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Prowler Tuna Trip
September 17, 2001
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Capt. Al
runs out of tagging pennants |
Two
of my friends and regular charter customers, Brian Porter and
Bill Alarie, invited me to accompany them on their offshore tuna
trip scheduled for this past Monday. They wanted to see if we
could get a fly rod hook up with one of these pelagic
speedsters. When they mentioned that it was on the 42 foot Prowler,
with Captain Al Anderson out of Snug Harbor, I jumped at the
opportunity. After all, Capt. Al wrote the book on offshore tuna
fishing.
We stepped aboard the Prowler
at 5:15AM. After a quick introduction we were on our way on this
marvelous craft. Because we were headed some fifty plus miles
from port, I had ample time to check our fly fishing gear,
sharpen hooks and tie some extra offshore tapered leaders.
Special attention went into each of the nine knots that were
required for each of the six-foot leader. The knots from butt to
fly included: a perfection loop, 3 blood knots, 2 Bimini twists,
an Albright and finally, a non-slip mono loop to attach the fly. |
| After
two hours or so we reached the tuna grounds and Capt. Al
knew exactly where to go and what to do. A chum line was
quickly established and the results were almost
immediate. Within minutes bluefin tuna ranging from 30
pounds to nearly 200 pounds where smashing through the
chum slick. They were coming up from incredible depths
like torpedoes to pick off the chum chunks the instant
that they hit the water. Our hearts were pounding and we
hadn’t even picked up a rod yet.
Blue sharks to 250 pounds cruised
the surface around the Prowler engulfing any scraps of
chum that came within their path. Their menacing big black eyes,
devoid of all feelings, seemed to follow every movement that the
mate made as he threw out cut bait and an occasional butter fish
to maintain the chum slick. |
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| Suddenly,
the silence was broken by the sound of a screaming Penn
International reel as two hundred yards of monofilament line
gets peeled off in what seems like an instant. A second
stand-up rod goes off and all hell breaks loose.
Instantly, Captain Anderson takes charge and starts
shouting out instructions. You could tell by the tone of
his voice that this was serious business. "Come-on,
pump up and reel down, don’t give any slack, keep the
rod tip up, don’t forget to level wind". If your
boss was shouting out these instructions you would
probably quit, but with Captain Al it was sought of
reassuring because you knew that he was right in the
fight with you.
There was constant action for
over five hours using the stand-up rods. We had at least 27
hook-ups, over 20 tuna were tagged and released and four fish
were kept for the grill. Brian’s 150 pounder was the largest
fish followed by Bill’s 110 pounder and finally my 90-pound
bluefin. We didn’t count the four blue sharks that were
tagged. Our arms and backs ached, but we didn’t care. |
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| Fly-fishing
was made difficult because of the number of blue sharks
that patrolled the perimeter around the boat. They could
sever a $60.00 fly line with ease. Even a fly line that
dragged across their body could be rendered unusable
because of the abrasiveness of the shark’s skin.
I did manage to get one fly rod
hook-up before we called it a day. I was casting a 10"
heavily dressed bunker fly pattern tied on tandem 6/0 barbless
hooks. I had to cast far enough out to avoid the sharks. As soon
as the fly hit the water we saw a bluish green flash of a fish
coming up from the depths and suddenly I was watching as 200
yards of Orvis Gel-spun backing melted off the spool. It was at
this moment that I started thinking about all of those nine
knots that I tied earlier. Would they hold?
At one point the tuna had nearly
reached the end of my 300 yards of backing, but luckily, the
fish turned and I gained about 50 yards back on the spool. This
tug of war went on for almost 30 minutes when I looked down at
my rod and panicked. I was using my 10-weight rod instead of my
11- weight rod that I had planned to use. This was a big fish
and long fight and I was definitely under gunned.
I was applying maximum pressure
to the fish at all times and he was applying maximum pressure to
my equipment and me. Each time that I managed to gain enough
line to get him near the boat, he would see the sharks and rip
off another100 yards of backing. Finally, after 40 minutes we
saw color and at exactly the 45 minute mark the mate got the net
on him. Captain Al tagged the 45-pound bluefin tuna and took my
picture as the mate held the fish (my arm was tired) before we
released it. Not a bad catch on a 10-weight rod with a 20#
tippet. |
| This was one
of those trips that we’ll be dreaming about throughout
the long, cold winter months. The weather was perfect,
the fishing action was non-stop, the new Prowler is a
terrific boat and Captain Al, well, what can I say,
"He wrote the book". |
Capt. Bob holds 10-weight fly rod as mate holds
45# Bluefin |
For those interested in such
things, the fly-fishing equipment used included:
- Rod- 3 piece, 10 weight,
Diamondback Saltwater
- Reel- Orvis Battenkill Large
Arbor
- Line- Orvis 500 grain Depth
Charge
- Backing- Orvis High-Capacity
Gel-Spun, 300 yds
- Tippet- 20 pound Flourocarbon
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| Tight lines, but not
too tight,
Bob
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Captain
Bob Paccia is the Owner/Operator of Shoreline Guide
Service which serves all of the Cape (he trailers his
boat to where the fish are). For more information on how
you too can enjoy a trip with one of Cape Cod's pioneers
in saltwater fly fishing and share in Captain Bob's
forty years of experience, contact him at Capt.
Bob Paccia or visit his website at
Shoreline
Guide Service .
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