Well the last couple days were on both ends of the spectrum. Tuesday I had the pleasure of taking Brad Potts and his 9 year old son Will. The wind blew 30kts on Monday and I was a bit worried that it would not calm down like the forecasts said for Tuesday. We set a late departure to give the seas some time to lay and left the dock about 8am. Fortunately the weatherman was right and the seas were flat as I have seen them in 4 months as we cleared the pass. Mike Lane came along to film another episode for rodnreeltv.com and I was hoping to get some good footage of young Will on his first tuna. We pulled Bombers and Mirrolures around for wahoo a bit and had three strikes but didn't make solid contact and then headed to the tuna grounds. First thing we had to do was catch bait so I pulled across the top of the lump for kings. It took all of about thirty seconds for all three reels to start screaming! I kept the boat in gear and ran from reel to reel as Brad helped Will reel the fish in one at a time. We got two of those three then two more right after. Will was so thrilled to see those big kings on the deck. I can't wait to see the video footage. If that had been all we caught I think he would have been happy but that was just the beginning…. We set up a drift and started chunking. It wasn't long before we had some big brown visitors including about a 300lb hammerhead. Usually I hate so see sharks in the slick but Will was getting such a kick out of it that I just fed them for a bit as he watched in amazement. There is nothing like a child in wonder. After we did that for a bit I set up for another drift. It didn't take long till the reel was screaming and Brad was hooked up with a nice yellowfin. Will really wanted to fight it but it was on the 80 and I assured him that I would set the smaller rod out for him after his dad had caught some. We boated about a 60lb fish and while he was still flopping on the deck I set another line out. Seconds later Brad was back on it and landed about a 30lb blackfin. I did that two more times and Brad boated a total of 4 tuna back to back without much of a breather in between. Now it was Wills turn. We fitted him for the harness and I got a small rod ready. I took a 40Torsa and set it up with 50lb Seaguar Premier flouro and a 6/0 Mustad 39950. I put a chunk on it and sent it out. In all of about 20 seconds Will was hooked up with his first Yellowfin Tuna! It wasn't easy for him but he cranked like a maniac and didn't give that fish a chance. Twenty five minutes later I had the honor of sticking a gaff in what I hope is the first of many tuna for young Will – a nice 50lb yellowfin. I think if he weren;t so worn out from the fight he would have been jumping up and down but instead he just kept laughing and saying " Wow" while Brad kept saying " You did it! You did it!" There was some serious celebration on the boat. What an awesome gift for me and Mike to be part of that moment for Brad and Will. That will go down s one of my favorite days on the water ever. After that fish Brad said they had plenty enough fish and didn't need to be hogs. We left them biting and pointed it toward the house. Wednesday was nasty. The seas were 4-5 and the fish that were on the lump the day before had vanished. Lynn, Brian and Sydney had driven in from TX with high hopes but ended up with high seas instead. I have to say though that I don't think I have ever had anyone on the boat that had so much fun catching the kings and sharks. Oh well. In fishing and in life you have got to have X number of bad days and I guess that is one behind us. Thay are coming back in June and I am going to make it up to them. I still have plenty of days open for April. Grouper season opens back up in abut a week and the mangroves are hungry as well so I will have some nice mixed bags coming to the dock along with the normal tuna and wahoo. Another excellent trip is wade fishing on the Islands. The water is already pretty clear over there and anyday now I would bet that the trout are going to be on fire. That is another trip I a really looking forward to. God bless, good fish! Capt. Peace Marvel 504-858-8862
