How many trips did it take before you landed your first 100# tuna?

[pjstevko]

Just curious how many trips it took before you landed your first 100#+ tuna?

I was lucky enough to land my first 100# bft tuna this past March on only my 3rd SD trip!!!

Let's hear some stories

[sabaman1]

Pj, I can tell you how many times I've tried and still haven't broke the 100lb mark. Started chasing them on charter boats in 2014 and didn't get my first bluefin 60lber till 2016 after about 5 trips. We would see them but not catch them, try as we may! Did catch yellowtail and some yellowfin as by catch though. After that first bluefin I would get them on every trip, but all under the 60lb mark. Very smart and elusive fish that bluefin is!!! Im looking forward to this years trips for sure. Congratulations to you and may you continue to have Tight Lines on your future trips!!!

[Dominick]

20 years and 50 to 60 trips.  Still hoping.  My personal best is 55 lbs during one of the Won Tuna Tournaments.  Dominick

[David Hall]

October 2015, I just got my boat out of the shop after blowing up my sterndrive and getting a new one installed.  I heard blue fin tuna were being caught off Santa Cruz.
I put a call into Jon V and asked if he wanted to go chase them, and if he wanted to lead the trip since I had ) experience with BFT.  so first trip out of the harbor with the new drive we stop on a bait ball and drop in some sabikis, within minutes we put 14 12" macks in the live well and headed northwest from Moss.  we dropped our lies back and I put mine about 100 yds back and started a chum line. it was about an hour later my line pops and starts peeling line off.  hooked up I land my first tuna 55#.  Ive caught plenty of Albacore but this was something different altogether.  It was my biggest tuna to date.  And the year didn't stop there, in November, Mr. T puts out the word that he has a space available on a PV trip leaving in two weeks, I get approval from the Boss but still don't have a passport so I begin the process, get my Passport 2 days before the trip and off we go, My first trip to Mexico, my first yellowfin trip and were on Marla IV with Danny, Scotty and Roberto.  The morning
of our first day, I brought a black and purple marauder and Scotty ties it on and drops it back on the troll.  Wham off it goes and Im up.  First Tuna Scotty asks, Yes I replied, then you gotta fight it standing up, no rail.  no problem, I was pumped, oh how little I did know, had I any idea what this fish had in store for me I might have shot myself in the head.  long story short after what seemed like eternity had passed and I had turned several shades of blue and purple, every muscle in my body screaming in pain, the fish came to gaff and all 185# of it came over the rail.  Both the fish and I hit the deck and neither of us could move, we looked each other in the eyes and I thought its over Im gonna die right here on the deck beside this fish.  Alan, Ben and Mike picked me up and carried me into the salon and dropped me on the couch were I spent the rest of the day praying we would not catch another one.
By the next morning I was recovered and Alan showed me how to use the rail, we went on to land 12-14 fish that trip.  It was epic. 
I have since been back 4 times looking for my 200lber. haven't seen him yet.
@015 was the yearit all started for me, now I am just another a big tuna junkie.

[Hardy Boy]

My first trip targeting tuna was in San Jose Baja. on my second fishing day I caught a 102 lb YFT on a 1/0 hook, 40 lb test and a small dead sardine.  My next dedicated tuna trip was last January with Alan, Ben and Dave in PV. I got a 104 lb YFT on the first day ..................... but Ben got a 204 lb ................... luck of the draw! Other than smaller ( 10 to 25 lbers) the only other larger YFT I caught was right around 60 lbs. I have never fished for BFT.


Cheers:


Todd

[MarkT]

I first broke 100# on my 5th 10 day. I did 2 10 day trips in 2017.  At the beginning of October we dropped below Mag Bay to the lower banks and they were dead, no life to be found at all.  A month later things had really changed.  I got a 298.8 as my first fish over 100#.  Two days later I got a 321# and a month later in PV with Alan I got a 270# and haven't looked back since.  My biggest BFT is ~85# and I have a couple of 60#ers.  Still trying to get over the hump on BFT!  I did break 100# on a Gulf Grouper last November on a 10 day.

[pjstevko]

These are all great stories, thanks for sharing everyone!

I feel very grateful that my first tuna over a hundred pounds was a BFT! Next up would be a YFT over the mark but I'm not sure if that's possible fishing off SD without traveling deep into Mexico/PV....

[Cor]

On my first trip.   Was a commercial tuna boat and was invited by a friend.    Some Yellowfin Tuna were under the boat and I dropped an iron down using an underpowered casting rod, wound fast and bang.

Skipper did not want to wait for me, gave me 5 more minutes.

Landed it and needed an hour to recover.   Had learned my lesson and refused to throw another lure into the ocean if size Tuna were around for at least the following 3 month!

I am hiding around the corner but at that point we had colour, the fish was 110 lb.

[Keta]

I got a 204# and a 217# YFT on my first long range trip, a 10 day.

[Swami805]

I got my 1st over 100 in the early 80's on a 10 day when the Red Rooster 3 was new.  Longest trip before that was a 3/4 day. Out of the pan and into the fire!  115# from alijos rocks.
Got my first cow a few years later at Clarion Island, this was before braid and 2 speed reels. Got my share of cows in the years after that but haven't cracked 300. Maybe someday

[conchydong]

I have been on two 10 day long range  on the Q105 and my best on them was just 75lbs according to 5 Star processing. Prior to that I made two trips to the East Cape and on my first trip I caught a YFT estimated at 110 on a single speed TLD 25. I was under gunned in the rod and reel set up and it was a long brutal fight. Coming from Florida, I had no idea back then that I really needed two speed reels for these brutes. It sure made the beer  go down easy afterwards though. On that same trip, I had the fortune to meet and party heavily with the late Chuck Byron (Marine Artist) and to be honest, that was the highlight of my trip. That guy was a trip and those memories will last forever.

I have never caught a Bluefin or BigEye. They are on my list.

[redsetta]

I was lucky enough to chase tuna once in the 1980s here in New Zealand.
This was before the migratory stocks of particularly YFT got decimated by satellite-tracking and purse-seine netting schools across the Western Pacific.
Best I managed was 60kg (132lb).
Haven't caught one since, but they've been turning up in NZ waters again in recent years (albeit in relatively small numbers) so hope remains!
Cheers, Justin

[pjstevko]

I love reading everyone stories, its been a great insight into our families fishing history!

Lets here some stories of other species over the hundred pound mark

[Alto Mare]

This guy didn't need to go far to catch a monster:

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/?p=1168952

I guess keeping everyone out of the water has helped bringing them close...they say the water is pretty clean.

Sal

[pjstevko]

This guy didn't need to go far to catch a monster:

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/?p=1168952

I guess keeping everyone out of the water has helped bringing them close...they say the water is pretty clean.

Sal

Apparently the entire NE coast has an influx of big BFT right now. I saw a similar fishing report of giant BF off New York Harbor