Fished SaturdaySunday and half a day Monday

Fished from the 280 Rock to the 1250 rocks and caught 13 YFT to 55lbs 3 Black fins and 3 king macs lost another half dozen tuna two Wahoo and a real nice bull dolphin. I witnessed no less than a dozen Stripers 25 to 40lbs caught in the inlet at Hatteras all caught by drifting eels. We had a great trip and caught three YFT on the drop back butterfly jigs the jig bite was to cool.

Sounds like alot of fun.

Can you explain the jigging? Never done it for tuna.

Eric

conch, wish i had come down... congrats !
Todd

Eric We troll are standard spread and when we get a fish on we drop a jig down a heavy enough one to get down quickly due to the forward motion of the boat i never stop the boat Work the jig erratically and hang on i personnelly like the jigs from ( river2sea.com ) shimanos are great but very expensive i also like the no#7 crokodile jig i have not tried the new spro abalone jigs but they look great. My jig rod set up is a Crowder 20 to 50 spinning rod with a shimano stella 6000 reel with 60 pound dark green braid and a top shot of 80 lb flouro 20 feet in length do not skimp on the length of flouro we marked tuna on the 280 rock and just dropped for them but i much rather do the troll and drop coolest catch so far has been a 30 lb wahoo under a big weed patch this past September

Great job Conch and great tips as well...thanks for the info. I'll have to put that in my bag of tricks for this coming Spring. I've read numerous articles about jigging around weed patches for wahoo while catching bailer dolphin. Will do more of that next year, too.

Catch 'em Up!!

--Don

I've not tried the jigging thing either. Thanks for the tip.

Yeah thanks for the tip. I definitly will give it a try. I also will try more deeper jigging around weeds this year also.

Are those stella reels equal to penn 850 or 950ss's?

Eric

Eric, I've got an assortment of steel tuna jigs left over from my San Diego trip. If you want to try them I'll loan you a few as long as you post the results.

I just went to the site and saw the pvc squid that goes over the jigs, you seen that?

The thing about jigging is that you feel the strike thats my favorite part.Trolling is fun but you never feel the strike.

Eric To answer your question about the reels,The shimano stella has a faster retreive a much more comfortable handle which is important if you are serious about jiggin and most important a 40lb drag which will stop a 50lb YFT in its tracks. I use to use a penn 750ss which is a great reel but it was uncomfortable for long periods of jiggin but its also 400.00 cheaper,As far as the squid over the jig yes i have seen it and i have used a dynamar squid which is very realistic and honestly we have had no better luck than just using the jig itself. When we are patch whackin for dolphin we just use a no3 crokodile jig the silver prism variety and we mohawk the larger dolphin down about 30 to 40 feet,Jiggin is a great way to add another weapon and let me tell ya the first time you get hit by a 40 to 50lb YFT or a 30lb wahoo you will be hooked. NO PUN INTENDED.

Conch,

I've got to tell you, after this last trip offshore, I was getting into the striper mode and putting offshore fishing on the back burner. Now, thanks to you, I want to go bluewater fishing again...real bad!! Thanks alot!!

Great info...much appreciated!!! Spring can't get here fast enough...may have to get on board in Hatteras soon!!

last summer coming back to Hi inlet my son and i stopped at a big weed patch about 8 miles out. we jigged with bucktails and crippled herrings. we would let the jigs go to the bottom and use a fast erradic retreive. it was like a buffet . chicken dolphins,king mackeral(30lbs)bonitas,sharks, all on small bait and spincasters 15lb test we had a blast
Todd

Where and what is the crokodile jig, I did not find it on the site you posted.

Your right, my main concern was the price of the stella reel. Ill use my Penn ss's until I get hooked. 40# drag on a stella huh, wow!

Im planning a full week in HI in Early June. Cant wait.

Eric

When she's cranked up to 40 lbs of drag, you better have it hooked to your body and (or) holding on REAL TIGHT.

--Brett

Nice report and the jigging sounds FUN! If the weather report is favorable, we may try to get down the HI between Christmas and New Years for a 1 or 2 day trip. Anyone else heading down?

Yes! I will be their for my last bluewater trips of the year from 12 26 to 12 30 2006 If the weather holds it should be red hot bite The bluefin tuna bite went off yesterday down their and the YFT were snappin real good at this time last year on the 230 rock to the rockpile according to my log book we hoodwinked em in 71 degree water on December 28th 2005 air temp was 44 degrees went three for five every bite on the no#8 planer if all else fails go to the British splendour wreck and it produced doormats last winter up to 18lbs and lets not forget the 25 to 40 pound stripers right in the inlet. In Hatteras its all about the weather. Look me up my boat stays at Teachs 29 ft Regulator bluetone white in color. I am on channel 1 as Connector

Crokodile jig available in about every tackle store i have been in if all else fails go to ------------ but i am a strong supporter of taking care of the local tackle stores. I use the 3.5 ounce and 7 ounce silver prism crocs. Yes Shimano list 40lbs and a blistering 5.7 to 1 retreive i have never had to crank it all the way down and i have had some pretty strong Amberjacks ( AKA reef donkeys ) on the line and 1 wahoo of about 30lbs when he hit my jig it about ripped my right arm off it really got my attention. Good luck with the jig set up.