Wow, what a day. We started the day over at about the 450 in shallow water(350') There were lots of birds around, but the water temp was only 48* Started eavesdropping to a few charters talking and found out that noone knew where the fish were since they had made such a big jump the day before. We had charters to our south and our north. Based on the big jump up north that the BFT had made the day before, and the fact that a few yellowfin were starting to be caught, we decided to run on plane 7 miles to our north and also get way offshore in the deep water. We found the break at about the 470 in 4000' . we had only managed to get one line in when it popped the clip, giving Paul his first yellowfin tuna. With the skunk off the boat, we trolled in 72.2*, and 5000' of water to our north. Started hearing reports of some charters that had found some deep marks that they belived to be BFT, so we made it up to the 490 in 5500' of water and that's where we found the fleet as well as some private guys. Everyone around was pretty much stopped, trying to jig some up with quite a few hooking up. All of a sudden, we had 150-200# BFT free jumping beside the boat. We trolled the lines directly across them and had a knockdown which resulted in about a 200 yard run before it broke off. We trolled another 10 minutes before I decided it was time to try a jig that I keep on the boat for grouper(shimano butterfly). I only had J hooks that were big enough for BFT but were not meant to be used with jigs. Paul crimped a j hook onto the jig with some 80# fluro. We were marking a huge baitball(or bluefin ball?) at 150' so we stopped on them to drop a jig down. While Paul and Steven were clearing lines, I went up to the bow and dropped the jig down to an estimated 150' It was immediatly bit, but pulled the hook after a short run. Dropped it down again, had no hits, so free spooled it back down when I noticed the reel really taking off. Kicked it into gear and fight was on. We all got on the rod, and after a 45 minute fight, boated our very first BFT. We cleared the boat at that point and cruised in at 42 mph. Everyone be warned here. Marine Fisheries was there checking every boat, and she conducted a short interview with us after getting measurements of the fish. Fish on the scales weighed out at 180# with a 67" total length. Thx Chris, Lisa, and his friend Chris for helping us clean the fish, and thx to Paul and Steven for crewing today. What a day!!!!
Hey guys great report!! I am glad to hear you put one in the boat!! Dave you need a bigger fish Box.. Nothing like a little pullage to start the year off right... Screamin Drags and tight lines!! Congrats Mark
that made up jig is awesome.. and on a 50W is even better.. i tell you dave.. frame that art of a jig we made today..lol.. thanks dave for putting us on the fish and steven for trying to pull that BFT in by himself..great day and great guys
BFT Oregon Inlet 3/21/10
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