# Tuna Trip 11/13-11/14



## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Left O.B. Friday about 11:30AM witha few regular customers (Don, John and Rich) onDon's27' sea pro C/C. 1' or less was right on and we cruised at 32 knots the whole way out. Got to petronius around 2:00PM and circled the rig a few times and started marking some fish downcurrent. Dropped jigs and caught some blackfin. Kinda slow and it got even slower so we moved off to the Marlin a short while later. Activity at the marlin was non-existent and we only caught a few tiny blackfin with our efforts. The waterwas blue and a perfect 75.3 degrees.I ranged out on the depthfinder down to about 500' and started to mark some pretty stuff at 450' down.I debated trying somewhere else first but decided that we would be patient and work these fish up. Set out a live bait and started getting chunks ready while the guys did some jigging and picked up more blackfin. About 7:30 a good fish nails the livie and after about 40 minutes on a noodle-like spinning rod I put the solid 75-80lb YFTin the boat. Motor back upcurrent, put out another livie and start chunking. About 30 minutes into the drift the live bait gets hit and Don goes to work. Using a more appropriate rod, Don gets his to the boat within 20 minutes and I sink the gaff on our 2nd YFT about the same size as the first. Shortly after John gets a 25lb YFT on a jig mixed in with more blackfin. Start another drift and get a good chunk line going. We miss a couple fish on live baits and about 45 minutes into it we hook up on the chunk. Its Rich's turn and he makes short work of the 70lber. Shortly after the current drops to a standstill but I'm still marking good fish so we continue chunking and after about another 45 to an hour John hooks up on what seems like a bigger fish. This one acts weird, runs fast than just stops and repeats. 20 minutes later and I gaff one beat up looking YFT, also in the 75lb range. The fish was carrying some jewelry; a longline rig with a 16/0 circle hook. We keep going at it but the bite seems to taper off. 2 big dolphin show up though and they are quick to pounce on my topwater but can't find the hooks for some reason and end up swimming off. We put out 2 chunks and drift while we get some rest. 30 minutes later one of the mahi picks up a chunk gives a good air show before being put on a bed of ice. We get some rest and about 4:00AM we wake up and get ready for a morning bite that does not happen. We pick up a few blackfin on the troll and thats it. Stop and jig some more and not much there either. We figure we did enough damage and head in about 7:30 on some relatively calm water.










Here is the one that had the longline gear in its mouth. Notice the big worn out hole in its jaw



















Totals:

5 yellowfin

A bunch of blackfin

1, 20-25lb dolphin

There were several boats out there thatI chatted with throughout the night, 2 at the Marlin with us and a few at other rigs and not manyyellowfin were caught between those boats. Most of the boats hopped around all night. The tuna were there but you had to work hard for them and be patient. Haven't developed pics yet, but will post when I do.


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## sniper (Oct 3, 2007)

Sounds like you guys had a great trip. Calm waters and nice fish. Thanks for posting


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## NaClH2O (Feb 14, 2008)

Nice job on being patient and picking away at the tuna. Did yall here of any other boats in the area having some success?

Team Recess

Rob


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

A boat at the petronius caught a couple small YFT's at Petronius on diamond jigs from whatI heard and a P'cola boat at the Marlin with us got a 40lber and lost a decent fish at the boat. Other than that all everyone else seemd to get was blackfin.


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## bluffman2 (Nov 22, 2007)

That was us on the yellow Luhrs with you guys at marlin for a while....we ended up hitting the beer can and getting 15 or so black fin,then yesterday headed to bottom fish and got a bunch of Lanes and beeliners and about a 25-30 # gag........sounds like a good time was had.....congrats


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

I was napping on a beanbag when ya'll were there. I would have given you the heads up ifI was awake. There was another boat there andI talked to him pretty much the whole time and he was chunking and livebaiting as well butI don't know what he was using or how deep he was letting his chunks go. Instead of letting my chunk go back 30-40yards and reeling in, we let our chunks go about 200ft before we got the bites. While we were chunking I always had a live bait far back on the surface and someone was jigging to cover all bases.


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

Way to go TP. Sounds like everyone had a blast.


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## recess (Oct 8, 2007)

Chris That's great that you all caught some YF's and a dolphin. The water must be a little warmer at the rigs. Way to work em. Gene


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## cobe killer (Apr 13, 2008)

great job staying with it. it pays sometimes to be patient and have determination to succeed. those are the one's that will catch the quality fish in the long run.good job:clap i can feel the anticipation rising in my veins to catch mt first YFT. i hope it's a biggn.


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## Eastern Tackle (Jul 6, 2009)

Pretty work on the tunas. I would love a slab of fresh tuna right now.


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## Cast-N-Call (Apr 21, 2009)

Great job Chris, glad ya'll had a good trip.


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## reel_crazy (Oct 1, 2007)

great job on those yellowfin.. wish i would have gone out there.. what were you using for live bait?.. 

rich


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

We used live mullet and pogies I had netted the morning we left.


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