Tuna Partners

[devils fiddle]

the bluefin have moved a tad west. south of the sub bouy to the butterfish. cookie cutters around 30 inches and a little bigger. no need to travel farther than that for bluefin. went to the tails last wednesday and got some mahi and a couple of small yellows to 40 pounds. trolled from 6am to 3 pm overall very slow in the tails on the troll.

[Fish On]

Trolled and chunked on Jeffries all day Saturday. Trolled for 4 hours on Sunday. Saw 1 torpedo leave the water, but that's as close as it got for me. No bites whatsoever. Have some nice cod and haddock though!

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of trolling on Jeffires I want to share an experience that I didn't enjoy. Saturday morning I'm trolling a 5 rod spread. I don't have outriggers so 5 rods is as far as I go. Another boat (about 30 foot. looked commercial) starts to overtake me on the right side at about a 30 degree angle. As he approaches I'm thinking he's going to go around me or just speed up a bit so he won't have to change course. He does nothing. At this point, I start to slow from about 6.5 knots to 5.5 knots and then to 4.5 knots to let him get ahead of me. He still does nothing and appears to start slowing down instead of speeding up or maintaining speed to pass me on the right when he comes out of his wheelhouse and starts waving his hands obviously very upset probably that I have not taken more evasive action. I'm about to start turning left since this guy is almost on top of me now when he goes back into his wheelhouse and makes a sharp left turn and promptly steams across my entire spread about 60-70 feet off my stern. He grabs 3 of my lines, my reels are screaming, cuts 2 of them off and just keeps going. After bringing everything in and securing the boat I chased him down and recorded his name, port, and vessel ID. I didn't stop to share my feeling or anything since I figured he was probably not well balanced, might have a weapon on board or whatever. In spite of what he did I'm not interested in getting into it 25 miles off shore. Today I'm trying to decide exactly what to do.

[MakoMike]

FO, according to the rules of the road you were supposed to maintain course and speed. Mybe the fact that you slowed down was what got him ticked off?
The fact that you had fishing lines out has no bearing on the situation. Out of common courtesy he should have went way behind you to make sure to avoid your lines. But as a matter of navigation by the rules he didn't do anything wrong.

[RIROCKHOUND]

Went out Sat; trolled from the NW corner south about 5miles past the SW corner; one take down missed on a spreader; trolled back through the center towards the fingers nothing; ran in to cell phone range, rearranged an appointment and trolled the muydhole for ah hour; one bluefish
140mi rd trip for nada...

can't win if you dint play...

and FO, i'd echo Mike's comments according to the rotr, you shoulda kept going, and trolling give no additional ROW...

[Fish On]

Forgive me for not painting this picture accurately. I did not slow down until I felt that we were getting way too close. If we both did nothing we would have without doubt collided. He was already too far ahead (past my long lines) to be considering going behind me. He was going about 2 knots faster than I was before I started to slow down. Only when I felt I had to do something to avoid a collision did I begin to slow down and potentially to turn left though I never got a chance to do the latter. The only thing I can think of that he was thinking is that we were simply approaching each other at the same speed and with him being on the right having the right of way. And then not thinking that I took action soon enough decided to penalize me with malicious destruction of my property.

[MakoMike]

FO,
You said he was overtaking you at a 30 degree angle, in that case he does not have the row, he is the burdened vessel in an overtaking situation and its up to him to take wahtever action is necessary until he is safely passed. OTOH if he was anywhere from two point aft of the starboard beam to bow on, he had the ROW and you had to take the evasive action. Either way there is nothing in the ROR that prevents him from passing close astern, but that is a matter of common courtesy. If I had to guess, based solely on what you said, I would guess that you were the burdened vessel and he got pissed when you didn't give way so he decided to run over your lines. Nothing you can do about it.

[Homerun04]

You guys blow me away with your knowledge....makes me feel like I am a hazzard out there with my totally limited knowledge.....