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Did 2 day trips on Fri/Sat Aug 1st-2nd. Went right to the tails friday, no action or real life anywhere, so headed west to middle grounds where we went 5 for 5 on 20-25 lb Yellows. Released em all. About 20 minutes later landed 60 lb Yellow on Green Machine spreader bar. Heard lots of reports of Yellows and Big Eyes south of where we were, so we marched into the deeps. Went 4 for 6 on little yellows again, the landed a 55lb class yellow on a Green Zuker. Very warm water everywhere, 79-81.5 even saw 82, 83 a couple of times. Lots of reports of Big Eye on Friday. The further south we went the more life we saw, lots of Marlin, Dolphin,etc.
Saturday we went right to the middle grounds and within 90 minutes went 8 for 10 on small class yellows again and caught a couple skippies as well. Let all the fish go, as we could not justify killing such a small Yellow Fin, even though most were just past the legal limit. Went south after that as action got real quiet in the Middle Grounds. Wow did that change, unfortuately not for us...but there were alot Big Eyes being caught. Add up the hook ups that we could actually see, coupled with the radio chatter...I can confidently say that I have never seen or heard about a Big Eye bite like Saturday. We were right in the middle of at least 5 or 6 hook ups, and heard of at least another 10 on the radio...with most of the strikes being multiples!! They were hungry on friday and even hungrier on saturday. Dissapointing for our crew, as we felt the elusive Big Eye was inevitable as we worked that area hard for a good three hours and we knew they were there. Had 2 nice knockdowns right in that zone, both with real big splashes, and the fish just didn't take the hook. Saw lots of Marlin, and there were tons of reports of 500 lb plus blue marlin being fought..Actually saw one guy hook up a monster blue marlin and the fish was dancing on the top of the water, jumping a good 10 feet...he tried to turn his boat and chase it down, and i'm not sure if he got spooled, or lines crossed, but it was some fish and very cool to see right next us!
All in all beautiful out there. 19 tuna, 2 that we kept, 2 mahi. Tough to find temp breaks, and water very warm. If you find the skippies or little Yellows jumping you will get covered up quickly. Other then that, the radio and our own eyes looking for lots of boats working a certain area seemed to help most.
This post edited by lipa11 10:15 AM 08/03/2008
Saturday we went right to the middle grounds and within 90 minutes went 8 for 10 on small class yellows again and caught a couple skippies as well. Let all the fish go, as we could not justify killing such a small Yellow Fin, even though most were just past the legal limit. Went south after that as action got real quiet in the Middle Grounds. Wow did that change, unfortuately not for us...but there were alot Big Eyes being caught. Add up the hook ups that we could actually see, coupled with the radio chatter...I can confidently say that I have never seen or heard about a Big Eye bite like Saturday. We were right in the middle of at least 5 or 6 hook ups, and heard of at least another 10 on the radio...with most of the strikes being multiples!! They were hungry on friday and even hungrier on saturday. Dissapointing for our crew, as we felt the elusive Big Eye was inevitable as we worked that area hard for a good three hours and we knew they were there. Had 2 nice knockdowns right in that zone, both with real big splashes, and the fish just didn't take the hook. Saw lots of Marlin, and there were tons of reports of 500 lb plus blue marlin being fought..Actually saw one guy hook up a monster blue marlin and the fish was dancing on the top of the water, jumping a good 10 feet...he tried to turn his boat and chase it down, and i'm not sure if he got spooled, or lines crossed, but it was some fish and very cool to see right next us!
All in all beautiful out there. 19 tuna, 2 that we kept, 2 mahi. Tough to find temp breaks, and water very warm. If you find the skippies or little Yellows jumping you will get covered up quickly. Other then that, the radio and our own eyes looking for lots of boats working a certain area seemed to help most.
This post edited by lipa11 10:15 AM 08/03/2008
