Last Friday my buddy and I launched at 4:45am to insure 2 hours to catch bait before the sunrise. Bait was very cooperative, and the live wells were filled with good sized Goggle Eyes within 30 minutes.
My buddy's friend had taken a 45lb King Mackerel the week before so we headed out with high hopes for big Kings,Tuna and Mahi that had been reported by the Charter fleet.
Reality was that it was slow. Often Tuna and King Mackerel can be taken in Darkness, but we had no such strikes this morning.
At Sunrise I had my first strike in 220ft on my downrigger 90 ft down. I was stoked to get my first Tuna of the season. My day was made as I had a good fish to take home.
We trolled and jigged for hours without a strike. Tuna fishing is often the most productive vertical jigging. I went out to the deep wreck and jigged it for hours. Even the cloud of AJ?s that hover around 225 ft down that I had tapped on many prior trips had locked jaws for the jig.
While my buddy slow trolled bait most the morning, I vertical jigged most of the morning. He got a nice King Mackerel, and I released a small Little Tunny ? my only strike on the jigs.
For the morning bait trolling efforts, I released 2 Barracudas,
and reeled in half a Rabbit fish that tried to eat my Goggleeye. He was not heavy enough to spring the downrigger clip, so he was trolled and eventually munched probably by a Barracuda.
At noon my buddy headed in, and I stayed out hoping for an afternoon bite. The afternoon breeze picked up out of the East which is good for blowing the weeds with bait in towards the beach which often brings the Mahi in also. Thirty minutes after my buddy headed in, I got my first strike near the Hydro Atlantic wreck,
a Sailfish that jumped a lot. Always good to see them jump, it tires them out fast and makes it easier to land them.
After that I had a strike out in 250ft of water on the downrigger. I metered large targets right at the downrigger just before the strike. This fish was ripping the line off the reel at a high rate!
It got my adrenaline pumping as I chased it out to 350ft of water with high hopes for a big Wahoo or Tuna!
I yo yoed the fish up and back down several times but it always stayed just far enough away to remain unidentifiable.
After 30 minutes of battle, it went high on the surface and jumped. Darn! It was another Sailfish
My hopes of a quality take home trophy dissolved.
I spent the rest of the afternoon slow trolling perpendicular to the shore between 40 and 180ft for big Kings. I eventually caught 2 smallish Kings in 40 to 100ft depth range before heading in.
I kept the Blackfin and the biggest of the King Mackerel. All other fish were released to fight another day.