| Hale Yeah Mega Tuna Offshore Report
Port Aransas,
TX
November 24th-25th, 2006
Report by Oz |
Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for many things, and
to the guys and girls who put in many hours on the Nyati and Hale Yeah, there
is no better way of giving thanks than to be out on the water. And that is
just what we originally planned on. Keeping a close eye on the weather Ronnie
made the executive decision to skip the Turkey day departure and head out
Friday morning instead. It would be a small, last minute crew with Jared,
Ashton, Ronnie, Nena, and myself. Destination... LONG RANGE.
We broke the Port Aransas Jetties in the mid-morning hours
on Friday and cruised non-stop to the floater. We reached our destination
a couple hours before sunset and begin to troll til dark. After a short while
one of the outrigger lines gets hit. Ashton gets strapped in and ready for
battle.
After an awkward and moderately lengthy battle, Ashton gets
the fish to the boat... errr what we thought was a fish! Apparently we had
ran hung up in some nylon rope that had been floating on the surface.. all
several hundred yards of it. Despite the picture, the rope was not all balled
up but in a rather lengthy strand that attacked one of the lures in our spread.
Great catch Ashton!
We put lines back out and troll back to the floater with less than an hour
of daylight.
We make a quick pass and get hooked up. Originally what we thought
was a decent Blackfin ends up being a tasty size Dorado. Not a giant like
we would have liked to have seen, but it is a welcoming sign.
We troll around for a few more minutes and decide to wrap it
up and get the Tuna gear out. By now there is little light left but we see
a monstrous shape appear right behind the boat. Finally we are able to identify
the creature... it is a massive Manta Ray, nearly 15' in width and the largest
one I've seen or heard of. Resembling an airplane with its shear size, it
eventually cruises off and get ready for the Tunafest.
Shortly after dark we begin jigging up some Blackfin and begin
the chum cycle. Ronnie soon puts in a chunk bait and shockingly within feet
of the boat gets picked up by a blistering Yellowfin. After a short battle
Ronnie boats the first Yellow of the night (btw its only 6pm).
We once again begin the chum cycle again and drift around the
rig in different locations hooking up to countless Blackfin. One of Ronnie's
YF baits gets picked up but its not fighting like a Tuna. After getting the
fish to boat we are surprised to see it is an oddball, an Oceanic Pufferfish
all blown up. A quick pic and this fish will get released back to the pelagic
depths.
About an hour or so goes by and Ronnie gets hooked up to another
Yellow and this time handing it off to Nena to battle. After a solid battle
Nena boats her largest Tuna to date and the 2nd Yellow of the night.
Jared soon follows suit with a nice Yellowfin of his own.
Ronnie gets hooked up again on the small Avet and lets Nena endure another
battle.
After a much longer fight than her previous fish, she is still
able to boat the YF... While uncertainty and the thought to pass the rod
rang through her mind, Nena hung in there and conquered her second Yellowfin
of the night! An exhausted smile tells the rest!
With Ashton already passed out sleeping due in part to his epic
ropefish battle, Nena calls it a night herself and leaves the boys to play.
We head back and try a few more drifts enticing a Cuda to follow us and hang
around waiting for a quick meal. Ronnie lays down for a few minutes and Jared
and I begin jigging up some more bait. Jared drops down and hooks into what
seems like a normal Blackfin and then after a few seconds gets smoked! Thinking
it is a Mako or other shark that nailed the fallen victim, he still dukes
it out and battles the fish.
After a few minute battle on another small Avet, Jared
finally gets the fish up. We see color and finally are aware that its not
a shark, but a very solid Yellowfin. Jared gets the fish close enough to
the boat and I stick him. Jared had to put down the rod and assist me in
lifting the beast into the boat. After a couple minutes to catch his breath,
Jared poses with his prize... the first triple digit Yellowfin of the night.
As soon as the fish hit the deck, a combination of chaos and
the two of us cheering awakened Ronnie during his 15 minute nap to see what
the deal is. Ronnie once again hangs with us long enough to catch a few more
Blackfin and he tries to resume his nap. After a half hour or so one of the
chunk baits we put out gets nailed. I get hooked into my first Yellow of
the night but its only the start. Ronnie quickly wakens up again and can't
takes it any longer. After a solid battle I get the fish close enough for
Ronnie to gaff and finally get him on board. I finally get my triple digit
Yellowfin, and the boats 2nd of the night.
While relaxing for a minute, Ronnie gets another solid Yellowfin
to the boat and Nena briefly awakes and is able to get a great picture with
our double.
Ronnie stays with it and quickly nail another Yellowfin back-to-back.
Somewhere around this time we see a unique fish slowly come
up to the boat. I quickly grab the net and capture him for a quick pic before
releasing him. The fish is a beautiful yet unidentifiable Triggerfish.
I soon strike again with another solid Yellowfin.
Running low on bait and chum I decide to jig up some Blackfins.
At first I hook up into a small Yellowfin, then end up landing another solid
YF on the same jig. By now we have boated 13 Yellowfin, 11 averaging over
65lbs and two of those over 100lbs. We are now full on capacity and is not
even worth trying to obtain the boats limit. Ronnie then manages to bring
in a very nice Rainbow Runner to the boat. The sun is soon to come up and
we try to get ready to troll some live baits.
We get our chance and as the sun is about to break the horizon,
we see giant Yellowfin Tuna exploding off the surface and obtaining some
major hangtime. Ashton is up and ready to rock for the day and is greeted
by the destruction of our fine baits by the Cudas. With the abundance of
scattered weed out there we decide to head back in and stop at the closer
inshore rigs to attempt at Grouper and AJs.
We first stop a deepwater rig and right off the bat I end up with
a small Amberjack. Ronnie quickly follows with a King Mackerel that gets
bailed by a larger predator on the way up. However, due to a rude nearby
Sportfisher we decide to let him think he owns the oil platform and we head
on towards the Baker rigs. Not long and Ronnie and Jared are at it jigging
up small AJ's and Almacos.
We hang around for a while but with the wind and seas building
we call it a day and head on in. We arrive back at the dock just before sunset
and get a photo with our bounty.
Overall another great trip during a great part of the year if
you can time it right. It was a productive yet compact crew and we all had
a lot of fun. Thanks to Capt. Ronnie and the Hale Yeah for another great
adventure. One thing is certain, it will not be our last offshore adventure
for the year!
Once again during Thanksgiving week....'Giving thanks to Tuna and the Deep
Blue
- Oz and crew
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