


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## capt_dalton (Mar 25, 2008)

We started at the Petronius just after dark but the sharks were tough. Ziltch at the Marlin. Ended up spending the evening at the Ram Powell from just after 10 pm until 8 am Saturday morning.

Two just keeper YFT and 18 respectable blacks. Coulda had more but stayed picky with the size. Could not sell a chunk of blackfin or pogie. Tried everywhere and didn't lose a bait. Did not get anyhting on the poppers either. Diamond and knife jigs ruled.

Caught several undersize YFT on the morning troll and boxed a keeper BFT then headed to the Beercan. Lots of small tuna and bait but nothing to keep.

Started fishing beeliners on the way in and had ignition problems on SB engine. Finally got it to run and beat it for the Island.

Got right sporty out the on the way in from 23 miles out to inside of farewell buoy. Glad we had both engines. The SB crapped out again when I throttled back at Billy Goat Hole. Pushed it on back to the house on one.


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

Thats a few Tuna sammiches huh, looks like a hoot for sure.


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## doradohunter (Aug 8, 2010)

MSYellowfin said:


> Dorado: 14yf! Where were you!!? I heard the bite was hot at Petroniuus, but we did not stop there. I am thinking we need to reorder the PFF flags for us all to fly out around the rigs so we know who our buddies are!


I was VERY miss. I was in a bright ass orange and yellow fountain with FOUNTAIN written on the side in giant letter. We had to work for our fish. I think we hit almost every rig out there. Big ones were on live baits.


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## miss mai (Oct 7, 2007)

That YFT sure looks nice. :thumbup:I'm sure it made the trip. I would be making a face too, if I had to hold that one up for long. Sure hope we get more windows this month I'm itching to go!:thumbsup:


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## E Mashburn (Dec 5, 2010)

*Great read and photos-*

I enjoyed reading about this tuna trip. I have an article assignment coming up this spring on rig fishing. Could I talk to you about how you fish the rigs, and so on? I appreciate your help- Ed Mashburn- [email protected]


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## MSViking (Oct 11, 2007)

Ed
I tried to email you, but the email was bounced back. Email me at [email protected]

Robert


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## Heller High Water (Nov 1, 2007)

One yf like that can help make the ride home a little better. Seems like it was a nice night day on the water. Thanks for the report, hows that new boat running?


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## MSViking (Oct 11, 2007)

Heller: boat continues to be great! Really happy with it's speed and comfort and room! Thanks for asking.

Robert


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