NDR ..........tuna tuna

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Dick Sargeant

Well-known member
I am in the middle of a million things but still trying to get offshore to fish now and then. Had a few hours on Saturday afternoon and decided to run out to an offshore bank from Gloucester and grab some cod and haddock. At the 4th spot my jig got nailed by a big fish 280 feet below and I spent about 10 minutes working "what ever this is" to the surface. The fight was much too strong for a big cod and I was hoping to see a halibut which is very rare in this water. Suddenly a very large bluefin showed up with my cod jig in it's maw and promptly decided that the "party is over".........fish headed out and I held on as best I could. I expected to get smoked with the line gone but I was able to finally slow the fish with 450 feet of 80 # braid out and about 150 feet of backing by putting the rod in the holder and tightening down on the drag and then the fish towed my 21 foot boat backwards for about 15 minutes. I caught my breath and as the big fish tired, I grabbed the rod and got back to work eventually getting it under the boat again. My harpoon and big gaff were in the cabin out of reach and I was not sure if I had a "legal" fish. The regs change all summer and I cannot keep a fish over 60 inches with the license that I have at this time in the season. I had been on the fish for about 45 minutes by myself and not thinking clearly and jacked on who knows how much adrenalin. I pulled out a small gaff and decided to give it a shot if I could get the beast to the surface again ..........if the size looked ok. The battle continued and my arms and legs started shaking.........I was covered with sweat and would gain a foot and then lose a foot of line. Suddenly and for no apparent reason........my lightweight cod rod exploded into pieces.......the line hit a sharp edge and the fish was gone. I sat down on a cooler and just sweat more for a while and then had to laugh a little...........had most of the fun and didn't get tempted to kill a big fish. I am guessing that the fish was about 5-6 feet in length and well north of 250 but will never know. I have tuna gear that is suitable for fish a little smaller and will be chasing footballs until mid October. Having taken a couple around 100 pounds in the past.........I thought there was nothing more exciting........until I got to try it with a cod rod !
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I will be shopping for a new cod rod capable of bigger things - just in case lightning strikes twice ! I found the tip section in the cuddy cabin about 12 feet BEHIND where I was standing.........that could have been grim if it hit me.........so new and stronger graphite is on the list.

Will post more updates on my new ride next week.............making progress !

sarge
 
Sarg,
find a LamiGlass blank without the Graphite. You will be a happy camper next time.
Cool story.

Bob
 
SOunds like quite a fight!
I've hooked two fish offshore here that I never saw, hooked them on Penn 113's with 50# mono.
Played straight down tug of war in 150' of water for over an hour on each one, never budged either one more than 50' off the bottom after drifting over a mile off the reefs we were fishing.
Both times the hook pulled and I was kinda glad it did!!!!

Did you catch any cod & haddock??
 
Thanks guys it was quite an experience and a miracle that I could even stop the beast. Most of the time that would have just smoked the line off and "have a nice trip back to the dock".

Bob - For these big guys I probably need to stay with the graphite but a much higher rating. Star has several rated for 80 # braid. Will be on the lookout for a good end of season deal.

Carl - I have a friend in FLA who tells me that Amberjack can pull your arms out of their sockets and are often around reefs.

Funny how over 60 years I can still remember a half dozen fish lost from big pickerel as a kid to salmon and trout and then a couple in the ocean.

sarge
 
Biggest amberjack I have caught weighed around 25-30 pounds and I really dont care to hook one any bigger than that. They will flat out pull your arms off, strong as hell. I cant imagine fiighting a 90-100 pounder, the AL record is 127 pounds.
 
Dick,
I fished 130 class bent butts out of a skiff on some big fish. They flat out pull. But the smaller ones of any size are a blast to mess with and you did great to keep one on that long.
I have had 150 class fish pull the boat all over the ocean and 750s that just felt like a blue shark till the dart was seen.

You never know when, but you will break your stuff for sure no matter what class if you do it long enough.

But every graphite failure I ever had looked just like that, us. from a high stick\fast surge resulting in the explosion of the rod.

Good luck.
 
Fish as often as I can out of Falmouth Ma. In waters East of Cape Cod for Bluefin tuna and south of Cape Cod for most of the Pelagics (yellowfin Tuna, Albacore tuna, wahoo, white marlin, blue marlin, mahi mahi, and swordfish). Weather looks decent but not great for Saturday so I will head east and target Bluefin tuna. At certain times, bluefin tuna can be caught very close to shore. They are fun to catch. If anyone on this site is in the Falmouth Ma area, and wants to fish, drop me an email. Believe it or not, I am often looking for capable crew, offshore fishing is not for everyone! I am NOT a charter or commercial fishermen so trips with me are free!

Jim O'Brien
 
We had a shimano terez explode on a friend earlier this season on a 40-50" class fish, certainly surprises you when it happens! We still landed the fish!

Season started out well for us down here in NJ on the smaller fish, died out with a big algae bloom from the end of July on, starting to come back now but the weather is getting tough. Wish we could run right off the beach to bluefin fish like you guys in Mass, usually a 50-75 mile run for us.

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Geez Bob now look what we have done...........corrupted DBDN with tuna fever...........I will behave and next post more pics of the TDB rework as a deluxe layout but while I have your attention........what Lamiglass blank would you recommend for dual purpose cod/and the occasional heart attack ?
sarge
 
If you are going shimano i wouldn't go with the terez, go with the trevala, they are great rods. I personally know of at least a dozen terez that have self destructed.

I really don't understand the management plan for bluefin. You would think they would cut the recreational harvest on the east coast more than what it has been.
 
Dick,
we ran a lot of Seeker Blanks for the Tuna in the canyons. These were a replacement for a 12 rod set that was built custom for a charter boat to use on the Yellows and Albi's that was all graphite blanks that each exploded one after the other in a month period. A bad move by a customer on a high stick and bang went the rod. The builder did the whole set over.
I have a small kit of mostly Seeker rods that I built for smaller stuff trolling and chunking but I dont know how well they would fish with your cod bombs. I like a short stand up rig or a swivel rod holder and a bent butt. A long jigging rod would just about kill me and my back on a big fish for as long as you fought that one.
I only mentioned the Lamiglass because I knew they were still in the game and had glass blanks vs graphite. The glass is more forgiving of hard handling in my opinion, but that is going on 13 year old experience. I just dont fish off-shore now that I have a family.
But I dream of a long range cod trip now, about as much as I used to about the edge and the Big Eye bight at dawn or dusk.
My Giant adventures ended when the captain of the boat I fished for out of your area developed serious health problems and became wheel chair bound.

Great to see some tunas on the deck. I sure miss the days trolling or chunking out next to the Windy and Capt Jack

Now a Halibut,,,,, that would have been something to see.
 
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