Oregon Inlet Bluefin Madness 3/17/11

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Frogfish101
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Oregon Inlet Bluefin Madness 3/17/11

Post by Frogfish101 »

Every once in a while, there comes an opportunity or experience that you realize you must seize. You feel it in your blood, your gut, or wherever, that this is something you cannot miss...because if you do, you will be left out of something truly special.

Since my last trip, I have been trying to find the time and money to get back up to fish for bluefin. School work, unavailable captains, and miserable weather had made my possibility of being able to fish again look bleak, however a window opened on thursday and it just so happened that my friends Aaron, Topper, and Mikey booked a trip with good friend and guide Capt Rick Croson. They called me, and convinced me to skip a day of class and go fishing. Who could say no? :)

I got out of class wednesday at 6 PM, and had to finish up some errands and work, and was finally on the road at 10 PM. Got to the hotel around 1:30 AM, and finally fell asleep by 3. Plan was to wake and 5 and get an early launch so we can follow the charters out of perilous Oregon Inlet.

The crew would consist of me, Aaron, Mikey, Topper, Topper's friend from Thailand, and Capt Rick. We launched Rick's beautiful 23T Onslow Bay around 5:45, and followed the boats out. As soon as we cleared the inlet, Rick pushed the throttle down, channeling 450 horsies as we blew pasts the sportfishers to make the 40 mile run to the shelf where the warm waters of the gulf stream met the colder inshore waters.

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Capt. Rick Croson (http://www.livingwatersguide.com/) is masterful in the way he handles the boat and reads the water. I have been fishing with him for over two years now, and I wouldnt fish with anyone else. He has the uncanny ability to be able to locate the fish even when local charters cant. We get to the shelf, where over the span of a half mile it drops from 200' to over 1000' deep. we start to motor around in search of the fish. after some fruitless searching, we decided to run a couple miles to the north. Up there, we find the main fleet and our Furuno starts lighting up. We see a boat nearby hook up on a trolled ballyhoo so we know we are in the right spot. Rick positions us for a drift and we get the signal to drop the jigs down.

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We drop, and I get smacked 40 ft under the boat but no hook up. Topper gets hit too, but again cant stick the fish. I drop again, and this time I get bit hard and make sure I stick the fish good with multiple hooksets. The fish begins to run straight out and line begins to peel off the reel. However after about a 50min fight, the hooks pull when the fish is 150 ft from the boat. Heartbreak, as I know that was a monster fish of at least 250. In the meantime, Aaron dropped and had hooked up. He breaks his fish fast on his MC works 512 and has the 71" (180lb) boatside in 15 minutes. we gaff the fish and bring it aboard, and high fives all around.

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We reposition, and I am bit again on the first drop. However after 5 min I feel a weird tapping and then slack. Another tuna ran into my line and cut it, causing me to lose a third spool of my daiwa boat braid. Again, heartbreak. I switch reels and get back to it.

Rick decided to move and position us well ahead of the fleet. The area we are fishing with is swarming with sharks. I was stunned to see scalloped hammers everywhere! We probably saw over 100 just cruising under the surface...however they were here to mate, and not feed. We did have a 5' mako come up to the boat, so I grabbed Aaron's RacePoint Special with a dorado slider and cast it out to try and entice the mako. The mako ignored the offering, so I was just bringing the lure in when a 250+ tuna skied on the bait 10 yds from the boat! The rod doubled over and the fight was on! The fish dove deep after about 20 mins of running on the surface and kicked my ass. I fought the fish for another 20 min straight up and down and the hooks pulled again. Now I was pissed...0-3 already! This was extremely frustrating, but part of the game. At that point Aaron and Topper both grabbed their RPS and began casting, and both hooked up immediately. This is where the day began to become truly incredible.

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As they started to fight their fish, Mikey and I started seeing black torpedoes cruising in the waves...these were not hammerheads....these were TUNA! What we saw was utterly indescribable, and I will probably never see anything like it again. Pods and pods of BIG tuna, all of them over 200 and many pushing 300, were surfing the waves toward our boat! And no one else was around us! Topper's friend and Mikey grabbed their casting rods and Rick and I shouted the positions of incoming pods of fish. You had to throw the stickbaits right on top of their head, and they would destroy it. Mikey and Topper's friend both hooked up to fish over 300, but one resulted in a broke mainline and the other pulled hooks. Topper and Aaron continued to fight their fish. Topper unfortunately lost his after 30 min when his and aarons lines became crossed, and aaron's lines sawed him off.

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Aaron continued to fight his demon fish. The fish dove straight down from the beginning of the fight, and on the long rod, was starting to hurt aaron. After about an hour, Aaron was in visible pain and couldnt put a sentance together. We finally had color on the fish, but for anyone who knows anything about tuna...this is the hard part. Those last 50 yds of death circles will just kill you. However, in some of the most brilliant show of perserverance, strength, and guts, Aaron was able to bring the fish to the surface and we sunk the gaff. It measured 74" x 48", our giant for the boat...est around 250 lbs. Great job Aaron!

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This spectacle over the next 2 hours led to multiple hooks ups and break offs due to the shear size and numbers of fish. We decided to call it quits around 4 and headed back in. Final tally was:

Me 0-3+
Mikey 0-9+
Topper 0-2+
Topper's friend 0-2
Aaron 2-2

I will never forget this day...I know I can still feel it! :D
"Our lives are defined by the sum of our ventures into the unknown."
-Juro Mukai

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BoatlessFisherman
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Re: Oregon Inlet Bluefin Madness 3/17/11

Post by BoatlessFisherman »

Thats an Awesome report, :toast:
-Tommy A-

click, click, click, Fish ON - Over, Under, Over, Under Get out of my Way. Sound familiar.

kiz
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Re: Oregon Inlet Bluefin Madness 3/17/11

Post by kiz »

WOW Sick Pictures what a trip... :thumleft:
Pucked up brewery
"adding more ABV per bottle so you can add more inches to your last catch...

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