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I am a member of a
very neat web site TIDALFISH.COM and many members of that site that have
boats take along some of us boatless folks and we share expenses. Well
ALBYMAN (Kevin) invited me and Tilford to go offshore with him and his
friend Charlie on the 1st of July. They were planning to leave the
Wachapreague marina at 5am. Wachapreague is on the eastern shore of
Virginia and about 70 miles from my home. Tilford lives even farther
away. So Tilford and I made arrangements to meet at the end of the Bay
Bridge Tunnel (one of the 7 engineering wonders of the world) and we
could share the expenses of the toll across. I was in the parking lot
waiting for him at 3:10 (yes that meant a very early rise for this boy)
He arrived not much later and we went up to Wachapreague. We got there
about 4:15 .... went to the marina instructed by Kevin and he was not
there yet. He arrived about 4:30ish and we launched the 24 ft Albemarle
(very nice boat) and set out for the fishing grounds at first light
(just a little after 5am). I am glad we had a local at the helm as the
channel in and out of Wachapreague is very windy and lots of shoal
water. We hit the ocean and proceeded to the first stop (about 25 miles
offshore) put the "spread" out (8 fishing lines off the back of the
boat) and started trolling. It didnt take long and we had the first
strike. I was on the pole and we landed a nice 20 lb dolphin (NOT
FLIPPER) .... some call them mahi mahi. On the next strike Tilford got
the pole and it was a screaming tuna. He did everything perfect but when
we got the tuna near the boat he turned his head and spit the hook. We
were all (well Tilford and I) feeling a bit down as we didnt know if we
would get any more chances on tuna. Continued to troll that area and
picked up one more nice mahi mahi. No great tuna bite there and we heard
reports on the radio of a tuna bite farther south. So we brought the
poles in and headed south. 27 miles farther south we put the spread out
again. Let me say that the water was SLICK CALM by now and a absolute
BLUEBIRD day. It didnt take long till the action started. Yellow fin
tuna!!!!!!!!!! When they hit YOU KNOW IT..........pole bends ......drag
starts screaming. |
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