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Hot Tuna bite
Capt. Raymond Pugh
April 12, 2010
Outer Banks - Saltwater Fishing Report
Last Sunday, my buddies & I ventured offshore & had one of the best days of tuna fishing of my life. Slick clam conditions for our 40 mile run to the gulf stream. When we arrived, there was a nice temp change from 69 to 71, so we work that line. We started trolling two lines & by the time the third hit the water, the first two started screaming. We got one to the boat & lost the other one. A 50lb Yellowfin was a great start to the day and just then I notice the Lowrance had fish marks from 159ft to 800. I always wanted to jig a tuna up, so I put on a Williamson butterfly jig & let it drop. I'm using a 7ft All-Star Kingfish rod,Penn Torque 100,with 40lb Ugly braid. I jigged 4or 5 times and the tuna was on. We did that for about an hour until we lost all 6 jigs I had. We were just under gunned. You could tell we a Yellowfin hit and those you could handle, but when a Bluefin hit, there was NO stopping them. We never laugh so hard hearing those reel screaming. After that we went back to trolling . I happened to be looking out the back of boat when I saw a huge splash and the reel yelled like it was in high gear.Scott grabbed it & the fight was on. We are in 5500 ft of water so Scott put some drag on the fish and slows him some, but doesn't gain any ground. After an hour, his back & arms can't take it, so he passes the rod to Marc. Marc starts pumping the rod and get half the line back. After 30 minutes, the fish pops to the surface, I think just to size us up and back down he goes for another run. All Marc could do was go along for the ride. Finally he stops diving and Marc starts the whole process again. After another 30 mintues Marc get the beast beside the boat and I put a gaff in the fish. A rope goes around the tail and the three of us start pulling. Just as we clear the water, the X-tool gaff breaks. I guess its not design for the beast. I get out extra gaff and tie another rope thru the gill and out the mouth. On try two the beast is in the boat and with a little help, just squeezes in the fish box. We all high fived each other and called it a day.As we were leaving, I noticed on the plotter that we had drifted almost 10 miles fighting the fish. Moral of this story, HE TASTED DAM GOOD.
Target Species:
Tuna
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