Morehead City Giant Bluefin Fishing

Well almost checked one off the bucket list on Saturday.

On Thursday myself and a couple friends went down to Beaufort NC to fish with Captain John Cawthern of Procastinator Sport Fishing. I have fished with John before, and it is always a ton of fun. The week before we came down the Giant Bluefins showed up off Morehead City, NC and the bite was on. Captain John put 3 big bluefins in the boat on Monday and Tuesday. This trip was originally scheduled for a bottom fish/jigging trip, but with the bluefins in the area and the bad weather forecasted we made the call to fish for Bluefin on Friday and if the weather allowed bottom fish on Saturday.

Well unfortunately when these fish are caught, news spreads very fast and the fleet quickly arrived and on Wed and Thurs the bite was pretty slow. The weather was pretty crappy on Friday but we pushed off to a new area hoping to avoid the fleet and find where the fish moved to. We set out our spread and began our search. We trolled hard all day but just could not make it happen. Found some good conditions, but could not find a hungry tuna. The main fleet had a slow day as well with only a few boats coming tight and even less landing any fish.

On Saturday the weather was forecasted to be great, so we pushed off and headed for the deep to do some bottom fishing and jigging. Unfortunately what was forecasted was not what we found and even with little wind, we ran into a confused sea that looked like a washing machine. We stopped short of our target area to bottom fish and had decent luck on some sea bass and other bottom fish. We were in range of the fleet on the radio and were hearing numerous boats were hooked up. We quickly made the decision to run in and swing for the fences in the hope of catching one of these giants. We stopped and got the spread over board trolling around a couple of Captain John's buddies, one who had caught a short earlier in the morning. Right after setting the spread another of Captain John's friends hooked up and boated a nice 81" giant. We weeded through a few albacore waiting for our shot at a giant. As I was watching the planer rod I saw it jump and start bending straight down. We had just been bit by a giant and as Captain John sped up the boat to get a good hook set the rod popped up and he was gone. Just like that the hook pulled.

Everyone was excited to see the big fish hit and a bit bummed to lose him before we got the chance to fight him. We reset the spread and continued to pound the area. We went through a big lull where no one in the fleet was getting bit. As evening approached a couple of boats got bit and we started seeing more and more bait and even more fish showing up on the sounder. I thought for sure we'd get another shot as it all just looked right. Unfortunately we weren't lucky enough to get another shot and right at dusk we packed it in and headed for the inlet. There was one boat who hooked up with one about 2 hours before we packed it in that was still fighting their fish when we got back to the dock. We saw that crew (they were docked next to the restaurant we went to that night) and they had lost the fish after a 4+ hour battle. I can't even imagine how heartbreaking that would be.

Thanks again to Captain John of Procastinator Sport Fishing! I can't wait to try again!