1st Tuna On Spinning Gear
 

It's the end of last week and a couple buddies and I are weighing options for fishing on saturday. The weather cooperates and we launch in Plymouth at 445am. Beautiful morning and all looks good except my GPS/FF keeps shutting down. Damn loose connections. After troubleshooting for 20 minutes I locate the problem and we're off for the bank.

We arrive at 555am and lines are in immediately. Signs of life everywhere - birds, bait, whales and small pods of tuna chasing half beaks. After 2.5hrs of the skunk trolling and seeing others hook up, we check the rigs again and find some seaweed on both.

With lines in the boat we decide to try our luck moving away from the fleet and seeing if a small pod will eventually come close enough for a cast. Well, around 30-45 minutes into our drift a pod starts crashing in front. My two buddies cast but no luck. At the same time, a pod crashes just off our starboard about 20 yds. I cast and it's Game On baby!

The initial run was amazing. My reel starts smoking and the fish takes almost 250yds of braid. My buddy takes the helm and we start following. We luckily avoided many high flyers since the battle took almost 1.5 hrs to subdue this beast.

My friends got some great pics and video which I'll post. In the end, the fish measured 56.5" to fork of tail. My equipment was a St Croix 7' saltwater series med heavy, Shimano Spheros 12000 with 65lb PP and a 80lb mono leader. I was using an olive Habs needle with upgraded hardware and triple split rings.

Now for a couple of videos;

Part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYMU1HivftA

Part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cerplq-fqEY

nice! I can't wait to do that. i have the 14000fb. how did the 12000 hold up?

congrats.

Mike, that is awesome. Congrats man, you should be proud!:chased:

Congrats! Tuna on spinning gear is the best!

Mike way to go. Give me a call later.

Awesome Mike . Congrats.

Nice job Mike! I'll pay you to come out on my boat so you can show me how it's done...(cause I'm definitely doing it wrong!)

You da man!

1.5 hours, how were your arms.
Nice fish...............

The 12000 was commendable. Being the first, I didn't tighten all the way down but definitely learned a couple of things to employ next time.


My right arm was in pain for the next two days. Felt like it was cramped in a locked position but all is good now.

Nice job Mike!

congrats, that is awesome!

Part3
- Reel smoking
- And taking lots o line

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQewQB6vado

Let him take some line. LOL

Sweeeeeeeeet Mike! :D

1.5 hrs is a long time. Your drag was too loose. ;) My buddy tells me 15-20 mins of course he has drag super tight and he puts the screws to it the whole time as if he was trying to bust the fish off/destroy his gear.

First time out on w/ two guys one of them gets into a decent fish and he had it on for a LONG time. 2.75 hrs into it, the captain and I are looking at each other like - OK, you have to either break it off or get it in the next 15 mins. 3 hrs and fish breaks off when we are trying to gaff it. :(

Lessons learned the hard way. I have a blast just watching it live, but even more fun when you are holding the rod.

Way cool that you took it on a HABS needle! :)

Drags should be set to specific poundage and not messed with....always!!!!

i,m impressed ,i,d love to try that.......nice

that was some cool footage

whys that? couldn't you tighten the drag to fight the fish then reset it?

nice
 

nice work Mike, congrats on your first. Can't wait for the opportunity, had one on once, came unbuttoned. Great Work!!
:btu::btu:

Sweet Mike! Congrats!

Cool video. Thanks for sharing. I need a shot at some tuna.

I'm sure that was a helluva lot of fun Mike :kewl:

What's funny here is that anyone who has fished with Mike knows he fishes a very tight drag at all times. Not only was his drag very tight but he was constantly palming the spool as you can see in the video. Based on how aggressive he was with this fish I can't imagine anyone taking this fish in less time with the combo he used. Does anyone know what the average 60 inch bluefin weighs? Thought I saw somewhere 125lbs maybe?

I haven't had chance to fish w/ most people, Elmo. ;)

65 lb PP (so you can easily set it at 16 lbs and go up to 22 lbs) - the older FA Speros 12000/14000 can do max of 24 lbs of drag when it is new w/ some age 20 lbs or less. Have Moses put a scale to his drag and see what he gets - would be interesting to see.

The newer Spheros 14000 FB claims 44 lbs of drag. That seems crazy high.

My buddy use to fish large Shimano Stellas w/ factory St Croix rods - don't believe he isn't on this board, but he frequents the other. Not sure what reels he is using now. He is the one who get them in FAST.

The person on the 3 hr fight kept messing with his drag the whole time. Outfit belong to boat owner: Shimano Thunnus w/ 50 lb PP.

Sorry to hear that Ray regarding not fishing with a lot of people. I was fortunate to be on this trip because I had just gotten back from being on the road the night before and Mike had a last minute cancelation. I thought for sure my wife would say no deal but what can I say, I have a great wife! I am looking at a boat tomorrow so if I get back in the game over the winter, I will call you about going fishing.

ps I was all ready with my tuna spinning setup (thanks Ray) but Mikey came tight first.

Thats how you F up////////

Very nice fish...and videos//// Thanx for that

Mike that third vidieo was awesome:claps:nice job fighting that fish!


Bob

That's awesome! How do you like the Sea Hunt? I've been looking hard at the 22 triton and 23 ultra which are the same hull. I assume since you're running her out there you like like her!

Oh yeah, I like my boat. Took her out yesterday for her last trip of the season. I trailer so I'm very mobile - NH, MA, RI, CT, NY. She handles seas well and does great on gas mileage. I like those newer Ultras also and have been researching. The 23 will be my next. Drop me a PM with any additional questions.