Big Black Fin Tuna Today
We were part of a multi-boat Charity tournament today sponsored by Shell oil company and Blaylock Oil company here in Key West. Most years there are over 35 boats in the Tournament, but this year, due to Covid 19 there were only 8-10 boats. I was the “Stand By” Boat. We step in if one of the other boats has engine trouble or some other break down and can’t take their assigned group. Then The Southbound fills in. IF nobody breaks down, Then we take the Tournament director fishing. The Tournament director’s name is Findly and he’s been a friend for years. So it wasn’t a high-pressure trip. But he IS a good fisherman, so we didn’t cut any corners on him.
We got some live Ballyhoo first thing in the morning and dropped on a couple of wrecks hoping to catch a grouper. It was the first day of Grouper Season and we were optimistic. Unfortunately, every wreck we went, already had a boat fishing it, or divers diving it or both. We never got a strike from anything we thought was a grouper.
So WE went to plan B. We had live Ballyhoo, amd the offshore water was beautiful blue. So we figured we would just drift them out and see what would bite. We got a nice Wahoo and a big Tuna. The Tuna weighed 32 1/2 lbs. That is the second biggest Black Fin Tuna I have ever caught on the Southbound.it is only the 4th true 30+lb’er I’ve had. You hear of a lot of 30lb tuna being caught on the radio. But the next day, you never hear what they were after they were weighed. I have a scale at my dock and I have weighed 4 tuna that broke the 30lb mark in 35 yrs. 2 right at 30lbs, This 32 1/2 lb fish and my biggest all-time which weighed 36lbs
In addition to the Black Fin Tuna and the Wahoo, we also got some Dolphin and some Bonitos. All in all, not a bad day on the water.
Needless to say, this was an impressive fish