7/19 report

[TunaTeaser1]

Well after the generator wouldn't start we left the dock at 5:30 am, and after making the sharp turn at old house I noticed something else...the stern looked a little low!? I popped the hatch and we had a sizable amount of water in the stern! We were full of fuel, water, and had 9 people on board but this water was making a difference. The aft bilge was broken and once we brought it off plane, the water pumped out, never to return. Weird?

Next came the rain. Plowed through that and at this point I'm thinking we're gonna have a great day because of all this bad luck. We get to our spot and my little brother, fishing with a couple friends on a 26' GW had sighted us awhile back and was "on the stalk." Literally, they put lines in 400 yards in front of us and went 1-2 on sails 2 minutes into the troll! It was my 16 yr old bro's first bill so I was happy but still it was nerve racking. Then came his trash talking on the vhf....Well we split ways and picked up a couple dolphin, and two mystery bites that left pretty big holes in the water?

Continued trolling NE and dropped off the edge for a little while since we couldn't seem to locate a sail. The plan was to troll back inside, then run to the 102 and jig for a little while.
I was at the wheel 5 minutes before lines up when I spotted some birds on the water. Boats are all around and I'm thinking they will see them too but no one does. I get up there and it's a huge bait ball. I count 5 sails in the mix, there may have been more. The water was just erupting with sails, birds, and bait. Make 3 passes, with the bait ball passing under our spread on two of them- the sails don't acknowledge our dink baits. Next pass we draw one of and he hits the flat then comes off. Damn. Make pass number 5 and two come into the spread, one under the dredge and one under the other flat. Drop it back, go through the routine and can't buy a friggin bite! By the time I get back around, bait is gone and one sail comes back into the spread again- I'm thinking this our shot but same ole story and nada. Don't see anything again and call it a day. Couldn't believe our luck but I guess the fish were full.