Epic Bluefin tuna season opening, Oregon Inlet Jan 14 2012

For the past 3 years Saltywater Tackle have been opening the jigging and popping season in North Carolina, it is a like a tradition to us and we will very much keep it going,
We have been talking on a daily basis with Captain Ned Ashby from Sea Breeze and Captain Dan Rooks from Tuna Ducks to check on the bite and most important to find out if the fish showed up!
We got the call last week but the weather was not in our favor and a major decision needed to be made as Chris, Hot’s field tester is flying down from California,
I wanted to go badly as I know we will do well, many guys are waiting for the bite report to start before pulling the trigger and commit to a trip, while I know it is a matter of going out and putting in the time, so off we go with a total 4 anglers,
Chris, Paul Ilya and I took the drive and made it right before light,
Greeted by Captain Ned and first mate George and off to the spot.
After 15 minutes trying to raise the fishes up with a spreader bar we saw a fish annihilating the teasers, all 4 of us casted but no love, then all of a sudden Captain Ned shouted, I am marking fish, 4 jigs cut through the water column,
Chris came tight and fights the fish and loses it right next to the boat,
30 minutes goes by and again 2 jigs goes down and I came tight on the new Saltywater Tackle Outer Banks prototype jigging rods, more detail will follow as we are in the process of testing a couple of jigging rods that we are designing for the massive Blue fin tunas in the Outer Banks.
After 40 minutes I landed my first Blue fin tuna and we opened the season, the fish estimated at 320lb and measured 81 inches,
Again I made a cast and came tight with the Race Point 200 and the Shell Shaping twister lure, fought the fish and brought it to color in under 20 minutes, the fish measured 84 inches and estimated at 340lb,
Chris came tight next and he lost the fish right away as she bit through the leader, dropped the jig again and Chris came tight again and he finally landed a nice 80 inch fish estimated at 300lb,
All fishes landed free style and none of us used any harness !!
What a day for us and to open the season, another group will be arriving on Monday. We will keep you guys posted!
Tackle used:
Hot’s One Pitch Slider 56XH
Race Point 200, 250, 300
Valley Hill EXP-55XXB The Maori Spirits
MC Works Southern Deep Ultimate Monster SD538XX
Saltywater Tackle Outer Banks 400 jigging rod (MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW)
Line used: Sunline PE Jigger 8HG, Shout Sasame PE Premium, Varivas SMP
Popping Leader: Saltywater Tackle twisted leader
Lure & Jigs: Shell Shaping Twister,Shout Shab Shab & Stay, Hot’s drift tune, Deep Liner
Enjoy the pictures guys !!

Tight lines
Sami

Saltywater Tackle Outer Banks 400 prototype Jigging Rod!

Saltywater Tackle Race Point 200 In Action!!

2012 New Year Fun Fishing Trip!

As we say goodbye to 2011 and usher in 2012, Our good fishing buddy, Raymond chartered a trip with Tuna Duck Charters captained by Dan Rooks in Hatteras, North Carolina.
What a blast we had! Nope, no tunas this time but D R U M S! Big Red Drums! All of them were way over the limits and we had to release every single one of them. Biggest one broke the 50lb scale we had on board and the average were 30lbs - 40lbs.
We were jigging for them in 60ft water and it was non stop action as soon as we hit the spot!
Later in the afternoon we tried heading to deeper waters to try for the yellowfin and blackfin tunas but unfortunately the tunas were out celebrating New Years Day and were no where in sight.
Thank you Captain Dan and Mike from Tuna Duck Charters, we'll see you guys when the blue fins season starts!
Enjoy the photos and Happy New Year Everyone!!!
Tackle used,
Rods - MC Works, Saltywater Tackle Race Point, Smith, Synit and Valleyhill.
Reels - Shimano Stellas, Studio Ocean Mark, Daiwa Dogfight and Accurate
Jigs - Deep Liner, Sevenseas Hooker, Shout Shab Shab, CB One, Diamond Jigs, Nasout Jigs.
Line - Sunline, Varivas, Daiwa, Jerry Brown.
Leader - Sunline, Varivas and Yozuri.

Paul.

Rigging up!

Getting out of the inlet

The Spot

Tuna Duck!

Fishing Dogs!

Busting Bluefin Tuna with Captain Adam Sherer from Shore catch December 3,2011

I got a call from Captain Adam from Shore Catch stating Bluefin tunas are in good numbers and close to shore.
New Jersey Bluefin tunas offer the ultimate challenge to many and to catch one on top water, one will have to be blessed with “a lot of luck”, skills and determination. Fortunate enough I know that I am fishing with one of the best Captain in New Jersey and was confident that he will put me on the right feed. He has done it in the past and I know that he is capable of doing it again this year!
During this same period last year I had the opportunity to land a nice fish on topwater with Adam and I am hoping today to set the pace of last year that was my attitude while I was driving from Princeton to Barnegat Inlet at 4:00AM.
We launched at 5:30AM and made it to the fishing ground at the right time, just when the sun was peeking out from the horizon. It took a while before we started seeing tuna rolling and crashing lazily all over the place and by the time we reached them…they went down under. We couldn’t get a good shot at them in the beginning but as the day progressed, things started to get better and better until we got into a nice feed with diving gannets and birds diving all over the place.
I made a cast to come up tight with a blue fish, we were a little disappointed when we notice that they were mixed in with the Bluefin tuna, it was pretty frustrating when we saw the blues and we all know how hard it is to score in New Jersey.
The Tunas started crashing again and this time, I saw bait flying out of the water, for a second I thought they were Anchovies or half beaks, is it possible? We all know that most of the times these fish are gorging themselves with sand eels but hey! Anything is possible!
Once I saw what kind of bait (FISH) were present, I switched right away to my trusted Moutoukenmaru Minopenmaru which was lucky enough to have the same profile as the bait.
A nice pod just busted not far away from us and in a split of a second they disappeared,
I made a cast to that same spot and saw my lure getting inhaled almost immediately,
I set the hook twice to secure it on the Race Point 200, got it to gaff within 4 minutes and Santa presented me with a nice fat 58 inch on the deck!
My day is made and now and I can rest, after a frustrating day we finally got the job done!!
I can’t thank Captain Adam enough for the incredible opportunity (we got blown out at least 2 times!) he gave me to get the job done again this year!!
Thank you Captain!!
Enjoy the pictures :)
Tight lines
Sami