# bluefin jigging/popping trip out of Oregon Inlet, NC



## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

12 fishermen from RI/NY/NJ/PA wiill drive down to Oregon Inlet, NC tomorrow night for bluefin jigging and popping Sat. 
It is pretty far to fish only one day as it takes 9 - 10 hours to get there, but they are all determined. 
The average sizes of bluefin are about in 150 lbs - 200 lbs range with bigger ones mixed in.
I am going to give detailed info what tackles we use for them.


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## slowrey (Dec 7, 2007)

good luck kil....look forward to the report....


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

12 hardcore fishermen from RI, NY, NJ and PA came down to the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center on Saturday(02-20) driving 9 - 12 hours all night.
We had the same goal in mind: *catching bluefin on jigs and poppers.*
Due to low tide condition, we had to wait until 6:00 am. Good news was bluefin were located bluefin in between Oregon Inlet. NC and Hatteras, NC on Friday.
When we got to the fishing ground, which is about 40 miles Southeast of Oregon Inlet, we saw about 20 boats trolling and a few boats were fighting. Capt Greg said he marked tuna heavily and asked us to drop jigs. But no taker. @( We tried here and there in the morning, but we couldn't get any hit on jigs. I started to concern we might get skunked because they usualy bites early in the moring and shut off bites until late in the afternoon. All fleet were quiet after flurry of bites early in the morning. 
When tide slowed down considerably early in the afternoon, I had a nice hit on my 320g Labo jig while jigging with Japanese style jerk/crank technique. I knew it was a nice bluefin finally as it felt heavy. However I lost the tuna because brand new Varivas Avani PE8, which has 112 lbs breaking point, got broken. 8* The line must be damaged or I might pushed the drag lever to the full by accident. 
Within 5 minutes after I lost it, Machael who fished next to me, has a solid hit after he missed one. Judging by taking lines off his JM PE8 reel on 25 lbs drag, I knew this was the right size tuna we were waiting for. After fighting 30 minutes, Machael couldn't take the punishment anymore and gave the rod to me. But whenever I a rod, my misfortune continued. Within 30 yards from the boat, the 100 lbs leader line got broken without any apparent reason when the big tuna charged. 
Soon after, John had a nice bluefin on his spinner, but he lost as his knot failed. 
We were 0 for three. :x
Michael fighting a nice tuna.
He used Sevenseas TunaMania/JM PE8 and 180g Labo jig. 








































my unorthodox fighting style.









Soon after, it seemed tuna hit anything moving for a while. However the sizes of tuna were considerablly smaller in 50 - 70 lbs range.
Yong, William and myself fighting tuna. I specifically asked Capt to allow us fishing even one fishermen fighting tuna. Untangling lines when crossed is not difficult and it happens so many times that bites are done after one fights a tuna for a long time.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

Yong fighting tuna with a spinning reel. 
















William's fighting


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

Christian's fighting. I am glad he had an opportunity to wretsle with a tuna as he had hard time to fight with seasick in the morning.  
























John lost a nice tuna and he is fighting a second one with a spinner.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

Oregon Inlet Marina
















*Tackles*
This is the first time in my 30 years charter arrangement that we had more spinning gears than conventional gears. Time is changing. 
StellaSW dominated. It shows how popular StellaSW in the US. There were only two brand conventional reels on the boat. Ocean Mark's Blue Heaven and JM PE reels.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

Black Hole 450g Conventional rod, SevenSeas TunaMania rod, 350g Black Hole spinning rod, Hots One Pitch Slider 56XH, OR 10 Thousand rods were used. 
As I expected Labo 180g - 320g, Sevenseas 220g Hooker jigs/250g Revolver jigs were hot jigs.
Nice time at Red Drum restaurant nearby after fishing.
















I heard the Outrigger had similar trip as we did.
Matt's group(4), Max and Bret fished on the boat. Bret will post the report of the boat.


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## slowrey (Dec 7, 2007)

nice report kil thanks for sharing.....any luck with the black hole rods?


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## snapperlicious (Aug 11, 2009)

Very nice report. keep'um comin!


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

slowrey said:


> nice report kil thanks for sharing.....any luck with the black hole rods?


 Yes, I had about 60 - 70 lbs bluefin on Black Hole 450g rod and it was no match at all.  I might go down again on Wed as weather looks good and I am going to try 250g Black Hole for 150 lbs bluefin .


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## slowrey (Dec 7, 2007)

nice man...how small are they making the blanks? light tackle is more fun....


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

slowrey said:


> nice man...how small are they making the blanks? light tackle is more fun....


 Black Hole makes 250g, 350g and 450g and is developing 150g rods.
I am going down to NC again for bluefin jigging and popping tomorrow.
I plan to use light 250g Blackl Hole rod for bit bluefin.
My friend Gman (glenn) is coming too. I hope we catch some nice ones on jigs or poppers on the trip.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

I am going down again tonight to fish bluefin on jigs and poppers tomorrow. As school of bluefin moved down to south, we plan to fish out of Hatteras tomorrow.
We have heavy hitters tomorrow. Sami G and Gman (Glenn) join the trip as well as John who fished with me on Saturday.
I am the only fisherman on the boat who use conventional reel as all three of them use spinners. 8*
I have been using conventional reels for all my life and I am much comfortable to use conventional reels for jigging, but I don't think Sami G or Gman take more time to land a big tuna just because they use spinning reels, like I don't take more time to land a big tuna with smaller 3/0 size reels than big 30 or 50 reels. 
What it takes long to fight a big tuna is light drag fishermen use. 
As long as you are capable of using heavy drags, the sizes of reels or type of reels are not issue, in my opinion. 
Thai fishermen on the Royal Star proved that they can land a 100 - 150 lbs with spinning reels in 5 - 15 minutes as they were capable of using 30 lbs drag. 
I'll post the report as soon as I come back from the trip.


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