Weather kinda sucked on the AA 10 dayer. Hoghunter was blamed for bringing down Washington weather to us. We met Pigsticker on the docks and I took a picture of us before leaving. Hoggie's a great guy and had this little gizmo that checks the airspeed, temperature, barometer, etc....and the fishing report always says "SLAM F*^%ing DUNK!" Hoggie got a nice tuna about 175 pounds along wiht lots of nice greade tails and smaller tuna. Hoggie ate like a....hoggie....and just enjoyed himself immensely.

I missed a good size tuna after two hours of back breaking fight...line snapped from a chew off at color. Heartbreak but that's fishing and that's how lies get started.....must have been a 400 pounder.

How was Pigsticker's fishing? The Royal Star and AA were pretty much in the same area and we passed by each other waving to each other. We puled up to go north within a quarter mile from each other and tied up at the biat receivers to ride out the storm.

All in all....it could have been better, but it was as good as it got. ANd the company was mighty fine.

What's a "greade tail"?

Man someday I will get to go on a LR. Sounds amazing.

quote:

Heartbreak but that's fishing and that's how lies get started.....must have been a 400 pounder

Probably the same 400 pound fish that snapped the 200lb kite line on me last year at Hurricane Bank. It sounded like a rifle shot when the line broke!
Glad to hear you all got back and had fun.

Nice "grade" of yellowtail.
"Excuse me Your Honor... the two YOUUUUUTHHHHHS!"

What this country needs is a good fifty cent spellcheck

hear, here!

Try this Free Spell Checker

Hey Oliver, hope your trip home was good. I flew into a deluge of rain, wind and sub 40 temps on Friday night. And it's been coming down hard ever since.
Our weather on the trip wasn't great but was still a helluva lot better than this crap. I really think we'd of had better luck in cowtown if the winds hadn't blown so much every day. It never calmed down but for a couple of brief shots in the pm and that was both the times we caught fish.
The Indy and AA got back down there in the last couple of days and go figure they've had flat calm seas and good fishing. Oh well we had our shot. I felt very fortunate to get th fish I got and felt bad for the heartbreak loss you had. Especially when we never got another shot at them after that.
I really enjoyed the time with you and hopefully we can do it again.
I've been eating ahi every night since my return

Ya know, Hoggie, everyone must have felt worse on my heartgreak loss than I did. I'm just happy that I had the chance to tug on something fierce for two whole hours, a butt kicking, ass whoopin' tuna that had my on my knees more than Monica Lewinsky. It was a loss, but I had a chance that few of us will experience. How's that for a good attitude.

I actually had more fun on the smaller grade fish. Lots of them and lots of fun crankin' and yankin' on my Accurate 870.

We gotta do it again, my friend.

At least 400 lb and most likely a rogue Blue Fin.

Any photo's?

What did you guys learn about big tuna gear and terminal tackle. I am a poor virgin on 200 # fish and am planning a winter solstice trip next year for the cow of a lifetime.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SDTuna,

quote:

What did you guys learn about big tuna gear and terminal tackle

Use a quality 50 two speed and do what the crew tells you to do.

Ollie and Hoggie. Nice to here, heer and hear frum ewe's ageen. ( no spell check, just redneck-ese )
It was nice to pull on something other than myself that one day we had on the cows. Weather certainly sucked, but, we got some.
I am unable to go in 2007 however, we should plan on a fly down/back trip for April 2008.
That would give us 9 days of fishing and a much better shot at some Cows and the " Uber Cows "
Oh and I like the thought of blaming Hoggie for the Washington weather we had. After all, the " Virgins " must always accept or otherwise, take the blame. hahahahhah
Hoggie. Congrats on yer big 175 pounder. Great fish fer a Virgin long ranger.
And yes it does suck that they are in grease calm weather now AND catching wahoo.
HARRRUMPH!

Hey PS, good to hear from you and see that you got a nice hog. Ollie and I were wondering how you did. It seem's most of the boats out there when we were had one good day and then doodly after that. I agree the wind certainly didn't help.
Yea blame me for the weather. I can take it. I put money down on a trip upon arrival back at the docks. At this point it's probably going to be another 10 day. I'm working on maybe moving to one of the 14 day trips but don't know for sure.
Seem's like they aren't doing much better down there this week on the cows. The only thing that's been nicer is the weather. Of course I'm home and it's sucked here.

SOme things I learned this trip around....

One can tie knots to terminal tackle on 130 plund mono and it will hold. Single San Diego or Uni will work. I did not lose a fish to either knot. No crimps necessary.

While 100 pound line can catch big tuna, 130 works well to prevent chew offs to a certain extent....of course that 450 pounder that I lost could have chewed through a steel cable.

Listen to the skipper on NOT using 25 feet of mono or flourocarbon. When they say use 50 yards of leader, use 50 yards of leader. It acts as a cushion and shock absorber when the 475 pounder like mine make those surge runs. You need some stretch to take the shock out of battling the big uns.

6/0, 7/0, 8/0 circle hooks work well. No need for those great big ones when using sardines for live bait.

50 class reels are just about right. Avet 50 is AA skipper's recommended reel.

Pre made wind on top shots are well worth it. Quick and easy to do. However, at $22/spool, it is pricey. The crew can make you a top shot for under $10/shot. However, you save time with the pre-made wind on.

Smaller tuna.....I really love my Accurate Boss 870 with 30 pound mono on the G. Loomis Pelagic 84-30. Very good backbone nad great lifting power with a great set of drags and cranking power that tamed the smaller tuna nad yellows without breaking a sweat. The Boss 8870 would be a great with 50 pound test and hte 665 would be q great 60 pound test. With the new 2-speeds, it would be a real killa. I was dissappointeed with the Daiwa SLX 50. I'd used that on a Grafighter 800m as a jig stick and it just did not have the power to crank down when the rod was loaded with a nice yellowtail.

Those Shimano Evair boots were nice and light. Very comfy. They are however, cut a bit low and a good swamping will soak over the tops. The lack of a fabric liner in the Evair means they stick to fabric making getting on and off wearing socks a bit of a pain.