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I'm going back a few years to tell you a great fish story. I entered this in the Whaler Memories contest but instead of one picture I have two. I'm not the winner but thought it was such a great story I would share it.
In the summer of 2005 my Buddy Steven (who I've known for 26 years) and I went offshore fishing for Tuna. We fueled up my 25 Outrage, filled the livewell with spot, loaded rods, bait and other gear for a long offshore run. Steven would say the outrage is "Battle Ready", and then say, "I can't believe I'm going out there with these old dinosaurs on the transom". I would just laugh and say, "Thats why I take you along, if we have a problem you can fix it". Actually he is one of those guys who can fix anything....We left the inlet at 5am heading 40 miles offshore. The boat rode well over the swells and we made pretty good time getting to the fishing grounds. When we arrived we decided to drift over the area or lump with baited lines. We put out a chum bag and began chunking for Bluefin Tuna. This went on for some time and no bites, very frustrating after a few hours. The swells increased and I'm not feeling too good...Steven was eating a big sandwich and he threw a piece of his roll in the water. A big Tuna came up and ate it! Incredible! It became even more frustrating now especially listening to the VHF radio and hearing guys saying, "Another one in the box" or "Double hook up"...Fearing a day with no fish we started scanning the horizon and in the distance we could see a small cluster of boats. We pulled up lines and started heading in there direction. Once we arrived, we saw several boats hooked up with fish! We baited up 2 rods with live spot, not rolls, and we dropped our lines. In seconds both rods were screaming like crazy!! We couldn't believe it. We lost several fish in just minutes due to all kinds of problems, knot failures, line failures, etc. This occurred 4 or 5 times and we are running out of bait. The adrenaline is pumping and we weren't giving up! I hooked up again, and decided to take it easy with this fish. Steven took the helm and we chased the fish down. My rod was spooled with 40lb test line. After an hour, I finally raised the fish to the surface and Steven was able to gaff the 88lb Bluefin. I was very tired and Steven was ready for his fish I took over the helm and he baited up with our last live Spot. The bait hit the water and bam! Fish On! The reel was screaming. After a long battle Steven worked his fish to the surface and I gaffed his 84lb Bluefin! It was a great day. We flew home in following seas, a great day on the Battle Ready...The contest was only 100 words so I wrote a shorter version....Here are the pictures. Check out my updated personal page....
My Bluefin....Click on the image.
[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/homey1110/0008496-R1-015-6_edited.jpg[/IMG]
Here is Steven with his Bluefin....Click on the image.
[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/homey1110/0008496-R1-019-8_edited.jpg[/IMG]
NICE!!! I have a list of things I want to do in my 21 Rev/rage when it's done, one of them is to catch some large Tuna. Gotta be a rush to hook into one of those babies with stand up tackle.
outstanding day on the water! Thanks for sharing your experience and the pictures! For me, that's what it's all about! Friends, fish, and God's green ocean!
I got to tell ya, there is nothing like a Tuna. When they (big ones) hit, the reel just screamed a constant high pitch sound. The only thing I can compare it to is tieing your line to a car and having it drive down the road! The smaller ones (30-40lb class) can be very very strong too...We've been out a few times to target these bigger fish when they come through but most of the time it can be hit and miss. We just happened to find them this trip. We found them again last year and were just as succesful. The 25 is a great boat and the cockpit is perfect for this type of fishing. I have a huge insulated bag, and these fish nearly busted the seams! What you can't see in the photos is the girth of these Tunas. Once steaked up they produce an incredible amount of meat. A vacuum bag sealer is necessary equipment too. Thanks for the compliments and hopefully when the weather improves will be back out there!
. A vacuum bag sealer is necessary equipment too.
Thanks for the compliments and hopefully when the weather improves will be back out there!
