Yellowfin Tuna - Offshore November / Interested?

[AtTheWall]

After two nights of tuna.....Mike went Wino with exhaustion.

[AtTheWall]

[AtTheWall]

The tuna average weight wise, pushed 80 or more. We decked a lot of quality fish.....many went over 100 lbs.

[AtTheWall]

When you contemplate the time we actually fish, in comparison to the transit time. 10 out, 10 back, 2 hours here, 2 hours there and another 2 hours back.

This pile represents 26 hours of fishing. 2 floaters, an oil platform and 4 anchorage stops.

All of this requires time to get there, setup and reset on a new location.

This was the number one thing that jumped out at the San Diego - Mexican Baja longrange boats on the left coast.

We hammer tons of fish in a very little fishing window.

Gulf of Mexico along the Texas coast - no mistaking it, with the right boat, Captain, gear and anglers - you can flat out fish any other place on the planet in the same time window.

This is something many do not know. Those of us who spend a lot of time offshore understand, we are truly living in an offshore paradise.

[Hunteraudit]

I’ve seen these multi day tuna trips coming in when I’m standing on the dock ready to crash after a 10 hour trip. Couldn’t imagine the whippin you take on this long of a trip. Looks like an awesome time...someday!

[Chase This!]

This is something many do not know. Those of us who spend a lot of time offshore understand, we are truly living in an offshore paradise.

Man, I have to totally disagree. We live in one of the worst offshore fishing destinations I can think of. 100nm runs, snotty seas, and mediocre fishing.

Tuna fishery is very hit or miss and the billfishing is extremely mediocre. The only world class fishery we have is winter time wahoo, if the weather let’s you out.

If I didn’t love my boat and doing my thing, I would just fly to Costa Rica, Guatemala, Cabo, Venice, DR, Bermuda, I can name a pile of places.

[RACK]

Y’all must be living right. Nailed the weather. 24 hours later and it’s 10ft. Congrats on the tuna.

Yes sir ... been watching amature models for weeks .. the call was made last minute to pack and be on the dock 6 AM a day early . We drilled her smooth in the flat as anticipated [emoji6]

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[Chase This!]

Yes sir ... been watching amature models for weeks .. the call was made last minute to pack and be on the dock 6 AM a day early . We drilled her smooth in the flat as anticipated [emoji6]

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Nailed it! Well done.

[AtTheWall]

Man, I have to totally disagree. We live in one of the worst offshore fishing destinations I can think of. 100nm runs, snotty seas, and mediocre fishing.

Tuna fishery is very hit or miss and the billfishing is extremely mediocre. The only world class fishery we have is winter time wahoo, if the weather let’s you out.

If I didn’t love my boat and doing my thing, I would just fly to Costa Rica, Guatemala, Cabo, Venice, DR, Bermuda, I can name a pile of places.

I have fished all of them....never came back with 3 tons of fish at anyone of them. Even in Alaska......never nailed that many in a short window on a boat, lining the rail old school and drifting to deliver.

Trolling - maybe. But drifting and casting to a top water tuna bite. Haven't found it to match.

Texas tuna - this is what I'm comparing these other places to. A bite that happens with CASTING GEAR ON TOP! Little reels, little lures and big tuna that smother a well casted topwater bait.

Running a troll spread - sure, you can grind up fish but, that fishing wait till the strike. This fishing is - no strike unless you make it happen - working your setup, over and over till you connect.

Never found a place like this from that quarter. Billfish doesn't float the boat for me unless it's Swordfish. I like to kill steaks for the kitchen - using my body to do it from presentation all the way to gaff

It's not iffy for us.....we catch well over a ton everytime we setup a trip. The key, you must factor in the period, weather and moon phase during that golden time of the year. It's not year round.....like the whitetail rut, you hammer them during their prime time. We have that dialed in! And during that period - hundreds surround you as you make the cast......watching blow up after blow up.

My average catch to blow up ratio is 6 to 1. I get 6 missed blowups to a single hook-up. And the cast ratio to get these 7 chances is probably 100 - 200 casts to have that opportunity.

It's not everyone's cup of tea....body screams, muscles burn and you haven't even hooked that first tuna. Not many anglers can burn to score......even bass casters who do this religiously week in and week out. This gear isn't finesse yet, we muscle through the presentation, over and over before the score.

Had a very salty Dude from Southern California tell me - it takes a lot of skill to cast the gear we use with the baits we cast, to score tuna. Line class alone with a light bait, it's not an easy thing to do with a 2-Speed reel.

This is the other factor - it's not something you can simply go do and score. It takes considerable skill to do it this way.

Hook-up, it's all standup and running a 95 - 100ft deck with a tuna that can swim 40 mph. Rounding the pulpit and transitioning from port to starboard and or vice versa, with a mad yellowfin tuna, adds another factor into this game. Only a couple of places in the world have Combat Tuna fishing.....we have it here in SPADS!

[AtTheWall]

This is that scene. The battle on the focescle - in the pit with a bruiser. One of hundreds that have jumped and circled the boat on a feeding frenzy. You visually witness a world that becomes unique in many regions of the world's oceans. 2% moon illumination at best, during that period where the tuna are there off the Texas coastline.

Your limitation is fuel load and range. This is where we have no worry. Louisiana to the Mexican border, if we really wanted to, we can do it - all along the shelf and deeper rigs.

What we have here are options directly due to the offshore oil industry. All of them hold fish. Getting there and playing that game, requires the vessel to do it with range.

Not a Mosquito boat venture. We are talking true 100 ton plus platforms.

Give me October to February along the Texas Gulf of Mexico on the right boat. Go top down to 1600ft, they are there. Bigeye, Yellowfin and Swordfish - they are there. Just need the platform to run that 100 miles into the zone with the onscene duration, to stay in that zone.

San Diego long range - 5 - 17 days to do a fish.

The tropical islands and mid latitudes from Caribbean, Central America which includes Asia.....they all need offshore livable duration with the right fuel load.

Costa Rica - close but, the fleet, one day maybe day and a half and you must come back inside for fuel. Sustainability is not there and the fleet to extend multiple days, it's not there either.

Multiple days offshore before return - it's that world......where running miles between offshore opportunities are an excellent excuse to drag baits.

4,000 plus gallons of Marine diesel country type platforms. Once you make that the benchmark, the opportunities to play days offshore narrows down considerably.

[Chase This!]

Your limitation is fuel load and range. This is where we have no worry. Louisiana to the Mexican border, if we really wanted to, we can do it - all along the shelf and deeper rigs.

What we have here are options directly due to the offshore oil industry. All of them hold fish. Getting there and playing that game, requires the vessel to do it with range.

Not a Mosquito boat venture. We are talking true 100 ton plus platforms.

Are you referring to me? Because I fish the same rigs y’all do but I spend three or four nights out there and cruise 27knts each way.

[AtTheWall]

Are you referring to me? Because I fish the same rigs y’all do but I spend three or four nights out there and cruise 27knts each way.

We cover all of the floaters from Perdido along Mexico up into the Louisiana/Texas line. We have had trips where we fished literally 4 floaters and a drill ship in a 60 hour period. One trip put us into Louisiana waters from Port Aransas.

The option of running 80 hours hasn't been necessary and it's nice to have a 60 tuna boat possession. Which puts you on tuna for a pretty good time.

We have fished with seas up to 12-15ft - Perdido. Another excellent aspect of running aboard a 95 ft boat. Cruising speed is 18 knots (over 20mph). Covers 5 - 6 ft seas with ease.

[RACK]

Kill em all dam it [emoji123]

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[Burnadell]

Burnadell couldn't make the trip with us......but we thought about Randy a lot!

Oh my!!! I saw Glen's shirt on Facebook but could not read what it said! Hilarious!!!

Looks like y'all hadanother great adventure and loaded the boat! Congratulations on the calm seas and the bounty! Good times.

[doug]

Oh my!!! I saw Glen's shirt on Facebook but could not read what it said! Hilarious!!!

Looks like y'all hadanother great adventure and loaded the boat! Congratulations on the calm seas and the bounty! Good times.

We missed ya Randy! You were the topic of conversation more than once out there! Hope you can join us next trip.

Let me know next time your heading to hunt. Maybe i can meet you on the way with a big of tuna to grill while you are there.