I have found in the past that the bigger fish tend to follow the cooler water. The school tuna don't seem to mind as much.

Ideal water temp for YF is around 77 degrees. Keep in mind that all the readings you get over the bouys are on the surface. Tuna need to cool off. They will go deep to cool down after feeding in warm top surfaces up to 82 degrees. Cooler water also helps tuna maintain muscle effiency during feeding and will keep them at the surface feeding for longer periods of time.

Bait is difference in a good bite for the angler. Find the bait, you find the pelagics. You also need good water clarity for pelagics. If you look at sea surface temp maps along with chlorophyll and altimetry images together, it will help you find these conditions before leaving the dock and wasting time on the water.

Keep in mind, that the lights from the floaters help concentrate bait. Even though tuna are primarly night feeders, no body ever fished for them at night before the floaters appeared. It was to hard if not impossible to find the tuna in the dark. The floaters make it a new ballgame. Find the right combination of ingredients mentioned above at a floater, and you will catch a lot of fish.

go front go, get your wind in gear and move on through looks like you're about on track with the fcsts but, could you please speed it up!

pretty windy and cool up here in dallas. hope it hauls arse and pushes through so yalls trip is calm.

I figure I'd give yall a glimpse at one of the reasons I am so ready for this trip to get here!!

the postman dropped this off Tuesday!

I spent about an hour trying to get a loop put in the 60# hollow Jeez, 60# is way harder to loop than the 80 and 130 Ive done before!! after a while I figured out what I was doing wrong, and no it wasnt the loop puller's fault!

Avet SX Raptor loaded with 325 yds of 60# JB hollow, pulls 19#'s of drag at strike with very minimal loss of freespool, and 28 #'s at full!! to get a true overhand distance castable freespool, you have to knock the drag down by 4#'s

Im not sure I can accurately describe how small this reel is, yep thats a pair of tweezers in some of the pics (for scale). yes its a tiny bit larger than a true SX but not much!

To say that I'm ready to put some blood on this one would be an understatement!


All wraped up and protected

Good Looking reel AL.. looks like a giant killer!
Have you tried casting it yet?

Allen, that reel can do double duty on our piggy fish. Can't wait to see how it handles the tuna.

Brian,

you'll be happy to know I bought a thing of split shot and a pack of hooks for this piggie trip!!

Allen, I am excited to see that reel.
I had a JX that I magged that casts very well. Consistantly 70-80 yards after a lot of practice. My uncle wanted it really bad so I sold it to him and bought a stella.

I want to see how well the cast control on the raptor works.

I have everything packed and ready to roll for tomorrow. Just a stop at the ole HEB and I'll be set.

I plan on jigging with it, We'll see how well it works.

I have a stella for the popping, once you go egg beater you never go back!!

You're welcome to use it though, I have a couple of different rods Im going to try it on, the problem with a small reel is its tough to get a rod that can handle the drag and is still light enough....

I still have to pack everything up for the trip, I admit im waaay behind but, O' well I'll get there and I'm sure that I'll only forget a small amount of stuff.

Who is bringing the ginger and wasabi?

I will have wasabi and soy. I don't eat ginger...sooo

I imagine that reel on a OTI popping 50# conventional.
I don't know that I would use it on a head boat all the time but, on a private boat I love conventionals.

dang! is it 4am yet? I'm ready to go!

4am? good grief, where are you going at 4am? Im not going to leave tomorrow till 5:30PM

Did I mention that its windy as h#$l down here right now. but strangely enough the wind is out of the ENE not straight N

someone come kidnap me

its nice and warm up here again... was just outside and the wind's layed down and the warmth is back. it blew through fast.