Bluefin Jigging/Popping in Cape Cod in 2012

[ksong]

Bluefin jigging/popping in Cape Cod is around the corner.
I am going to post info and trip reports for bluefin in Cape Cod in 2012 here.
I don't arrange any trip in advance because of my uncertain business /fishing trip schedules. It cost to arrange a fishing trip with top-notch Capts like Dom, Josh or Jimmy the Greek.
If anyone who can not make a commitment in advance, but can go on a short notice, let me know. I'll compile list for short notice trips. I'll try to find the best boats available.

[ksong]

We found them today. It was very foggy this morning, but fog cleared by 9:00 am and we could see pretty far.
There were whales and birds !!!
The first cast in Cape Cod this season resulted in big swirl around my FCL LABO CPS220S.
We tried hard for an hour without success. Guys are more interested in taking pictures/videos of whale show than cating poppers as they never seen whale on the boat before.

Capt Jimmy found tuna running 100 miles from Chatham, Race Point, SE Conner and south of Chatham last year on the first trip last year and he did it again. No boat was around us as in last year.
We felt we got there a little too late because 10:00 am was slack time and action slowed down after 10:00 am.

We had a great seabass jigging in the afternoon. Many were in 4 - 5 lb range and it was fun to catch them on light tackle.

I'll post about seabass jigging in separate thread.

[ksong]

Bluefin start biting now.
I have bluefin trips from June 19 to June 22 in Cape Cod and I hope we catch some tuna.
Most tuna caught now are in 300 lb - 500 lb range.

[ksong]

Good news is bluefin were biting today and bad news is we didn't hook up any tuna.

Capt Jimmy wanted to check the area where bluefin were there in big number in Oct last year.
It was very promising. whales were there, birds were there and bait were there.
Even we knew bites were going on about 7 - 8 miles north of us, we stick to our area as it is so promising.
We didn't see any boat around us.
John had a fish first while jigging. He had a 28 lb drag at strike on JM PE reel and almost half of line got dumped.
He increased drag past strike position. He must used over 35 lb drag, but the fish still took lines.
But the fish turned out to be 300 plus lb blue shark.
We waited until slack tide, but nothing happened.
Even we didn't have any tuna today, nobody complained. Instead of joining fleet, we decided to stick to our plan as we saw tons of bait and whales around us and it looked it was just a matter of time when tuna found the area.

Capt Jimmy and myself have many things in common. One of them is we are not afraid to make mistakes and experiment new things, and explore new areas away from the crowd.
OF course we have many days skunked because of it, but it is a part of fishing and we are enjoying it even without fish.

Tomorrow is another adventure day with Capt Jimmy and I hope tuna find us tomorrow.
If not, we'll try again next week.

I rarely see so many herring from the bottom to the top in 150 ft water. How can you leave the area to find better area. It is good to see herring is coming back.




I could count at least two dozen whales around us

[ksong]

John fighting 300 plus lb blue shark with JM PE reel filled with 80 JB and Black Hole Cape Cod Special 450g spiral jigging rod.

[ksong]

We left at 4:30 am but I was surprised many boats were there already and some were fighting tuna.
While most boat had at least one tuna on troll in the morning, we couldn't get any bite until noon.
We drifted among trolling boat. I jigged and John and Elio cast poppers while Capt Jimmy set up two bait rods. We marked tuna occasionally and I expected good jigging bites, but I had only one hit on my jig. I lost the fish because assist cord was cut. I suspect it was a shark.


John had a huge swirl behind Heru Skipjack lure. He got explosion a giant on his lure again 10 minutes later. But, fortunately giant missed hooks. if we joined the fleet early in the morning, we definitely had more chances to hook up tuna on poppers as bites were hot in early morning.

It became windy from late morning, but the sea anchor slowed down the drift speed considerably.
While were jigging and popping, Capt Jimmy sent out two baited lines. We had a hit, but we lost a fish because 130 lb Jerry Brown main line got broken. It must be a giant. For some reason, drag didn't work. We knew tuna were there and we made another drift and we heard screaming sound for the baited reel. Fish is on ! We thought it could be a shark by the way the fish reacted initially, but we knew immediately it was big tuna when the fish made a fast long run. Elio fought the fish.







Jimmy knew it was a giant and he prepared for a harpoon.

[ksong]

We finally landed a giant. The length was 82 1/2 inches and it probably weighs 320 - 330 lb.







Thanks Jimmy for working hard to find fish for us.


Fishing is fun even fishing is slow when you fish with guys who understand fishing and have positive attitude. I always enjoy fishing with Elio and John. I plan to fish canyon on their boat in a few days as canyon yellowfin adn longfin is hot right now.




We know what to do on next trips and I expect hot bites continues at least until the end of Oct.
I can't wait to go up there again.

[ksong]

We fished different area from where we fished on Oct 6.
It seems this area holds big giant. 1000 plus lb giant dressed was caught the other day.
One boat using 50SW completely spooled and one other boat's outrigger was destroyed yesterday.
Capt Jimmy brought big guns for giant. It didn't take long the big gun started to sing.
But it didn't look like a tuna though it took lots of line on heavy drag. Though we fought the fish for a while, we couldn't gain any line. Blue shark which are abundant don't fight that hard.
It got to be porbeagle shark. Porbeagle is a cold water shark and is very similar to mako.
After tug of war, shark finally came up to the surface. It is indeed a huge porbeagle estimated at around 400 lb. But fight was done yet. It was a chaos. The harpoon got broken and we had to subdue the monster with a gaff. Jimmy's friend Tom who was fishing nearby came aboard to bring the shark on the boat.

Fred fighting the shark.














As soon as we set up a next drift, one rod got bent. It didn't take line much and we though it was a blue shark, but it turned out to be a small 70 lb bluefin.



see the size comparison of 70 lb tuna and the porbeable shark.


I threw jigs and poppers while drifting, but I was worried a big giant might hit my jig or popper.
It was an another wonderful adventure. I plan to go up again to fish on Wed if weather cooperates.

[ksong]

We usually leave early in the morning, but we left late due to residual waves after blow on Saturday.
we knew big giant out there and we brought heavy reels for giant on this trip. I was a last chance to evaluate and test new Black Hole Giant standup rods before going ahead to have them make BH Giant rods/blanks.

When we got to the destination, it didn't look good because there were only very few boats and we didn't mark anything. However, we decided to fish there because there were no other places to go.

I asked Capt Jimmy to use Black Hole Giant standup rods. It was very grotesque to install Shimano 80W in small graphite reel seat (the rods have small Fuji graphite reel seat because they hurriedly made the rods before I left Korea.)

We had a hookup on bait and we thought we had a tuna until the fish jumped out of water.
It was a nice mako in 250 lb range Mako It jumped at least 10 times before breaking off the leader line.

As there was no much going on, Capt Jimmy moved the boat to deeper water.
On the first drift, we had another hookup and we thought another shark this time as it didn't make any long run. Scott fought the fish. From the start to finish, he just reeled in. When the fish came up to the surface, we realized it was not a shark, but a tuna !! Capt Jimmy shouted " It is not a small tuna. It can be a commercial fish (over 73") !"
When we brought the tuna on the boat, we measured and it was 71".
The first tuna killed decides whether the boat fishs recreationally or commercially if Capt has both permits. As we killed a tuna smaller than 73", we can not fish commercially. But the No Time hasn't landed a trophy tuna over 73" this year, we kept fishing for a trophy bluefin.

Scott fighting a 200 - 210 lb tuna (71") using new Black Hole Giant standup rod with Shimano Tiagra 80W. We thought it was a shark because it didn't take line much. It took only 5 minutes to land the fish.











we thought it could make 73" mark, but it was two inches short.

[ksong]

440 - 460 lb giant



After landing 200 - 210 lb bluefin, we continued to drift the same area.
One of bait was crushed by a giant not far from the boat. We continued to watch as it seemed bait was still there. Within one minute a giant crushed the same bait on surface again. This time it was hooked, but unfortunately it pulled the hook. We knew it was a huge giant and we just looked each other in amazement and disappointment.

We knew we wouldn't go anywhere and had to stay here if we want to catch a giant.
Not long, Our moment finally came. The 80W on the Black Hole Giant standup rod was singing and dumped half of the line on the spool. Giant !!
I was very excited and elated at the moment because I finally had a chance to video tape the whole fight and observe the performance of Black Hole Giant rod for a giant.

Scott said the Black Hole Giant rod don't need any modification after he fought a monster for 45 minutes using drag upto 80 lb in P.E.I. But I felt the tip might be a little soft for giant while bending the rod with my hands. I watched closely whole 40 -45 minute fight with 440 - 460 lb giant (91") and I had to agree with Scott's assessment that the rod is good as it is and don't need any modification .
Capt Jimmy also agreed the rod could handle bigger giant with amazement after the catch.


Scott was reeling in and a giant snatched bait and ran. He almost lost the rod.
It turned out to be a nice 91" (440 - 460 lb) giant. Fighting time was about 40 - 45 minutes.