July 02 2017
Out with a crew from GA super early looking to repeat yesterdays early bite. After the first few passes I’m starting to get concerned. After 45 minutes I’m starting to freak. Finally, after about an hour, our long gets blown up on and we have a very angry bluefin on the line. The fish finally make it to the boat but as the mate (Trevor) sinks the gaff the fish goes berserk and nearly take TD overboard while ripping the gaff from his grip and snapping the line at the same time. We re-rig and I continue to work the area. An hour later we get another big bite and this time everything goes as planned and we put a 110# bluefin in the box. Now, just like yesterday, a few boat have noticed our bites and have moved in. The next hour produces nothing so I decide to troll to the same spot that produced our “under” yesterday. On the way we get attacked by a micro mahi but our hooks are too big for this little guy. Spend two hours working the hill before deciding to head north to another hill that regularly holds fish. On the way I’m listening to the complaining on the vhf radio, seems fishing is horrible for nearly everyone. Spend about an hour here looking for marks and bait but don’t find any. While scanning channels (yes, I’ve resorted to radio fishing today) I hear a boat who’d 12 miles away and has tuna rolling on the surface. I push the diesels to 2400 and get there with five other boats. We all work the area but I only hear of one fish being caught. As nearly all the boat have left we get a massive explosion on our long rigger but some how this fish manages to completely miss everything. Our day ends with only one bluefin in the box.