Reading the reports from Always Forward and others about the tuna bite on push button hill got me a little jacked up. Since I primarily fish out of FPI I seldom get down that way. The last time was several years ago aboard a boat I ran out of Stuart. With a decent weather forecast in store for at least the first half of today, we made the decision to make the 25 mile run to the hill from the FPI. I did consider trailering to get closer but liked the idea of fishing home. Left the inlet at daybreak and arrived at 10A. Thankfully we quickly had a well full of sardines and cigars. Had to weed through the runners and bellies but the good stuff was there. Sea conditions were a little choppy and confused but we made great time running along at 30 mph and quickly arrived at the north end of PBH. Birds (gulls) were abundant and tuna were busting here and there. Our first try - live baiting - was fruitless. The 5 mph + current quickly carried us north of the hill and out of the zone. It was obvious that if we wanted to live bait we would need to run south of the south end and set up. We pulled up and headed south. On the way we decided to switch tactics because the tuna / birds were moving so fast. Upon reaching the south end and finding more birds and tuna busting everywhere we deployed 4 lines with rattle jets (2) and feathers (2) - dumped all these way back except one. We trolled at high speed to stay just outside of the action and to get ahead. Within seconds of turning well in front of them 3 out of 4 of the lines went off. 2 BFT's and one bonita. Ok that is more like it! We reset and chased 'em down again. 2 more BFT's. We reset and did it again. At this point we had 6 tunas in the box. I was thinking this is awesome, we will have this done in short order and have lots of time to explore on the way home. I swear I no sooner thought that and like a switch the bite was off. No more surface action and the birds climbed skyward looking for traces of their prey. Nada. We ran from one end to other and they were gone. It was about 10:00 AM and the morning bite was finished - at least for us. We were at the south end so we decided to put out the live baits and drift the hill on our way out. Along came mr. sailfish. Nice little fight and a clean release. Our day on the hill was over and we headed for home waters. In about 130 we came across some debris including a really nice large boat fender. We picked up couple of 7 or 8 lb phins of it and then grabbed the fender and headed home. I was really happy to have that fender because I needed one. We had some camera problems today so you will have to trust me on this report
Did get a photo of our sail. "My Other Honey" was right next to us when we had him on. How did you guys do today? Good I hope.
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Sounds Like A Good Day On The Water! Nice Report
