Me and my crew got an early start this morning and headed up the line in search of a bluefin or two.

There have been some of the big boys around, but as luck (or lack of) would have it, there wasn't a giant bluefin caught in the Hatteras or Oregon Inlet fleet today. We weren't set up to catch yellowfins, but they were very abundant. We did manage to land a dozen in the 20-30 pound range, and if we would have had our yellowfin spread out, it could have been ugly! We also caught a small mako shark and one out of a couple dolphin bites. For a charter, it would have been super fishing.
Check out the picture of the two yellowfins. Notice anything missing on the one in the front? It has no pectoral fin. I've never seen one like that!

We gave the blackfins a try today, in spite of the windy northwest conditions.

There was no shortage of action on the vertical jigs, but it seemed that sharks had inhabited the same area that the tuna have been. We got plenty of tuna bites, but almost every time we hooked a fish of any size, it got eaten by a shark. We had close to 20 fish eaten, most of which we assume were blackfins. We managed to land three. There were plenty of false albacore as well, but the guys usually get those to the boat fast enough that the sharks don't get too many of them. Hopefully the sharks will clear out! Thanks for a fun trip Al.

.....for 2012!

Justin and I have spent a blustery few days in the boatyard doing our annual haul out. Back overboard tomorrow morning and ready for another great season! Can't wait for you to join us! Oh, if you are itching to go fishing now, there are several options including yellowfin and blackfin tuna. Fishing has been really good.

More kings today for us!

It was still not quite as good as we need it to be for a commercial trip, but we caught 350 pounds of king mackerel on a beautiful December day! It's supposed to be nice again tomorrow, so hopefully they will bite better. The last few days there has been a charter or two, and I have heard reports of great blackfin tuna fishing on the vertical jigs. Also, there were a couple of wahoos caught today.

We searched for kings today but didn't have much luck. The yellowfins bit good for the boats fishing for them.

The cold water has crept back across the king mackerel grounds, completely shutting off the bite. We steamed to the east till we got in some good water, but the kings weren't there. We did catch a wahoo and 450 pounds of false albacore, to hopefully pay our fuel bill, but that was it. The good news is that the couple of boats that had charters today limited out on yellowfin, and were home early! Now is the time if you want some tuna!

We have commercial fished the last few days, and it has been pretty slow thanks to cold water, but things began to shape up this afternoon.

We didn't have one of those "days to remember", but after catching one king mackerel yesterday, and none the day before, a little over 650 pounds for the day was a pleasure. Warmer water pushed back over the area we have been fishing and the kings were a little more cooperative. We fished late, so I didn't have a chance to take a picture...but you know what a pile of kings looks like anyway. I did snap a couple of pictures of a whale yesterday, and today I got a cool looking sunrise around some rain squalls. I also captured a rainbow picture and a great sunset shot on the ride home...compliments of our Creator! Thanks God!
I did hear about some yellowfins caught further to the east, FYI.

My buddy Casey made the last minute decision to drive down from Connecticut for some fishing therapy!

I don't know how much sleep he got in the car between the time he arrived and the time we pulled away from the dock, but I'm sure that after driving for twelve hours, fishing all day and then driving halfway back tonight, he's gonna be wiped out. The cool thing was that we had a gorgeous fall day, and a pretty good bit of action. We didn't hang on to as many kings as we should have, for the amount of bites that we had, but we caught a handful, plus a couple of amberjacks. The highlight was another wahoo on a TLD 20. This one earned Casey a citation at 42 pounds, which is officially his biggest fish so far, and his first wahoo. Great job Casey! Enjoy the fish, and I'll see you next year!

We caught a well full of live bait this morning and went after the kings again.

The water was not as clear as it was the last day we fished, so in the beginning the bite was a little slower. After a few hours, things picked up and the action was about like you would expect. We caught two citation kings today, a 42 and a 35 pounder, but the bonus was when a 61 pound wahoo skied on a flatline live bait on a TLD 20. After a long fight, we landed the fish, good job Mike! We also caught a big ol' barracuda. By quittin' time, the box was full, and everybody was smiling!

After the action we had yesterday and the size fish that we saw, I strongly suggested to my party that we catch live bait this morning and try for the kings.

It was simply as good as it gets. The day was perfect, greasy calm, and the fish were big and hungry. We used all of our live bait up by late morning, as the bite was non-stop. It was hard to say who caught what, but I weighed a citation (30 pounds +) for everybody, and there were more that would have made it that I didn't weigh. Our largest was 42 pounds. It was a terrific trip. Thanks guys, and I hope to see you back next year!

We headed off for another day of commercial king mackerel fishing this morning.

The fish were pretty scattered, and you seemed to be able to get a bite just about anywhere, but never enough to really crush them. We scrapped out 700 pounds, with some nicer fish mixed in. In this picture Justin and Jim are holding a 40 pounder.