SportFishing and Charters Forum - Getting Ready for Tuna Tournament - - - How?

I've decided to enter my first offshore competitive fishing tournament - - - the Pirate's Cove Tuna Round-Up being held the first week of June

http://www.fishpctournaments.com/

Your suggestions on how to get ready would be greatly appreciated

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Added in blue text are your suggestions from the posts below . . . so this first post becomes a summary of everyones ideas and thus becomes a resource for everyone

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Here are the things on my list so far

The Boat

- change oil and filters main engines and generator
- change oil in transmissions
- change / clean Airmars
- check all hoses and belts
- check inventory complete, spare belts, hoses, clamps, oil, filters etc.

The Team and Preparation

- all non-fishing tasks assigned, e.g. food, beverages and daily supplies
- decisions on what trolling tactics will be employed (trolling only tournament)
- decisions on who supplies what gear, rods and reels, terminal tackle, crimper, gaffs etc.
- bait requirements e.g. ballyhoo
- pre-tournament fishing

Licenses and Registration

- federal permit
- NC individual licenses
- PC tournament registration
- signed agreement on winner's shares

Rod and Reel Organization

- have back-up rods and reels (Shark1007) Agree We will have 10 rods with Shimano 50s LRS and 10 lighter rods with Shimano Talica 16II
- pitch baits ready (Shark1007) Agree Two of the lighter rods with the Talica 16IIs will be pre-rigged with baits ready to use
- number the rods (spotter 2) Good idea We will also be numbering all of the rod holders. I will be adding some rod holders to the boat as I feel that I am short four or five.
- mark line with sharpie (spotter2) Good idea We will be marking the braid at 25 foot intervals.
- strip 10-15 yards off of the end of the topshot and each time you catch a fish (fmTuna) I agree that we need to avoid any potential problems we will be using new wind-ons exclusively for each fish


Pre-rigging Baits

- pre-rig baits so that little time is lost (Shark1007) this year I am going to circle hooks with ballyhoo and will pre-rig the baits with chin weights, probably with dental floss. This should make adding baits faster.


Working out Best Spread
- make tight turns to check the spread (spotter2) I agree, especially since this is a new boat for me and I need to work out a spread that works with the boat

Other Suggestions
- bring more ice than you need (spotter2) We are lucky in that we have a slush box that converts salt water to slush. The box will easily hold 15 to 20 fifty pound tuna.
- preset the drags the day before the tournament (fmTuna) great suggestion
- harnesses are adjusted for each angler (fmTuna) great. My personal harness has my name on it and I have duct tape over the adjustments so that no one accidently changes it. Will make sure that everyone has their belt for use during the day.
- sharpen gaffs and bring extras (fmTuna) Thanks for the suggestion. Will do!
- bring copy of rules on board (C Skip and fishnutz) Thanks and we will also bring federal and state fishing regulations with us



Thanks and keep the ideas and suggestions coming :)

The best preparation is to pre-fish as much as possible so you get a better sense of what is happening in the tournament zone and which approaches are more successful. It also trains your crew to work together as a team. Yes it is expensive and time consuming, but given that there is a cash prize at stake, you should expect your competition will be taking it very seriously. If you go into cash tournaments unprepared you may end up feeling like you gave away your money to those who are.

Gus

Probably one of the better things you can do in a tournament is to keep bait in the water. Time wasted rerigging baits, tackle keeps you from fishing.

Rig and brine up plenty of baits, when a fish hits the deck, snap a new bait on and toss her over the side. Have backup rods and pitch rods if a fish shows up in the spread. I'd always keep a pitch rod with a bait in the bait cooler, attached to the line so it could be put into action immediately.

Assign tasks to each angler, one runs the cockpit, one watches the baits, one gaffs, etc.

Most importantly, have fun with the new boat!

Live Bait.

Kind of a broad question but, number your rods so you know which holder they go back in. When the spread is set right, mark the line with a sharpie at the reel so it can be deployed quickly at the correct distance. If possible get the cockpit crew together and practice deploying the spread in the bay. Make some tight turns to check the lines do not get tangled. Buy a Rofler's report for the area. Take more ice than you think you will use. Get as much local advise as possible. Pre-rig baits, need circles for ballyhoo.

The best preparation is to pre-fish as much as possible so you get a better sense of what is happening in the tournament zone and which approaches are more successful.

It also trains your crew to work together as a team. Yes it is expensive and time consuming, but given that there is a cash prize at stake, you should expect your competition will be taking it very seriously.

If you go into cash tournaments unprepared you may end up feeling like you gave away your money to those who are.

We are lucky in that this tournament is being run out of Pirates Cove in NC where I keep the boat and where we do most of our offshore fishing

I am planning on getting my boat being to Pirate's Cove (its currently in Virginia Beach) around the 17th or 18th of April and I will be there full time until the tournament the first week of June. I am hoping to get the team as a group out fishing at least once a week

Thanks for posting

Gus

Probably one of the better things you can do in a tournament is to keep bait in the water. Time wasted rerigging baits, tackle keeps you from fishing.

Rig and brine up plenty of baits, when a fish hits the deck, snap a new bait on and toss her over the side. Have backup rods and pitch rods if a fish shows up in the spread. I'd always keep a pitch rod with a bait in the bait cooler, attached to the line so it could be put into action immediately.

Assign tasks to each angler, one runs the cockpit, one watches the baits, one gaffs, etc.

Most importantly, have fun with the new boat!

We will have 10 rods with Shimano 50s LRS and 10 lighter rods with Shimano Talica 16II wit two of the 16IIs pre-baited for pitch rods

This year I am going to circle hooks with ballyhoo and will pre-rig the ballyhoo baits with chin weights, probably with dental floss. This should make adding baits faster.

I agree that we need to assign tasks to each team member

Yes the plan is to have fun with the new boat

Thanks for posting

Live Bait.

I am going to check on that suggestion to see if live bait is allowed.

The rules talk about traditional trolling and states that chumming, jigging, green sticks and a bunch of other things are not permitted.

One of the nice things about this tournament is that smaller boats can participate. There is no shotgun start and slow boats like mine are not penalized as they have a lines-in and lines-out times.

Thanks for posting

You got rid of the Alloy boat;????

Good luck in the tourney:thumbsup:

Pay close attention to your drag settings..... pre-set them the day of and make sure NOBODY touches them. Warm them up before setting.

If you have not re-spooled recently, strip 10-15 yards off the end of each topshot to make sure you did not pick up any nicks the last time out.

Strip the same 10-15 yards off every time you catch a fish for the same reason, and check/re-tie/re-crimp after landing a fish.

When you think you have enough ice, bring more.

Make sure all harnesses are already adjusted for the anglers so there is no slow-down in getting on the fish once hooked up.

Double check that all baits are swimming right before dropping them back.

Run a Q-tip through the guides and rollers of your rods to make sure there are no nicks that can cost you a money fish.

Sharpen gaffs... have extras...

Send me my share for helping out when you cash in!

I am going to check on that suggestion to see if live bait is allowed.

The rules talk about traditional trolling and states that chumming, jigging, green sticks and a bunch of other things are not permitted.

One of the nice things about this tournament is that smaller boats can participate. There is no shotgun start and slow boats like mine are not penalized as they have a lines-in and lines-out times.

Thanks for posting

Is there a rule sheet available. Many tournaments will only allow so many rods & reels and a specific number of lines in the water trolling. Good luck on your first tournament.

Is there a rule sheet available. Many tournaments will only allow so many rods & reels and a specific number of lines in the water trolling. Good luck on your first tournament.

I looked when I saw the 10 rods thing, because I had the same thought. The rules say no limit to the number of lines.

http://www.fishpctournaments.com/

Kind of a broad question but, number your rods so you know which holder they go back in.

When the spread is set right, mark the line with a sharpie at the reel so it can be deployed quickly at the correct distance.

If possible get the cockpit crew together and practice deploying the spread in the bay. Make some tight turns to check the lines do not get tangled. Buy a Rofler's report for the area.

Take more ice than you think you will use. Get as much local advise as possible.

Pre-rig baits, need circles for ballyhoo.

We will be number the rods and the rod holders and the braid lines will be marked every 25 ft. Thanks

This is a new boat to me and we will be spending lots of time getting a spread worked out that work with the boat and tha is productive with tuna.

The previous owner and his dad explained to me that they found that they had to some keep baits very close to the boat because they caught many of their tuna there. Their new boat seems to raise tuna farther back of their boat. I will have to learn about this boat.

Yes we will be prerigging the baits and this year I will be using circle hooks because of the chance of getting billfish as a by catch. The tournament is in NC and they allow J hooks for tuna.

We are lucky in that we have a slush box that converts salt water to slush. The box will easily hold 15 to 20 fifty pound tuna. But I agree we need ice for the bait, coolers etc. and in case we run into a mechanical problem with the cooling of the slush box

Thanks for the post

You got rid of the Alloy boat;????

Good luck in the tourney:thumbsup:

I will be selling the aluminum boat this spring/summer

Fixing a minor problem with one of the trim pistons first

Thanks for asking

Pay close attention to your drag settings..... pre-set them the day of and make sure NOBODY touches them. Warm them up before setting.

If you have not re-spooled recently, strip 10-15 yards off the end of each topshot to make sure you did not pick up any nicks the last time out.

Strip the same 10-15 yards off every time you catch a fish for the same reason, and check/re-tie/re-crimp after landing a fish.

When you think you have enough ice, bring more.

Make sure all harnesses are already adjusted for the anglers so there is no slow-down in getting on the fish once hooked up.

Double check that all baits are swimming right before dropping them back.

Run a Q-tip through the guides and rollers of your rods to make sure there are no nicks that can cost you a money fish.

Sharpen gaffs... have extras...

Send me my share for helping out when you cash in!

Good idea about adjusting the drags the day before. Paul has a very high quality tool for that

My personal harness has my name on it and I have duct tape over the adjustments so that no one accidently changes it. Will make sure that everyone has their belt for use during the day.

The q-tip trick for the guides is an excellent suggestion

Right on for sharp and extra gaffs. I have 3 but I will ask Paul to bring extras.

Is there a rule sheet available. Many tournaments will only allow so many rods & reels and a specific number of lines in the water trolling. Good luck on your first tournament.

I looked when I saw the 10 rods thing, because I had the same thought. The rules say no limit to the number of lines.

http://www.fishpctournaments.com/

Thanks guys . . . I will bring a copy of the rules on the boat and provide copies for each guy who is on the boat

Flybridge boat? Dedicated wire man, gaff man and capt should have some well understood hand signals down pat. Shouting during the critical "game over" is useless, confusing and causes lost fish. Each angler should understand what is happening and going to happen with a hand signal or spoken word not words. Confusion causes lost fish, take it out of the equation, rehearse if the crew has not fished together before. Make sure the angler knows where to move in the pit at gaffing, and back down on the drag a touch in case of a missed gaff shot and another run by the fish.

Usually, we have one wireman, one gaffman and one back up gaffman for large fish, crew knowing what they are doing at any given moment during the fight is critical to success, even better if they don't have to think about it just comes naturally, that is tough with a "green crew".

Practice! Especially the end game, a well rehearsed crew is very key.

A few other tips...

DO NOT TAKE THE BOAT OUT OF GEAR AT HOOKUP, STRIKE, OR DURING THE FIGHT UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY AT THE END GAME..IMHO

Shouting is useless as it causes people to freeze up..

check lures/baits frequently for "hair"

Triple check and lube your rigger clips, everyday on the way out to the grounds, you would be suprised how many times at the dock a guest will fiddle with a rigger clip setting, or a cold morning will cause a clip to release alot harder than a hot day.

snap swivel check for closure prior to setting out spread, be suprised how many times a line goes over, initially, after a changeout or after a fish is caught that a snap swivel is left open..it does happen.

check the lures at deployment, quick visual on how it's running before setting into spread, be suprised how many times the skirts may tangle in the hookset or a hook gets twisted around..

Best fresh ballyhoo you can buy...buy extra...rig extra..

If IGFA rules are being followed make sure the gear is compliant. Especially, Gaffs fixed and flying, double line and leader overall length, hooksets and rigging on lures.

Good Luck!

Good thread, Auguste.
I was thinking about entering our local tournament and your thread reminded me of all the sh**t that happened to us in past tournaments, some of which could have been avoided by the meticulous preparation that you describe, Most of the time we were one of those pot fatteners that Patudo referenced.
Fishing is a lot of luck. We were second the first time we entered despite having a new boat, ill prepared tackle and semi incompetent anglers. We thought we could walk on water, but fate correctly proved otherwise. I can still remember the large weighable blue marlin that ate one of those prerigged ballyhoo with the ultra cheap hooks. (We had ten meticulously rigged baits but ran out and started using the prerigged crap). The fish jumped twice and threw that little 7/0 hook that wouldn't hook a guppy. That was one of the most expensive twenty seconds in fishing as 20k disapeared right before our eyes. Our skill level went up in subsequent tournaments as our luck decreased.
I can't tell you what to include on your boat or in your gear, remember I am the guy who forgot to rig enough baits, sharpen his hook, check his crimps, ect. The only advice I can offer is to do it for fun, thank your lucky stars if you are in the money, but not get in a black mood if you are not.

Re rigging trolling baits like islanders with fresh leaders. I personally would not think about circle hooks unless it is a marlin tourny it will put you at a disadvantage with tuna (at least trolling) Sit down with the crew and as a capt tell them what you expect to happen with each situation. Pick the angler order. Things will happen so be prepared with a tool box and high failure items (mine are injector lines and impellers) the little things like a mask and fins can be the difference between a hung up fish and a fish in the boat. Plan when you are going to decide that the weather is a no-go for that day and explane it to the crew so they understand why you will make that call.

If you have any direct questions or want to sit down and go over things we are here in Va Beach and took 3rd in the Va beach tuna tourny last year give us a call.

Mike
(757) 373-2338

Someone told me that the best way to win a tournament was to catch the biggest/most fish.

It would not be a bad idea to charter fish a few days with good professional crews and see how they go about their fishing - maybe not just before the tournament but maybe a week or two before. If you have good relationships with local skippers maybe they can recommend a good mate you can hire for one or two days from whom you and your crew can observe how he runs the cockpit. I know you have your own boat and want to use it as much as possible, but you can often learn a great deal from a consistent local captain and crew.

The three biggest difficulties the average recreational crew faces when trying to compete against professionally crewed boats are information, knowledge and performance. Professionals have information networks - where the fish are running, what tactics are working best and so on - that they share only amongst their own. If you don't have strong relationships with them you will not be able to access this information. To make up for this you need to see for yourself what is happening out there. Even in the grounds that I myself am most familiar with, I wouldn't consider that I had prepared well for a tournament without fishing at least two or preferably three full days to get a feel for what was happening. Your tournament fishing zone is quite large and if you can develop an information-sharing network with other boats and work together with them in the days before the tournament you will have a much better sense of what is happening in the whole tournament zone rather than just the area you were fishing. As far as knowledge and performance is concerned, few recreational skippers will have the understanding of the fishery that professional skippers have, and professional mates will almost always be more skilled and slick in working the pit. There is no easy way around this other than by fishing a lot - after all they would be scratching their heads too if they had to go and do your job - but the more you can observe how good professionals go about their work, the more you'll learn and be confident about trying on your boat having seen it done. Choose a skipper and mate who are willing to explain to you why they are doing what they are doing, as the reason you're fishing with them is not to catch fish but to learn from them.

We will be number the rods and the rod holders and the braid lines will be marked every 25 ft. Thanks I would still mark the line at the reel with a diferent color. It would hard to remember how many yards each rod goes out.

This is a new boat to me and we will be spending lots of time getting a spread worked out that work with the boat and tha is productive with tuna.:thumbsup:

Yes we will be prerigging the baits and this year I will be using circle hooks because of the chance of getting billfish as a by catch. The tournament is in NC and they allow J hooks for tuna.Sorry, I assumed the circle hook regulation applied. I would use J's on the dead bait. The chances of gut hooking a fish while trolling is nil.

We are lucky in that we have a slush box that converts salt water to slush. The box will easily hold 15 to 20 fifty pound tuna. But I agree we need ice for the bait, coolers etc. and in case we run into a mechanical problem with the cooling of the slush box Slush box? Forget the extra ice!

Thanks for the post

Good luck!:thumbsup:

canyongear

Yes my boat is a flybridge and this is my first flybridge boat so your comments about establishing some hand signals are an excellent one!

As far as crew is concerned we are lucky in that one member captains a 54 footer and one member has worked as a mate. However we have not fished together as a complete team so we will be fishing the two previous weeks out of Pirates Cove which has been my home port for a number of years and much much longer for two of the other members.

Not taking the boat out of gear is a practice that has been drilled into me for quite a while now. It is truly surprising the number of hits you get as you are trolling after a hit.

Excellent idea about checking and lubricating the rigger clips

We have a freezer on board the boat and I can guarantee that it will have many dozen extra ballyhoo in all sizes.

Thanks for the suggestions


cazador

Good suggestions. We have hook sharpeners and we sharpen all hooks that were used during the day and paint the tips black with a sharpie. I agree about cheap hooks. I also lost a trophy fish (salmon) many many years ago and that was a hard learned lesson.

I have a 'terminal tackle' bag in which I keep a full array of hooks and crimps and chaffing gear in case we want to re-rig some favourite piece of gear. I also have a pile of spare wind-ons and islanders and other favourite baits in case the fish go crazy over a particular pattern.

Thanks for the suggestions


kapoc

In the past I have fished with single J hooks. Prior to the tournament I am going to try some double hook rigged ballyhoo so that we catch a few of the short biters. Based upon the pre-tournament success with that rig we will decide what to use . . . probably will end up with ballyhoo rigged both ways during the tournament and thus will be ready to try different things.

Tool box. I agree with you 100%. I started putting together the tools and have only one more wrench to get from Caterpillar and there will be no fitting that we can not take apart.

As for parts we have everything except injector lines . . . had not thought of that. We have spare hoses for the engines and generator, as well as impellors and all solenoids and piles of spare fuses and breakers for the two power panels. We also have 10 gallons of engine oil and spares of every oil and fuel filter and the strap wrenches needed to remove the. And, the Caterpillar manuals to go with the engines.

Thanks for the suggestions


fishnutz


Someone told me that the best way to win a tournament was to catch the biggest/most fish.


We are working on that! :grin:


Patudo

You make many good points. Thanks

Two of our crew are local residents and one has mated so we are lucky. We also have a captain of a 54 footer who has joined our team.

One of the main reasons we have chosen the Pirates Cove tuna tournament is that Pirate’s Cove is my home port and I have been fishing out of there since 2003. We have all of the main GPS marks such as The Point and the Tuna Hole as well as some spots where we have had success and to which we have named them, such as National Geographic, 4 for 4, and The Starting Gate.

I agree with you that local knowledge is most important!


Spotter

We mark the line every 25 feet. However, once we get a spread worked out, we will be using a ‘different’ mark so that the line is set at the predetermined distance.

I also will produce a plasticized drawing of which rod goes where and the lengths of line etc. Sometimes we have to take a rod out and replace it with another.



Thanks Everyone :thumbsup:

Two Three other points come to mind:

Decide in advance what is going in the spread and where, based on pre-fishing or killing experience, stick with it untill you start catching then adjust accordingly. If a blue and white something with a hoo gets wailed, put another one or two out for a time..

also, check stomach contents on the first few fish, size and color of what they are feeding on can help with bait/lure selection.

Assign the crew a "side", this really seems to help so they get very comfortable with working the lines on "their side" and the transom flat lines.

If you have a shotgun (center) rigger, make sure it's rigged so ease of deployment and re-rigging is simple and efficient. Also, think thru with the crew the easiest safest way to get the rod down from the bride rodholder under drag, other than you trying to navigate the flybridge steps backwards holding a rod under drag, ive' seen it all, can be comical and way dangerous.

Flat lines off the transom: We usually use clips attached to the rub rail on the transom, simple blacks release clips and stainless wire, back out a rub rail screws and fashion the wire to go around the screw shank and screw back in, making sure there are no sharp wire ends showing or shrink tube the wire. These clips make deploying the flat lines easier than rubber bands on the reel handles..it's all about time and ease of deployment.

Just make sure when you stop at the tackle shop, the morning of the tournament, to get fuel, ice and bait to not forget the beer.:grin: You can rig baits on the way out after you spool new line on and learn to tie some Biminis. No need to worry about the engines as that is what idiot lights are for. Just make sure you have some spare parts, extra oil, and your binoculars so you can find other boats to fish around. I never leave the dock witout some "engine tuner in a can" and some duct tape. ;cool;

Believe it or not I know alot of people who fish very close to this.

I suggest that your pitch rods should not be lighter class. If your fishing with 50's make your pitch rods that or bigger. Trust me, I had a crew member pitch a smaller rod at a larger fish in a tournament a few years ago and after an hour and a half we broke the fish off. If he had threw a 50W at the fish we would have been done in 25 minutes and would have had to look for the big check bank @ the end of the day. Good luck and welcome to the madness, its amazing what you are willing to do to win these tournaments, time and money seem boundless as you prepare.

Hey Auguste....don't foget you are responsible for EVERYONE on your boat...Make sure your epirb is in complience. Also your life raft is too. Have a ditch bag with flares, emergency meds...even a sattilite phone...etc...etc...

Don't forget Auguste.. you are responsible for everyone on your boat..check and make sure your epirb is in compliance. Sat phone.. Life rafts are up to date with inspection. Be safe

Safety meeting.

canyongear

Our plan is to start fishing with what was hot the day before and add a couple of lures that were working a couple of days before. In the tournament area blue and white, and pink and white are the colours most often hit, but we also carry red and white, black and red, black and green, and a couple of others.

My gear includes five sizes sets (6 lures per set) of lures . . . dinks (very small chrome heads of different colours with a mylar or hair skirt), small (sea witches and 4 inch cedar plugs), mediums (small islanders with medium ballyhoo and 6 inch cedar plus), large (larger islanders with select ballyhoo) and kings which is the largest islander with a horse ballyhoo

Each set of six lures is of a different colour combination, and in blue and white and pink and white I have a full set of six lures in all five sizes. I need three large tackle bags for all of this stuff. We also have some jigs and poppers.

I currently have three clips attached to the transom and I will have three cleats on the transom to pull planer boards and z-wings. I have two teaser reels which I have yet to install.

In my previous boat I fished only 7 lines because that was all I could handle with one or two buddies or when I fished alone. Our pre-tournament fishing during the four weeks prior to the tournament will focus on getting a spread worked out to maximize the number of lines for my boat which has a 14 ft 6 in beam.

The shotgun rigger is double rigged and the lines are controlled from the deck of the cockpit.

Passing rods from the flybridge will have to be worked out. I fished a friends boat on which he had lanyards on all rods up on the flybridge in case someone slipped when he handed down a rod to someone on the deck

Thanks for the ideas

grin

I own a slip at Pirates Cove and they fuel the boat in its slip. While the boat holds 454 gallons of fuel, I always fuel up each evening. During tournaments fuel is available until 9 pm, and often later.

I have gone out on a salmon derby and once we got out the captain had left one of his tackle bags on shore in the truck. I now have checklists and someone is responsible to make sure that everything is on board.

We only need ice for the drinks cooler on the deck because we have a humongous slush box . . . you fill it with salt water and the cold plates make slush which cools down fish better than ice cubes or ice blocks.

Thanks for the reminders

mlaco

I have 10 rods with Shimano 50s LRS which are heavy but will be used during the tournament to get the fish in as soon as possible. The other 10 rods have Shimano Tallica 16IIs which have 30 plus pounds of drag. The Tallicas will be our pitch rods as well as the rods for the lines running off of the corners of the transom.

The 50s are being cleaned and checked and greased so they will be ready before we start fishing. The Tallicas are all new reels and they will be checked and tested before the tournament during the pre-tournament fishing

Thanks for sharing :)

Gus, at the strike turn to the bite this way you present the baits left in the spread to the rest of the rising pod. The advantages are all baits in your spread will change speed without a change in engine tone. The other advantage is your get angle on the hooked fish.
I would also have at least one rigged jigging rod and 2 rigged big spinners one with a black 5" plug the other with a #3 blue deadly dick. If you just rig one spinner rig the black plug if they are on Spanish and the blue if you see flying fish
Best of luck

One more thing...even tho there is alot of money laid out between entry fees, dockage, bait, ice etc etc and ohhh the calcutta's...I have experienced the seriousness get so thick you could cut it with a knife to WIN on the boat during the tournament.

Locked loaded and serious is great...don't forget it's fishing. It is supposed to be fun too, people make mistakes and gear does fail..let is slide and move to the next fish. Believe it or not the fish really don't care how much you put in a Calcutta..and HAVE FUN!

Auguste,

I have fished this tournament a few years now, the best advice is to have fun and keep fishing....don't chase "radio fish" unless you know the Capt. and he calls you to a location. I'll be fishing on the Bi-op-sea,,, our group has 5 boats this year!!! The tiki bar is gonna do pretty well in June!!
See you there,

Keith Powell "Keeeefus"
Lowcountry Native
23TE Onslow Bay
300 Vrods

wheresjane and hansoni

You are both right safety is thenumber one concern !

One member of our team is with the Coast Guard

Dale is the lead for all things safety and he knows my boat very well because he installed the electronics and checked the fire suppression system.

We have an epirb for the boat, an epirb in the ditch bag and a personal epirb

We have a life raft

We have 3 VHF radios connected to different batteries and different antennas

We have a bunch of extra life vests and all flares are current and there are a ton more than the minimum requried number

We just have to figure out who to throw in so we can practice our man-over-board routine :jk:

Gus, at the strike turn to the bite this way you present the baits left in the spread to the rest of the rising pod. The advantages are all baits in your spread will change speed without a change in engine tone. The other advantage is your get angle on the hooked fish.
I would also have at least one rigged jigging rod and 2 rigged big spinners one with a black 5" plug the other with a #3 blue deadly dick. If you just rig one spinner rig the black plug if they are on Spanish and the blue if you see flying fish
Best of luck

Never thought of that tactic :thumbsup:

Thanks Rich :)

One more thing...even tho there is alot of money laid out between entry fees, dockage, bait, ice etc etc and ohhh the calcutta's...I have experienced the seriousness get so thick you could cut it with a knife to WIN on the boat during the tournament.

Locked loaded and serious is great...don't forget it's fishing. It is supposed to be fun too, people make mistakes and gear does fail..let is slide and move to the next fish. Believe it or not the fish really don't care how much you put in a Calcutta..and HAVE FUN!


Thanks

I have not done many tourneys but why wouldn't you use live bait instead of draggin plastic and dead? Seems like a no brainer to me. Do the rules state no live bait?

Auguste,

I have fished this tournament a few years now, the best advice is to have fun and keep fishing....don't chase "radio fish" unless you know the Capt. and he calls you to a location. I'll be fishing on the Bi-op-sea,,, our group has 5 boats this year!!! The tiki bar is gonna do pretty well in June!!
See you there,

Keith Powell "Keeeefus"
Lowcountry Native
23TE Onslow Bay
300 Vrods

My boat will be on C-dock . . . I think it is slip 117

I'll be the short tubby guy and probably wearing a t-shirt with Miss Cecile printed on it

Drop by the boat or hail me if you see me walking by . . . pic is 3 years old . . . more grey hair now


http://www.thehulltruth.com/members/auguste-albums-other-pics-picture24567-a.jpg

I have not done many tourneys but why wouldn't you use live bait instead of draggin plastic and dead? Seems like a no brainer to me. Do the rules state no live bait?

Hi

Rule #5 states: IGFA, Tackle and Motion - All IGFA rules apply unless otherwise noted. Unconventional non-trolling techniques are strictly prohibited. Chunking (chumming), casting, use of live bait and green sticks are not permitted. There is no limit to the number of lines in the water or anglers - anglers may pass the rod.

Sport tuna fishing is "traditionally" done trolling in the NC area where the tournament is being held and the organizers want that type of fishing to be the focus of the tournament . . . hence no live baits

Aug,

Looking forward to meeting you and your team. The rules will be "hashed" at the Capt's. meeting. Some guys mentioned pitch baits,,, pretty sure you can't use them for Tuna, Wahoo, or Dolphin in this tournament,, but we'll definatley ask for it.. Even if you can't use it for the tournament species keep a pitch bait ready to use on a Mako... We didnt' and it cost us a win. Take care,

Keeeefus
Lowcountry Native
23TE Onslow Bay
300 Vrods

Gus you may want to buy a sat shot from Roffe's. This way you can get a heads up before leaving the dock
http://www.roffs.com/

Aug,

Looking forward to meeting you and your team. The rules will be "hashed" at the Capt's. meeting. Some guys mentioned pitch baits,,, pretty sure you can't use them for Tuna, Wahoo, or Dolphin in this tournament,, but we'll definatley ask for it.. Even if you can't use it for the tournament species keep a pitch bait ready to use on a Mako... We didnt' and it cost us a win. Take care,

Keeeefus
Lowcountry Native
23TE Onslow Bay
300 Vrods

My boat should be at Pirates Cove before the 20th of April

If you have time drop by the boat.

If not, will see you at the Tiki Bar or the Captain's meeting

Gus you may want to buy a sat shot from Roffe's. This way you can get a heads up before leaving the dock
http://www.roffs.com/

Thanks for the PM

Yup for sat shots

We also have the weather etc. from XM

We will probably be the slowest boat out there cruising at 20 knots