On Monday we left at 8am which is later than our usual 5am departure time for tuna trips. The wind had blown hard from the north during the days leading up to this trip, and I wanted to allow the seas some time to lay down.
​Exiting the bay was quite the challenge. We encountered a "wall of water" as we moved through the inlet. 10 foot waves were breaking over the bar. It was a pretty big adventure!
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Fortunately we made it through fine and safe.
However you need to be careful when boating in this particular area after a hard blow from the north or east (see below).
There was a big ocean swell on, and it was hard to get up and run around. The swell was big enough that when you got down into the dip you couldn't see around you. There could of been another boat 100 yards away and I would not of been able to see it.
As we worked our way to the fishing grounds we saw some tuna pop up here and there, however it was hard to see them at times because the swell was so big. Ultimately we ended up very far from shore.
We soon had chances on some pushing fish that would come up on the plug.​ The tuna would swirl on the plug but refused to bite. We decided to get ourselves into a good area with plenty of life, and wait for the slack.
Once that slack went off it was a pretty amazing sight. Pods of tuna came rushing to the surface and we were soon surrounded by acres of whitewater.
​The water was really clear and the tuna were being really picky. Finally after casting 12 times into a giant whitewater feed, we got tight.
After a great fight we landed the fish which was just under 60 inches. Perfect for the spinning gear.
I actually had a scientist from Virginia onboard for this trip. He worked to securely attach a satellite tag to the tuna.
The satellite tag's purpose is to record the mortality rate of the tuna we are catching here in our Cape Cod fishery.
So far out of all the tuna he has tagged off North Carolina, not a single one has died after being caught and released. I can only hope that this first Cape tuna goes on to live a successful life!
The pods of tuna continued crashing all around the boat. Without exaggeration I would say we saw at least 1,000 tuna feeding on the surface. The number of fish were staggering.
We saw tuna from 40 inches all the way up to 500 pounds going airborne. However the fish were very picky. ​We managed to hook up a second time but ended up popping the hook.
Overall it was a great trip. Anytime you can see tuna crashing on the surface like that, that it is a special trip. Out of the 8+ hours we spent at the fishing grounds, we probably only went 10 minutes without seeing fish breaking.
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5+ minute audio report from Cullen discussing
the details of this trip
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Wow amazing must of been quite the site 500lbers breaking the surface
One October five or six years ago we encountered hundreds of tuna leaping straight clear of the water, chasing half beaks, a mere 5 miles from shore. We were surrounded.
Only problem was my engine had broken down. We just sat there dead in the water, watching the scene and waiting for a tow from my buddy, who was battling a fish. LOL