# 11 Sept Tuna Trip out of IRI



## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

Went on my first tuna trip ever this past
saturday out of IRI. (Sorry FLF, could 
not make the goodbye fling, we had this 
trip booked a long time ago, I will catch up
with you before you leave though). 

Motored out of the inlet at 0400 sharp. It
was really dark. The boat was hauling 
***, it was really cool to look around and
see all of these boats just racing into the 
pitch black ( on most you could just see 
their warning lights) It was like the start of a
NASCAR race. The seas were snotty, about
4-6' seas, which suprised just about 
everybody. The forecast had shown 
it being a whole lot better better.
Got settled in and took a nap. Woke 
up 2.5 hrs latter when the boat started 
letting up on the throttle. Got up and 
looked around, the sky was a a grey 
cloudy mass with the red dawn peaking 
through the gaps. Took a look in front 
of the boat and the picture was 
wild. There were 3 or 4 large bottom
trawelers spread out with about 4 or 5
sportfishers around the back of each one.
We motored up to get in line behind one
on of the trawelers and you could see
the guys on the boat cleaning and dumping
out bycatch from 2 or 3 stations. No 
wonder the tuna follow these guys around.
I saw two boats that were already hooked
up and the anglers were using stand-up
gear. These were big guys using Intl's 
and they were holding on for dear life!
We (me the wife and dad) were revved up
now! The Capt put out 4 lines, he used 
butterfish chuncks for bait. He had one
line out on the outrigger and he tied
balloons on all lines at different lengths
to control how deep the bait was.

Got to go do some work. Will be
back in a bit. Talapia..


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

continued....

We sat around for about 20 min when
the balloon on the outrigger started moving
to the right at a fast clip. The Capt pulled
the rod out of the holder and handed it 
to me. I stuck the but in my gimble belt
and started to wind in. The fish was coming
in really really easy and not taking any
drag at all. Got the fish next to the boat
in 5 minutes and it was a 15 pound
baby bluefin tuna  , wasted my 
first fish and rotation spot and a pee wee!
Back to the end of the line for me. My 
wife was up next. We waited for about
2 hrs and made two moves with nothing
to show for it. One of the Capt's friends 
is on the radio telling him that he has a 
school of tuna feeding under his boat and 
that all of his rods are hooked up. He says
to hurry up to his location and he will
try to hold the fish there for us. We zip 
on over (he is right next to one of the 
trawlers) and drop our baits down in the 
water. Waited for 5 min and started to 
think that this was another dead end.
The rod on the outrigger EXPLODES! 
Scared the shit out of me! This fish must
have hit it like a freight train. Somehow
my dad has managed to sneak into the
best position and ends up fighting the fish.
He fought the fish for 30 min and then 
gave me the rod for the final 10 min.
Mate gaffed the fish or our first keeper of 
the day, a 55 pound BFT. The second 
and fish hit about 15 min before we were due
to head in. The wife took 30 min to bring
the fish in by herself. She did a great job, 
the Capt said she was a better listener, and
that me and my dad forgot everything 
he told us!  . Fish came in at 65 pounds.
The boat took us back in and pulled right
up to the fish cleaning station at IRI. We
had both fish loined. Great Trip! 

My dad has tons of pictures and I will
post them tommorow.

Talapia outa here....


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

*Tuna Picture*

http://pierandsurf.com/photopost/data/500/12247Tuna_Fishing_11Sep_04-23-med.jpg


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

http://pierandsurf.com/photopost/data/500/12247Tuna_Fishing_11Sep_04-24-med.jpg

Sorry, took two shots to get one whole
picture


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## dckhd247 (Sep 9, 2003)

Nice work Bud!!! Glad you got into 'em on your first trip!!!


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## jay b (Dec 1, 2002)

Sounds like a trip I was lucky enough to make with 2 friends from work this time of year out of O.I. in N.C. Similar details but just 1 trawler and the entire sport fishing fleet and just as many private boats surounding the trawler.There must have been 50-60 boats so close you had to hold each other off so you didn't run into each other. We were in a 25' Topaz fishing within spitting distance of 60' sport-fishers. I think we broke off more fish (due to tangled lines with others) than we put in the boat but it was worth it. No one really got upset because there wasn't anything you could do.
These fish were YFT and were all in the 50-75lb. class. We had our limit (3 each) in less than a couple hours fishing with 50 wides and 80lb. test baited with chunks of mullet,blues, and ballyhoo which was all we had because we were planning on trolling with it until we followed the fleet and found the chunking action.It was without a doubt the most insane tuna fishing I've ever done and it didn't stop there. After we had our limit stuffed in the fish box, fish bag and coolers we took out spinning gear with 20lb. test and surface poppers and did some C&R that I'll never forget.
Thanks for posting as it brought back a very fond memory.


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## nmb surffisher (Mar 3, 2004)

*bft*

i've done a little tuna fishing(caught a 750lbs BFT last year), and thought bluefin had to been 73in. to the fork? great story, sounds like fun,its been too long.


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## dckhd247 (Sep 9, 2003)

When a Tuna is over 73" only one can be kept per year, per boat...Right now its 1 @ 27-73 for private and 2 @ 27-73 for charters...


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