Headed out around 0430 to attempt replacing the two dozen live pogies that were taken out of my bait hotels sometime Saturday night. No love in Salem harbor.... Headed out with just six from a blind set outside of Manchester, after picking up two crew there. Plan was to target bass, but we agreed to investigate the birds and crashing bait. We found ourselves in a hundred acres of blues, big blues. And the second one on the boat puked up a whole ballyhoo, or halfbeak!!!! This was maybe two miles offshore between islands in less than 30' of water. We had presumed they were on herring. Never seen the ballyhoo in so close, nevermind in such huge numbers.
No love from the bass though. And with so many blues, no wonder the pogies were so scarce. Given the ballyhoo we saw, we figure that is what we should be trying to mimic chasing tuna tomorrow.

Blues and Ballyhoo- WOW - If anything could bring tuna close to shore- that would be a good combo. Any pics?

Blues and Ballyhoo- WOW - If anything could bring tuna close to shore- that would be a good combo. Any pics?

I don't know... I had Trev Gowdy and his friend Bob onboard today, and they were talking about taking a picture. We're fishing together again tomorrow so I will ask if he got any shots.
What was really weird was that the ballyhoo came out whole, with what looked like slices across the body. Pogies they just bite off, but they must have problems taking those bils down head first.

Ross - Sorry to hear about your bait getting stolen - we wound up not needing any on Friday night, although it may have helped our situation ... crazy about the blues ...

very coool story, Ross. not a big fan of the booos!
good fighters though, best of luck with CHARLIE~~~
:grins: :grins: :grins:

Ross,

Two days with Gowdy...god bless! Tell him I said hello and to give me a call.

Mike

With the warm water we've had this year I'm surprised that's all you've seen.

Interesting though this year we haven't seen the man o wars up here... and no spanish macs, or skippies...

Knock on wood

Ross,

Two days with Gowdy...god bless! Tell him I said hello and to give me a call.

Mike

Yeah... I'm beat. 15 hours with him today. Good friend. We were talking about you briefly both days and I'm going to be at his house tomorrow so will pass the word to call.
Today was good. Nice ride on a 32' Regulator. The bank was like a lake. Some half beaks and whale action. A good number of fish crashing the surface, but in small numbers. Did not hear of many hook ups at all. At 2pm, we got hit on a mack trolling and boated a 54" fish. While processing the fish, we started marking again and dropped another mack. Ended up hooking up a total of four times, one kept, two tagged, and I ended up losing what appeared to be a mid 60s fish after a twenty minute fight. That fish kicked my azz. Will check camera for pics tomorrow. I'm going to bed.

Geez Ross sounds like your on fire out there

sounds awesome, would love to see those tuna pics!

A lot of blurry pics... got a few though. Captain Bob Cook of Fat Tuna is fighting and holding the fish. He brought two fish to the boa, which is nice for a guy who has been putting clients on fish all year. He offered to take us on his boat, so was a good day fishing with friends and no pressure.

One more of Bob on his other fish. Action shots can be tough with just three people onboard as it gets pretty busy, even more so when tagging and releasing. I get humbled everytime I go tuna fishing as I feel I have so much to learn.... And not a cheap endeavor. But it is good to see this size fish in the mix after hearing of mostly sixties all year.

Ross, nice pics. Sounds like a great couple of days.