i had a talk with the Tuna king (know him thru my relationship with the Cuda king aka: Liteliner ) and we were discussing the new way of catching his minions and he said that Markk bribed him with all sorts of shiny baubles and that is how Mark caught so many using this new method... As i mentioned in another report i believe Mark was somehow marking his sardine with some sort of label so the Tuna King could tell his people which one to nibble... i am calling for a Congressional hearing into Marks misuse of his fishing powers in the catching of those tasty yellow finned beasties... please feel free to join me in this endeavor of finding the truth

PS... this is all a joke, the Tuna King would not divulge any info on Markk's ability to catch fish using an unknown method

Mark was the only 1 I seen spittin on his bait ! think that might be the trick ???

He cast a spell by spitting the sardines lol

it wasn't spit................

Markk please say somethin. Any secret , tactics or anything, to give us peace of mind otherwise we'll be seing a lot a angler spittin on their bait lol. Joke only. Peace brother.

Here is my secret: I go to the bait table and select my own sardine. I don�t have some Joe Schmoe fisherman pick any bait off the table and bring it to me, no no no. It has to have that just netted look to it. It has to be perfect. There are a lot factors that go into selecting a perfect bait, I will explain:

Fragrance: It has to have a have a scent that a tuna just cannot ignore. I pick up a sardine like I pick up a fine cigar. I hold it to my nose and inhale the flavor bouquet from end to end. If it has a perfumy scent at the head and a musky finish at the tail, it passes the first test. Cuz we all know, tuna don�t like no skanky smelling bait!

Texture: It has to have a flexible quality to it. I don�t like no concrete hard bait. It has to be soft enough to slightly bend without cracking. The perfect bait temp is 35 degrees. How do I know when the bait is 35 degrees you might ask? I use my handy dandy bait thermometer of course! What, you don�t have a bait thermometer? How could you spend $700 on a tuna trip and not come fully prepared? I would have let you borrow mine if you had simply asked. Anyways, we all know that tuna don�t like no sardine popsicles! (Hint: if your bait is too cold, keep it under your arm pit for 5 mins and it will thaw perfectly.)

Preparation: Next comes the delicate preparation. No I don�t spit on it, that is just plain silly. What I do is write a message on the sardine and address it to the tuna. I really cant tell you what it says (it�s a little embarrassing) but it was a strong taunt to the tuna (something about his brother Charlie tasting better). Now, you might ask how I write on a sardine? Why I use my handy dandy bait marking pen of course! What, you didn�t bring your bait pen either? How the heck can you expect to catch a tuna if you don�t bring the right tools? Again, I would have lent mine if you only asked. Please make sure your penmanship is up to snuff as we all know tuna don�t like no lazy a$$ handwriting!

Hooking: When you hook your bait, take care to hook the sardine through the eye socket without destroying the eyeball. If you don�t enter at the proper angle, you also risk making the bait cross eyed. That will result in no bite as we all know tuna like to look their bait squarely in the eye before inhaling it!

Presentation: I need to give some credit to the captain here. He saw a bunch of lazy fishermen letting some line out and then leaving the rod alone. Porkchop comes on the PA and says �y�all bunch of lazy fishermen aint gonna catch any fish like that. You gotta be letting line out as if you were chunking to get a bite!�. So I took the capt�s word to heart and slowly started paying out a lot of line. When I got to a point where a lot of line was out, I stopped for about 10 mins. I am guessing that the drift caused the bait to rise from whatever depth the 2oz weight got it to. So it covered a lot more of the water column is what Im guessing here. If no bite, start the process all over again.

I will let you pick which of the above tips was most successful. I can only say for me that it was way more luck than skill on this trip.

Well thank you so much for sharing and next time I'll bring my handy dandy pen and thermometer.

which style thermometer ? oral or .... ?

Not oral thats for sure! Need core bait temp. What a silly question!

I knew IT! I have been doing it ALL WRONG!
Saradine temp has been the Key the whole time...
LOL - Thanks for neat story....

There is some pics in this library ya'll can take a lok at until I figure out how to post pics correctly...lol..

Thanks and nice pics Bill.

Thanks x2

Me and Mike weren't exactly thrilled about you taking our picture in that one ..... LOL