We're pluugin away at 'em here putting the premium quality fish in the hatch and releasing the smaller, one hundred pound models. Interestingly, the action was more spread out yesterday with the handful of fish landed in the morning and mid day setting the tone for what turned out to be another very good afternoon.

There is one observation over the past few days that we would like to pass on that may be of help to those of you on upcoming trips, or at least be of interest to long range anglers. The development of the short topshot used with spectra line evolved a few years back following the introduction of spectra backing. The topshots began in the one hundred to two hundred yard range but were significantly shortened by a handful of anglers using sardines to both improve casting distance and better transmit signals from the baitfish at the end of the line to the angler. In theory the short top shots are great but as always with any thing new there is a downside. The downside, especially when using a short topshot of straight fluorocarbon, is that there is virtually no stretch in the line, no give, to compensate for any head shaking by the fish and swell motion from weather conditions affecting the boat. This lack of stretch, particularly when targeting big fish such as trophy yellowfin, leads to a disproportionate number of break offs and hooks pulling. This observation is not new and has been demonstrated in remarkable detail during this voyage. It may be that all the anglers using the short topshots over the years just have bad luck, but the odds are pretty hard to deny when considering that the number of hook pulls and break offs for anglers using the short top shots are 3:1 over the anglers using longer wind on leaders. Keep in mind that I am specifically referencing big fish results, not any scenario where the fish are smaller that say fifty pounds and the conditions are not extreme. Also, by short top shot I am talking about leaders of twenty feet or less used with spectra. All of you out there do what you believe is best but if I was targeting trophy tuna with spectra backing, I would use a mono filament leader of a least ten to twenty yards.

Back to the fishing now, we plan to stretch this out another couple of days enjoying the action and quality of this beautiful fish before heading for home.