Started off as a normal quiet day leaving the dock from Dana Landing at 7:30am. Headed south about 30 ish miles and ran into the fleet. Marked a bunch of fish but no foamers so we decided to troll a purple Mad Mac. Within 15 minutes we hooked up and landed an 80lber. We were cruising about 13mph and trolled it 500 feet behind the boat. (We lost another one at the boat right after that)
More boats were showing up and keeping the fish down so we decided to head west about 15 miles and find our own fish. (Best decision as usual)
Got on the Gyros up on the tuna tower and spotted a massive foamer about 2 miles away. Got the rods out (both with surface irons) and instantly had a double hook up as we slid right in. This is the fun part. We had been fighting both tuna about 10 minutes and I went to the bow of the boat as I normally do. I was following the Bluefin around when it started pulling toward the stern. My buddy Scott and I were going to do a simple over under to avoid lines crossing. As I was walking around the boat and going to take the step down to the deck, it was a perfect storm of events. The tuna decided to make a huge run, the swell rocked the boat sideways and I was taking a step down where there was no rail. As I was mid step, I felt my deck boots give way, and I had a split second decision to make…Eat crap on the deck and the bait tank, or go overboard into the water.
Well I (kinda) chose the softer landing. Man Overboard. Keep in mind I had layers on. Shorts, sweats, waterproof pants over the sweats, deck boots and a t-shirt. As soon as I hit the water both of my buddies were as shocked as I was, they looked at me stunned ‘floating’ in the water. I still had the rod in my hand and noticed my sunglasses were now sinking, all the while I’m just trying to stay afloat. So I grabbed the sunglasses and then I started to sink as I could no longer tread water with all my clothes on, and a pissed off tuna that is still pulling me away from the boat. I made the choice to drop the $300 dollar sunglasses and hold onto the $1000 rod and reel with the tuna on the end.
Phil then grabbed the longest gaff we had and put the butt end out for me to grab. Once close enough he grabbed the rod and reel from me, and continued to fight this fish. I eventually pulled myself back into the boat and grabbed the rod back to fight the rest of the way. We finally got him into the boat (about 65lb) and we all just started busting up laughing. Craziest fishing story I’d ever been a part of.
Best part was the foamer was still going so we went over and got 2 more before we called it quits with 5 tuna in the boat. It was an epic day, just a little wet!
More boats were showing up and keeping the fish down so we decided to head west about 15 miles and find our own fish. (Best decision as usual)
Got on the Gyros up on the tuna tower and spotted a massive foamer about 2 miles away. Got the rods out (both with surface irons) and instantly had a double hook up as we slid right in. This is the fun part. We had been fighting both tuna about 10 minutes and I went to the bow of the boat as I normally do. I was following the Bluefin around when it started pulling toward the stern. My buddy Scott and I were going to do a simple over under to avoid lines crossing. As I was walking around the boat and going to take the step down to the deck, it was a perfect storm of events. The tuna decided to make a huge run, the swell rocked the boat sideways and I was taking a step down where there was no rail. As I was mid step, I felt my deck boots give way, and I had a split second decision to make…Eat crap on the deck and the bait tank, or go overboard into the water.
Well I (kinda) chose the softer landing. Man Overboard. Keep in mind I had layers on. Shorts, sweats, waterproof pants over the sweats, deck boots and a t-shirt. As soon as I hit the water both of my buddies were as shocked as I was, they looked at me stunned ‘floating’ in the water. I still had the rod in my hand and noticed my sunglasses were now sinking, all the while I’m just trying to stay afloat. So I grabbed the sunglasses and then I started to sink as I could no longer tread water with all my clothes on, and a pissed off tuna that is still pulling me away from the boat. I made the choice to drop the $300 dollar sunglasses and hold onto the $1000 rod and reel with the tuna on the end.
Phil then grabbed the longest gaff we had and put the butt end out for me to grab. Once close enough he grabbed the rod and reel from me, and continued to fight this fish. I eventually pulled myself back into the boat and grabbed the rod back to fight the rest of the way. We finally got him into the boat (about 65lb) and we all just started busting up laughing. Craziest fishing story I’d ever been a part of.
Best part was the foamer was still going so we went over and got 2 more before we called it quits with 5 tuna in the boat. It was an epic day, just a little wet!
