Fished offshore last Wednesday in OBX.
Great conditions. Bait everywhere. Friggin pilot whales were thick... hundreds of them lazy mothers just flopping around on the surface. Lots of dolphin too... bottlenose plus spinners. All of these things a good sign for fish beneath them.
Picked up a blackfin tuna right off the bat. Small. 12 lbs.
About 10 AM, we got the smackdown. All 7 lines hit simultaneously. TUNAS ON!!!
Normally, you can finagle them so that they don't cross one another and tangle your lines. Heh. We failed. Had 3 or 4 crossed up and our lines ready to slice. I lost mine after about 10 minute fight, but all the others we got untangled. Meanwhile, 1 rod was still untouched in its rodholder - fish still on. Sweet.
Cranked her in, and was 1st to come to gaff. Close to 45 or 50 pounder. Got 2 more tunas in. Last fish in... well... it *was* a tuna initially. Now it was a monster shark that swallowed it whole, and got caught on the same hook. About a 9 foot Dusky shark, I think. We cut her free.
Meanwhile, the yellowfin tuna were streaking on the surface all around our boat. One of the coolest sights you'll ever see in the Gulf Stream. I got video, then accidentally erased it couple days later. Damn fat fingers.
Anyway, within 30 minutes we hooked up a blue marlin... jumped a couple times... probably about 250#. Then broken my buddy's leader connection... he was pissed. It happens.
Tuna bite ended, so we packed it in and went a bit inshore for bottom fishing for tilefish. Find them in 200-300 feet, so lots of cranking unless you got electric reels... we had 2. Crushed them. Caught several citation sized ones around 12#.
Rough coming back in and 2 hours of fish cleaning. Woot.
