msubdawg

We left out of Fort Morgan at 3:30 p.m. August 8th headed for the rigs. We caught bait at some of the rigs on the way out and arrived at Petronius about 7:30 p.m. We trolled live hard tails and did some jigging around the rig and caught a lot of sharks and baracuda but nothing impressive. We had one fish hooked up that I think was a respectable tuna, but after about a 20 minute fight the fish came off.







At 8:14 p.m. we were able to see the International Space Station fly over head. We continued to fish around the rig until about 11:00 and moved away from the rig and put out some sword baits and settled in for the night. The night sky was amazing. My nephew enjoyed playing with all of the glowing critters in the water. We caught one small shark but that was it for the night. At 4:30 a.m. we went back to the rig and fished until daylight without much luck. We are somewhat new to the blue water stuff so we are learning every time we go. We put out a spread and trolled for a while again without much luck.







We saw a few hookups on other boats but not that many. We did see one boat catch a nice yft. After reading his post I think it was JMS. I guess we should have stopped and chunked like they were doing. After trolling for a while we decided to leave Petronius and head for the Marlin.



We got to the Marlin and there were small very fast moving schools of tuna busting the surface.









We tried trolling, casting poppers, jigging, live hard tails, and chunking and could not get a hookup. Like I said they were in small schools moving fast, and we could not stay with them very long. After trying everything we knew to do we put out some high speed trolling lures, made a few laps around the rig and headed for the Ram. After just a few minutes of trolling I saw a fine column of mist on the surface off in the distance. Then we saw another one. It was a WHALE. And there were more. We ended up seeing at least 3 whales, I think sperm whales. Here is a link to a bad videoof the experience.


And a picture.





We headed to the Beer Can and then back to Fort Morgan. We ended up with a bft, some small AJ's, a nice triple tail, and some other small stuff in the cooler.





We had a great time and I am looking forward to doing it again. With this experience andreadingpostsfrom the folks on this forum maybe nextime we can put more in the cooler. If anyone has any suggestions on what we can do differently please feel free to offer them. Thanks in advance.

By the way, my 12 year old nephew put more fish in the boat than any of us. Congrats Jake.

Private Pilot

Hey, thats a great first trip! Nice pics too:clap

Misn 1

Way cool!!! Seems like a very fulfilling trip. I'm sure you will be more productive in the future. I just started fishing offshore and have only been about 12 miles out. An overnight trip sounds like a lot of fun. How far is it to the rigs you went to? I showed the pics and the whale video to my wife...who was amazed to know that there are actually whales in the ocean. I guess she thought they all lived at Sea World. I am glad to hear that you took your nephew with you. More kids need to be exposed to the outdoors. Also, congrats to Jake for being the "Top Dawg" of the trip. Thanks for the post. Good luck in the future.

:clap

Chris V

Congradulations on your first overnighter. Your right on the whale I.D. those are sperm whales. I've seen them a couple times out there, always a cool experience. Whether you catch a lot of fish or not, its always a great trip.

:clap

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msubdawg

Misn 1,

Those rigs start about 72 miles from Fort Morgan. It's a long ride but a lot of fun. "Top Dawg", now that sounds like a good nickname for Jake. Maybe it will stick.

Thanks

seacapt

GREAT post!!! I'm sure "Top Dawg" will never forget it.

Chris Hood

Awesome pictures of the tuna!

Misn 1

I meant to ask about the whales. Did you try casting to them? What kind of line do you prefer to use when whale fishing? What about bait...will a 60lb Tuna work? Also, what does whale taste like...chicken???

oke

BlueH20Fisher

Most people make the mistake of using huge hardtails caught outside the rigs for tuna. Really the ideal bait is a hardtail (any live bait) less than six inches, ideally 3 or 4" caught as tight to the rig legs as possible or on weeds. Also use long flourocarbon leaders and small circle hooks size 6 or 7, and don't "troll" just bump one engine in and out of gear to keep the live baits away from the boat. Leave reels with drag slightly above freespool with the clicker on and give the tuna a good 5 count. With the poppers you don't want to lead the fish, you want to hit the fish or its splash so the tuna right behind him thinks he missed a flyer. Also, don't work the popper, just reel aggressively and rip it hard through the water.



You may have known all this, but these are common errors new fishermen make on tunas. Good luck next time.

msubdawg

Thanks for the advice. I will be sure to try those techniqes next time.

Misn 1 - We made a couple of cast to the whales but had no takers. We typically use 60 lb mono for the main line with about 15 ft of 120 lb florocarbon leader and a large circle hook bridled to about a 4 lb cricket. This usually gets them.