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Topic: (Vid and Fillet pics added) BigJim's BlueFin Tuna Adventure  (Read 3277 times)

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BigJim

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Somehow I found myself 60 miles offshore on Saturday morning, sitting on the back of my good buddy Matt Lopez's boat the Mojito suited up with a giant speargun in my hand!

 :smt007 :smt007

Matt and Wyatt were driving the boat and looking for schools of tuna, and Jay and I were geared up waiting for the word of when to jump in and dive...

All of a sudden Matt kills the engines and yells "Go, go, go!!"

I jump in, take one last breath and dive down into the bright blue water...

I kick down to 40 feet, level out and look up and see a school of Bluefin Tuna swimming by!!!

Take aim with the massive gun, pull the trigger...and see the shaft sail over the back of the tuna!

 :smt013 :smt010 :smt009

Come up and get back on the boat and apologize to everyone for blowing the shot...

7+ hours go by with countless dives on schools of fish that would disappear before we could see them...

Was getting exhausted physically and mentally as the hours went by and thinking I had blown my one shot at one of these beautiful fish....

Matt kills the engines again, and yells to me to go and kick to my right where a flock of birds was crashing...

I jump in and kick as hard and fast as I can, scanning the waters for any sign of fish...

All of a sudden I see a flash, and another....could it be?!?!

I take a quick breath and drop and all of a sudden the water beneath me is FULL of tuna...it was if the ocean floor had been replaced by fish!!  :smt007 :smt007

I drop down some more until I feel like I am in range for a shot...

Pick one out and take aim but it is moving fast and I remember what Matt had told me about not trying to track one of these fish with the gun...

I stop and keep my gun aimed at one spot and another fish glides in, and as soon as it's head is in front of my gun I pull the trigger...

In slow motion I see the shaft fly through the water and hit the fish...in the tail!!  :smt005

I see the fish veer off and head down followed by the breakaway floatline, and I kick back up to the surface with the gun and can see the float is vertical and bobbing up and down!!

I yell out to Matt and Wyatt that I shot one and tell them it is a tail shot and I am not sure how solid the shot was!!

Wyatt suits up to get in and help me, and I clip the gun off the second float and start slowly pulling the floatline up through the tuna clip on the float...

I can feel the fish fighting down below and I am terrified that it will pull off and get away!!

I try and go as smooth and steady as I can and after what seems like forever the fish comes into view about 50/60 feet below...

Jay and Wyatt drop down and both see that the shot is actually super solid and the slip tip is toggled in the tail...Wyatt puts a shot through the head just to be sure and comes up and tells me the fish is secure.  :smt003

I work it up as close to the surface as I can, make sure that I am free from floatlines and cable and swim down and grab the fish by the tail, wrap my legs around it and get my hand in it's gills.

I pull some gills, cut the membrane, and stab it in the head and enjoy the moment while the blood pumps out and surrounds us in a bright red cloud.  :smt004

After swimming the fish back to the boat, Wyatt cuts the heart out and I eat it (super tasty!) and we get all the guts and gills out.

Spend another couple of hours trying to get Jay on a fish, but we couldn't make it happen and once it is dark we start heading back in.

By now the fish had cooled down (at first it was HOT to the touch!!) and we get in the kill bag full of ice.

Don't make it back to Matt's house until 2/3am and I am BEAT.

Crash out and drive back to Watsonville in the AM after saying my good byes to Matt and his wife Suzie and their awesome daughters.

Amadeo is coming over tonight to help me fillet the fish and we have a bunch of family and friends lined up to make sure all the meat is consumed ASAP.  :smt003

Fish weighed 52.1 pounds bled, gilled and gutted....my previous biggest speared fish was a 31 pound Striper.

Incredibly grateful to Matt for giving me this opportunity, working so hard to make it happen, and to Jay and Wyatt for putting up with me all day.  :smt008

Here's a few pics, will add UW pics from Matt's camera when I get them and pics of fillet process later.

InstaVid here:

https://instagram.com/p/Bkf0-i5nmED/

 :smt006

Sincerely,

Jim
« Last Edit: June 26, 2018, 12:11:05 PM by BigJim »

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mtitch12

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Congrats Jim! Great write up and looking forward to the footage!
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Martianfish

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I think that the Landlord better stay away when you are in the water😂
Most of the other fish are already wary of you. WAY TO DO IT!!!!
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Awesome report!  Congratulation on the first BF Jim  :smt007 
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Fish Master1

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jdr12345

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Awesome report!


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LoletaEric

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I am a licensed guide.  DFW Guide ID:  1000124.   Let's do a trip together.

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Hell yeah, Jim!

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Bushy

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If it can be done, it'll be Big Jim that does it!!!!

WTG, OMG, WTF, and WANW!!!!!



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JohnnyAb

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Congratulations on your new PB

plenny time in the year to shoot one bigger
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Whats next Crazy Jim's big Marlin adventure?  WTG big man!
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Hell yeah, awesome report.  Lookin forward to video footage!!


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So happy for you. 
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