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Good weather, good fishing, good times! Originally, I had planned on going a bit further out to wet my lines but I happened upon a half dozen boats or so and just went about a mile beyond them and set up a troll. In short order, a single. I continued trolling since I heard a few comments on the radio that it was difficult to get a decent bait stop going. The rest of my hook ups were doubles and triples on the troll. Fishing solo, triples are a bugger but I only lost 2 fish! LOL After the ensuing cluster tangled mess that first triple turned into, I'd start clearing unhooked lines shortly after a second fish hit my offerings, still at troll speed, resulted in much fewer issues in the ensuing doubles and triples. I didn't have to cut a line all day so it wasn't FUBAR, just inconvenient and somewhat preventable. I was having so much fun with the troll game, I didn't bother dumping bait. I hit a wall at about 2 pm, tired, awake 28 hours, and called it a day. I thought I had 17 tuna on board, turned out to be 15. None of these were small... These were all big boys, maybe a medium. On the occasion that I was not under way, sharks surrounded my boat multiple times. Bait would have been senseless where I was at. A shark nailed a lure just hanging off the side of the boat while I did a little clean up. 3-4 of my tuna were bled by sharks before I got them in the boat, not chunks missing, just gashes, mostly in the tails. Water was great out and back, a bit lumpy while fishing but not uncomfortable. Trolling is a lot more work than bait stops, less time to eat, drink, process fish, general cleaning and in general a bit of relaxation... At least for this solo fishing guy. In hindsight, when I hit that wall at 2 pm, I should have put out a few live chovies and taken a nap for a while until a reel screamed to wake me up. LOL

Just about forgot, last Fall, someone recommended tail hauling instead of gaffing just to make some fun of it. I tail hauled just about all of these fish just for fun.

This tuna fishing has taken the luster out of my other habitual fishing. Trout, perch, ice fishing, even salmon fishing just isn't the same.

With less than a year in the tuna fishing game, I've done ok with bait and now the troll. 102 tuna have died at my hand in the last 10 1/2 months, 94 of those were fishing solo.

kodacachers

7/24/2014 7:58:00 AM

Mark, I love your posts! Completely insane, but someone has to be the fisherman we aspire to!

MarkFromSea

7/24/2014 8:26:00 AM

Thanks! I aim to please! This has been a very good fishing year, the last 12 months. Tuna season just started, it's game on!

ncwflounderer

7/24/2014 8:32:00 AM

What do you do with 102 tuna?

BDA

7/24/2014 9:42:00 AM

Great report.Great fish. Good job.Good luck next time. ( fish on)

Idstud

7/24/2014 10:31:00 AM

Thanks for the report looks and sounds like fun. Tuna fishing is one thing I want to try one of these days.

OGFboat

7/24/2014 10:52:00 AM

How far out did you have to go?

OGFboat

7/24/2014 10:52:00 AM

How far out did you have to go?

Wind In His Hair

7/24/2014 11:53:00 AM

Good Almighty! Sounds like an Epic Adventure - makes me think of the book "The Old Man and the Sea" fishing in your lonesome.
Great Job and glad your safe and sound :]

MarkFromSea

7/24/2014 3:06:00 PM

I give most of it away. Eat a lot, can a bunch!

I put about 120 miles on the boat between getting out there and trolling for the partial day. My old GPS says 55 miles from the ramp farthest out.

ncwflounderer

7/24/2014 8:05:00 PM

Home canned tuna is the best. tuna is definitely on my bucket list of fishing, sounds like you had a blast.

afk

7/25/2014 7:44:00 AM

What great inspiration you are! I live your reports. Thanks.

afk

7/25/2014 7:52:00 AM

I love your reports. I wish I was living them. Sorry about that.

kodacachers

7/25/2014 11:43:00 AM

So one question--what would make this trip a 5? Those extra 2 fish you thought you had?

Cozmo4196

7/25/2014 2:58:00 PM

What kind of boat do you run? Curious as to what the "typical" size tuna boat is.

MarkFromSea

7/25/2014 6:12:00 PM

At Koda>>>> that was only my 3rd best tuna trip.... 26 and 18... fishing solo were better, those should have been listed as a 5... I'm just leaving room for improvement! LOL or, my standards have become a little higher.

At Cozmo>>>>Size matters but so does the way you use it..... Be smart, be safe. Most of the boats hunting tuna seem to be 22ish ft or more.... just a guess. My boat is much too small for the average person to be out there. I'm just SPECIAL! LOL

uwswimmer

7/26/2014 9:38:00 AM

you are a beast sir

Chasingos

7/29/2014 11:13:00 PM

Excellent report Mark. I to fish quite a bit solo and really want to try my hand at catching tuna but not sure if my boat is big enough. I have a 20 ft pacific navigator with a 3 ft offshore bracket is that large enough and is there a book or video I could buy to learn more? Been waiting for friends to show me the ropes but you know what that is like waiting on people. Any pointers you can provide would be a great help.

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