Kind of a rough weekend for me. First I get bumped from a saturday trip tuna fishing and can't get another ride on short notice. Bummer.
Silver lining is that I now get to watch my daughter's riding lesson. Saturdays are usually jumping lessons so they are fun to watch. Well, this time not so much. She falls off her horse and needs a trip to the urgent care. X rays show a broken ankle. Damn. 4-6 weeks in a cast. Thankfully nothing more serious.
Sunday morning rolls around and I head down for my scheduled sunday fishing trip with my friend Jon, two of his kids and his friend David. Things were a little crowded on the 21 foot center console.
We launched about 530 and got in line at the bait barge. Lots of boats, but with both side open it wasn't bad.
Headed west after we rounded the point in beautiful slick water.
Found some dolphins. Lots of dolphins. Trolled with them for a while but no luck. The mom and baby pairs were cool. Smallest dolphin I have seen.
We gave up on the dolphins and headed west. It got more overcast and the wind chop added to that made spotting kelps difficult. I finally spotted one, but after several drifts past it for nothing, we moved on.
Later, I spotted a group of terns hovering tightly together and diving. We motored over and saw breaking fish, just a couple, so we threw in some baits. Three hook ups and one fish landed. The terns regrouped so we joined them, saw breaking fish again, but no love this time. We boxed the area trolling, but the terns moved on and so did we.
More trolling and I spot a small paddy. This one held some 6-8 pound yellow tail and we caught about 6 which were released. If we had no fish in the box, it might have been a different story. The yellowtail bite shut down, but we started to get bit by the tuna. I got bit and lost one, David got one and Cal, Jon's oldest got a nice one with a little coaching from David.
Since it was getting late, and 2 passes went unbitten, we decided to head in. I was lamenting the two tuna I lost.
Conditions were pretty nice for the ride in and we were making good time. Then we hit a wave with a little more thump and the engine made a strange sound and died. Ugh. It wouldn't start after several tries, ugh, so Jon called vessel assist. After a few tense minutes with no response, the coast guard began to relay messages between us and VA. Phew. ETA 2 hours.
With time to kill, and bait in the well, I decided to put a bait out. Put the rod in the holder with the clicker on and lay down on the beanbag for a snooze.
It took 15 minutes and the rod went off. I jumped up, grabbed it and the fight was on. I got the fish to deep color and he chewed me off. Ugh. Baited up again, and this time Jon and David put baits out too.
Not long after that, Jon's clicker goes then stops. Missed it. Then David's rod goes off. I damn near grabbed it, but he was quick on his feet. After a nice fight, he lands a bluefin. Sweet.
He rebaits, and is bit again nearly instantly. He shoves the rod into my hands "Here", possibly to shut me up, more likely he is just a good dude. After declaring I have no shame, I enjoy a fight with a nice fish. A little good natured ribbing "You didn't lose this one too, did you?" made me feel good so I asked him to hold my purse so I could fight this fish like I meant it.
This time I got it to gaff and it was another bluefin. Nice.
By this time, we have a bite going and were almost disappointed to see the VA boat rolling up. Almost.
We get hooked up and begin to be towed in. Right past a paddy the size of a garage door. At the ramp, I mentioned it, and he says he spotted on the way out and towed us past it on purpose. Love it. A guy with a sense of humor as low as mine.
We made good time. 9 knots on a tow rope is pretty good, I was expecting 5. We made it to the ramp in about 3 hours or so, where the VA Capt. did a great job putting us on the trailer. After telling us it was a $1275 tow, Jon felt good about paying for the membership for many years. It definitely penciled out in his favor.
All in all, it was a good time. Jon's wife made sushi for the grown ups, and burgers for me and the rest of the kids. She rocks.
Hope there is nothing serious or expensive wrong, because we need to go next sunday.
I could use a ride for saturday though. Just in case.
