They're Here!! - North Shore

[SquidHoundah]

We saw them, we hooked one, and we lost it at the boat (but the leader was touched). Small pods of Bluefin were chasing bait upto the surface. The give away was the shearwaters, sitting on the water and waiting for the next feed to erupt.

They were mixed in with dolphins, Minke Whales and a Fin Whale.

The feeds were quick. However, since it was calm we could see them coming which gave us enough time to get a couple of casts off.

3 oz crippled herring seemed to do the trick tonight.

The North Shore tuna grounds are warming up.

Get out There,

"Plan B" & "Anything Goes"

[Capt. John]

Went out with some guys yesterday to search for them off Portland. Wind sucked and swells were big from the SE blowing all night. But we found the shearwaters slamming the bait in between the waves. Spike macs and by the sound of the way any of tuna caught have been feeding that;s what they are on right now....they will do quick pop-ups here and there chasing the spikes. Makes tough fishing because spikes run like hell instead of just sitting there on the surface like peanuts to be eaten. Good thing is if you can get a shot into them you have a better chance to hook up... --125-3

Good luck out there...

[e-sea-e]

nice job squidy! you've hooked one more than I have so far, hoping to change that this weekend!

[kcoulouris]

I finally had a shot at BFT after a few hundred miles of running over the past month.

On Friday, I took a couple of co-workers from Chicago out to Jeffreys Ledge. On the run back in, the guy who's never fished before says "Hey,what's that splasing over there?" The other fisherman and I notice that it's a 150+ pound BFT crashing through bluefish!! I came off plane, idled in that direction and got on the bow with my BFT spinning gear and on the third cast had a smaller (75-100lb) BFT crashing my 5" Yozuri popper. It had been a long cast, so he missed it, then I yanked it out of his mouth on the second hit, then I hooked him on the third hit within 50 ft. of the boat. As he started his first run, the hook popped almost immediately and I retrieved it back to the boat. Another smaller SBFT swam at the lure right under my bow pulpit, but never took a swing at it.

We casted for about 10 more minutes, but never saw another splash. I trolled the area with a couple of Rapala diving lures and the Yozuri Popper way out back with no joy.

I'd like to thank Derek and Nat for all there great advice over the winter at the tuna gatherings that I attended. The stealth approach and staying 75+ yards away from where we saw the crashing probably helped me to get the shot I had. I also kept the motor running, as they suggested.

And thanks to Eric (e-sea-e) for the tip on the Yozuri popper.

I tried to go out Saturday but that damn NW wind made such a mess that I couldn't see wasting my day out there getting rocked around and wet.

Good luck,
Kevin

[dereks]

Very nice work, it's been tough to get on them lately. we have been seeing similar small group/single fish feeds for a while now but the big show should be starting any day based on the temps, bait, and apparent multitudes of fish to the south of us. keep it up we'll see you out there :-% Nat