pescando en la bahía – fishing in te bay

Imagine yourself waking up at 3 a.m on a gorgeous early summer morning. You’ve got your
rods, reels, and equipment loaded up in your truck. You’ve got your cooler packed with a few
afternoon snacks and some drinks. You’re heart is pounding with the thoughts of being out on
the ocean, free from the everyday stress of work and reality, and the hopes that this could be the
day you hook the trophy fish, your giant. You drive down to the dock, load up all the equipment
into the boat, and prepare for the long journey out into the open ocean. With a full tank of gas
and your adrenaline pumping you fix your sights on the horizon and open up the throttle. Just as
the sun is coming up over the horizon, you remember that following the sun leads to the land
where giants roam the sea just below your feet. After an hour of steaming out into the open
ocean your heart is pounding out of your chest with the first sighting of whales. You remember
hearing that whales are the number one sign that bluefin tuna must be nearby. You see the fleet
of boats, already with their spread set and working the waters around the whales in hopes of
hooking the big one. You now know that this is the spot. This is where you are going make your
stand, set your spread, and wait for that sweet sound. The sound that keeps you going back, day-
after-day, the sound of the drag screeching at a thousand miles per hour, it’s the sound of all of
your patience and persistence culminating in a moment that is yours. It’s you versus the fish.

Now that I’ve painted a picture in your head of what you can expect when you go bluefin tuna
fishing, I’m now going to tell you a story of one of my own personal early bluefin fishing
experiences. It was early July and the setting was exactly as I described it. It was one of those
days, weather wise, that you dream about. The sun was out, the water was calm, and the fleet
was out in our regular fishing spot.

My brother and I had set our spread behind the boat. We had been working a small pod of whales
for almost two hours without even a bite or a sighting of tuna. Starting to get a little frustrated,
we decided to move away from the fleet to a rather large circle of birds that were sitting on top of
the water about a quarter mile away from the whales and the rest of the fleet. I was driving the
boat and my brother was watching the spread as we approached the birds. All of a sudden I had a
strange feeling that we were going to hook up as we went through the birds. I turned to my
brother and excitedly said, “Get ready, we’re about to get some action!”

Skeptical of my gut feeling, he reluctantly stood up and got ready for the bite. Just as he was
standing up, the left rod started screaming. A fish! My feeling was right, we had hooked into a
nice fish. Little did I know what was to come next. Just as I had set my brother up in the fighting
belt and he had started reeling the fish in, the right rod started buzzing. We must have raised a
good amount of fish because the third and final spreader bar was nearly taken down too!
Knowing that two fish was more than enough, I quickly reeled in the center bar to avoid hooking
a third fish and being in way over our head.

At this time we were very novice bluefin tuna fisherman and we figured that my brother could
reel in the one fish, we could land it, and then he could put on the fighting belt and bring in the
other fish. Big mistake! Not only is this a bad idea because we had a limited crew but also
because of how tiring reeling in back-to-back fish can be. Also, leaving the fish hooked and
dragging it for several miles can be very detrimental to the fish’s health. We hadn’t realized just
how big the fish that my brother was fighting was so we just kept the boat on idle speed and let
the second fish stay hooked, hundreds of feet below the surface. After about fifteen minutes, we
finally caught our first glimpse of the fish that my brother had been struggling to bring in. As
soon as the fish saw the boat, he took off back down to the bottom of the ocean and the battle
started all over again. After nearly forty-five grueling minutes, both fish and fisherman were
completely exhausted and I brought out the gaff for the final step in landing the fish. I gaffed the
fish in the back shoulder, and we pulled the fish over the edge of the boat. Seeing that this was
clearly the biggest fish we had ever caught, we pulled out the tape measure to see just how big
our fish was. Fifty-six inches! A true monster in the eyes of a couple of novice fisherman.

In pretty much a state of shock and pure euphoria we had almost forgot that we had been towing
another fish for the better part of six miles. Pure luck, no doubt, is the only explanation for the
second fish staying on the line. Seeing that my brother was completely exhausted from reeling in
his fish, I put on the fighting belt and started reeling in the second fish. As I was reeling in the
fish, my brother began packing the first fish in ice and placed it in our pelagic fish body bag.
After about fifteen minutes we brought the second fish up, gaffed it, and got it in the boat. The
reason that the second fish came up so fast was because it had already been tired out from being
dragged for so long! With two fish in the boat and an exhausted “crew” we decided that we had
had enough fishing for one day. With a full fish locker and a very satisfied feeling, we steamed
back to the dock and closed the book on the day we doubled up for the first time.

Visit http://www.bluefinbasics.com for a complete database of bluefin tuna fishing knowledge

aimed to educate fisherman on tips, tricks, and proper techniques used when fishing for bluefin
tuna. We also feature a frequently updated fishing report, gallery, and much more bluefin related
information.

Question by Backwater Charlie: What color of fishing line do you prefer?

I use Clear & Clear/Blue Fluorescent or a variation of that color for my fishing. Just a quick
question on your preferences when it comes to fishing line color.

Best answer:

Answer by Thomas
Light green. Neon green in a way. Hope i help

Add your own answer in the comments!

Capt. Blair travels into the Everglades for some back country tarpon fishing with Capt. Gary
Thompson on this week’s episode of Addictive Fishing Visit www.addictivefishing.com for
more rod bendin’ drag screamin’ videos. And dont forget to catch new episodes Fridays @ 10
am ET and Sundays at 7 pm ET on Sun Sports.
Video Rating: 4 / 5