Looking for the Black Fin Tuna bite at sunset
We had a 6 hr trip today. We decided to leave at noon to try and catch some Black Fin Tuna. The Black Fin like to bite just after sunrise and just before sunset and my guys didn’t want to leave a 6 am to catch the sunrise. The weather was beautiful and we worked our way to the West. I was timing our troll to be around the end of Boca Grande Bar toward the end of the trip. Boca Grande Bar is where the “Bar” or outer reef ends about 14 miles west of Key West. It can be a very good area to fish, both bottom fishing and trolling for pelagics. There is a sunken German submarine about 3/4 of a mile Southwest of the end of the bar.
The History of the “Sub” off Key West, Fla.
U-2513 was a captured German U-boat. It was one of the most technologically advanced German submarines, but it came into service towards the end of the war. Too little – too late. It was sunk intentionally by the US military testing an anti-submarine missile in 1951. it’s been sitting on the bottom in about 240 ft of water ever since. It can hold a lot of fish. At certain times, I have marked massive clouds of fish around the wreck on my bottom machine. it is a good place to look for Black FinTuna. https://shoestringweekends.wordpress.com/2019/12/13/u-2513/
Trolling back and forth from the end of Boca Grande Bar and the Sub is usually a good place to fish for Black Fin tuna late in the day and it was my plan to be there toward the end of the trip. I didn’t see any reason to run straight to the area. We might overrun other fish on the way. So we trolled our way there hoping for a Sailfish, Wahoo, or other species. We released a few Barracudas and caught a few Bonitos on the way down, but not much else.
Unfortunately, the Black Fins did not bite while we were there. I stayed as late as I could, but when it was time to start heading back to the dock, we only had one Black Fin in the box and 8 big Bonitos. The Bonitos are fun to catch and made for good action. They are in the same family as the Black Fins, but they are not considered good to eat. We usually save them for bait.
One of my favorite parts of a late tuna trip is that we usually get a great sunset on the way home and today was no exception. A beautiful end to the day
