By Craig Falicon
On Wednesday, August 26, I had the opportunity to run offshore with my good friend Sean Furman aboard his 26 Regulator. We had a great crew for the trip including Scott, Beth and Dave. Dave was one of Sean’s clients in town on business and is an avid largemouth bass fisherman from Atlanta. He had never caught a tuna before.
With flat seas greeting us as we rolled out of Sandy Hook, NJ, we pointed the Regulator’s bow southeast to begin an 80 mile run to a filament of blue water that had pushed in from the 100 fathom line. After a three-hour ride, we arrived to the grounds to find blue 78 degree water, but not much life.
Recent intel had indicated that the troll bite was not producing so we focused on finding the roving schools of cow-nosed rays, skipjack and the yellowfin tuna we were targeting. With a brisk northwest breeze making it difficult to locate the topwater life we wanted to see, things were not looking good.
Shortly after 2 pm, I spotted large groups of tuna chicks (storm petrels) hovering over the waves. One of the best signs a tuna fisherman can see are these large groups of tiny birds feeding on the oils and bait fragments reaching the surface from a feed below. As we approached the birds, Scott spoke up with the words we have been waiting to hear all afternoon: “Tuna!”
A large group of skipjack and school-sized yellowfin tuna flashed electric yellow and purple under the birds. Scott and I both fired small CB One sinking stickbaits into the school and both came tight almost immediately. Mine broke off near the boat, but I noticed a large group of tuna following Scott’s hooked one to the boat. I ran back to the stern and began cutting and throwing chunks of sardines with hopes of getting the tuna’s attention. What happened next was textbook Northeast tuna fishing.
The yellowfin keyed in immediately on the chunks and we began to hand-feed them two feet off the transom. By now everyone else had gotten into the act, hooking fish on topwater and jigs. Double, triple and quadruple headers were now taking place as we held the entire school off the side of the boat. Thankfully we had all the GoPros running as it was all we could do to continue feeding chunks to hold the school.
After 30 to 45 minutes of chaos, we stopped to take inventory of the fish littering the deck. A solid dozen schoolie yellowfin, more than enough for the five of us, so we decided to stop then and just enjoy the show. We continued to feed the school as we shot underwater video and called in a friend to get in on the action.
As we started the ride home, a still in shock Dave turned to me and said, “So this is Northeast tuna fishing?”
Yes sir, and it doesn’t get much better than that for your first time.
absolutely ridiculous you should be ashamed of yourselves.
You should learn what a sentence is.
Nice report and video!
All legal fish, nothing to be ashamed about there.
Keep up the good work Craig, you’re the man.
Like those waterfowl videos you’ve made as well.
Thanks! You do an excellent job on your videos!
So what the catch limit?
YFT are three per angler. We did not keep a full limit and none of the tuna went to waste I can assure you.
Ridiculous and disgusting
Nice job men
I’d like it even more if you had some of my products on board
Call me to discuss
646 397 fish
Great job great video I am jellious keep the lines tight ?
Great video, there is nothing wrong with the responsible harvesting of high food value fish and certainly nothing to be ashamed of. Its naive to think that food just shows up in the grocery store, understand what it takes to go from the sea, a farm, or a field to the dinner table is a valuable lesson to learn in life.
Well said…
Seems like a great bite and a ton of fun!
No shame. So long as regulations are sound, and anglers abide by them, then the stock should be in good shape. Not that recreational fishing doesn’t affect populations, but the big concern is under-regulated or unregulated commercial fishing, and of course poaching. Follow the rules, take only what you reasonably want/need, and support conservative, long-term fisheries policies and we’ll be fine.
My attitude in a blitz, when so many edible fish of similar size are so aggressive, is that it’s not the height of sport, and rarely the sole proof of a successful day, to keep all keepers. Meat for the freezer is one thing, but taking without thought is another. Get into them for fun, take a reasonable share, but leave the rest not for other anglers, but for the health of the population.
Very nice catch!
Not every day your blessed with a blitz !..great video !..and respectfully you only harvested what you could consume , within limits !..good job .
Keeping fish is just plain ridiculous. Every effort to keep populations healthy should be taken above any basic desire to boat a fish or eat a tuna because it is delicious. And who gives an F if the legal limit says it’s ok. The oceans are in trouble. Please wake up.
YFT Grow very fast and any way the biggest ones are only 20 years old and those fish are all over 150 lbs so nothing to be mad about and YFT are one of the healthier populations
I understand ocean fishing is an adventure and a lot of fun . In the 21st century planet earth is in BIG trouble and that also includes the worlds oceans . Mankind cannot and should not over fish the oceans . The oceans are slowly dying which would include all fish species . It’s only a matter of time before we experience the negative impact on human beings and life on earth .