# Tuna Trip 3/15/20



## Cody_Smart (Jul 22, 2016)

Got tired of seeing all of the big tunas being posted on social media for the past couple weeks. Decided to head out on Sunday after doing some much needed maintenance on Saturday.

We left out of Perdido Pass around 6:15 am and headed towards the East Lump in hopes of some big YFT. Seas were great, we were able to do 37 the whole way over. We arrived just before 9am and was greeted by 40+ other boats, mostly charters from Venice. We started chunking and hooked up on some nice bonitas right off the bat. Everyone around us seemed to be hooking up. We had to move out of the way of a boat that was hooked up, got back to the dock and found out they were hooked up to a 201 pounder. 

The bite slowed down around 10 and then picked back up around 11:30. We caught the biggest bft I had ever seen in my life. He had to have been pushing 30 pounds. Next drift we hooked up big time. I was convinced we had a big tuna on until we got it up and it was a 10ft shark. At this point it was getting late. My dad had work the next day and my friend, my brother, and I had school the next day. So we didn't want to be out too late.

We made our last drift around 2pm and tried to make it count. We chopped up the rest of our bonita and pogies and set up for the last drift. I probably dumped a quarter of the reel on this drift and decided to give up and pack it up. I put the reel back in gear to reel it in and my bait just gets absolutely waxed and the reel starts screaming. The fish took line all the way to the backing before we got the boat turned around and started chasing it. After we gained some line back and got above the fish I got strapped into the harness and started to do work on the fish. Chased the fish around the lump in between boats and 35 min later we finally saw the fish, a nice sized yellowfin. Got the gaffs ready and stuck it not long after that. 

It was the first tuna we have put on this boat so we were super excited. All in all it was a great trip, everyone did well and the whole thing went smoothly. 

Tight Lines
-Team Livin' Lucky


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## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

Nice report! That’s a long boat ride from perdido pass. Glad y’all came home with some fish. 

How much fuel did you burn?


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## Cody_Smart (Jul 22, 2016)

FenderBender said:


> Nice report! That’s a long boat ride from perdido pass. Glad y’all came home with some fish.
> 
> How much fuel did you burn?


125 gallons


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

Very Nice report, Thanks for sharing. best report i've read in a long time.


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## MaxP (Jan 31, 2008)

Beautiful color on that yellowfin. Great job.


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## Jason (Oct 2, 2007)

Beautiful bloody deck!!!!! Great job!


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## Catchemall (May 8, 2018)

Wow, great report. A 30 lb blackfin is a whopper! I can just taste those seared steaks now. What time are we eating?


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## duckhunter10 (Oct 3, 2014)

How far is the east lump?


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## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

Cody_Smart said:


> 125 gallons




Awesome. You guys must be getting over 2mpg at 37mph. Nice setup! What kind of boat and power?


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## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

duckhunter10 said:


> How far is the east lump?




Right about here. See the lump on the bathymetry?


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## Cody_Smart (Jul 22, 2016)

FenderBender said:


> Awesome. You guys must be getting over 2mpg at 37mph. Nice setup! What kind of boat and power?


2007 Sailfish 2660cc W/ Twin Yamaha 150s. We averaged around 1.7mpg


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## bigtallluke (Jul 14, 2012)

Awesome report man! I am stoked that you guys were able to put the target species in the box and come home with smiling faces and fresh fish. Nice work. It might be a good thing that it wasn’t a 200 pounder, or your groin would be destroyed with the belt you were using in conjunction with the harness. As money allows, I would consider trying to find an actual base plate to mate up with your harness. I’m not knocking your setup at all... you guys did fantastic. Just something to consider. I have been in a gut bucket before with a big fish and it’s quite painful..... for days 😂


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## Cody_Smart (Jul 22, 2016)

bigtallluke said:


> Awesome report man! I am stoked that you guys were able to put the target species in the box and come home with smiling faces and fresh fish. Nice work. It might be a good thing that it wasn’t a 200 pounder, or your groin would be destroyed with the belt you were using in conjunction with the harness. As money allows, I would consider trying to find an actual base plate to mate up with your harness. I’m not knocking your setup at all... you guys did fantastic. Just something to consider. I have been in a gut bucket before with a big fish and it’s quite painful..... for days 😂


Thanks man, you're spot on about the gut bucket. Started looking at new belts the next day!


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