I welcomed aboard Victor Barber and his buddies Mike Harold Sr and Jr for a day of cod fishing today.  When I arrived at the parking lot the flag was already pretty straight out from the NW breeze that was building.  We decided to take a shot at it and shoved off at 0430.  The area I am fishing is about a 15 mile run from the dock so if conditions got too unbearable we could get back inside without too much trouble.

The NW wind is both a curse and blessing and today that was proven true.  When I arrived on the edge of the grounds I found the largest tuna feed I have seen this year.  Acres of tuna crashing bait as far as you could see.  Victor and Harold Jr grabbed the spin sticks while Mike manned a jig rod.  Plugs were sent and within moments Jr.  ties into a nice BFT.  The reel screams to life and the rest of the crew reels back as fast as possible.  Unfortunately the figth was a short one as the fish spit the plug after a few minutes.  During the fight I saw the largest BFT jump clear out of the water I have ever seen...I estimated him to be in the 400lb class...I wish I had a camera.  

The feed was calming down but there were still pods breaking.  I told the guys to make a couple blind casts as I knew the fish were there.  Jr.  is retrieving his plug and about to lift it out of the water when a 50" class tuna slams it 5 feet from the boat.  All I could think of was there goes rod #2 but Jr. bent to the fish to relieve the impact and saved the rod.  By doing so however he could not set the hook and Charlie escaped.

Someone threw the switch and the tuna disappeared.  Never saw another the entire day until on the way home we spotted a few isolated jumpers.  While it lasted it was a show of shows and told me this is an area that I need to watch throughout the season.

We went cod fishing for the rest of the day.  The NW wind came up to 20+knots and built a 3-5' sea.  Motor drifting was impossible so I broke out the sea anchor which worked perfectly.  The bite was decent although we had to sift through lots of short cod.  Everyone caught fish and the conditions were tough but not as tough as this crew.  Just when I thought about pulling the plug another nice keeper would come on board so we would try one more drift.  As noon approached the wind let go and by the time we headed for home we had just a left over swell from the days winc.

Harold Sr took top honors with the largest cod ... 

and Victor took a nice wolf fish which by law we had to release.

Mike had a ball in the stern using light tackle all day and caught a zillion fish..unfortunatley a lot of shorts but he really nailed them with a home made teaser...I need to make some just like it.  The guys took home around 100lbs of fillets...not a slam but considering the conditions an excellent day.  To the best of my knowledge we were the only boat in the harbor to hook up on tuna as well.

I keep saying the fishing is outstancdng right now and I have some days open this week (Thursday & Friday).  I am fishing cod Monday and tuna on Tuesday...stayed tuned for the CATCH reports!

Tight Lines,