Monday, July 29, 2013

Coimbra Bluefin July 2013

So far it has been a very slow tuna season off of Long Island.
No eddys to bring YF in and the bluefin have stayed way south out of range.
Until now...
The Boss III had enough of sitting at the dock and as soon as it was possible made it to the Coimbra area Saturday. Expectations were both high and low-high because of all the fish caught over the past week and low because the hot runs always peter out, and especially on the weekends!
Boss Ed had visualized the spread for days with each bar and bally strategically located. Always good to have a plan A, and B while fishing.
The hour run from Shinnecock was a welcome change to the 4 hr runs to the deep Hudson, and the fishing has been great for at least 2 weeks as you all have heard.
We dropped lines 2 miles short of the wreck area and withing 30 mins had a screaming run off- the kind we all do now and then. This fish was slowly dumping a 70VS by the time all our lines were cleared. I jumped on the fish, got a belt on and locked in to the chocks. This fish was a NICE one I could not stop the run, was afraid to increase the drag too much so let it tire out. 10 mins later I had to drop into low gear just to gain a bit on her.
Slowly reeling her in while keeping her nice and tight, I thought I had her close to the boat. Could not see color but the angle looked good do as I continued to steadily put on
pressure. I shouted to the captain to go into neutral and kept her tight.The whole crew was mesmerized by the strength of the fish and fantasized about the behemoth to soon be brought aboard. We were all amazed at our luck at getting a big fish so early.A few minutes later I thought the fish had decided to turn towards the boat since the pressure had let up. Like a swordfish, I reeled as quickly as I could. To my surprise I realized that more than half the reel line was still out there. I reeled faster and faster hoping to beat the fish to the boat. However, to no avail. You know the rest. Got the bar to the boat and half way between the hook bait and first squid was a cut in the line! Damn, we had heard from others similar stories but this one did not enter our minds. So, we all dropped our heads in frustration. Our shot at a monster was over for the morning.
Long story short we trolled all day in 69 degree water and watched boats here and there fighting fish. Based on our three friends out there and others, it seemed we were all consigned one decent bluefin for our 8 hour trolling efforts.We were lucky to get one 9lb mahi and a 52" BF we figured was a good 74 lbs.
I give kudos to Boss Ed, Capt Stan, Nick, Greg for the great team effort in running the boat and lines and nice gaff shot by Matt.
It is always good to fish on the Boss, and thanks for the hospitality.
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