WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF – Kenji Nakagawa of Lodi fished aboard the Aztec out of San Diego recently, and after an intense battle on 60-pound line, landed this bluefin that scaled at 157 pounds.
We were positioned in the bow for the final stand-off. Over the next 10 minutes Greg pulled line back onto the reel, foot by foot with his bare hands, all without breaking the 60-pound flouro. Right when I thought I was gassed again, he says 45 more seconds and it’s dead. Sure enough 3 gaffs went in and it was over. She taped out at 159 pounds and scaled at 157 at the docks.
This was the most grueling battle I’ve ever had. The combination of the lighter gear and a bruiser bluefin tuna that didn’t wanna die was something I’ll never forget. That being said, toward the end of the fight we had the drag set fairly tight and Greg was really pulling hard on that fish the last 30 to 50 feet. I have no doubt the kit would handle a fish over 200 pounds. For the gear heads, the kit was my Phenix Hyrbid 7802XH rod, Makaira 15T, Phenix 80-pound hollow braid, Seaguar Premier 60-pound leader, and a 2/0 Charlie Brown hook. She is now nicknamed the BKOB, Black Kit of Death!
After pics and high fives, I went through the Mike Stroh glory routine. Hit the showers, fresh duds, cold beer and moped around the deck for a few hours. Cruise control the rest of the trip.
Besides my fish, two others were landed that stop, both 150 to 175 pounds. The bite was off the remainder of the day with only two other fish being caught on sinker rigs in the evening.
That night the routine continued. Justin driving and hunting fish all night. The entire boat (except for me, I like sleep) continued to drop and grind Flat-Falls into the dark. I woke up around 130 a.m. and found only two guys still grinding with Justin on deck. Three a.m. I hear one hit the deck… Someone yells into the bunk room, “They’re biting, I just got an 80 pounder!”
All hands on deck and jigs dropped, two more fish get hooked. One made it to gaff, a 150 pounder, and one was lost at gaff due to user error. The greenhorn angler had the fish boat side and called for the gaff. As Justin runs for the gaff, the angler pulls the fishes head out of the water and allows it to thrash on the surface, tossing the jig and losing the fish. After the smoke clears, it’s revealed Justin was the first to hook up the 80 pounder and handed off to the passenger. Not surprising…
Day 3 Tuesday 11/17
Rinse and repeat… Greg back on the wheel. Not nearly as much sign of fish today. We covered a ton of water from south of Cortes, up the west side of the banks, back down the east side of the banks, across the southwest corner of SCI and back east toward San Diego. No bites on the sinker rigs or kite today. Very slow.
The crew didn’t give up and they stopped multiple times on sonar schools, up ‘til midnight. Greg made the call to head into port and call the trip.
Final count for the trip: 8 bluefin. Two around 80 pounds, 6 cookie cutters from 155 to 175 pounds.
