# The Big E trip on May 16 - 20, 2012



## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

We headed out to Green Canyon running over 100 miles.out of north of Venice, LA.
There are lots of oil rigs out of Venice, LA. I could count at least a dozen of oil rigs nearby when we arrived at the first rig. Though we couldn't locate good concentration of yellowfin, it is just a matter of time to find them as the Big E sail out more regularly. I feel the areas have much greater potential than out of Freeport, Texas where oil rigs for tuna are very limited.

We don't have any problem to catch blackfin. I got them on jigs in 100 ft as well as in 700 ft.
Though we didn't kill yellowfin tuna, they were there at every rigs we visited. It was not just night affair.
We got them in the morning and in the afternoon on poppers.
I had good action of yft on poppers daytime on my GoPro camera and I am going to post the video when I fly back to NJ. I didn't have chances to test some lures, reel or rods as I stayed with 10'6" surf rod for the whole trip.
This is the first time I didn't lose a popper or a jig. I must brought 30 - 40 jig expecting losing many for bottom fishing, but we never tried for bottom fishing to concentrating tuna fishing in Green Canyon. 
Heru Skipjack 90 was the only popping lure I used and many asked the lure as it worked so well. 
So was 200g Super Sardine jig. Though I tried to concentrate on yft jigging very shallow, I couldn't get away from blackfin. I lost very nice yft on the jig as it pulled the hook after a long run.

Capt Raul and Capt Al worked hard and they moved the boat whenever fishing slowed down. I think they are good combination as both love fishing and they know what they are doing. 
I have no doubt they will be successful sailing from LA as I believe they have great fishery in LA and the location can attract fishermen from Texas, Atlanta, Louisiana, Mississippi as well as Florida. 
Besides, New Orleans itself is a world famous tourist town. I am staying at a hotel in the downtown of New Orleans and enjoyed spending a few hours in the famous French Quarter.

I can't wait to go back to the Big E again.
Thanks TJ and Han who gave me a ride from/to the airport.



















my tackle of the trip
10'6" Black Hole rod/Stella20000SW, 8'6" Black Hole Cape Cod Special Nano/Penn TQR spinning, 7'6" Black Hole Cape Cod Special Graphite/Daiwa 6500H, prototype 5' Black Hole two-piece jigging rod/Chinese 10000 spinning for testing as well as 350g Black Hole Cape Cod Special jigging rod/prototype Penn TQR for testing.










crew members



























I started with this Heru Skipjack 90 and finished with it for the whole trip.









lures to be tested on the trip.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

Finally arrived at a oil rig in Green Canyon.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)




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## fishingtwo (Feb 23, 2009)

nice pics


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)




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## Ex Boat Capt. Carp (Jul 19, 2011)

Nice report and pictures as usual!! FISH ON!!!!


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

*tuna popping video on the trip*


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## Toledo (Mar 6, 2006)

Thanks for the report Kil. Looks like a loaded boat. How many were on board?

What hooks are on that Heru popper? Looks like the tips are turned in a good bit. How are you working it? From looking at your video you dont seem to be giving it much of a pop.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

Toledo said:


> Thanks for the report Kil. Looks like a loaded boat. How many were on board?
> 
> What hooks are on that Heru popper? Looks like the tips are turned in a good bit. How are you working it? From looking at your video you dont seem to be giving it much of a pop.


The hooks are Decoy 3/0 treble hooks. It doesn't damage poppers as the tips are turned in. I used only one Heru Skipjack 90 for two days and it indeed didn't do much damage to the popper. 
It looks thinner and smaller than Owner ST66 3/0 and I wanted to test the strength, but I didn't hook up any real big tuna for testing the hooks.

We had 34 fishermen on the trip.


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## Toledo (Mar 6, 2006)

Thanks for the response. I thought they looked a little thinner too. I wonder if the turned in tips may help them stay in the fish a little better like a turned in J hook tends to do. Please post a review on them after you get a chance at some 100lbers.


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