Slightly off topic. Yellowfin Trip

[Mr_Fixit]

Gentlemen,

I suppose this is a 'what not to do' kind of message.

I went on a 1.5 day fishing trip. Overall the experience was good, and I learned a lot. Our boat had 18 people and we ended up with 71 fish. My catch? Zero. Big skunk from hell. Only dude on the boat to catch a goose egg.

What I expected? Well, I expected the fish to be much larger. The largest fish we had was 29 pounds. I was expecting fish in the 40+ range. So, given this, I brought my heavy gear including: 2/0 and 3/0 hooks, 40#, 30#, and 15# leader material. I had two heavy rods with Fathom 25N and 30 reels.

Lesson 1) Fishing Style: I was fishing my bait like you would for YT. Let it run out a bit, put on clicker, raise drag a touch, wait for a bite.... WRONG.. Fishing off a boat, you let the bait run. Let it keep on running in free spool.

Lesson 2) Gear: I should have brought lighter gear. Realistically, I should have brought a medium baitcaster setup, possibly two, and one heavy conventional setup. Lighter rod could have been used to cast flat fall irons, and the heavier baitcaster could have been used to cast my bait out further and on target. I cant cast conventional reels (Something I need to work on). So I ended up waiting for my bait to swim in the right direction and such.

Lesson 3) Hooks: Size hooks to the bait, right? Well, the bait we had was pretty small. Size 2 hooks were what was needed on this trip. So, next trip I am going to be bringing Size 2, 1, 1/0, and 2/0 hooks. This was the second major contributor why I caught nada. I was using 2/0 hooks. WAY too big.

Lesson 4) Lures: Bring a flat fall or two. Cast them where the fish are boiling, and you are going to catch. I saw this a number of times. I saw Squish and other lures catch several fish.

Lesson 5) Muscles: Bring Icy Hot, especially if you are not a young dude. It seems stupid, but the rocking of the boat, as nice and soothing (For me at least) as it is, really takes its toll on your knees and hips. Your body is constantly adjusting to the motion while you dont even think of it. All these muscles working that usually do little really starts to hurt like hell towards the end of the day. Next day, I was just trashed.

Lesson 6) Boots: Bring rubber boots. Deck hands are constantly rinsing off the boat, getting the blood off. If you have street shoes, you will soon be wearing soggy sponges.

Lesson 7) Fish Prep: At the end of the trip, the crew offers to fillet your fish or just send you home with the whole fish. Thinking I didnt want to deal with the effort of filleting my fish, I opted for having them do it ($7). What I didnt know is that when you get off the boat, another dude comes up and offers fish processing. Option 1) Fillet, vac-sealed fish steaks. Option 2) Same as 1, but smoked. Option 3) Jerkied! Had I known this, I would have taken Option 1, though I did a good job at home with my goodies.

I did not learn about the hook issue until well into the fishing trip. The morning the captain put us on this HUGE school. These fish were boiling left and right for at least a couple hours. It was awesome! Dudes were hooking up 3-4 at a time. Deck hands were running everywhere gaffing fish. The deck was a bloody mess! We had fish flopping on the deck all over the place. Stacking up and sliding everywhere! Faster than the deck hands could gaff fish. It was GLORIOUS!

Did I leave empty handed? No. The deck hands helped me out as much as they can. Tips and advice were abundant, though honestly a little late. So, the chef caught a couple fish and they gave me one. 20#. Its all nice and snug in my freezer now.

[chris138]

Nice work... sounds like you learned enough to slam them next time. A couple more tips are to seek out the liveliest and most spastic bait in the well, and change bait constantly. Grab a couple dines and hold them in a cup or in your pocket then chum them right where your are going to cast your line. You should constantly be feeding your bait line. If you don't feel it swimming on that light 20-30# flouro, change it.

Check out this video my dad made on a yf trip last summer. He gives some good commentary about how the live bait tactics change as the "bite wears on". Sometimes they will only bite just as it hits the surface... like at min 6:40.

[YakDout]

How did you opt for them to fillet the fish you didnt catch? Thats impressive. Get yourself a pair of Xtra tuff boots with a good insole. Super green feet work well for me. Got a pair in tememcula recently at socal rod and reel for $65

[Mr_Fixit]

Originally Posted by YakDout

How did you opt for them to fillet the fish you didnt catch? Thats impressive. Get yourself a pair of Xtra tuff boots with a good insole. Super green feet work well for me. Got a pair in tememcula recently at socal rod and reel for $65

One of the crew caught a fish. They gave that to me. They wanted to make sure I dont head home empty handed. I am grateful for that, but would have been FAR happier catching my own.

[YakDout]

Oh thats cool man. At least you had some fresh ahi one way or another. Get em next time

[RedSledTeam]

Good information! You should write an article for WON titled 7 tips to a successful 1.5 day trip for Tuna. Good stuff!

[Mr_Fixit]

Originally Posted by RedSledTeam

Good information! You should write an article for WON titled 7 tips to a successful 1.5 day trip for Tuna. Good stuff!

LMAO! By a failed fisherman. hahaha

[Denis_Ruso]

Originally Posted by Mr_Fixit

LMAO! By a failed fisherman. hahaha

A lesson learned is not a failure.
A man may go all his life without realizing it's not the fish he's after.

[Mr_Fixit]

Originally Posted by Denis_Ruso

A lesson learned is not a failure.
A man may go all his life without realizing it's not the fish he's after.

Not for the first time I wish there was a Like button or icon here. hehe

[Aaron&Julie]

Once you've learned the ropes and applied it to tuna fishing and get into just a decent bite you'll be hooked, much like getting that first yellow off of the kayak.

A couple of other key points to know about tuna fishing, follow your line as everybody does the tuna shuffle. And definitely watch your line closely when hooked up, so you know AHEAD of time whether to go right or left, and over or under. Knowing this last tip will make things go so much more smoothly in all of the chaos that is tuna fishing.

[Mr_Fixit]

Originally Posted by Aaron&Julie

Once you've learned the ropes and applied it to tuna fishing and get into just a decent bite you'll be hooked, much like getting that first yellow off of the kayak.

A couple of other key points to know about tuna fishing, follow your line as everybody does the tuna shuffle. And definitely watch your line closely when hooked up, so you know AHEAD of time whether to go right or left, and over or under. Knowing this last tip will make things go so much more smoothly in all of the chaos that is tuna fishing.

Yup.. I had the tuna shuffle down pat. Other dudes were not so adept and this resulted in a few tangles. One dude with a pink pole and red braid consistently allowed a LOT of slack in his line that frequently tangled several people.

[ful-rac]

Sometimes you just can't catch'm, no matter how good they're biting or how good you are, or how good you think you are. There's always the next trip you can jump on and catch'm! In fishing you will never stop learning, there's always something new to learn or some technique you have never seen. It's awesome that the galley cook helped you out with a fish, that was above and beyond.

Although on this trip you didn't realize that you were using the wrong hook size or leader...it's something that you should be asking about and or paying attention to.

Keep this in mind the next time you go fishing it might help you....
Fisherman can be pretty stubborn creatures...they get set in their ways, and want to catch a fish their way no matter what. Or they'll have a this worked for me the last time so it should work for me this time mentality. Iv'e learned that faster you can put your stubbornness aside and switch to whats working at the moment, the sooner you will catch.

[Mr_Fixit]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

Sometimes you just can't catch'm, no matter how good they're biting or how good you are, or how good you think you are. There's always the next trip you can jump on and catch'm! In fishing you will never stop learning, there's always something new to learn or some technique you have never seen. It's awesome that the galley cook helped you out with a fish, that was above and beyond.

Although on this trip you didn't realize that you were using the wrong hook size or leader...it's something that you should be asking about and or paying attention to.

Keep this in mind the next time you go fishing it might help you....
Fisherman can be pretty stubborn creatures...they get set in their ways, and want to catch a fish their way no matter what. Or they'll have a this worked for me the last time so it should work for me this time mentality. Iv'e learned that faster you can put your stubbornness aside and switch to whats working at the moment, the sooner you will catch.

I did ask a ton of questions of people I know who go tuna fishing. My hook and rod selection was based on their advice. As it turned out, 15# leader material was the perfect choice, so I am glad I brought that. When nothing was biting, I did ask some of the other dudes and eventually the deckhands. That is where they pointed me to the proper hook size.

Honestly, I had a good time. As most of you mentioned, it was a learning experience. Any time I learn something new, I am happy. I am certainly looking forward to my next trip, so I apply what I learned this time and bring in some fish of MY OWN!

Yeah, the chef was awesome. When he hooked up, he even asked us if we wanted to bring in the fish. I turned him down because it kinda seemed like cheating to me. hehe. That seems a bit silly, but it is what it is. I wanted the whole thing to be me. Bait selection, pinning the bait, casting, hooking up, fighting, bringing it to the boat, and so on. Hell, I would have loved gaffing it, but that would not have been practical. Kayak, sure, but not on a boat.

[Dingokevin]

Wait.... They gave you a fish but no one had a hook/leader line for you. Get them next time.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[ful-rac]

When you can't get bit a hand off is all that's needed to take the edge off. Sometimes you just have to break down and take one, again it's a pride/stubbornness thing, you just have to get over it...just don't tell anybody that you did though...

When the day comes you are the hotdog, make sure you give the hand off when somebody needs one. It could be me! !


...And yes I'm talking about fishing, not ugly fat chicks!

[Aaron&Julie]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

When you can't get bit a hand off is all that's needed to take the edge off. Sometimes you just have to break down and take one, again it's a pride/stubbornness thing, you just have to get over it...just don't tell anybody that you did though...

Yeah, that should have happened, regardless.
That's over 4 per rod on the whole boat, that's pretty good fishing, I'll take that count any day on an overnight or 1.5 day trip. I'm sure the hot sticks had 9 or 10 fish, that's when boat limits come into play.
Since you were the only skunkee, it would have been nice if somebody paid closer attention.
The crew should've noticed and gone out of there way to get you on a bent rod.
When I worked albie boats, it was a something we paid attention to, it's a great way to get return customers. It's one thing when they give you a fish at the end of the day, which is often a boat fish on the hand line, another when a crew member baits and hooks one up to hand to you. Not that they had to give you that fish, but it still resulted in $7 more for the crew, yet still nice you didn't go home empty handed.