Myself and Capt Richie decide on wedsnday to put a crew together for friday.. We didnt leave until 9am but as you can see it didnt hurt us one bit..

The crew was NJH members JRHUNT and Bacs with George, Capt Richie, Sonia and Myself.. We got a few reports of quality fish being caught but a trophy was not on the game plan.. The Boat was loaded with bait, ice and a few Avets!!! At the fuel dock Capt Richie check all the drags and rigged all the gear.. Let me tell you what you think you know about rigging for tuna's you can always learn more!!

We made the run to the usual spot only to here many boats complaining about the lack of water temps and lack of fish..We ran by alot of boats on the inside spot to our mark..Got a call on the radio from a good buddy Joe that he got spooled twice in the area..So we hit are mark and lines went over , The Avet 30wides (3) were set with bait and we started jigging. Again every trip is a learning experience.. Capt Richie on his 3rd turn of the handle FISH ON !! Yes Stingo PBJ 150 baby deep.. only to have the tuna come unbutton.. Then George hooks up Stingo PBJ 150 FISH ON.. George hands the fish off to Bacs who has never caught a tuna and the fight is on .. Shortly after a quick battle with the new AVET MXL RAPTOR fish is boated and on Ice.. Everyone is pumped up Bluefin is on Ice and its early in the day..

Remember 3 lines with bait still drifting along.. we all start jigging when the 30 wide takes a run off. Capt Richie and myself see the noodle float disappear in the depths... Capt Richie set the circle hook and FISH ON!! Now there is a two cool parts to this point of the day.. Capt Richie knows Tuna and turns and says this is a good on. The second part everyone turns and tells Sonia to get a harness on!!! So we got this fish dumping a 30wide while we are strapping Sonia to fight the fish. We get Sonia into the fish for a few minutes but the harness would not settle in square for her.. Now the hand off, Capt Richie ask me if I want it and I ask him to get it the game!!! Capt Richie straps into the game .. Now I love watching  people fight fish.. But i love being in control of the boat to land fish, but this is a bit nerve racking when you look over and see a great fisherman buckle over and a fish just control the both of us!!

Now we are a good 30 minutes into the battle and the fish is not moving abit in the water column.. After few minutes we get the upper hand and Capt Richies in barking commands to me. The crew is seeing color and the intensity level is max out.. Bacs has a gaff, George  got a gaff, Sonia is snapping pics , Jrhunt got the GoPro rolling and I'm running helm.. The I hear HOLY crap look at this tuna.. The Capt Richie yell stick the damn thing when he comes to surface.. I come across the helms, Bacs hands me the gaff and we sink another Gaff into the Fin..IT Takes a few of us to slide it over the rails and then the crew goes nuts. The high fives, you da man, Holy Shits,, and thats SYKK,, are flying.. Then a calm quiet comes over the boat when u realize that we just landed a trophy bluefin on the SYKK PHYSH.. Get the Camera rolling baby..

After pics and measuring the fish we landed a 74" Blefin in roughly 35 to 45 min..As you seen in Jrhunt video and pics.. It just simply amazing to see this fish..

A huge thanks to my crew few helping with clearing the deack, to Bacs, George, John, and Sonia for sharing a experience of a lifetime.. To Capt Richie for teaching me and helping with this Addiction of Tuna fishing..

If you dont take time to learning from every experience, trips, fishing adventure. None of this would ever fall into place... Again quailty knots and tackle comes into play with this cailber of fish..

Im still amazed that we put a trophy on the deck of my ride..and all because of good friends lending a hand to get it Done!!!