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S11:E11 - “Tuna On A Sub” (2019) - Tuna congregate over a wrecked submarine and Captains Steve and Scott bring them to the surface.
I know Scotty likes to catch the blackfins and I wanted to get Scott over there but I wanted to wait for a rough day when the area was less populated. With our whole crew it’s very intrusive and I wanted to wait for the roughest day to head to get those blackfins. The number one thing we needed was bait, those fish are only there because someone is throwing bait. We caught the bait the day before in the marina and made a move down on the Southside and we were looking for birds. Then I saw a bird dive and we headed over there and slipped in.
Then there was a beautiful, big and tight school that we saw and hit the bait on the sand. There was nothing in the net except for what we were going after. We finally got our 2 live wells blacked out and made sure the pumps were perfect and the flow was perfect. All those little things that people don’t think about. Its hard to move pilchards out from 2 feet of water to 200 feet of water and keep them alive. You have to have your boat set up to let water in and let water out, you have to overflow the tanks so that they don’t get beat up on the run so that we get out there with the freshest bait possible.
If the bait is fresh and frisky then you get the tunas.
We were able to get some tunas, but with the conditions we ran into a point where it was time to make a decision. We were doing okay, but just okay… The way that the conditions were I felt that we could pull the anchor and do some drift. Back when I was guiding we didn’t drift because you would pull the fish away from other guides who were anchored up. But there was no one out there with us so we started to drift, and the key is if you get the fish up, you don’t keep throwing bait as you drift further and further away.
What we did was we put out a couple flat lines, and once we got our drift position right, as soon as we came over the top of the wreck we would end up getting some bites.
If you’re interested in ways that we prepare tuna you can check out some of these recipes:
If you have any recipes you would like to share please comment or message us on social media. We would love to promote your recipe on our website!
Go Into The Shop with tips on deep sea fishing with Mercury Marine Active Trim
As always, we had Jason Stemple with us to document this trip in ultra high quality still photos. Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy!
See you next time on Into The Blue
Capt. Scott Walker & Capt. Steve Rodger
S12:E10 - “Great Bait! I’m Hooked” (2020)
Capt Scott Walker and Capt Steve Rodger break down the best-kept secret bait spots in the Keys.