Fishing was excellent on Saturday. We took home 10 mahi mahi and 1 bluefin tuna, put 5 back and dropped a large mahi mahi bring it over the rail; I had the leader in my hand so we can call that a quick release!
I started out at the tip of Lema at 07:50 and put our first fish in the cooler in under 5 minutes. We had three lines out and had just put a fourth when the starboard short corner running a small silver streaker went off. In the pattern for the day we had 7 rods out with the other short corner running a red & white islander, the short port rigger had an orange and white chugger, the long port rigger was a combo bird and 10" chugger, the starboard short rigger was running a blue and white chugger, the long starboard rigger was running a combo rubber mullet and 10" chugger and the stinger was an dark pink and white 12" chugger. The spread and color combinations were perfect - we didn't change a lure all day.
From there we trolled out toward the first wreck around 8 miles south east catching fish all the way there. During the long slack tide period mid day we headed to the weather buoy which is 45 miles south of Hong Kong. We fished the buoy and surrounding area for an hour and then trolled toward home until around 17:30 - only 2 fish caught on the way home.
We mostly had the TLD 20s out with matching rods making the smaller fish were were catching a sporting event. I did get tired of the tidlers though and ran away from huge schools of 5-8lb fish and hoped that the inline bird/chugger combo, would scare away the little guys. I could have made it a wholesale slaughter and swamped the boat in fish. Fish were even hanging themselves on lures dead in the water as we were bringing in other fish. We also caught one while reeling in the rods to head to the buoy.
I had a couple of bent butt 50s out on the long riggers running the bigger lures and on one was the combination rubber mullet behind a 8" chugger that must be 20" long in total. We caught a 6lb dolphin on that rig that thought he was a giant. I think that fish was no more than 30" long!
Early in the day there were only 2 colors working: white/silver (the small silver streaker) and red/white islander. Between 09:30 and 11:00 we caught on every color combination and every size lure. I even caught on an orange and white combo - maybe the first fish that lure has ever landed in the ten or so years I've had that particular lure.
Strikes seemed very aggressive, although that could have been the affect of running 4 TLD20s.
I fished within sight of my buddy Shing on his Egg Harbor 40' and was on the radio with him throughout the day. Being able to share info for where water temperature differences were and which colors were working likely increased both of our chances to keep the fish coming over the rail.
Winds were near calm and the sea was like a mill pond. Water temperature is already 78f in spots.
Hank
