The full moon is a funny thing. If the moon is bright and you catch fish you don't even remember the moon phase. If you don't catch, though, you can curse the sky gods for wrecking your day. Today I shake my fist at the heavens. We saw many, many bluefin today. They were actively feeding under birds, mostly, and near or on feeding whales. At one point, early in the day, we had tuna surface about 100 feet from the boat and proceed to chase anchovies under and past our boat. Anchovies chased by tuna actually bounced off the hull and if we hadn't been casting jigs we probably could have free-gaffed a tuna (and instantly regretted it). They were not boat shy early. Later, yes. I heard of one bluefin caught near the Football and a couple landed near Cordell (Red boat again. You, sir, are a badass!) Where the fish were the water was 53º at first light. We went out to the warmer water and trolled north to the  40 line, then back in to the continental shelf, then south to the Football again to watch the tuna show. And then home. 103 miles and 56 gallons of gas. Today was an educational kick in the gut. The whales were cool, though.

   In happier news, Mike Martin sent in a report: "Hey Willy, a little late but here’s some pictures of my first BFTuna trip. I was fishing out of Shelter Cove with Jake Mitchell of Sea Hawk Sport fishing. We went 3 for 3. Using the length and girth method, they measured out  at 130#(2 of them) and the biggest about 165#. Launched at about 7:15am and hooked the first fish at 12:15 and the last at 2:30. We trolled 240 madmacs at 85 seconds(1000ft.?) and 60 seconds(600ft.?) at 10-11 knots in 54-55 degree water. We saw lots of whales but only circled feeding birds about 3 times all day. No fish were hooked near the feeding birds. We started about maybe 5 miles straight out from the launch and then trolled south about 7-8 miles. We stayed in this area(see map) the whole day with about 6 other boats who all caught fish, one had 6!!! We also had a bonus pair of Orca’s swim along side us for about 15 seconds.

 

Mike Martin" I'm jealous, Mike. Nice fish, and good trip. Everyone, please notice the water temps mentioned in this post. Bluefin are more concerned about food than warmth. As long as there's food, there's hope.