I've never made a fishing report before, but here goes...

every year a group of the college boys head out on a 42hr charter out of orange beach, AL. we use Sea Hunter charters, with captain Ricky Mcduffie
http://www.orangebeachfishing.com/

this is our 6th or 7th year on that boat. we like the long trip as it gets us way out to the deep water oil rigs after yellowfin, and gives us two mornings to go after the big tuna. we head out thursday evening, and are fishing by around 0400 on friday morning.

there are 8 of us fishing on this 62' boat, we like to be able to spread out a bit and not get too crowded. we start in the pre-dawn darkness jigging for blackfin, and one of the guys hooks up to a big fish. it nearly spools him, but he finally got in a 160lb yellowfin. (the big tuna on the right).

shortly after, before we even started trolling, we were chunking off the back of the boat. we have a line that we slowly let out and let the current take, as we slowly toss chunk bait to bring them in, hopefully to the hook. we hook up, and a 2 hour battle ensues. i was the 2nd of three anglers to tackle the fish, and when it was finally landed, a 135# yellowfin hit the boat. (left fish in the pic)


we caught a couple more smaller YF trolling around, then headed in a bit for some snapper fishing. back to the deeper water for the evening tuna bite, and this time one more hook-up with a 117# yellowfin.


at some point during Friday while trolling between spots, the wahoo rod starts screaming, and a 74# wahoo hits the boat.


the snapper fishing was great, lots of nice reds, some big whites, and several nice scamp were caught on the bottom. we had calm seas for once and so much fish in the boxes we didn't even chase tuna the second morning, instead we headed in for more snapper fishing. the grass lines had not formed yet, so the mahi fishing was a no-go, i think we caught 2.

we decided to head in a couple hours early to make a weigh-in for the weekend fishing tournament, where the two biggest tuna took home 1st and 3rd, the wahoo took 1st, and we may have placed with a couple more fish that i'm forgetting.

all in i think we each brought home close to 60# of tuna and snapper. the blackfin bite on the jigs was really slow, unlike years past. it was another great trip by the sea hunter crew, and we're already planning our trip for next year.

some snapper:


i am on the far left holding a 21# red


the motley crew on the way out thursday evening; beards and mustaches ready for fish...


little tuna steak


its been pretty fantastic having fresh fish in the house again. i had to skip last year's trip due to my trip to RSA, just not enough time or money to do both.

cheers, and good fishing
cooper

Thanks for the report. That looks like boatloads of fun!

WOW!!! You guys nailed um!!!

Looks like a goo time for all.

That is one BEAUTIFUL Tuna steak!