Well I finally connected on a nice pair of ahi this morning.
Left the dock at 0300hrs, and arrived at the HH bouy at 0530hrs. I made several passes, and loops with no signs of life. The winds and 2 big crossing groundswells kicked up as the sun started sheding light on the dreary haze. 15 knot forcast missed its mark today. We got a few tangles to sort (due in large part to being down 1 outrigger), and opted for a simple 4- 9" Ahi spread. Headed out several more miles, and started seeing some life around the 1500fathom line. Bird piles were large and slow moving, but seemed to dissapear and reappear constantly.
I worked the outskirts and at 0730hrs we made CONTACT on the short corner...zzzzz. CHEEE HOO! I resisted the urge to easy back on the throttle, as line poured off the 12/0. After clearing the two long lines, my mate Joe points to the long corner as it goes off. Woo ho.. double hook up! We got the deck cleared, turn her downhill, and settled into a double battle. The fish crossed lines twice and we played alot of magical chairs keeping the rods in the best location. 30 minutes into tue fight we had color. I reeled the fish in, transitioned to the leader, and Joe made got a good shot. Over the rail, and straight into the fish box. Joe took his time with the second fish as I bled, gilled/gutted and packed the fish in ice. Looked at my watch...0830hrs..what the heck is takin so long. Checked the drag and the star had backed off. Tighten it up to about 30lbs, and gave Joe a hand getting some of the 500yds of line back on the spool. We trued running away, backing down, and Wicked Tuna style. Eventually got the fish to the boat. She came up dead, with tue hook point just lightly imbedded in a lower gill arch. Over the rail and same routine to cool the fish down. 2 nice ahi on ice. The first looked to be 90lbs, second maybe 115lb.
We worked towards Barber's along the 1000fa, and found a big group of Mahi chassing bait. I made several passes through the group, but they showed zero interest in my big Ahi baits. Wind was kickin, and alot of miles to go, so I left them and worked in to the 500fa, along back to the inner ledge, and ran my Ono jets back to the head bouy.
No more takers.
Back at the dock at 1500hrs. Happy to see I only burned 18gals for 12 hours of trolling. Can't beat that ;)
My friend with the fish coop wanted the big one, and my and Joe's freezer had space, so the smaller fish was butchered.
I have been searching for Yellowfin for 3 trips now, so it was nice to finally make contact on the fourth offshore trip.
Kinda wush I could head out again in a few hours.
Maybe I should call in sick?
BTW, this was the test I was looking for on the 2-12/0s with Adam's versa drag inserts. They performed wonderfully. Super-super smooth, strong drag. The heat was not bad either.
Pics
More pics...
Good test on the gear and great food in the freezer. Can it get any better than this?
Way to go, John! Nice report, nice fish.
Thanks for sharing John, great photos and great report. Now that you mention it - you do sound a bit croaky, I wouldn't risk going to work and spreading the flu - you and your workplace would be better off if you have another session of salt air therapy to stop the flu developing!
Great work John! Boy I'll bet it felt really good to break in the new boat with that great pair of fish!
.............Lou
The larger fish weighed out at 114lbs, gilled & gutted, so about 135lb whole weight. The smaller fish yielded 66lbs of fully trimmed cuts..likely ~60%yield.
:o Very nice! Congrats sir.
Not hard to understand why so many sell part of their catch to offset costs. That's a lot of meat to consume.
Sid
Congratulation, all you needed was more time on the water. Keep up the good work and remember what worked. ;)
That is pure awesomeness. All the work you put into the boat and its starting to pay off. Big congratulations.
Very nice catch.
John, that's getting it done, for real. Great work!
Way ta go...great fishin'!
Congrats on the YFT christening-beautiful fish!
Lots of people have caught big yellowfin John, but not many can say that they did it on their own boat with gear that they built themselves. Quite an accomplishment! I hope that these two are the first of many for your boat this year.
Randy
That's a true test of your reels. Great job!!
Great job John. It's neat to see the whole package come together like this.
Cool Beans....errrrr Cool Tuna brother.....I agree you typing sounds scratchy and I could whole heartedly recommend another day of salt air therapy....Bill
Great job John! Those are some very nice fish.
Glad the drags worked well for you. Let me know how the washers look next time you open up the reel.
Here is where some of that fish I sold ended up (the rest went to a high-end restaurant)...
Here is what the Ahi are feeding on, and why they chose tue leeward sides of the MHIs and the nearby seamounts to spawn at. Huge swarms of Mesopelagic Mysid shirmp.
*Photo taken at the NMFS PIFSC lab