First Bluefin Hunt of 2025 (6/19)

[Latimeria]

Well, we finally got out looking for Bluefin yesterday.  We weren't planning on heading 70 miles west so we just checked the more local banks that they popped up at a week ago.

Thursday was the only real weather window before the winds start blowing, so we were hopeful we could find the needle in the haystack.

At grey light we spotted a paddy full of birds and mammals!  Lots of dolphin as well as pilot whales!  I don't see them very often out here so it was cool seeing them.  Bait balls everywhere and the water was crystal clear! 



We drifted and trolled the paddy/area for about 30 minutes and decided to keep running since we didn't see any signs of gamefish.

A little while later we saw something literally "appear" about 3/4 of a mile away from us.  I think we were still in Mexican waters but not sure.  All I know is this was one big ass submarine and coming right at us!



The radio was going off, but my buddy keeps it so low you couldn't hear what was being said, but we quickly gathered it was for us to get the hell out of the way.

I brought my electric reel so I could troll the Madmac on it.  Plan was two spreaders and a mad mac inbetween just in case.



A whole lot of nothing and we were considering changing spots when the spreader bar blew up!  We even saw the explosion on it and the clicker started screaming!

I was on the reel, but my buddy's kid wanted to get his first triple digit tuna so it was all his.  We've never lost a tuna on the spreader bar before and we knew this one was the triple digit one that he needed!



The fish was staying near the surface and really never sounded.  We kept seeing this huge brown shape in the water behind the tuna and wasn't sure what we were looking at.  We thought it was a shark, but we definitely saw the tuna in front of it.



So close and all of a sudden gone.  First time we ever had a spreader bar hook pull... Then we noticed thrashing and kept seeing a huge tuna flying into the air!  My buddy grabbed the gaffed and we shot over trying to get our tuna back.  We thought it was a big shark feeding on it and was going to try and recover what we could from our catch but as we got to it realized it was some 10 to 12' long pinniped!  I would have said it was a giant sea lion, but it didn't have a big knot on its head and a pointier face.  Then we saw it throw the tuna in the air like you see sea lions tossing a bonito or yellowtail to tear it up.  We couldn't gaff it and it grabbed it and disappeared.  I'm pretty sure it was an elephant seal, but that was all just a heartbreaking 5 minutes after losing the tuna.

Well the sun came out and we kept trolling from bank to bank.  My buddy tried to put up the kite while trolling two spreaders and a mad mac and I wasn't down for disaster.  Even if we hooked one, we would never have been able land it without a total cluster so I was glad when he decided to pack the kite in.  (I would have rathered to just kite fish than trying to troll all of that at once)



The water was 70 and clear as gin, but no bait, no life, no fish for the rest of the day.  The only thing that made me feel a little better was knowing that the islands bit it and we didn't hear a peep on the radio about offshore.  Misery loves company...  lol



Thanks for reading and until next tide!

[jrodda]

Cool report. Too bad about the lost tuna, but that's a pretty crazy sight to see a big ass sea lion throwing a hundred pounder around. At least you got bit, should give some hope for the season.

I got a kite and rigged some plastic flyers a while ago and never got to use them. Would love to see a kite bite for you this year.

[Tim524]

70 miles

Bummer on the loss to a Seal

I wish we could get some consistent conditions, these narrow windows are getting old