The highlight of the outing was to see Dom get spooled. He hooked
up with a monster....the 25# of drag and his thumb on the spool just
could not stop the train.
Just such a treat to witness the presence of such a big fish.
Overall a fantastic trip. We all tapped out, left the fish biting and headed in early.
here is Dom's account of the outing:
The day started after blasting down to the area I have been working at 31 knots, arriving
at 6:19am, and with the very first drop of the jig, Scott comes tight with the deep force
310gram jig, and just as quickly pops it off under the boat....but that was just the
beginning of what was to be an insane day on the tuna grounds aboard the Dusky. The fish
were marking well on the sounder up high in the water column today early on, and with the
3rd or 4th cast with the RonZ, Steve came tight on his very first bluefin. After a pretty
spirited fight, the fish came to gaff and graced the deck of the Dusky for the only kill
fish of the day, taping out at a nice 64" and around 150 pounds. It was really nice to
get the fish on board early, in fact my adrenaline level was so peaked that I pulled the
fish over the rail with out the usual tail rope and in-water bleeding...primal rage pent
up inside I guess! As we moved up the line to repeat the drift, the sonar was lit up, so
we began the drift which would be repeated 8 or 9 times throughout the day, each time
with success! The excitement level was high each pass with tuna streaking up and down
chasing both the natural bait as well as our jigs. Fish were obviously pretty active with
what was being seen on the sonar, and the amount of bumps, hits, and outright slams our
offerings got were staggering. Not including the 15 or so pick ups that didn't get solid
hook-ups, we had 10 instances where we were tight to bluefin, and 6 of them made it to
the boat. The fish got progressively larger as the morning wore on, and we were able to
put tags in 68", 70", and 75" fish, all with really healthy, clean releases. The mid
morning highlight was a hook-up to a REAL fish, something of a different stature and
character all-together. On the identical set-up with identical drag that bested the 75"
fish, we watched as a fish vaporized 600 yards of 100# braid under 25 pounds at strike in
the hands of yours truly....I went to full halfway through the run, and the fish actually
increased speed, my thumbs were useless as the rod tip was stuffed under water because
the fish ran straight under the boat and then charged the surface. Popped him off rather
quick, but to feel the power of such a large, angry animal was one of the best feelings I
have ever had on the end of the line. Both Scott and Steve will be feeling the after
effects of their trip for some time to come, I am certain. I feel like I was run over by
a truck myself.
An absolutely insane day, shared with two great guys, and our buddy boat for the day, the
Reel Deal with Capt. Bobby Rice and crew, who went 7 for 11 right next to us, also all on
the vertical game. The light tackle guys putting on a clinic amongst the troll fleet!