Well, the tuna decided to fool us on Sunday....Saturday everyone caught em, Sunday was a different story...fished from the 440 line all the way up to the point and only had one knockdown. Fish came tight, bout spooled a 50 wide, and finally broke the 80lbd leader after 10 min of the fight. Had to button down on him to stop him and then backed off on the drag, and after gaining and losing some line, it just broke....broke my heart too....another private boat in same area had 2 fish on, got spooled on a 50 wide with one, and caught the other after about an 1.5 hr fight, a big 150-200 bluefin. So anyway, great weather, no fish...I did see a charter boat pick up a couple in the same area we were, wich is frustrating as heck. But after talking to all the private boats at the ramp, no one did anything. Same ol story, we should of been there yesterday!! Water temp was 68-74 degrees. No life seen till we hit the point, like a desert everywhere else. I will be out of Hatteras April 7th-14th, so hopefully we will turn our luck around then!!

Sorry to hear that!! Take it as a workup to next week...just trying to get all the kinks worked out. I'll be down around the 12th. I'll give you a buzz and we can buddy up.

--Don

Gusman, that is frustrating but you'll get em in the boat next time! Just remember that if line is going out fast your drag is increasing alot already due to the lines resistence through the water and the decreasing spool diameter. Many times more than a little bump on the drag is too much. If it was/is a big fish try to run the boat nearly parallel to it, the secret being to keep big fish heading in the same direction as the boat. He turns, you turn. That gives the angler the best leverage, and the least liklihood of failing terminal tackle. Dennis Braid gave a great demo on how much difference it makes in handling bigger fish. Good luck.
Dave

Don, that sounds great, would love to link up with you...call my cell 252 314-0700...

Dave, appreciate the insight on the drag...I've been thinking about it ever since we lost the fish, I don't know if we put too much pressure on him, or if there was a nick in the leader to start with...it's one of those things were I will beat myself up about it till I can get back out there and put one in the boat!

Billable / Skinny .... understand you all were at the offshore seminar on Saturday? I had stopped by All Tackle in Annapolis after the day and drank a few and they said a few people from the board were up there. The Dennis Braid session sure did make alot of sense! Hopefully will increase the hook up to landed ratio.

Anyway good stuff!

Cheers.

Greg,

The Dennis Braid breakout was good. Hope to put those tactics to use really soon.