Fish Report for 8-6-2014

Big Bluefin On The Pacific Dawn

8-6-2014
John Thompson

Our annual 2 Day Trip aboard the PACIFIC DAWN out of Fishermans landing this year had 18 anxious anglers at the dock early waiting to do some battle with the big Bluefin Tuna we had been hearing about. The excitement was even more intesified as the Pacific Dawn pulled into the dock and unloaded there catch from the previous trip and seeing them unload a Bluefin Tuna that weighed in at 106 lbs. As we boarded and claimed our bunks the anticipation was growing as we were given our safety briefing and plans for our 2 day trip. Our plans were to fish US waters where they had been finding the Bluefin and were told there were plenty of Yellowfin Tuna around to keep us busy while we were looking for the Bluefin. We started our trolling rotations at 6:30 am and it wasn't long until all 4 jigs went off and the excitement started, we got into a wide open Yellowfin bite. We pretty much had our limits of Yellowfin for the day by noon and then the hunt for Bluefin was on, we also made some stops on kelp patties as we looked around. The Yellowtail were all over the kelps, but most were released to live another day and grow up some. We found our first Bluefin school around 4 pm that wanted to bite, but the first few hookups all escaped our efforts. The second school we found we had a lot more eager to play and we had several immediate hookups, with the biggest Bluefin of trip coming on this stop, the offical weight for this fish was 111 lbs caught by the youngest angler on the boat 13 yr old Christopher Nicholson. We ended up with about 8 large Bluefin for the day going from 50 to 111 lbs. Day two started quick as we soon found a school of Bluefin that wanted to bite and they ended up staying around the boat for the rest of the trip. Although not quite the grade of the day before these fish were running from 30 to 70 lbs and were still putting a hurt on the angler lucky enough to hook up. We also had some of the larger grade Yellowfin hanging around that kept us going until the Bluefin decided to come back around. The fishing was so good that we ran out of bait around 2 pm and we decided to call it a trip and head back in early. The was not a disappointed face on the boat as everyone had limits of Yellowfin Tuna and almost everyone had at least one Bluefin Tuna to go along with the Yellowtail and Dorado we had. Final fish count for the trip was 180 Yellowfin Tuna, 24 Bluefin Tuna, 19 Yellowtail and 18 Dorado. This was a trip of a lifetime for many aboard, with many catching their personal best. A special thanks to Captain Pat Cavanaugh and Mike Nickerson for getting us on the fish, the crew Fernando, Cameron and Ricky for making sure we put these fish on the decks and to Charlotte for providing us with some great meals.


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