The end of the line movie

Where is the truth about Bluefin Tuna
overfishing?

Pussycaaaaaaaaaaaaat........

You can't miss this one!

Cape Cod, where the fish are bigger than the men

One day I can tell my nephews, I was there, at Steelwagon Bank, when the Bluefins were plentiful and the poppers were roaring!
I got there with my back still hurting, didn’t bring any rod with me, just my photo equipment (that already is quite a load), and a lot of layers of clothing in my suitcase. In Madrid at the beginning of November was still mild, above 15 Celsius every day, with 20º at midday, but Cape Cod seemed to have a different climate.

With me my friend Mario, the guy you nearly want to have travelling with you all the time. Great fun, good companion, good chatter, excellent fisherman and keen photographer as well. We were supposed to be there in October but a whole week of stormy weather drastically changed our plans and forced us to move our flight to November the 2nd. Lucky us. We ended up with some very nice weather, lots of sunshine and very decent sea conditions.
Domenico Petrarca, with obvious Italian ancestors, picked us up at the Logan airport and drove us to the hotel, very kind of him, he saved us a bit of hassle with the bus, something manageable but a tad tiring after 7 hours flights. On our route we stopped at the Longhorn Steak House and ate the whole thing. The red California wine helped the gastric juices and put us between the sheets at an even faster pace than planned.

Day one of fishing welcomed us with quite a nice swell. Leaving the safe and calm waters of Green harbour made me think of Dramamine kind of day and after half an hour cruise to the bank my stomach stepped into Defcon 3. We had 4 casting candidates on board, plus me and the Captain. So I decided to stay in a safe place, worrying about my stomach more than necessary. Thus, after a while of many casts to some very reluctant Bluefins I grabbed a rod and hopped to the bow. My stomach was already at Defcon 4

One warm up cast and on the second one a fish boiled some 70ft from the boat, at 12hrs. One cast between his eyes, a couple of twitches and bang! I set the hook some three or four times, tried to start a fight and when the “bad-back-bell” rang I had nothing to do but pass the rod to Tom, a very nice guy sharing the boat with us. My stomach by then was at Defcon 5, and roaring its ugly head! I was happy though, I had hooked my tuna and the guys were happy too because they could fight it. Big deal for an old man like me!
Now, the great thing about having somebody fighting a nearly 200lb Bluefin when Capt. Dom (http://coastalcharterssportfishing.com/) is at the helm is that the show that he puts together is already worth the trip. His yells and screams are unique and can be heard probably around the whole of New England, such is his passion for fishing and his great expertise in popping and jigging for Bluefins. Domenico is a great deal of fun, very motivating and always cheering up the crew. No doubt that he is among the best skippers I ever had the pleasure to fish with.
We had no more fish that day, few swirls, followers but no mo takes.

The following day we headed to Boston for a photo tour. The weather was nearly perfect, amazing blue skies, no wind, and reasonably warm. I don’t know how many photos we took but I had an absolute blast. I took my tripod with me and set it on every corner, park, building, tree that I found attractive. If cameras could melt for abuse my D90 would now be like a Dali sculpture.

Second fishing round. Nice weather, nice seas, happy me. On the boat with us a very good friend, Kil Song, who I have never met in person but talked to several times, during the last few years. It was truly like meeting a buddy from college time, and I was truly happy to finally meet him in person. With him Willie, a very nice and polite guy, very much looking forward to his first tête a tête with a Giant. Kil is a very experienced Tuna fisherman, way more than myself, and have already fished Steelwagon ban some 20+ times this season. Even though he was the eldest on board he kicked our ass big time with a magnificent 3 strikes X 2 fish caught, one on jigs and the other on a stickbait. Willie fought a fish that Dom has hooked and Mario, hooked his freight train at the very end of the day and lost it at the leader because the wire of the lure broke, but Dom has the mono in his hands so the fish was ethically caught. We did the Longhorn Steak House thing again, and boy, did we have a good time or what!

After one day of photos in Plymouth, where we had a nice lunch with my friend Peter Johnson of Roberts Lures, the last morning we left…well at night. Crazy Dom picked us up at 04:30, there was ice on the boat and I can promise you that it was freezing. Right at the mouth of the harbour we lost the sensitivity of our faces and after less than 5 miles we had no more sensitivity in our fingers or hands whatsoever. The Tunas seemed to be less active, I’m sure the cold night had something to do with their behaviour and we didn’t manage to raise a single fish to a surface lure. Thus, after a radio call from a friend’s boat, Mario first and myself 4 minutes later both hooked and lots two nice fish. Mario’s broke the braid and mine simply spit the hook. Dom had a further bite too but even though we put the lures on the head of many animals, we ended up with skunked.

The last dinner in our favourite (and only) Japanese restaurant was delicious, and packing things to return home quite sad. We had finally experienced the most amazing popping and jigging that can be done in this planet. The wildest beats, the most challenging hunt you can ever hope for. I’ve been a GT fisherman for years, loved the Cuberas, Amberjack and large Dogtooth Tunas, but none of these fish get ever close to the sheer strength and power of a Bluefin. These things are the Ferrari, IVECO and Boeing of the whole biz. Things will never be the same again.

Bluefin on Popping tackle? Let me tell you my story!

Life sometimes offers lessons that can change the whole perspective of things. Las Wednesday I learnt a new one, one of those that hurt. It has been my Big Wednesday, without waves or happy ending.

With a 450km trip I reached San Sebastian, in the north of Spain, Tuesday evening. My friend Mikel was waiting for me at home: the week before he and another friend, Jose Angel, landed an 80kg Bluefin Tuna on top water lure (A Roberts Lures Big Shot), probably the biggest ever landed in the north with such tackle and I’m not sure but probably is also a record for the whole of Spain

The following morning we gathered at the Orio Harbour with Iker, Jose Angel and Juanma, ready for another great day of Tuna Popping. After some 20 miles cruise Iker spotted the first school of fish. Mammal, Dolphins was my first thought when I saw them, but eventually it was just huge Tunas. Calm waters and not very aggressive fish don’t make a great mix for a striking bite and the fish slipped away quietly, ignoring out lures.

In the hot spot, few miles further north, we saw few more, sorry, many more and some boats trolling around. Same results, none would care about our top water lures or casting jigs. Major frustration and disappointment, we all had great expectations. Thus, I was sure that a bit of breeze would have changed things, and after a large meal we resumed our fishing.

Eventually, the wind picked up a bit and the Tuna started crashing the bait in large numbers. Every 50 meters there was a pod of giant fish hammering the poor anchovies and yet, in the middle of that humongous feeding frenzy we couldn’t get a bite. Well, we got one, and that’s the beginning of a long and until now painful experience.

After one hour and thirty minutes I knew that the fish was larger than the one Mikel and Jose Angel caught the week before. I could bring the fish to the boat three times and each and every one he would pull enough line back to make me swear and sweat like an animal. My back was aching at the beginning but, it calmed down after a while, not a single time I doubted I could win the fish, I knew it was just a matter of time.

After almost three hours of fight something unexpected happened. The foot of the Saltiga 6000GT broke; the reel flew against the stripping guide, opened up the bail and sunk in the drink. Murphy has a new law for his forthcoming book. With the rod in my hand and the line running freely I gathered all my friends and tried the ultimate rescue. Wearing gloves we made a sort of a human chain and started gaining line. Nothing to be proud of but we all wanted to see the animal. Eventually, when the fish was no further than 15 meters from the boat the braid snapped and a heavy silence swallowed the boat.

The fish won, he owed his freedom to Daiwa Seiko Corporation, I had been beaten but not humiliated and both my body and soul was aching. Eventually at night I had to visit Emergency to get a shot of Voltaren to calm the pain on by back. It was damn strong and hurting me bad. I believe the Tuna was in the 130kg league, a fish close to 300lb, fought in 3000ft of water, on a popping rod, the Lamiglas Tropic Pro TP8650Sp, absolutely a great machine that I’m proud of.

I feel bad for loosing such amazing fish, the trophy of my life, but I will remember this day for the rest of my life: being on that boat with 4 friends suffering every second with you and supporting you all the way is a great thing. Damn! That is cool!

Be ready!

Returning from or 4 days trip to the Red Sea we arrived at the mooring around 9 am. Once disembarked the luggage we had a brief time to stretch our legs before breakfast and another 5 hours car trip through the desert.
The massive amount of bait concentrated around the dock was utterly impressive. Millions of tiny sardines gathered and compressed against the walls, and all of the sudden schools of Gold Spotted Trevally and Bluefin Trevally started showing up with a bad attitude.

Everything happened in a blink of an eye. I put my camera to my eye, and sometimes didn’t even have the time to do so, and started firing. No time to change settings, no time to make any slight adjustment, just squeezing the shutter and thanking the D90 for having enough speed. This image isn’t sharp, when you will enlarge it you will see it, but as a friend photographer says, there’s so much going on this photo that who cares about the sharpness…!