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#1706958 - 02/09/17 12:08 AM Another tuna trip
CAPT. HOOP Offline

Member

Registered: 11/02/02
Posts: 7540
Loc: Empire / Venice, La
After a good day and a bad day on one of the best boats ever made I was going to be on an old 24 Cape Horn. Although it has a good size fish box the top broke off at some time and it just had a piece of plywood covering it. This would be a bigger problem latter in the day.

We met at Venice Marina, got bait, and iced up. As we headed out the sky was lighting up. At least the day started out good.



We were lucky the seas had calmed down overnight. Going from a 60 mph. boat to a 30 mph. boat brought me back to reality. There was some fog to deal with. Once out of the pass I had to follow his electronics which there was a slight issue with. Another boat came out and we got in behind it. I realized something was not right and had my guy turn to the right. This allowed us to get into deeper water. It was not long before the other boat came to a halt. He had found the sand bar a few miles outside of North East Pass. Running in the fog it is easy to go off course a bit. The clean water was still a long way out. Once we found it we trolled a rig but decided to join the fleet. I trolled for kings but they did not want to hit our lures. Several of the boats around had bent rods so we got into the chunking action. We were getting our hooks bit off by the kings. Our hook tying skills were being honed into perfection. Eventually one of the lines starts screaming. "That's what we are looking for." We get him set up into a belt and a harness and the fight is on. Half way through the clip on the harness breaks. You buy cheap you get cheap. About 30 minutes into the fight the fish holds down and is acting more like a big shark. I put on a pair of gloves and help him with the line. Once I see color I know we have a good size tuna that has almost beaten the angler. This one went 114.7 at the dock.



It was frustrating to see all the other boats fighting the fish while kept drifting around and only getting bonito and kings. I was marking well but the good ones were avoiding our bait. After about an hour of this frustration we get another good one. This stud is spooling the reel and I had to pick up and chase this stud. It was running up high. I had to wave off a few boats as my fish was running near the surface between boats and we could not turn it. This fish was obviously larger than the one we already had in the box. Having a broken harness did not help us at all either. I venture to say we fought this one for over a half hour before sticking it. The first gaff shot was a meat shot that ripped out with ease. The second gaff hit it's mark and the fish was ours. This baby weighed in at 138.6 pounds.



Now comes our problem. They had gotten 6 baskets of ice and some of it had melted. A tuna is hot blooded and will melt the ice very quickly. We now have over 250 pounds of hot meat to chill. It was obvious we did not have enough ice for our fish and almost did not have enough room for then either. We had to call it for the day and head in just to save our fish from spoiling. I asked several boats around if I could get some ice but they were also very low. We had no choice but to head to the barn.



These two guys were more than happy to be heading in. They were both sore and very happy. We did make a quick stop in state waters and dropped a flat fall jig for a few minutes. We managed a red snapper and an almaco jack but had to keep moving before the tuna started to ruin.

I did run across a commercial snapper boat from Florida taking red snapper from our state waters. This is the type of boat that is being investigated by fox news this week.



Our day ended as good as it started.



Life is Good!

Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM
Our Freedom Charters
P.O.Box 449
Empire, La. 70050
H- 504-657-6330
C- 504-247-8459
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#1706959 - 02/09/17 06:06 AM Re: Another tuna trip [Re: CAPT. HOOP]
Crazy Ivan Offline



Registered: 08/26/02
Posts: 17933
Loc: New Milford, and Anywhere Salt...
Nice Hoop! You should write for saltwater sportsman! Nice tuna! Need a bigger hatch!

I'm not fat, I'm fluffy!

Judge Smails:

"Its easy to grin, when your ship comes in, and you've got the stock market beat. But the man worth while is the man that can smile with his shorts too tight in the seat."
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#1706965 - 02/09/17 06:49 AM Re: Another tuna trip [Re: CAPT. HOOP]
Bone-Head Offline
Member

Registered: 01/31/05
Posts: 335
Loc: southington
that looked like a great day for me. they had more time to eat and drink. marinated tuna steaks are delicious.
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#1706970 - 02/09/17 08:37 AM Re: Another tuna trip [Re: CAPT. HOOP]
Joe Grenus Offline

Member

Registered: 02/13/02
Posts: 4162
Loc: Cheshire
Them is some nice yellers! Nice going Hoop.
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#1706972 - 02/09/17 09:11 AM Re: Another tuna trip [Re: Crazy Ivan]
CAPT. HOOP Offline

Member

Registered: 11/02/02
Posts: 7540
Loc: Empire / Venice, La
Originally Posted By: Crazy Ivan
Nice Hoop! You should write for saltwater sportsman! Nice tuna! Need a bigger hatch!


I am not a writer. I am just sharing my experiences with all of you. This is what is happening to me and you are just following the old man through the life I have chosen.

My "Life is Good"

Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM
Our Freedom Charters
P.O.Box 449
Empire, La. 70050
H- 504-657-6330
C- 504-247-8459
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#1707025 - 02/09/17 07:57 PM Re: Another tuna trip [Re: CAPT. HOOP]
Don P Online   content

Member

Registered: 05/03/07
Posts: 18946
Loc: CLINTON, CT
I took a few nice pics today myself:




Let's getM in the morning!!!
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#1707095 - 02/10/17 06:39 PM Re: Another tuna trip [Re: CAPT. HOOP]
CWood Man Offline

Stop Bitchin' And Get Fishin'!

Registered: 02/13/04
Posts: 22620
Loc: Villas NJ
Awesome Hoop! Good size fish!



CHANGE IS SCARY BUT IT IS REWARDING ON THE OTHER SIDE!

SURELY MISS MY CTF FRIENDS BUT ALWAYS WILL BE HERE TO GIVE ALL A HARD TIME!

Team MOY

"How about a Fresca?!"

Don't call me on a Tuesday, I'm on the water!






Chris
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#1707098 - 02/10/17 08:16 PM Re: Another tuna trip [Re: CAPT. HOOP]
seeforellen Offline

Member

Registered: 07/09/03
Posts: 6743
nice tuners!
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#1708577 - 03/03/17 07:51 AM Re: Another tuna trip [Re: CAPT. HOOP]
jd06010 Offline

Member

Registered: 09/29/06
Posts: 30
Loc: Bristol
Way to go Hoop!!!! Nice catch.

Don't eat the bait it must be bad the fish don't want it either.
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