In getting prepared for fishing season Paul Buske and I stripped the line off of 10 Shimano 50 LRS reels and respooled the braid that was on the reels. The only corrosion we found was next to the little stainless steel pin that is issued to stop the line from spinning on the reel.
The line spooler is an SC125 and a new unit bought from an individual who had two for sale. It can handle the Shimano 50s but larger reels would require a small modification to the base as the handles on larger reels would hit the base
We also loaded 10 Shimano Talica 16II reels with JB 60 lb braid. The rods were bought from Brian Connelly and he matched the wrap on the bigger rods used with the Shimano 50LRS reels . . . I had also bought those rods from Brian . . . great rods, and that is why I went to him for the new rods.
Paul Buske, Seth Levine and I left Kitty Hawk NC on Tuesday the 20th to go do Dale’s home in Virginia Beach. He has been babysitting Miss Cecile all winter, which included the installation of the Furuno Navnet 3D system.
We (mostly Dale ) removed the old electronics and added a 12 inch and an 8 inch display. The rest of the dash is relatively original. The radar is a 14 kw digital unit spinning a 6 ft array.
The overhead electronics box contains the typical fair of 2 VHS (using 22 ft 9db antennas), autopilot, separate BlueSea breaker panel and radio. What you do not see is the AIS, Satellite weather and a few other bells and whistles.
Dale and Seth had water temp charts and we were looking for 63 to 65 f water with strong temperature breaks, ideal for bluefin tuna. On Wednesday the 21st we left Virginia Beach around 4:30 AM and headed out about 80 nm to the 600 ft line due east of Oregon Inlet. Cruise was 20 kts at 2350.
Our target was to start the day on bluefin tuna and if we caught and kept a nice one we would go farther south in warmer water in search of yellowfin tuna. We decided to use only the larger rods for the bluefin and keep the lighter gear for yellowfin later in the day.
Lines were put in and within 5 minutes we had a triple header of 50 lb bluefin. We landed and released all three.
At 12:05 we hooked a single 70 lb bluefin tuna that was released.
At 2:15 we were about to quit and complete the trip to Pirates Cove when we got hit hard. Chris had the rod bent over and kept the pressure on. The fight lasted 23 minutes and we had a very nice bluefin about 1 1/2 inches short of being a giant. We kept that one :) Do not know the weight but it was fat :)
Chris (on the right) fought the fish. Seth (on the left) was “deck crew chief†and did a great job helping Chris and clearing lines etc. Your truly was the gaff man and I got a perfect shot with no loss of meat
Paul ran the boat (thumbs up) and Dale help with everything. He was also our chief engineer retired from the USCG
Dale (Chris’s father) is pictured with Chris.
Arrived at the docks and finished cleaning the boat and fish around 6:30.
On Thursday John (JPCanning) graciously drove us back to Virginia Beach to get the vehicles.
On Saturday we fishing just slightly south of where we had been. There was a pile of boats out there and there were nice fish being caught. The day started off poorly when we broke an outrigger clip on one side and an outrigger pulley on the other side during the first 15 minutes of fishing.
We finally hooked into a decent size fish (definitely well over 100 pounds based upon previous days’ experience) and 25 minutes later with about 25 feet of line left the tuna quivered twice (like they do just before they die when they are laying on the deck) in the space of 2 seconds and then the line went dead. We reeled the line which had been jut by Mr. Jaws.
Didn’t hook anything else.
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Will be at the boat this week and will do a photo documentary of the boat to share with you
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Bucket List for 2010
Catch a 200 lb bluefin . . . DONE
