JCC123

Went out Saturday and hit the usual spots. Picked up some threadfin herring at the 7 mile rigs out of south pass. Headed out the Ocean America. There was bait and fish busting everywhere. Only problem was they were all Skipjacks . Saw one or two breaks that we believed to be yellowfin but with all the skippies around we couldn't get any. We decided to go deep. Headed to MARS and found nice water and no fish. Hung out there a while to no avail. Radio talk mentioned the bite was out toward Medusa. Oh well. Headed back in to hit some weed lines and finish the day at LENA. Saw some free jumping tuna on the wat in but not any great numbers. Pulled up to LENA and a nice group of Yellows were busting in Greenish water. Mike (ANHOSPOG) threw a topwater out and wham, fish on. Mike battled the fish for ~1 hour. That fish was not going to give up. With the water being green we could not see any color. When we thought we had him close he took of 200 yards of line!
Mike was using a Spheros 14000 and it was feeling it (not as bad as Mike). Just when we knew we had the fish beaten the drag failed and went into free spool. Another 200 yards went out . The drag then siezed and at that point it was all or nothing. Mike was able to get all the line back and finally just gave out. He was wooped!

He handed the rod off to the "closer", me! The fish must have known i was on the job and just gave up. It was really funny, after two rod pumps the fish was on top and ready to be gaffed. It was that close to the boat but we couldn't see it.

So, Mike not only had to fight that fish forever but he had to hand off the rod to no less ME! Talk about humiliation.

Even though i closed the deal Mike really did all the work.

BOOMER

Nice fish Jim! Good job on getting him up. Looking at the pic, bad job gaffing.

Ccab

Heard similar reports to yours from several this weekend - everyone caught fish, but they had to work for them. What did that ferocious yellow end up weighing?

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JCC123

I estimate him between 70 and 80#s.
He measured 50" fork length to lower jaw. There is some type of conversion chart out there that gives estimates based on length but i could not find it.
J

tunatic

Nice job gettin that fish in the boat. It is amazing how much one fish can change the morale for the ride in.

Was the spinning reel fairly new? I have a Spheros14000 also but I have not put it to the test yet.

JCC123

Tunatic,

That reel is about a year old. I am really disappointed. I have another one but i am worrying about it. Don't think anything was done wrong in bringing in the fish. I am looking at the reel right now. I drag knob is locked tigher than a drum. Never had that happen before.

I am looking to upgrade my spinning gear.

J

anhospog

Yes, I'm the guy who handed off the rod only to have the fish brought to the boat in about one minute. Caught the fish Saturday and I'm just now able to walk normally. Seriously. I was researching spinning reels and wondering if anyone has any experience with Shimano's Thunnus series. By the way, that fish was truly a group effort. I fought him well over an hour. Had to crawl to the bow of the boat to get the line from underneath the hull. Had to crawl back to the stern to finish fighting him. Without Chris and Jim's help I'd have never made it around the cuddy cabin. The boat driver had to keep the boat upcurrent of the fish to keep the line from the motors and if Chris hadn't gaffed him perfectly on the first try we would surly have lost the fish. He hit the deck and the topwater lure promptly popped out of his mouth. The real problem is I can't wait to go again and next time I'll put on the fighting harness!
Mike A.

prockvoan

Mike nice fish,you to Jim.With this storm in the gulf,that should push in better water.I am planning a trip around the 25 of this month out of Grand Isle.Got a bunch of family that whats to go.Mike,I tryed to call you about a month ago to see if you wanted to fish.Got your number from Jim,but it didn't go thru.PM me with it and I will give you a call next time I have a open on the boat.Oh,my daughter starts school again next week.She is looking forward to it.Her new great dane pup is growing up supper fast.4 mnoths old now and weighs in over 65lbs.
Paul

welder

Fish of that size and bigger take a team effort and that's the best part , everybody is happy.

Nice job.

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REDWEISER

Get rid of the Shimano felt washers and go to "Carbontex" washers, they'll boost the drag up to 30+ and you shouldn't have another problem.

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pooldoo73

Redweiser is right on about the drag washers. The reel can handle it, the drag washers that Shimano put in it are just not up to the task.

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