Set off on our now annual tuna fishing trip to Rudee Inlet on the Midnight Sun. We had such good luck last year even given that we had a shark problem that we were all excited for our return visit.
Funny how the trip started taking a turn early. We started off maybe a bit later than anticipated because I was teaching Sunday School and Jack was singing in his church. We will all have to go visit his church one day to hear him sing. Anyway Ron and Joe came to my house to pick me up and we met Jack in Kilmarnock so off we went.
Chicken gone awry…I saw a sign in Gloucester where a business was offering a $200 sign on bonus and I commented on how hard it is for businesses to get employees now at the same time as we have an unemployment problem (those seem to conflict to a simple person). Anyway we had to work about an hour and a half all told to get chicken for the trip. This was caused by the fact that no fast-food place had staff to run the thing, just barely enough to open the drive thru. Ron was fit to be tied and could have cooked the chicken on his head. He was so hot they gave us apple pies to hold off the terror that was coming for them.
Traffic of course was crazy. We were in bumper to bumper traffic most of the way from Hampton Roads to the other side of the tunnel. Well at least we didn’t get into a road range incident like Mike and Cody had to deal with. They were not sure exactly why this guy went into such a rage but they were able to escape the crazy without harm to anyone. Not sure why people go off to such extremes, one good prayer would certainly help them.
Ok getting to fishing, we had a wonderful weather day! About 80, low humidity, non-existent swells and they were spaced so far apart it was so gentle we could not have gotten a much better day to fish than we had.
We were in search of the gulf stream and we found it after about an hour. The water temp went from 70 to 80 degrees in just a few thousand yards. The water of the gulf stream is just breathtaking, it is such a unique blue that I can describe it but hopefully you can see the photos and the videos I am adding at the bottom.
Generally, this break between the warm and cold is great for tuna but they were just not there. We did get 5 Mahi (dolphins) to hook up but only got 2 to the boat. The others found a way to get tangled with each other or other teasers so they busted the line.
Trolled a while longer (and I was disappointed with the decision) but it was decided we would stop trolling and move to bottom fishing for Tilefish. There must be a million tiles under the area because we moved a few times and they were just there. Ended up with 21 tiles ranging from maybe 6 to 10 pounds.
Did not get the species we were looking for but all of the team Ron (the MAFL), Joe, Jack, Mike, and Cody all had a good time. Had a bunch of laughs and great meals together which is what really great fishing is all about.
A side adventure that I will not soon forget is the Shark Encounter. Jack and I was just looking out the starboard side of the boat and maybe a thousand yards away a giant Great White Shark breeched the water. This thing was huge, my estimate is 15 feet but best described as huge. This guy was completely out of the water by a good margin. Capt. Ryan screamed to see if anyone else saw this as well. Certainly the coolest thing I have seen in the wild. Maybe a once in a lifetime but this was by far the highlight of the trip.
