READER REPORT: Angler sets out to deck season’s first bluefin on the San Diego, and scores

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BY TREVOR BEERE

SAN DIEGO—I’m nonetheless in disbelief over what occurred.

Main as much as the journey, the fish counts have been just a little scary to take a look at, however we set out with extraordinarily excessive hopes and low expectations of the opportunity of getting the primary bluefin of the season aboard the San Diego.

A couple of of my buddies that weren’t capable of make it on the journey have been speaking every kind of trash about all of the heavy gear I used to be getting ready saying issues like, “you don’t want all that gear for a number of bonito!” All I needed to say was, “I’m going on the market to catch the primary bluefin of the season, and if some bonito wish to play, I’ll be prepared for them as nicely!”

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On the best way out to the grounds I arrange two completely different sinker rigs as a result of I’ve extra confidence in that to catch a bluefin than some other methodology, and sometimes I want to make use of the old-school rubber-band fashion sinker rig as a result of I really feel it permits your bait to maneuver round just a little extra freely. I additionally had fly-line bait rods prepared with 20-, 30- and 40-pound check and an 80-pound vertical jig setup able to go.

It didn’t take lengthy for Matt and the boys on the San Diego to seek out some “measurement lage” tuna as soon as we bought into the zone, and as we approached the primary large flat spot of barely subsurface 60- to 200-pound tuna they began chumming and the fish began boiling!

I grabbed my 40-pound setup and despatched the best-looking bait I might discover within the wells all the way down to the depths that Matt talked about over the loud speaker (180 to 240 ft). I used to be doing my factor letting 5 to 10 ft of line out slowly and stopping it till I might really feel my bait pitter-pattering earlier than letting down one other 5 to 10 ft.

Earlier than I even bought to my 200-foot mark on my line, Matt was saying these fish blew proper by way of us and are lengthy gone so wind ‘em up! As I used to be winding up, Fisher, one of many deckhands, requested me what I used to be doing with my 40-pound setup in my fingers and if I had simply seen a few the fish that boiled (fish as much as 200).  I mentioned “yea,” and he requested if I needed to hook considered one of them on 40-pound, and I mentioned, “nope!” with a chuckle.

I shortly realized I wanted to alter one thing if the fish have been transferring that shortly, so I began re-rigging my heavier 60-pound setup with a Bralla rig (drop-shot-style sinker rig),  a way I discovered from Matt Bralla,  Captain of the San Diego. This method lets you ship a bait down extraordinarily quick (full-speed freespool) with out the troubles of tangling up.

Earlier than I completed re-rigging ,Matt was saying we’re pulling up on one other large batch of tuna, so I shortly completed tying on my 8-ounce sinker about 4 to five ft under my 1/0 ringed circle hook and began trying to find the very best bait I might discover within the nicely. As I used to be sending my bait down, I watched my good pal Tyler hook up on a small Coltsniper-style jig, and as he was working as much as the bow along with his fish peeling line.

At that time, my bait stopped sinking. Realizing that the underside is probably going over a thousand ft under me, that might solely imply I used to be bit! I shortly put my reel in gear and wound down into the most important fish I’ve ever hooked, as I yelled “There’s a biter!” it began dumping line off my reel and taking me up towards the bow. As my reel heated up and my line disappeared, I began to get nervous and felt like I had no management of the fish, and the fish began to cross over to the opposite aspect of the bow. Deckhand Ethan sprang into motion and grabbed the rod to get me over the pinnacle, and he slowly put an increasing number of stress on the fish by excessive sticking the rod and holding the road till it stopped working and rotated. He gained over half the road again that I had simply misplaced and handed the rod again to me, and I made big beneficial properties on the fish because it was headed straight again on the boat virtually getting my mono chief again on the reel earlier than the fish went straight underneath the boat and headed again to the strict.

I bought the fish to the again of the boat the place I used to be in a position acquire some line again earlier than the fish took its third run towards the bow. The fish virtually spooled me on the primary 4 runs it took earlier than settling into some deep circles, about half-hour into the struggle.

As soon as the fish was straight up and down, I used to be capable of put my Penn Fathom 2-speed in low gear and actually put stress on the fish.  Because the fish bought nearer and my chief knot approached the rod tip, we knew the fish was 100 ft away, and that’s when all the pieces bought actually aggravating, particularly for me sitting down unable to see the fish doing its circles. There have been a number of moments the place I used to be leaning on my rod so laborious it was lifting me up out of my chair!

After a few 45-minute battle and a number of other laps across the boat we managed to get a gaff within the fish and convey it on deck. I knew from how the fish was preventing it was a lot bigger than something I had ever caught, and after I noticed them carry the fish over the rail, I used to be speechless! After a pair fast footage, Matt and the crew sprang again into motion and bought again on the hunt for the subsequent batch of tuna! They estimated the burden of the fish to be 136-pounds primarily based of the measurements, which is near double the dimensions of my earlier private finest and my first triple-digit.

Your complete boat managed to land 5 bluefin out of about 10 to fifteen that have been hooked, and I someway bought fortunate with two of them! The smaller of my two fish bought cut up up and shared with everybody on the boat that didn’t catch a fish, so everybody went residence with some recent tuna, and the 4 individuals in our group cut up up the larger one, so all of us have all-you-can eat sushi for some time!

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