Mikvi

I was invited on a friends boat to Venice as he'd never fished the Blue before. We left Thursday afternoon, pulling a 31ft fountain C/C and got about 5 miles before a bearing went on the trailer. 3 hours later, and a new hub, we were on the road again. Dusk saw our arrival at Venice, where we booked into the cabins there and went to the marina for beer and food. We were very impressed with the new bar and resturant there. Excellent food and cheap beer. After getting to bed around midnight, it was hard getting up at 0430, but we managed and were on the river before sunup. There was a little fog and SSE wind abot 10-15Knts. The plan was to head to Cognac and start trolling. There were some 8 footers for a while, but they settled down into a nice 3 ft swell. we decided to stop at the 194 rig to try and make bait and jig some. No bait, and no luck with the jigs. As the others were jigging I noticed whatI thought were Bonita busting up near the boat.I grabbed a spinning rod and threw a Tsunami popper and immediatly hooked up. No Bonita! never did see what it was, but was busted off in the rig as I couldn't turn it. We tried trolling, but didn't see anything else and after an hour headed towards Cognac. Just at the edge of the Mississippi canyon, there was a large rig (I don't know the number), but Tuna were hitting bait constantly. At first I thought they were blackfin, but as we got closer found out they were all yellowfin. I threw a Tsunami at a bunch by the boat , hooked up and lost 220yds of 50lb powerpro beforeI could stop the fish. Never did get it turned, but we drifted into the rig and I was again broken off:banghead The plan for that day was then to try and be near the Tuna when the surfaced and hit them with poppers. Managed 8 hookups, but only 2 in the boat. All were yellowfin and all caught on the surface about 200yds upwind of the rig. Tried bait, but the sharks were too thick. Left in time to get back at Venice by Dusk. Left late the next day asI felt all of my 50 years. We went straight to the same rig and found half a dozen boats there. The Tuna were also there so we setup a spread and pulled everything we had except the cooler:banghead The only hits we had were when we slowed down, then sharks would hit anything with a Ballyhoo on it. As the charter boats left we went back to drift fishing, and I managed 1 more yellowfin. Shortly after that my Penn 9500SS died and we decided to call it a day. I don't know the water temp, but we were in cobalt blue water. We were 18.2nm from the South pass heading towards Cognac. The Blue was in very close. We tried trolling the edge but didn't get a hit. Weed lines were almost forming, but not enough to stop for. All in all a fun trip with a few fish in the boat.

Clay-Doh

Great report!:clap You got any pics of them tasty tuna!!

__________________
SO EASY A CAVEMAN CAN DO IT.
MY UNDERWATER SPEARFISHING VIDEOS

Captain Woody Woods

pictures? estimated weights on the tuna?

Bubba Squid

So your 9500ss took a dump! Wonder what happened to it. Just bought one myself and the roller guide came off along with the brearings when the screw backed off. Call Penn service trying to get a part and they dont have any. Thankyou Penn. Ordered parts at Half Hitch and they dont know when they can get em. Any of you that have the 9500 SS penn, you might want to lock tight that screw. I sure am when I get my parts in...that is if I ever get em in.:banghead

Mikvi

Sorry no Pics. The boated tuna were on the small size 30 -40lb. I lost much bigger ones (of course) into the rig. The problem with the reel was the nut under the spool (as opposed to the one on the outside). It had just come undone. I will still put it in the shop as I can't quite get it back together right:banghead

capthoop

That nut is a common problem with the penn spinning reels. Fortunately it is an easyrepair and can be done on board.

Bubba Squid

easy repair if you can find the bearings and roller after it came off:banghead