Pair of Bluefins

[Capt. DQ]

Well, You Guys in the Carolina's to the North East.....the Gulf of Mexico has its Bluefin also this time of year. The first one caught this year was 700# and the second one got trashed and did not count for the Memorial Day Billfish Tournament out of Orange Beach, put on by the Mobile Big Game Fishing Club. This is the first tournament of the season on the Gulf Coast to start things off.

http://www.parshots.com/mp_includes/index.asp

Go to online images and click on MBGFC Weigh-in-Sunday, camera 1 scroll down to page 7 then scroll down to page 11 and take a look see.

Enjoy,
DQ

[Ric]

.,.,.,ain't they perty,..,.runaway frieght trains,,,,,,

[Capt. DQ]

The 700# Bluefin took 7 hrs on a 80# class rig in which the low gear got burned out in the first 90mins. of the battle and they still managed to get the fish. The second 500# Bluefin took 13hrs to land and also had a Mako trash the tail section which disqualified it from the tourney. The boat that landed the 700# fish had another Bluefin earlier that was larger and burned out a another 80# rig in which it never got slowed down. Like you said Ric, runaway freight train!

Those anglers sure had alot of pain the next morning after those battles. I would not want any part of those battles with those pigs.

R,
DQ

[Kingfish]

You guys on the other coast have it pretty good!

Our Pacific Blue fin were usually 25-50 lbs. Haven't seen to many the last few years.

The Mexican Seiners are wraping them up and putting them in grow out pens where there fattend up for sales too Asia.

Come to think of it Yellow Fin and Albacore counts are down also.

[CMP]

Somebody's gotta 'splain to me how those fish took 7 and 13 hours to land. I can tell you this tho, the meat was mush by the time they were boatside...

CMP

[JP Dalik]

Deep water and only 80's, what's that 15 pounds of drag, maybe stand up equipment. Fish probably didn't know it was hooked. I think those fish are the racers, probably real long and thin compared to the northern fish.

Send them critters up here. 150lb spectra 60+ lbs of drag, keep it in the holder and crank!!!!

IGFA what IGFA give me my paycheck.

[Capt. DQ]

These were accidental catches, by the rules, June 1st is when your allowed to even start looking to catch one per boat for the season and they were really looking for Yellowfin, not Bluefin in the tourney.

Thats why 80# was being used and was taking long battles with those fish. A 180# Yellowfin Tuna on 80# tackle would not take that long. Shit I agree with JP on his method of catching those pigs.

R,
DQ

[In Memory Walter K]

Eddie Murray in the Heyday of Giants off Montauk and Block used to say that if it takes you more than 20 minutes to land a giant, the fish is winning...(and the flesh is changing). The Japanese who came to the dock used to core them by the tail to taste the eat and decide value. He always got top dollar. Walter

[Harv]

Eddie Murray in the Heyday of Giants off Montauk and Block used to say that if it takes you more than 20 minutes to land a giant, the fish is winning...(and the flesh is changing). The Japanese who came to the dock used to core them by the tail to taste the eat and decide value. He always got top dollar. Walter

Walter,

If you remember my uncle, he would be right there to agree with you and Eddie. I remember fishing with him off P-town and we would land many fish in the 500-700lb range and the average time to boat was usually under 30 minutes. It also didn't matter the reel size as our 50's were loaded with 80 and our 80's loaded with 130. Also, if the rod couldn't come out of the holder, we would lock it up and the fish would pull us, that tired them out real quick. Many a time, we would just leave the rod in the holder and plane the fish to the surface and then circle around on it, or if the fish took off, we would just chase it down. Fishing in those days was in the 26 footer and we did have a speed advantage with that boat.

I'm sure more than anyone here, Brewster would be the first to advocate short battles, but then again, he knows how to revive a worn out tuna.

[Brewster Minton]

A fish caught after 7 hours is catfood. There are two things that should happen when fighting a big fish. Line is being taken off the reel or its being reeled on. A fish 700# eats 65-80# of food a day. After 13 hours it starves to death.

[jspiezio]

A fish caught after 7 hours is catfood. There are two things that should happen when fighting a big fish. Line is being taken off the reel or its being reeled on. A fish 700# eats 65-80# of food a day. After 13 hours it starves to death.

I honestly never thought of it that way.

[jackryan]

DQ,

For the most part, all of the bluefin caught in the Gulf are Giants. Not sure if they are longer and thinner, but there was an 1152# bluefin caught 20 miles SE of Port Eads a couple of summers back. I'd hate to see a fish like that fattened up. That fish also took many hours to land an eventually died 2500 feet down. Most of the Gulf bluefin are caught in depths of 2000 to 10,000 feet deep, not the 300' to 400' depths that they are caught in N.C. and Down East. The other problem is that it's very hard to target these fish in the Gulf as you have to cover a huge area and basically just get lucky to hook one. That's the other reason many of these fish are hooked on undersized tackle, most guy's are fishing Marlin, Yellowfin, Wahoo when they luck into one of these fish.

They pass through the Gulf in May and June and are here to spawn. There's been a push to eliminate long lining in the Gulf during May and June to protect these fish. Some friends of mine, Bill and Dennis Good, fished Port Eads in the 60's in a 31 Bertram. They said they would come across schools of giants that stretched from horizon to horizon. They kept a fillet knife in the cockpit to immediately cut the line if they hooked a bluefin. They got tired of having all of their tackle torn up, and were targeting blue marlin anyway. They said the fish disappeared quickly when the Japanese long liners began targeting bluefin in 60's and 70's. You can see pictures of the 1152# bluefin and other gulf bluefin on www.rodnreel.com. Go to the picture link and search bluefin.

JR

[mike ohlstein]

I've seen plenty of beautiful 200 lb yellowfin turned into cat food in Port Eades.....

[jackryan]

Mike,

More like catfish food. Buzzy called them the Port Eads Piranha. Back then they would weigh and photo the tuna, then drop them in the river. The catfish would attack the carcass like a pack of piranha. Now it sells for $20 a pound at Whole Foods.

JR

[Capt. DQ]

JR,

Remember that one years ago, think they had to drag his ass to Port Eads to weigh the thing it so big they could not get it in the boat. A 700# Bluefin on 80# like JP said, "doesn't really know its hooked", but they can trash your tackle fast if your not lookin for them and just happen to hook one up. Sore as shit the next day after that battle.

I remember seeing those old Tuna video's of those fisherman on the side of those Tuna boats with those large cane poles pulling those Yellowfin Tuna over the sides just as fast as they can. That's work my friend doing that for hours a day or until the bite quits. I read where you said, the power is back @ Port Eads?. That's great if it is.

R,
DQ

[AndreF]

Last time I was there, power was back on, however, you have to sign up w/Entergy for 10 years at $155 monthly flat fee (no more reading meters like when I was there) to get your service turned on (they rebuilt all lines/poles/transformers back to pre-Katrina again as they had just done that after Ivan(?)).
At that time , only three people had power from Entergy.
There is no security , no maintenance, no shore power, no anything.
FEMA cleared sunk houseboats, etc... from entrance but from nowhere else. A bunch of stuff under water in harbor still.
Silting is getting bad and will eventually cut off harbor entirely.
Plaquemine Parish said Port Eads is way down the list for attention.
Go there at your own risk.
Sad but true.