Fishing can definitely be a deal of trials and tribulations, bluefin tuna take that to the Nth degree. Especially fish in the 200+ pound range, also know as ‘Cows’. I’ve been on these trips before and been skunked. Going into this trip, I told my buddy Magnum that my goal was just to catch one over 100lbs on one of my own rods. The first day of this trip started kind slow. We’d find pods of these fish, but they just weren’t biting. Bluefin fishing during the day puts fisherman in a tough predicament because of their combination of size, power, eye sight, and finicky attitude. If you put too heavy of terminal tackle and leader material in the water, they send a clear message: “Screw you angler, have fun holding your rod while I go explode on this live bait right in front of your face.” If you gear down too much, ha, well no need to explain that…
One thing the boat can do to trick the bigger ones is run a kite rig. The kite runs hundreds of feet in the air with a release clip on it like a downrigger, and they are able to skip a flying fish along the surface. The advantage is business end of your rig, leader and hooks, is essentially all out of the water, so they can use super heavy gear that gives you a chance on these big cows. They can only run 2-3 of these at a time, and they hand them off when hooked up to one of the 17 anglers on the boat via a lottery system. While the crew is doing that, the rest of us fish jigs or live sardines ‘fly lined’ closer to the boat. I didn’t really want to be handed off a rod, I wanted to do it myself, but after a slow start and seeing a couple guys land back to back 250lb cow bluefin via the kite, my name was drawn and I was pumped. An epic explosion, I’m hooked up and battling, heavy gear, 2 speed reel, and then pop! What the… Something broke, it wasn’t suppose to happen, we had a crimp fail on the 200lb mono that attaches to the leader. The captain said that’s never happened, I was devastated.
The boat landed another 4 or 5 giants on the kite before it turned dark. After dark is really when the best chance to land a big one on your own comes. I said to myself, “It’s going to be a long and late night if I don’t get one.” Quiting or sleeping weren’t options. The fish aren’t as leader shy, you can gear up, and they turn on to flat fall jigs. The captain would call out the depths, I had my line marked every 50’ and would drop the jig accordingly. Marking my line was something I learned on my last trip, depth control, ha that sounds familiar to a type of fishing I’m accustomed too?!? Anyways, after relentlessly working that jig for a few hours it happened… I’m reeling that thing up about as fast as I can, and it’s really indescribable, but the closest thing comparable would be if you could imagine a Volkswagen driving by and pickin up you lure heading in the opposite direction at 35mph. Holy crap, or maybe I should say holy cow! The battle was on. Man vs beast. It took about 30 minutes of everything I had. Sheer stubbornness and will power not too hand the rod off and take a break, but I did it. I’m not sure it would have been possible without the Penn 2 speed reel and being able to gear down on it. Certainly not possible whout being able to put the rod on the rail. What a fish, what a memory, what trip. 223lbs, I guess I’m a member of the ‘cow club’ (over 200lbs). And now further coined by best deckhand in the bus, Magnum Scuro, the Ohio Cow Club, or OCC. Thanks Magnum and Furtune Sport Fishing, you guys are top notch.
