400 Mile Tuna Run!!

DDawg · Aug-29-2009, 08:00 AM

Sorry for the late post, but yesterday was a long one with today added on top of it.

Short story:
Dyno blacked out our bait tank(as usual) with a load of big healthy sardines!
We left the gate at 6:20 & were fishing somewhere close to 60 nm away at about 8:45.
Stayed in the 38.00/ 123.40 area all day.
By 11 we had 15 fish & the bite just shut off for us.
On the way back in, we had a motor start knocking so we shut it down & trimmed it up. We ran back in like normal folks on 2 motors at 20 kts.
Another great tuna day in the books.

Read on for the long version:

Even with all of my gear together, I just can’t seem to get to bed early before a tuna run…… it’s the one thing I do that makes me feel like a kid!
10:30 to bed (late for me), & up at 2. Coffee, shower, & out the door at 2:45 & on my way to the bay.
Everything going great, moving along at 75 mph the whole way running about 30 min ahead of schedule, right up to Castro Valley……………. Then I see the signs! “Lane closed ahead”
Ok no biggie I move over, but the cones keep moving over! Crap! There’s only 2 lanes to exit 580 onto 238, & they’re both closed! Where’s the warning and detour signs??!! Right as I’m about to say screw it & blow through the cones there’s a sign that says “HWY 238 CLOSED”! Pissed is an understatement, since that is about the only area in the bay that I have no clue how to get through without a long detour or hassle!
But I digress; I made it through & was on time anyways, just not early.

I grabbed my gear , 150 qt. cooler full of ice, & headed down to the boat. It’s great to have an ice machine at your disposal, unless your boss is going tuna fishing the same day! Mine wasn’t, so we had a good load of ice.

I met Tom at the gate, Ray was on the boat getting prepped, & Doug showed up just a few minutes after me.

A little about Ray & his boat:
I met Ray in June when he was looking for someone to show him how we fish tuna out here.
I’m sure he had an overwhelming response to his request & generous offer. Somehow I was the one he called. We had a great first trip in July, where both of our sons got their first tuna.
He’s from the East coast ( I try not to hold that against him), & has fished out there extensively. Just talking to him you get the feeling that he knows what he’s doing, but soaks up every bit of info that you give.
I like that, because it makes you feel like it’s a team effort when you fish with a guy like that.
He’s easy going, generous, & just a pleasant guy to be around.
He also wants me to bring my gear, & lets me run the gear I want the way I like.

His boat the “Wireless” is an awesome offshore boat. A 36’ Contender with 3- 250 hp. Yamaha Saltwater Series 4 Strokes.

With the Contender hull & all of that power, it’s nothing to cruise on our average tuna day at 30+ kts.!
It does come with a price of about 1.25 or so gal per mile, but leaving the gate at 6:20 & starting to put lines in the water 60 nm. Away at 8:30, has its merit!

So we load the gear, get the safety speech, & head out of Sierra Pt. about 5:20.
Ray runs slow while Tom & I go through the umpteen rods & decide which ones we’re going to run, which to stow, & what goes where.
We decide to try a 9 rod spread! The Contender is a narrow hull, at about 9’ or so of beam, but with the outriggers, 2 turned out type holders, & some work, 9 is doable, though I think 7 is more ideal on this rig.
Once everything is in place he lights the afterburners & we’re at J&P before you know it!
I talk with Dyno for a few & he loads the Contenders in floor tank with a beautiful scoop of bait!
Take care of Dyno guys, because he always takes care of us folks that fish the bay & run from the gate!

From there, we head out the gate & out towards the numbers.

I pulled out my hand held & punched in the numbers, so I’d have a reference.

At 30 kts., I’ll wait till we get closer to the numbers (38.00/ 123.40) to grab rods & start rigging.
Tom & I sat in the back & bs’d on the way out.
Nice guy & his handle “Tom nice guy” suits him. He brought some quality troll gear with him too, TLD’s on Calstar trollers.
We ran into a bit of this white stuff.

With about 35 min. left I started tying gear. I finished rigging the last rod just as Ray pulled back on the throttles.
Here’s what it looked like

We got out riggers out, & got the deck set up, then started setting & marking lines.
Outriggers out 80 pulls with my hand painted black & blue cedars.
Outrigger holders out 60 pulls with black & purple clones.
Corners back 45 pulls with black & purple Yozuri’s.
Outer stern holders with my striper jig/ swimbaits at 35 pulls.
Center rod in shotgun with a dorado cedar at 100 pulls.

Before I finished putting out the shotgun, lines start singing………… I set it in the holder with the port clone going, then a Yozuri, then the center rod………….. TRIPLE HANGING!
No more fish after dragging for a ways so Ray pulls them back & I start clearing lines.
Doug & Tom are on rods & I tell Ray to take the 3rd.
A little dance, clear a couple of tangles, make the gaff shots, & pretty soon we have 3 on the deck!

We slap some high 5’s, spike & gill the fish, clean up a bit & get back in gear.

Just as we get the 9th rod in again, a Yozuri goes off, then the other, then a swimbait & a cedar on the rigger, & I think it was the other rigger………… 5 HANGING!
Shut her down & this time throw a couple baits while I’m clearing gear. Grab a bait rod & get it in the water & into an empty holder while still clearing & cranking hooked up rods to keep tension on them. Throw a couple more baits.
A definite dance this time. I get a couple lines cleared, grab one of the rigger rods & power it in, wrap the leader & swing the fish in, then go about gaff duty.
Throw a couple more baits, & tend to the one swimming while the guys dance.
Gaff the 3 then grab the 5th & get it in.
Even with a fiver, no bait fish 

Spike em, gill em, into the buckets, more high fives, a bit of water on the deck & back into gear.

Rods back in, & the scenario shortly repeats!
Yozuri goes off, jig goes, swimbait, rigger, & I think the other jig.
5 HANGING AGAIN!
This time we have a tangle at the start, so a bit of dancing, clearing, bait throwing, all of the normal tuna mayhem!
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS STUFF!
I get a bait in & crank 1 fish up on a heavy rod to hang. Help clear more & help with tangles.
Someone brings a fish around & I tell them to watch the one hanging, just as I hear it KAPOW!
Dang it, lost that one!
Get one gaffed, & check my bait. Reel him up & see a flash!
Throw a bait, kick the reel in free spool, & it starts running then stops! I reel up & feel him spit the bait!
Back in free spool, starts running again & this time keeps going. Kick it in gear & fish on!
Do the dance around 3 or 4 hooked up rods & 3 motors!
Get him up to color about the same time as Doug gets one up & it happens………. They spiral each other!
I see Doug has his on the cedar with the leader close by, so I reach over & swing his fish in & unsnap the leader with 1 hand. Unwrapped I go back to work, while the others are reeled in & a couple other baits get out.
THE TUNA BOAT DANCE NEVER GETS OLD!
We eventually boat the rest, with no more bait fish.
Spike em, gill em, into the buckets, more high fives, more water on the deck & back into gear.

This time we troll a bit without a take down, then I notice two lines are wrapped!
You just don’t catch fish like that! We get them up, cut the twisted part off & get ready to re-rig as I tell them that now we’ll get bit with that junk out of the water………… Yup!
FISH ON! DOUBLE!
Hmm where’s the 3rd or 4th?
Boy we’re getting spoiled!
Baits out, lines cleared, & those ones brought up…….. but no more action.
We soak the baits long, hoping, but they just wouldn’t come up.
Well, that makes 15 in the box, & it’s not even 11 yet!
Room& ice for another 10+, can always cut them too, if time allows.

Let’s get em back in!
We troll, & troll, & troll. We change colors, run em long, run em short, nothing seems to be working.
I can’t ever recall a bite like that just shutting off, but shut off it did for us.
We worked back over every mark, in every direction, & just couldn’t buy a bite.

I pulled out the cutting board & went to work with the knife while we trolled pointed towards home.
At 8 fish cut Ray gives the pull em in order, & the guys get the riggers put up & lines cleared while I do another 3 fish. Only 4 left in the slush, & they can wait.

Ray lights the afterburners again, & we’re headed home. Downhill all the way & we’re running 34 kts.!

After about 10 minutes one of the motors starts knocking. Just as I’m about to say something, Ray pulls em back. He does know every sound his boat makes.
Nothing obvious, but when we put a load on it, it knocks hard!
Shut it down & trim it up, make sure we can steer, & we head in on 2 motors at 20 kts.
I’m glad it was a downhill run, because even with 500 ponies it was a balancing act for Ray to keep it planed out level.
It was a bit snotty,

so I had ray run the inside route, & showed him a bit of the Marin shoreline as we came in.
Pt. Reyes sure does a nice job of protecting that passage!