This year we recruited the services of the Navigator. You can read about the boat at:
http://wvvt.com/navigator/
Our captains name was Jeff and the mate was TJ who was a young and very enthusiastic guy like me, well younger than me.
The morning started very early as usual with Stephan and I waking up at 3:00 am. The night before we prepared our sandwiches and stuff so that when we woke up we could just head straight out! We were going to leave from Virginia Beach but the captain called and gave us an option: leave from the Beach and travel 4 hours or so by boat to get where the fish are, or meet him down in North Carolina near Manteo and only have a 1 1/2 hour trip....the decision was easy.
The trip down was uneventful, just the way we like it. When we arrived we searched a few minutes and found TJ waiting for us.
Jeff arrived a few minutes later and gave us an option: Head North and fish for Dolphin (Mahi-Mahi) or head South and fish for Tuna. Since we had a few minutes to decide I thought, "Stephan doesn't like to eat fish and I always wanted a shot at catching a tuna, so lets give the big fish a try!" When Jeff returned I told him, "Lets try for Tuna!" Jeff let us know the tuna fishing had been spotty so we knew what we were getting into.
The trip out was beautiful and more importantly it was FAST! Jeff's
boat was smaller than most of the other boats which looked like cruise ships more than fishing vessels. We passed many boats out and didn't have one pass us. We headed 42 miles out to sea on a very calm day, although I will say when we passed the breakers there were some good swells and we caught some air on a few occasions which was very exciting and worth the price of admission.
When we arrived to the fishing grounds I felt very confident as I
watched TJ and Jeff work their magic to get things set up and rolling.
It was like a well oiled machine. At no time we were fishing and I
anticipated the first strike, it was like Christmas morning. There were about 25 other boats out with us.
About an hour passed and we were all smiles because we knew we had great weather which is important if you think you may have a very slow day of fishing.
As Jeff turned the boat to go over another "mark" (that's where Jeff
would mark on his GPS where he saw some fish on his fish finder) I gave out a traditional "Here fishy, fishy" and not 3 seconds later I noticed a line leave the clip on the outrigger and heard the reel screaming! Stephan said, "Pat you get it!" I jumped up put a fighting belt on and began reeling the fish in. I thought, "This is pretty easy, the fish kept heading right to the boat and as we saw him shining in the water we knew we had a nice tuna on. It was awesome to see the colors of the fish shimmering down below. As he was parallel with the boat and started coming up he saw the boat and that's all he had to see, he hadn't realized he was hooked! He quickly put his head down and "WHHHHHHIIIIIIIZZZZZZ" the line ripped off and I couldn't believe the speed and power of these things. He ripped off a good 75+ yards before he slowed down. The next 15 minutes where arm tiring back breaking work....and I was loving every minute of it. This is what we came to do. After a long fight my arms where burning and back was screaming to end this thing. As sweat dripped from my face I could see the brute again and marveled at the colors radiating from his body. It still amazes me when I think about it, the blue, gold and silver streak down below showing off like lights in Time Square. The fish soon tired and began giving way and as he approached the boat TJ did a great job gaffing him and swiped him on the first try. I was relieved because I was tired! We weighed him and he came in at 48 lb's! A nice Yellowfin Tuna!
After the fight TJ and Jeff got everything back into the water and we
were fishing again. We trolled and trolled some more. We saw some
people hooking up with Bonita (Good for cat food and bait), but where the Bonita are so are the Tuna.
A few hours passed with no more hits. The weather was so great though we were all smiles! After lunch we found ourselves mesmerized by the roll of the ocean and as I was scanning the horizon I saw fish breaking the surface, quickly I yelled "Fish!" and Jeff complemented me for the good eyes and we head over to investigate. A school of Bonita. No hookups but we were encouraged by the pod of top water feeding fish.
We proceeded to troll and another hour passed when when all of a sudden we heard the sound we all were waiting for, this time it was Stephan's turn. This fishing was different though, he just kept going and wasn't stopping. TJ tried to lift the pole but couldn't 150 yds.....200 yds....it was running and we couldn't stop it until the line went from being taught to limp, the worst feeling in the world. The fish was gone.
After much debate as their usually is among fishermen after a lost fish we deducted it was a Marlin! We were a bit frustrated that it got off, but back in my mind I knew it would have taken a couple hours to reel him in and Stephan would have to do it without a fighting chair which is tough for an experienced angler let alone 2 rookie big game saltwater fishermen.
After the missed fish we continued to troll and not 20 minutes passed when we spotted a huge school of Bonita feeding. We went over to investigate and found a monster school feeding. We proceeded to throw everything at them and were quickly rewarded with hookups. These fish are between 5-10 pounds and fight like the devil, I call them "pocket rockets". We had a blast with them and after 5 or 6 fish we decided to get back to catching tuna. Within the next hour or so we missed two more fish and towards the end of the day as we kept chasing the Bonita hoping to find a tuna in with them I hooked up on a Bonita as I was reeling in the rod next to mine was hit and we knew that was a tuna. So we were both fighting fish! Jeff told Stephan not to give the fish any slack and Stephan took that literally and became a machine and put all 240 lb's behind him and reeled that sucker in less than 5 minutes. That fish had so much energy in him when they gaffed him we all kinda jumped back in amazement that he got that fish in so fast! I know call Stephan"The Machine", because he can bring in a fish against it's will! His tuna came in at 47 pounds.
That was the last fish of the day and we headed back shortly thereafter and the ride back was a bit bumpier than coming out. It was pretty bumpy.
All in all we had a great trip with Jeff & TJ. Most charters sounded
like they got skunked and some maybe caught a fish and that was with 6 guys on board. We were more than happy and I now have 40 pounds of tuna steaks in my freezer. I can tell you they taste SOOOOOOOOO good that I look forward to my next trip!
Thanks Jeff & TJ for given us a memorable day!
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