[T Bone]

I think we all have more than one of these stories.This is going to be a great thread for sure...

My Dad is (Was) a bigtime longranger Cow tuna/Wahoo guy(He is now retired in Lapaz B C S Mexico with a house 300ft from the water and has a 19' robalo and 14' valco to play with.I will finally get to go down there now that things are getting better with my boy)anyways I wanted to finally get some bigger model tuna and wanted to do a 5 day to the 'lupe but he wanted to do at least a 10 day.I told him that The wife would never boil on that chum,so we picked a 7 day Alijos trip on the RR3.
In the mean time my Dad and I become aqainted with a guy named Rex who was friends with the Owners of Avet reels,two Armenian immigrants named Harry and Sarkis who's love for saltwater fishing led them to begin making reels.Rex told them about the trip we were going on which is Ultra prime time August 2006(what is known as a "Hurricane risk"trip)and were offered to demo a new reel the "SX 2pd" Harry just caught a 600+ black marlin on a JX2 and was convinced this new little gem could take 100# YFT and asked if we would do some tuna fishing with them.If we caught a "Good" tuna with them and got pictures we could keep the reels.I thought this was a win-win so what the hell.The little reel seemed at the time like the coolest thing I had ever seen.300yds of 50# spectra with short flouro topshot and away we went...
Alijos is an unbelievable sight.It is comprised of 3 big rock pinnacles that are taller than they are wide and is nick-named "Neptunes Castle" The fishing there is amazing.After catching my first of two big wahoo for the trip we settled into some tuna fishing.There were two grades of fish being caught,25-35#YFT were stupid thick with skippies mixed in.The bigger models were 60-90# and the JP fish was over 100# for the trip.I had the sx2 on my 800M and through out a dine,which was bit in seconds by a 30#YFT which was tackled in a reasonable amount of time and the lower gear was sweet.I re-rigged with a balloon and fished opposite the current because the wind was blowing the other way.The stern was a cluster "FISH" of guys hooked up and 2 kites were going too in the direction I was fishing and they were getting the bigger models out away from the boat.It wasnt long before I was a good distance away from the boat,probably 80yds when the balloon goes down and pops.When I put the reel in gear it was like pulling the pin on a grenade! There was no doubt this was the right kind and it was on!The fish took another 50yds in about 5 seconds and then slowed a bit.I began to draw some attention by deckhands and passengers since everyone new what we were using.I was down to 1/2 spool and slid the drag past strike but not completely to full.There was a lot of back and forth,but mostly forth.I made gains only to lose them and more.I had about 100YDS left when I put it in full and put the wood to him.I got back to a half spool and by this time I had Capt. Andy and my Dad both beside me coaching me.I felt pretty good until the fish really showed me what he was all about and went into overdrive.The spool was rapidly diminishing and I was actually asked If I wanted a backup rod.With only about 25 yrds left I just high sticked it straight in front of me.I have never been spooled before so was quite unaware that I was in trouble by my position.The fish spooled me and popped the knot without missing a beat,The fully bent rod cracked me right between the eyes and I actually saw stars.I thought my Dad was going to literally die laughing as it took him minutes to collect himself and wipe the tears from his eyes.I was bought a few rounds of beer that night for my stand up comedy act.My dad got a 64#er so we got to keep the reels anyways.I lost it in the surf at LJ after pearling in the dark because I had 60+#WSB between my legs(See Ultimate Yardsale)my avatar fish.

Anyways I ended up getting several nice tuna on that trip but switced over to the LX2 with 50# and a more appropriate Graphite USA SW70hp that I also lost in that yardsale.Lesson learned,IF YOU ARE GOING TO GET SPOOLED HAVE THE ROD AWAY FROM YOUR FACE!