riptide
09-26-2006, 10:59 PM
Today I fished with Ron in CC Bay for tuna. Ron has chartered me several times with friends but last night he called and said that his fishing buddy had to bail out and he would be solo. He asked me if I would like to bring along someone to fill the boat and the three of us cold fish his treat!!!!!! (funny the timing with the thread running about guides fishing) While at nearly 9 pm I hit the phones and after numerous calls could not find a body to fill the last minute slot. So at 0600 Ron and I ran out of Sandwich to chase Charlie.
We ran out into NOAA's latest blunder and found no W winds @10-15 with 1' seas. Instead we found a sloppy mess even close to shore. There were no signs of life so rather than hanging close we pushed out into the slop and hit several well known spots en route to the SW corner.
As fate would have it I made the wrong call and just short of the SWC I got the word from one of a few buddy boats that the fish had popped up on the slack turn much closer to the mainland. We were a long ways out and when I turned into the whitecapping 3-4's I knew we were not going to be making any time heading back to the action.
We slogged west only to hear that the fish had come and gone with two of the buddy boats each landed a fish 40-50#. Down but not out we patroled the area for signs of life. With 5-6 other boats all looking around surely someone would find fish. NOT SO MUCH! For the next 4-5 hours we saw NOTHING, buddy boats came and went and all my Nextel and VHF could tell me is we were not alone regarding the lack of fish.
OUr hope was that at the afternoon tide turn something would happen and maybe the forecasted wind laying down would help us out some more. So until 1330 Ron and I cruised around looking at whitecaps just hoping to get a glimps of a tuna. Fortunatley Rons a great guy to hang out with AND he brings cool food to pass the time !!!!
Finally the tide turned and instantly we began to see life. A splash here and tuna there and then around 1400 it went OFF!!!!!!!! We moved a bit off our spot from yesterday and the fish came up to feed. I eased Ron into a huge pile of fish that were cheewing like mad on top. With 8 hours to discuss how to work the fish Ron was ready to go. He stood on the bow and at just the right time launched a plug into the seething mass of tuna. Once he was in the mix I tossed to the fringe of the pod. I watched as fish smashed Rons plug and missed with each attack. Then SLAM..... I came tight !! I was more than a little bumed that Rons fish could not get hooked up. After all this time I didnt want to be the only one to land a fish. This was just what I was talking about recently regarding fishing with sports.
I worked the fish in as fast as I could and in a few minutes Ron lipped the tuna for me and seemed just as happy as if he had landed it himself. He exclaimed "We did it, great job". Then he took a quick pic of the fish before we released it.
http://riptidecharters.com/Terrytuna926opti.jpg
With the curse off the boat it was now more than time to get Ron hooked up. My rod went in the hold and regardless of the inital plan to fish together the next fish WOULD be Rons. With fish now blasting everywhere it wasn't hard to get Ron set up for the next shot. I eased hom into the fish and when the time was right he threw right into the melee. A few cranks and a giant splash of white and Ron was in the game! He fought the fish like a pro and soon I landed his biggest topwater tuna to date.
http://riptidecharters.com/Rontunaopti.jpg
Now with the curse off accross the board it was time to make up for a terribly slow morning and rack up some numbers. We now wanted doubles! I headed us for pod after pod as Ron readied himself on the bow. For the next few hours we had some great shots at fish along with some killer air shows. We took advantage of every shot!!! We ended up 6 for 6 for the day. A perfect score!
Even when one of Ron's fish wrapped itself around a pot we were able to close the deal. I was able to retrieve the line, the lure AND THE FISH for Ron!!!!! It was a fantastic afternoon by any standard. We ate "Lucky Cashews" and chased huge pods of tuna around making up for the slow times of the morning.
Final tally 6 for 6 on tuna in the 40-50# range. All the fish were taken on St Croix 7' Premier Rods with new Penn 950ssm reels (they are AWESOME). The lures of choice were Tony Stetzco needles AND the new favorite.... The POLISH SANDEEL! I grabed 3 off the rack last night and I'm glad I did. Polish Lures makes some very realistic plugs and while these "Sandeels" don't look muc hlike sandeels, they sure do look like halfbeaks. They were resopnsable for 4 of the 6 fish we landed. They have great hooks, cast a mile and carry a HUGE pricetag of nearly $20 per plug but the tuna love them!!! The water was low 60's and 100-150' deep. The wind was W at 15-20+ all day.
Overall just a super trip. It was a classic example of putting in the time. Ron and I spent 12.5 hours OTW today. Of those 12.5 hours about 3-3.5 were responsable for all of the action and all of the tuna sightings. We worked long and hard and earned every fish we got. Ron was perfect today taking heed of any small instruction or advice and executing it flawlessly. By fishing together he picked up a few tidbits that he can now use on his Grady White when he chases the tuna himself. As I've stated before I never fish with charters unless asked before hand and even then I prefer not to if the sport is out for the first time with me. Ron and I have had some of the best tuna trips together that I've ever run. Last season he, a friend and his son landed over 60 tuna in one day east of Chatham with me. So fishing with Ron by request was not only acceptable to me but damn enjoyable!!! But it reminded me why I don't do it often. Had that first fish been the only one caught I'd have felt terrible not getting Ron a fish after such a slow morning. I guess it was just our day for things to come together!!!!!
We ran out into NOAA's latest blunder and found no W winds @10-15 with 1' seas. Instead we found a sloppy mess even close to shore. There were no signs of life so rather than hanging close we pushed out into the slop and hit several well known spots en route to the SW corner.
As fate would have it I made the wrong call and just short of the SWC I got the word from one of a few buddy boats that the fish had popped up on the slack turn much closer to the mainland. We were a long ways out and when I turned into the whitecapping 3-4's I knew we were not going to be making any time heading back to the action.
We slogged west only to hear that the fish had come and gone with two of the buddy boats each landed a fish 40-50#. Down but not out we patroled the area for signs of life. With 5-6 other boats all looking around surely someone would find fish. NOT SO MUCH! For the next 4-5 hours we saw NOTHING, buddy boats came and went and all my Nextel and VHF could tell me is we were not alone regarding the lack of fish.
OUr hope was that at the afternoon tide turn something would happen and maybe the forecasted wind laying down would help us out some more. So until 1330 Ron and I cruised around looking at whitecaps just hoping to get a glimps of a tuna. Fortunatley Rons a great guy to hang out with AND he brings cool food to pass the time !!!!
Finally the tide turned and instantly we began to see life. A splash here and tuna there and then around 1400 it went OFF!!!!!!!! We moved a bit off our spot from yesterday and the fish came up to feed. I eased Ron into a huge pile of fish that were cheewing like mad on top. With 8 hours to discuss how to work the fish Ron was ready to go. He stood on the bow and at just the right time launched a plug into the seething mass of tuna. Once he was in the mix I tossed to the fringe of the pod. I watched as fish smashed Rons plug and missed with each attack. Then SLAM..... I came tight !! I was more than a little bumed that Rons fish could not get hooked up. After all this time I didnt want to be the only one to land a fish. This was just what I was talking about recently regarding fishing with sports.
I worked the fish in as fast as I could and in a few minutes Ron lipped the tuna for me and seemed just as happy as if he had landed it himself. He exclaimed "We did it, great job". Then he took a quick pic of the fish before we released it.
http://riptidecharters.com/Terrytuna926opti.jpg
With the curse off the boat it was now more than time to get Ron hooked up. My rod went in the hold and regardless of the inital plan to fish together the next fish WOULD be Rons. With fish now blasting everywhere it wasn't hard to get Ron set up for the next shot. I eased hom into the fish and when the time was right he threw right into the melee. A few cranks and a giant splash of white and Ron was in the game! He fought the fish like a pro and soon I landed his biggest topwater tuna to date.
http://riptidecharters.com/Rontunaopti.jpg
Now with the curse off accross the board it was time to make up for a terribly slow morning and rack up some numbers. We now wanted doubles! I headed us for pod after pod as Ron readied himself on the bow. For the next few hours we had some great shots at fish along with some killer air shows. We took advantage of every shot!!! We ended up 6 for 6 for the day. A perfect score!
Even when one of Ron's fish wrapped itself around a pot we were able to close the deal. I was able to retrieve the line, the lure AND THE FISH for Ron!!!!! It was a fantastic afternoon by any standard. We ate "Lucky Cashews" and chased huge pods of tuna around making up for the slow times of the morning.
Final tally 6 for 6 on tuna in the 40-50# range. All the fish were taken on St Croix 7' Premier Rods with new Penn 950ssm reels (they are AWESOME). The lures of choice were Tony Stetzco needles AND the new favorite.... The POLISH SANDEEL! I grabed 3 off the rack last night and I'm glad I did. Polish Lures makes some very realistic plugs and while these "Sandeels" don't look muc hlike sandeels, they sure do look like halfbeaks. They were resopnsable for 4 of the 6 fish we landed. They have great hooks, cast a mile and carry a HUGE pricetag of nearly $20 per plug but the tuna love them!!! The water was low 60's and 100-150' deep. The wind was W at 15-20+ all day.
Overall just a super trip. It was a classic example of putting in the time. Ron and I spent 12.5 hours OTW today. Of those 12.5 hours about 3-3.5 were responsable for all of the action and all of the tuna sightings. We worked long and hard and earned every fish we got. Ron was perfect today taking heed of any small instruction or advice and executing it flawlessly. By fishing together he picked up a few tidbits that he can now use on his Grady White when he chases the tuna himself. As I've stated before I never fish with charters unless asked before hand and even then I prefer not to if the sport is out for the first time with me. Ron and I have had some of the best tuna trips together that I've ever run. Last season he, a friend and his son landed over 60 tuna in one day east of Chatham with me. So fishing with Ron by request was not only acceptable to me but damn enjoyable!!! But it reminded me why I don't do it often. Had that first fish been the only one caught I'd have felt terrible not getting Ron a fish after such a slow morning. I guess it was just our day for things to come together!!!!!