NEW DAY NEW LEADER (021811)!!! The morning bite was just about right on schedule, and although not quite as numerous as the past few days, it turned out far more exciting. When it was over, Bob Ramirez had a 209 and the first fish over 200 on board for the day, which won him an Accurate reel. The show was stolen however by Claude, the other half of Team France. Every once in a while you hook a tuna with a lot of heart and a big attitude. Claude's fish fit the bill to a T. It took just a minute for his Accurate loaner reel to get down to it's last few yards of line. Jack had told us on day one, if you need to throw your reel in the water to go on a back up outfit, don't think about it, do it! Claude did and before too long, his back up Accurate went into the water also and joined his original outfit. The second back up (third rod and reel) was beginning to run out when the mighty fish finally stopped. When all other hookups had been landed, Frank began to slowly run down the fish with the engines, collecting rods and reels as we went. Possibly the most impressive thing of all was when the original outfit was retrieved and the final wind in began. After soaking in water for well over an hour, his Accurate reel was acting like it was right out of the box. Twin drags were smooth as ever. I have personally been on back up with a different manufacturer's reel. When the fish began to fight, the drags were as tacky as glue and the fish shortly broke off before I ever saw it. You can't say enough about the quality of these Accurate reels. After hundreds and hundreds of yards of line had been retrieved, the fish was finally in range of the three gaffs that stood ready. The tuna was worn down and tired but there was still life in the mighty beast when the end came. Back on board the fish was weighed at 267 pounds, and the big fish leader had changed hands once again. For the day we had 13 tuna and 8 wahoo on board, admittedly a some what slower day than we've been having. There was a period in the afternoon when we were converting bait wells into another RSW tank. During that time we were in the envious position of not having any room to store fish and while that was going on we also released another 11 tuna of excellent quality. We are now set up to fill up the second RSW, all we have to do is start catching them again tomorrow. A few days to go, we're all having fun, enjoying superb weather, and every one has caught some quality fish. What more could you ask? POEM FOR THE DAY: When he trolled you just had to look He'd stick his arm in, and that's all it took The skipper's technique Might seem quite unique But remember, he was Captain Hook.