Anyone seen bluefin tuna off Hilton Head </font id=“Arial”>this year? Far as I can tell the bluefin tuna run off our coast has not happen since about 2006 when Capt. Michael Perry and crew of the Echo caught their state record bluefin of 396 lbs in January off HHI. I had two hookups in December 2005 but haven’t seen any since 2007 Too, bad they were fun to hunt, right Papa Bear?
I did get a reliable report from a guy out of Fripp who saw a small group around 6HI on Christmas day 3-4 years ago. Anybody else?
Thanks for the ■■■■■■■■. Far as I can tell the bluefin tuna run off our coast has not happen since about 2006 when Capt. Michael Perry and crew of the Echo caught their state record bluefin (396 lbs) off HHI. I had two hookups in 2005 but haven’t seen any since 2007-----anybody else? Too, bad they were fun to hunt. Captom
Going tomorrow to run the boat, B45 maybe the Ross if it’s calm enough. Just need to get off the dock, if I see anything interesting I promise, I’ll let the whole world know!
Not much. Caught a 36" bull red at the 45. Scup and spotail pinfish. No weakfish nearshore either. perfect ocean…totally flat. Water temps were down again. 43.5 inshore to nearshore…a high of around 50 after calm and sunshine. Maybe everything went further out to escape the cold…
How about some reports from beyond the Ross out toward the Hump and R7. In January 2004 I found a pod of bluefins between the Eagles Nest and the Ross. And also found them at the Ross. But I’ve seen them more frequently (between 2005-2007) east of the Ross out to the Hump and R7. They were almost always associated with whales and dolphins. I’ve trolled lures and ballyhoo, and chunked menhaden while drifting among them. Only two hookups, both on lures trolling about 7 kts. Unfortunately, we see them so infrequently we can’t get much experience. How about you guys-- like TunaHut and Papa Bear --relating some of your experiences?
Last january we were diving off hilton head. I had some big marks on the sounder dropped down and saw a giant ocean sunfish that was. Then saw a giant school of bonita go by with a shark in hot pursuit. Saw something big go by at tuna speed but couldnt make it out.
Came up and another boat was fishing about a mile away. Thay appeared to be chunking and had something on the balloons. They went to the bow to pull their anchor and a tuna busted right behind their boat… They never even knew it…
For the next hour we kept marking in the same spot. Chunked some seabass and jigs to no avail. Trolled for a whikle but didnt hook up.
Haven’t gotten a tuna report from beyond R7 so yesterday we went for a shake-down and a look see with Bill Hennigh and his newly rigged Contender. Beautiful weather 1-2 ft seas, light wind. Got to R8 in 1.5 hrs! Some gannets around the Betsy Ross, one group of terns hovering over a small pod of little tunny (probably) before reaching R7. No other surface activity at all. Water very clean until grass showed up around R8. Saw 3-4 gannets diving half-heartedly near the Deli. Trolled for blackfin then bottom fished --nothing but a couple of sharks. The fun part started when the wind shifted NE increasing seas to 3-4 then 4-5+ off the quarter bow for the run in. Slow going but made it to the Sands just as the sun touched the tree tops. Ya’ gotta’ love a day on the ocean!!
Do you remember what the temp was at R7? The other day it looked to be in the upper 50’s just inshore and low 60’s just offshore of the tower…
quote:Originally posted by Captom
Haven’t gotten a tuna report from beyond R7 so yesterday we went for a shake-down and a look see with Bill Hennigh and his newly rigged Contender. Beautiful weather 1-2 ft seas, light wind. Got to R8 in 1.5 hrs! Some gannets around the Betsy Ross, one group of terns hovering over a small pod of little tunny (probably) before reaching R7. No other surface activity at all. Water very clean until grass showed up around R8. Saw 3-4 gannets diving half-heartedly near the Deli. Trolled for blackfin then bottom fished --nothing but a couple of sharks. The fun part started when the wind shifted NE increasing seas to 3-4 then 4-5+ off the quarter bow for the run in. Slow going but made it to the Sands just as the sun touched the tree tops. Ya’ gotta’ love a day on the ocean!!
Unfortunately our sonar failed us so we never did get a water temp. We all guessed it was in the mid-60’s at the Deli and R8. Hard to be sure. Water was a lot warmer than the air, however. And it was a sunny day.
We did put out a wahoo spread for the first hour and a half. The water is still to cold at the deli. My new chirp unit had a glitch and when I tried to go back to the airmar it wouldn’t sink up. One other minor issue with the auto pilot but over all the boat is a monster. I can’t wait to get the 2 minor things fixed. Then LOOK OUT!
Might just have to trailer north for bluefin/yellowfin
