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We went down there this time to catch some tuna of whatever
species. We thought we would be jigging for blackfin or trolling
for bluefin and yellowfin. The bluefin bite is hot right now so
that is what we headed out hoping to catch. The mate brought out
the big tackle, typical bluefin stuff. Then he said that these
fish were biting everything and that if we wanted to, we could
skip the trolling gear and just catch them on jigs.
Being young and studly, in our minds, we decided that we
would catch these fish on the light stuff. Those jigging rods
look like bass tackle. We actually did pretty well with them.
The fishing action was great. We would look into a wave and see
15-20 bluefin riding the face. There were acres and acres of 100
to 200 pound fish. The one bluefin we eventually kept had a fork
length of 71 inches. Charles caught that fish in about 15
minutes on that little tackle. Multiple hook-ups were common,
but they did not work out too well, resulting in break-offs. We
did better fighting one fish at a time. We had one reel freeze
up and we had one rod snap but considering what we were doing
with it the tackle held up well.
Then someone had the genius idea to bring out a spinning rod.
When Stevie saw the mate (Capt. Kenny Koci) bringing that out, he told
Kenny that you
are on your own with that. Unfortunately, I did not hear that.
We all have a history with bluefin tuna and spinning tackle. It
is one of those things you do once and then talk other people
into doing it. Some tackle rep wanted to have the rod tried out
on these big fish. We all stuck to the conventional tackle.
Kenny, the mate, picked up the spinning rod and started casting
to those tunas in the wave face and worked the jig really fast,
on the surface. It was fun watching those fish explode on it but
then he hooked-up. Now he wanted someone to crank it in. I told
him that he might as well give it to me because none of the
others were going to take it. The last time I fought a bluefin
on a spinning rod it was 6.5 hours before I landed the thing and
that was when I really was young and studly. This fish was even
larger than that one but the fight was much shorter. This is
only because I called for help. We all took turns on that stupid
spinning rod. It turned out to be the largest tuna of the day.
We had a blast and are looking forward to our next trip on
the Big Tahuna. We may just try and sneak that spinning rod off
the boat before we leave the slip next time.
Dr. Ken Neill III, IGFA Representative |
