I went this past weekend on an overnighter out of Sargent to the last A-Rig called the Falcon's nest and only caught some real nice snapper and a Yellowedge Grouper.. So we went on out to 1145 Wreck only 10 miles away and started catching what looked like Albacore because their Pectoral fins were extremely long .. we also landed a 200lb Oceanic Whitetip and my brother had a 9 ought Penn get smoked by something drifting later on that night..

What looked like albacore was almost positively blackfin tuna.
We have caught them off shrimpers chum trail as close a 30 miles in the past.

Thanks for the reply special K.. I myself have caught several Blackfin out of Venice LA.and I know that Albacore are very rare in the Gulf but these fish had pectoral fins as long as their body.. That wreck sits in around 974ft of water and I really think we stumbled into some watermelon sized Albie's.. I have fished the upper and middile coast offshore my entire life and have never seen a Tuna like these.JLN

Any pictures?

Thought the same thing, was thinking Blackies as well, but if you've caught them before, then not sure.
Pixs would really help, if they are Albies, I'm figuring LL, Beto, etc would be going wild.
By saying watermelon sized, fairly large or 10 lbs or so?
Got me wondering about this.

sorry for the long delay special K.. I'm not sure if we have any pictures or not but I know my friend was videoing throughout the trip.. I have not as of yet seen the video either..

Thankyou so very much for the links to the Tuna pictures Basstex.. I can say with 100 % certainty after viewing thge picture of that ALBACORE YOU SENT THAT IS WHAT WE CAUGHT MY FRIEND..

no picturtes as this was after dark but one of my friends on board had his video recorder off and on throughout the entire trip and I have yet to view the video.. but I'll keep you posted.. thx JLN

More like 3lbs to maybe 5lbs we only landed two and a couple of heads also to reel in after they got whacked by sharks..