Captain Steven was on vacation this Holiday weekend visiting my 2 week old Grandson Jude in Boston. On Saturday my son n law Ricky and I headed out to Stellwagon Bank with Capt. Scott Bradley. We departed Plymouth Harbor at 6 am and were greeted by calm seas and an easy 17 mile run to Stellwagon Bank in search of Blue fin Tuna and Stripped Bass. First thing I noticed were the big tide changes 9-11' is common where here in Tampa Bay we see much smaller scale tides 1-3'. Another big change fishing water at 62 degrees vs. our current upper 80's.
We drifted using live poogies, one bait on a kite up wind the other bait downwind on a balloon. While Scott set those lines Ricky and I started jigging with plastic grub tail jigs. We quickly started catching dogfish, a small shark that spins when hooked. Our intended targets were nowhere to be found so Capt. Scott moved us several miles. This time it was only minutes before the large conventional reel started screaming. Ricky quickly jumped on the rod and the fight began. Ten minutes into the battle it was clear Ricky needed some help so we got him into a standing fighting harness then attached Ricky to the boat. Thirty minutes later I harpooned the Blue Fin Tuna; while Capt. Scott grabbed the harpoon rope I gaffed the tail. On the count of 3 we hoisted the Blue Fin onboard or so we tried it took two attempts to hoist the giant onboard. Ricky was spent, his hands and arms were all cramped and he was the winner of the battle!
After a morning of Tune fishing we ran to the NE end of Cape Cod for Striped Bass and Bluefish. We found large Bluefish eager to attack surface poppers. This was very exciting watching Blue after Blue explodes on the surface. We took many Blues 30" to 34" until our arms were tired. Big thanks to Capt. Scott for a great day.
If you are ever in the Boston area check out Capt. Scott at www.tidehunetercharters.com or
Capt. Steven
