Heard there were some Tuna hitting off the Loran Tower, so headed out there this morning with Zach (former student of mine) and his friend, Darien. Got kind of a late start and did not get any lines in until close to 9AM. Fished 5 rods, mostly rigged with feathers and tuna jigs. Zach had this amazing "wooden bird" that trailed a feathered jig about 3 feet behind. Made lots of splashes as we trolled around 8-9 knots. Started fishing in 125, and got our first "football" blackfin tuna in 155 ft.
Proceeded to head out a little deeper, and we were rewarded with several more blackfins and a skipjack tuna. Totaled 6 Tuna in the box within an hour. Also picked up a couple of schoolie Dolphin on the same jigs. Seemed like the fish were enjoying the water anywhere from 180 - 220 ft.
The bite turned off by 10:15, so we decided to head south to the Juno ledge and see if we could pick up a couple of Yellowtail Snapper to top off the cooler. Found some nice size ones in 71 ft of water.
While we were catching the Yellowtails, a sizable Dolphin swam up to the boat. We pitched him some dead fingerling mullet I had netted and saved, and he started eating. Darien put one on a rigged up Spinner and tossed it out to the fish....only took a few seconds and his reel was screaming. After a few nice jumps and a good fight, fish was gaffed (Zach did the "meat gaff" on him!) and on the boat. Nice size fish!
Great day on the water, nice North-Northeast breeze at 5-10 mph kept it cool under the T Top. Called it "quits" around 12:15.
Tally for the day: 6 Tuna, 3 Dolphin, 4 Yellowtail, Porgie, and the usual throwbacks (jacks, bluerunners, triggers, grunts)
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we got her in the boat that's all that matters!!!! Thanks again Curchy for the fun trip on the Reeler we both appreciate it
