Thursday, April 4th: Tuna.com

TUNA!

        Well here I was just finishing up a blog that ended with a comment
about the monotony of long ocean passages. About 20 minutes after I shut
down my laptop, the reel started absolutely screaming after a big hit on my
green “Rubber Chicken” Lure (pictures to come, then you’ll understand the
name). We were on a downwind run with the spinnaker and main up, speeding
along at 7.5-8 kts and the line was quickly disappearing off the reel.
        I yelled out “fish on!” and Mike and Steve sprang into action on
the foredeck and started the process of dousing the chute (spinnaker).
While getting it down, the spinnaker halyard shackle suddenly let go about
half way up the mast, dropping the sail on their heads and sending the
halyard up to the sky at the top of the mast. All of this was going on,
while I was trying to keep my balance on the transom while holding on to
the rod for dear life.
        I cranked down the drag to the maximum setting on the reel, about
55 lbs of resistance and still the fish kept pulling, eventually taking
about 500 yards of line from me before tiring. After the end of his initial
run, the fish still put up a hell of a fight, making me work for every inch
of line I gained back. After struggling to keep from losing all my line,
the combination of the slower boat speed and the tiring fish finally gave me the
advantage.
        While Mike and Steve were putting the chute away in the bag, I was
pumping the rod and straining to get the line back on the reel. It took a
while, but I eventually got the fish near the boat. However, Mike and Steve
were still busy, so Jan had to help me get the gaff out and ready to go.
Finally the boys finished up, and I handed Steve the rod and reached down
and sank the gaff in to end the fight. We got a tail rope on it and sealed
the deal. This is our first Skipjack Tuna on this trip, probably around 40 lbs.
        I cleaned the fish and whipped up a marinade consisting of soy
sauce, garlic and fresh ginger and seared it up. It tasted fantastic. Jan
even had some sashimi style. We have plenty left over and even more in the
freezer.

500 miles to go…