Anxiety, excitement, and an over-whelming sense that we were going to smash the tuna is what I felt the whole way down to Port Aransas. The TFF tuna trip had offish-ally started and I was on my way down to board the "Scat Cat" at Fishermans Wharf. Capt Ty, and Capt "Porkchop" were to be our ring leaders for the trip; and ring leaders they surely turned out to be! This was my first trip aboard this boat, and what a fine work of art she is! What a fine, stable fishing platform she is! The catamaran hull design really knocked the 6-8' seas down to nothing. I was VERY impressed with the ride of this ship! Did I mention how smooth the boat rode in rough seas?? WOW!!!

We departed bright and early friday morning to sporty seas (did I mention how well the boat cut through that nasty stuff?). It was a long boat haul out to Perdido (actually a little sweet spot a few miles off). The new moon really kept the dark seas to themselves. Every star in the sky was visible. I even saw a few shooting/falling stars... But of course my wish of the biggest tuna never came to fruition. I do believe I had the opportunity, if I hadnt quit casting so soon the first night with the poppers.

Shortly after sunset, we arrived at our little sweet spot. The captains new EXACTLY where to go and set us up for our first drift. I realized the bow was full of casting folks, so I quickly switched outfits to my jigging setup. I figured I would warm up with some blackfin, and donate them to the bait pile for chunking. Warm up I did, and quite well... I had forgotten how hard those little football blackfin can fight. I jigged for a couple hours, and became bored with the blackfin battles. I knew that the yellowfin tuna had turned on with all the commotion, so it was now time to switch gears.

After doing a quick tally on baits used for the best catches, it seemed to all point in one direction... the "maguroni" tuna candy lure!!!! It was unbelievable how that bait was the only one getting bit (besides a few high dollar shibuki's). I tied my maguroni(green) on my 100# flourocarbon leader and let it rip! I found a nice little corner at the back of the boat shared by myself and 2 other anglers. We worked very well together, and took our turns at casting. I found the maguroni would get nailed about 1 out of every 5 casts. There was a method to my madness- you HAD to cast out to the edge of the lights and just let the bait freefall on a tight line. The tuna would bite it, and you set the hook and they were on the line. It was amazing! I fished all 3 of my maguroni's, and lost all 3 on the boat hull. That hull really is sharp, and will slice 65# braid like butter with a hot knife! I realized you really need a good windon for the abrasion resistance.

After several hours, and losing my last maguroni around 3am friday night.... I decided to switch to the tuna hunter in black diamond. I had heard that we had close to a boat limit of yellowfin and only fish over 50 pounds would be gaffed. The maguroni's really kicked azz that night and put 90% of the fish in the boat IN ONE NIGHT!!( thats only 8 hours of fishing to get 69 yellowfin!) I was amazed at the productiveness of the maguroni. Only thing I can think of, is the glow belly really emphasizes the bait to become a fish catching wonder!!!!
Well, after switching to the tuna hunter- I did start to notice the BIG yellowfin were starting to surface and hammer the flying fish. Huge explosions were all around the boat. A few explosions and seen fish, were to be had off the back of the boat as well. At one point, I remember looking into the water, and seeing 5-7 HUGE yellowfin chasing 2-3 flying fish off the back of the boat. I was shocked in amazement. At this point, I started my popping escapade. No sooner than I casted and made a half-dozen pops, was I hooked up... A nice 70 pounder came to gaff..... ANd 5 casts later, another. I was beat down. I had caught my fair share of yellowfin and released quite a few little yellowfin that night. I was done. I was asked to keep casting, but told them that I was physically unable to reel in another tuna. I was beat down to nothingness!! What a rewarding adventure this had become! I decided to try and help some others, and asked a couple if they had caught any big ones yet. I found a nice gentleman(sorry, I am terrible with names), and he had only caught a few little 30-40 pounders. I told him to "watch this", and I casted out... a few pops- BAM!!! BAM!!! BAM!!! FISH ON!!! Another 70#er!! I handed him the rod and told him to "have fun"... After his battle, he thanked me and told me his hands were cramping and he didnt want another one... LOL!!

SHortly after, I went to bed (around 4am). I heard a few tuna hits the decks as I was sleeping. I found out that the biggest tuna had been caught shortly after I went to bed on a popper. DARNIT! I should have saved my energy for that bite. LOL! Congrats on that big fish, by the way!!!

The next day, after filling our yellowfin limits, we slow trolled all the way to our nighttime snapper spot. I got som good rest, and recovered slightly from the beating I took the night before. My arms were like jello!.

The nighttime snapper fishing was fun, and I enjoyed just being out there. I caught my limit of snapper, and quite a few beeliners that were more like freightliners. They were HUGE! I was dropping squid and blackfin chunks on circle hooks, with 16 ounces of wieght. We were fishing in ~200' of water and that was a workout in itself hitting the bottom and reeling back up.. LOL!!

I caught quite a few fish, and decided to hit the bunks. I slept pretty much until we hit the docks on return.

I had a blast!!! Absolutely the best trip I have ever been on in my life. I would like to thank TOO, the texas fishing forum, and the maguroni tuna lure for my best trip ever! What a wonderful trip!
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Ronnie Manning

+1, sounds like a blast ( and a lot of work)

$650 for 56 hours offshore. I believe we drove 175 miles SE from Port A to the Perdido floating rig. it was a 12-14 hour boat ride one way. sleeping time!