Joined
·
1,429 Posts
On Sunday, March 7, team Renegade Sportfishing headed south to Hatteras, NC to kickoff the spring bluefin season while performing some light tackle R&D for our up coming season. We casted off at 6am under light north winds and very cool temps. Run out was only 22 miles where we found a 28 degree temp break, from 42 to 70 degrees, no joke, looked like a blue steam bath. Capt found some scattered marks and idled down. We jigged for about 25 minutes with no takers, Capt suggested we go on the troll like the other dozen sportys since they were hooking up, we said no, give it sometime, this was a jigging only trip. We were suprised that jigging is not very popular down there but is starting to catch on. No less then 3 minutes later Capt Mike is locked up, then JT, then BP. First two fish were in the 70 pound class, JT's fish was not and was fought for over 2.5 hours on the Fin Nor 085 while backing down for 3 miles, leadered twice, passed off 15 times and almost landed but lost after the Shimano wind on leader parted. Fish was estimated at 225-240 pounds. JT was not happy. As the day continued fishing only got better with triples and quadruples all day long. Yes it was drop and reel. We boated and tagged 8, killed 1 which weighed 165 pds at 70 inches, we fought a total of 40 fish with most battles lasting 45 minutes to an hour under maximum drag and circling Hammer Heads. Average weight was 125-175 with a few over 200pds. We also spotted many surface cruising BFT all over 150 pounds. We forgot to bring poppers. Also forget to mention the several hookups we had on the drop, more then a situation on how to close the bails with braid zipping off at 20 feet a second, serious wakeup call. Lucky no amputations.
The Trevela's performed excellent, the Saragosa 18000F were ok for fish under 125 pounds but drags were fried on all 4 new reels, the Fin Nor 085 held its own and was a little stronger then the Saragosa, the Evolution Slick Stick pole shattered leaving JT with a finger full of glass, the Torsa 30 was our best light tackle reel on the Trevela. Excellent Capt, mate and crew. We are heading back in two weeks and hope to find a mix of bluefin and yellowfin. Sorry for the long post.
Capt. MC
The Trevela's performed excellent, the Saragosa 18000F were ok for fish under 125 pounds but drags were fried on all 4 new reels, the Fin Nor 085 held its own and was a little stronger then the Saragosa, the Evolution Slick Stick pole shattered leaving JT with a finger full of glass, the Torsa 30 was our best light tackle reel on the Trevela. Excellent Capt, mate and crew. We are heading back in two weeks and hope to find a mix of bluefin and yellowfin. Sorry for the long post.
Capt. MC
