SaltyCajun.com - Quick tuna trip

I have been having a great week so far and keep waiting for things to turn around. We were to be at the Venice Marina dock before 6:00 but they already had a great week fishing and being worn out they were a bit late. It was after 6:30 before we left. My boat only does 30 mph so it was going to be a long day. We made the 55 mile run from the pass to our tuna destination. On the way out we tried for live bait. Although plentiful they were all big hardtails. Not a good start but kept on trucking.

Once at our destination we set out our smallest bait we could find which looked more like an amberjack bait. Tuna were busting all over and we were casting poppers most of the day. Something worked because we soon hooked up on our live bait. This was Vick's first tuna ever.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-71208-001.jpg

He fought it well and we soon had color.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-71209-008.jpg

His first tuna ever but not his last. What a story this kid will have to tell when he gets back to school. He did more this week than many men have ever done in their lives and he only entering his freshman year in high school. This week he limited out on mangrove snapper to 10 pounds, caught cobia and kingfish and big red snapper to 20 pounds topped off with a nice tuna.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-71210-003.jpg

We set up again but nothing was happening. We lost 2 baits without even a click on the reel. After what seemed like a long time we get another hookup on a live bait. It is dad's turn. We soon get color and stick this one.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-71211-010.jpg

After a photo shoot with dad and his trophy we go back on the hunt.

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By this time we only have 2 in the box and the bite is slowing. The tuna had been busting all over but we only had one strike which came unbuttoned almost at once. We only had very large live bait left so I made the decision to "Get Dirty". This paid off because on our first drift our second bait in the water got hit about 50-60 feet down. Vick starts out with this one but the first had been a big challenge and he had not fully recovered from the painful fight. He was forced to hand off to dad and we get our 3rd one boat side.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-71213-009.jpg

I quickly go back and set up another chunk drift. Everybody else is still pulling baits but the bite has slowed. Once again we get hit almost at once. This time somebody saw what we were doing because before we boated our 4th one about 5 other boats started chunking. We quickly put 2 more in the boat and we have our 2 man limit of 6 tuna before 12:30. These were only 50-70 pound class which are the best because the angler does not get hurt and you get a lot of meat out of the haul.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthread...-71214-016.jpg

They wanted to get in fairly early so they could head home that evening and maybe stop fore the night half way. Nice when a plan comes together.

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