Had a small window of weather so Randy,Victor,John,Mr Won, and myself jumped on the Sea Breeze with Capt Ned and mate George out of Oregon Inlet
We started trolling in very rough conditions and after what seemed like forever Capt Ned yelled out the magic words...''FISH AT 120FT''. Randy,John, and i drop down and started jigging... ''BANG''ZZZZZZ i get slammed. This fish ran 250yrds and fought really hard but he was no match for my Temple Reef R13 rod...i had him under control and really put the screw's to him with heavy drag and had him on deck in 18min.
After a few high five's Capt Ned found another pile of fish and all 3 guy's start jigging again...''BANG'' John and i get slammed, John's fish ran like a train and we new he had a big fish...my fish felt smaller and i had him at the baot in under 5min. John fought his fish hard but unfortunatetly a huge Mako Shark bit a big chunk out the tuna right at the boat.
We then moved around for a while when Capt Ned found some more fish, we start jigging and this time Randy got tight on a nice fish...this fish fought hard as well, and gave Randy all he could stand...but he had him along side the boat for a nice release. At this point we were 4 for 4 not bad with these big fish...At the end of the day i was casting a Craft Biat GT Slider and on my second cast i came tight on a monster fish, in all my years of fishing i never felt such a powerfull fish...i could not do anything with this fish and even got strapped in a Fisherman Harness but still could not turn this fish. After about 30min of fighting it pulled the hook...i was so sick, this fish will haunt me forever.
If catching big tuna on jigs and poppers is your thing...get to North Carolina. Fishing should be hot until mid to late
April.
Hope you guy's enjoy the pictures.-
Gear used
Temple Reef R13 Costum rods
Temple Reef BD300
Varivas line
Lamble Bait Hailo King jigs
GT Slider
My 220lb monster, Temple Reef rod Stella 20000...in the boat in 18 minutes!