Fish Report for 7-31-2003

Trying to catch big bluefin
7-31-2003
Shawn Steward - Excel
Hello Anglers,
Today we concentrated on trying to catch big bluefin and we were able to get on one school of the big boys. At 0800 we came across a sonar mark and as we came over the top of it the meter lit up on big fish. Before the boat came to a complete stop we had three fish going. The water around us looked like a washing machine because of all of the fish boilling around the boat.at one point we had 12 fish going at once and they were all heavy. The first one that hit the deck was 127 pounds and slowly but surely we had a tally of 25 big bluefin from 90 to 155 pounds. All of the fish were caught on sardines and a couple with a 3 oz. sinker rubber banded to the line.We did not have a high casualty rate and I think it helped keep the fish around as long as they did. When we left that spot, or should I say, when the spot left us we went in search of again only to come up with two big eye tuna 85 nd 90 pounds, and a few yellowtail for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we are going to try for some albacore and hopefully a few bluefin.Just another reminder to everyone going out on future trips on any long range boat, there is always a chance of finding a spot of these big bluefin or big eye so you want to have a castable 60 or 80 pound outfit with you, preferably a two speed. The picture below is of crewmember Mike Pritchard bringing a 85 pound big eye over the rail for Terry VanDe Walker. Good fishing to all, Shawn Steward and the crew