Bluefin in April

Started by Fishy247, May 06, 2017, 05:43:36 PM

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Fishy247

After a long, wet winter, I decided that I needed to get the heck outta town and go see some blue water. I was hoping to jump on a 1 1/2 day trip out of SD, but all that was available was overnights. I only had a couple of choices of boats, so I went with the Pacific Queen. They've been the hot boat for the past couple of years on the tuna, so I wanted to check them out. SUPER LIGHT LOAD! When I booked my trip a day before we left, I was the eighth person to sign up.  ;D We ended up going with only 16. I was hoping to get a Bluefin, as I haven't caught one in almost 20 years, but they had been whacking the yellowtail on the kelps, so I figured I would at least get a shot at some fish.

The day started with 10-12 kts of wind that would back off and come back again throughout the day. We didn't find any biters in the dark, so we set out to troll. We got one small yellow as we passed a kelp, and another the same way later on in the day, but that was it for the yellows. THANK GOD FOR THE BLUEFIN! (I never thought I'd be able to say that...lol) We saw lots of tuna and were able to jump quite a few schools. We would pull up to some puddlers, throw some chum, and start soaking bait. The fish all reacted to the chum and we would hook a couple and land them. By the time the fish were landed, though, the wind had blown us too far away from our initial chumline so we would have to get back on the fish if we could find them.

This was the pattern for the morning, then the midday doldrums set in. No bird schools, no jumpers, and whatever meter marks we found would not come up.

About 12:45, all that changed. The spotters on the roof of the cabin saw a big bird school a couple of miles off. The skipper gunned the motors harder than he had all day, chasing this school. We couldn't see it on the deck and thought he was gunning it for a kelp that just quickly went down the rail. I actually saw some small yellows on it as we passed. We got on the school of tuna and started throwing chum. The fish immediately started foaming on the baits and almost everyone in the water got picked up, myself included!  ;D  It was the most wide open crazy Bluefin bite I've ever heard of! I managed to land my first Bluefin in over 19 years on 20#, using my Abu 6000 (CF drags from Dawn, of course). It took me about 15 minutes. The fish were still biting everything that hit the water, so I grabbed my Avet MXL with 25# and immediately got hooked up on that! That one was boated in about 3 minutes. Lemme tell ya, 2 speed reels is where it's at for these fish...The fish were STILL foaming on the corner, so I fished my Jiggy with Bryan's 5-stack upgrade and Tiburon frame with 30#. That fish took about 3-5 minutes to land as well. I tried fishing some 40#, but they wouldn't touch it.

All told, we ended up with crew limits of BFT in a little less than an hour and a half. We had started that stop with 8 in the hold. Pretty crazy fun fishing! The skipper told all the passengers to reel in their lines and the crew would fish until another boat got there to take over the school. The passengers were to act as crew! That was pretty cool. I got to gaff my first tuna in quite a while, got a decent headshot that kinda surprised the crew...lol.

If you have never fished on the Pacific Queen, I HIGHLY recommend her. It's a pretty nice boat for the local long range scene in SD. There are 4 staterooms in the stern( I got one of these  ;D) and a more standard bunkroom about midship. Very comfortable ride in rather sloppy conditions. The crew was outstanding. It truly felt like a long range trip with the level of service and attention that the crew paid to everyone involved. They cared for the fish quickly, efficiently, and thoroughly. When it hit the deck, it was spiked and bled, then dropped into the RSW hold almost faster than guys could get a picture. I got a quick pic of one of mine, but wanted to get back in the water ASAP! I got some of the aftermath though...
Good times!

Cor

Great and exiting days fishing!   Am so jealous, have not caught a decent fish in weeks.
Cornelis

ChileRelleno

Great report and pics, sounds like a grand time doing some catching.
Gonna be some good eating.
Ragnar Benson:
"Never, under any circumstances, ever become a refugee.
Die if you must, but die on your home turf with your face to the wind, not in some stinking hellhole 2,000 kilometers away, among people you neither know nor care about."

Fishy247

It WAS great eats....it's all gone now.... :'(

Guess I'll have to get back out there and get some more!

Bill B

Cool Beans....Bluefin in April....hope this is a taste of whats to come....Bill
It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

David Hall


Bryan Young

I'm so jealous. Love blue fin tuna.
:D I talk with every part I send out and each reel I repair so that they perform at the top of their game. :D

Tiddlerbasher