San Diego, The rest of the story

[PRDATR]

16 hours ago, wildwoody said:

Any cool pics, very successful trip, awesome.

So pics are of me, my son CJ and fellow CWT Member Metau who caught a slob and only one of the four Bluefin. Three fish battled for his lure and we saw the strike. Very cool and exciting. I think it was right at 40#'s. Biggest BF went to Chris from Minnesota kneeling in the light colored shirt. This fish was 75-80 and he brought it to the boat after dark in under 15 minuets with time to share using a monster of a reel. He was down about 200'+ and used a live sardine and a 9/0 hook and used small wire ties to hold it on the hook. The other big fish was caught by Phil, a local, and also after dark after a long soak. He caught it on a 25# outfit after a battle that took him around the boat and lasted probably 90 minutes.

[wildwoody]

Oh ya, thanks..  Heading to the Keys in November.

[trphyhntr]

good job metau man

[PRDATR]

1 hour ago, trphyhntr said:

good job metau man

He got the BFT Monkey off his back on this trip. He was pleasure to be with, always had a positive attitude.

[Outdoor Writer]

11 hours ago, PRDATR said:

He got the BFT Monkey off his back on this trip. He was pleasure to be with, always had a positive attitude.

That's because he had a brandy new rod case to carry his reach-out-there rods in. 😎

[recurveman]

On 7/7/2019 at 5:32 PM, PRDATR said:

Well the sad story is there were maybe four experienced guys with a setup able to cast 125' to 150' into each of the 50 or more boils we came on. The mates had the right gear so you had to nudge your way to jockey position on the bow. Fish would sound deep after a few casts so you had to make the first cast count. Stick baits were what the wanted and a cast beyon the school or in the middle of it or just on the edge would be a 90% hookup. This was something new for my son and I and on a scale of 10 I told the one captain it was a 15. I would have been happy with one fish.

I caught two of my five myself. The rest were hookups by the mates who then handed off to anyone who was ready. They had both the knowledge and gear to do so and then stayed with the person they handed off to to coach and finally gaff them. I rented two 30# and two 50# rods with Avet reels but since they were lever drags and didn't have what I was used to (a brake system) I struggled to get more than a 50' cast without a birdnest. I used them for a couple of hours the first day then they spend the rest of the time in the rack. Action was very fast and furious so no time to deal with a birdnest. MY son decided to buy a rod and reel when we got  there so with that  we were able to catch a few on our own using a 100gram butterfly jig. The fish were feeding on pinky sizes anchovies and wanted nothing to do with live bait except the two 60-80# bluefin caught after dark down deep after a long soak.

I chose to have them "process" them and put them in vacuum bags. I have maybe 30 pounds of fish in 5 bags of each 4 pounds and 3 bags of collars but I will repack them into something more manageable. It appears all of the other boats in the general vincinity caught single digits each day. We really  did well and if we were all as competent as the mates I believe could have caught over 200 fish. Food was good and everyone go along jut fine. I think everyone left their ego at the dock.

I normally carry a #80 braid spinning rod that I put a #40-60 floro leader on so I can cast.   It is a bad butt setup and just for this type of action.    You can throw a chunk of iron so far it would take the rest of the day to reel it back in.  

I also started bringing a 9' rod that has #100 braid that I put a #60 leader on.    This rod will also cast plenty far when needed.    The biggest problem is these combinations are the last few you need for your arsenal.   Normally these are rods 7 and 8.   Funny thing is I catch most of my fish on the two rods that I posted about.    

Glad you got into some action.    This sport has cost me so much money I can't even begin to tell you...........I just wish I had more money to spend.    This is a very addicting sport.   

[trphyhntr]

i want a black hole popping rod but id have to sell my truck and house first. 

[metau]

On 7/13/2019 at 3:32 PM, trphyhntr said:

good job metau man

Thanks

[metau]

5 hours ago, recurveman said:

I normally carry a #80 braid spinning rod that I put a #40-60 floro leader on so I can cast.   It is a bad butt setup and just for this type of action.    You can throw a chunk of iron so far it would take the rest of the day to reel it back in.  

I also started bringing a 9' rod that has #100 braid that I put a #60 leader on.    This rod will also cast plenty far when needed.    The biggest problem is these combinations are the last few you need for your arsenal.   Normally these are rods 7 and 8.   Funny thing is I catch most of my fish on the two rods that I posted about.    

Glad you got into some action.    This sport has cost me so much money I can't even begin to tell you...........I just wish I had more money to spend.    This is a very addicting sport.   

Had that exact setup on a 8' spinning rod that I caught the BFT on, specifically for that task. Issue was they were going under 100 yards out, and with anything heavy enough to cast that far, it shut them down the moment it hit the water (with very few exceptions). Definitely learned a ton on this trip, and plan on having a 9' (or longer) casting rod set up for this next year to chuck the lightweight stuff out there far enough. And let's just not discuss the cost of this hobby...(already looking at getting my own CC).

[trphyhntr]

14 minutes ago, metau said:

Had that exact setup on a 8' spinning rod that I caught the BFT on, specifically for that task. Issue was they were going under 100 yards out, and with anything heavy enough to cast that far, it shut them down the moment it hit the water (with very few exceptions). Definitely learned a ton on this trip, and plan on having a 9' (or longer) casting rod set up for this next year to chuck the lightweight stuff out there far enough. And let's just not discuss the cost of this hobby...(already looking at getting my own CC).

What spinning setup did you use for the bft

[biglakejake]

7 hours ago, recurveman said:

I normally carry a #80 braid spinning rod that I put a #40-60 floro leader on so I can cast.   It is a bad butt setup and just for this type of action.    You can throw a chunk of iron so far it would take the rest of the day to reel it back in.  

I also started bringing a 9' rod that has #100 braid that I put a #60 leader on.    This rod will also cast plenty far when needed.    The biggest problem is these combinations are the last few you need for your arsenal.   Normally these are rods 7 and 8.   Funny thing is I catch most of my fish on the two rods that I posted about.    

Glad you got into some action.    This sport has cost me so much money I can't even begin to tell you...........I just wish I had more money to spend.    This is a very addicting sport.   

i know of a seeker jigstik gathering dust in a garage down the street-the fellow i gave it to 5 years ago only fishes for triggerfish now.  that stik was attached like a transformer comic to my right arm for 10 years.  100yds with a salas 6xjr was never a problem.  lots of yft would have grown bigger except for it.

lee

[Heat]

Penn Fathom 40nld2 on sale for $220.  I couldn't resist.  Perfect reel for San Diego bluefin.

[PRDATR]

1 hour ago, Heat said:

Penn Fathom 40nld2 on sale for $220.  I couldn't resist.  Perfect reel for San Diego bluefin.

I noticed a few people had lever drag reels on the boat.