Friday morning, we finally caught a ghost fish!

[Downtownv 1,779]

For 2 weeks we and every other offshore fisherman have seen them all around us. Getting them on a hook seemed elusive and impossible. That's why they are called Ghost Fish. Until Friday  8:30 a.m.

68"

125 pounds

1 hour and 10 minutes to get him onboard.

There is no way, a single fisherman could boat one of these fighters. MY 37 yo SIL, was physically stronger than me to do it. I became the deck hand clearing 5 lines in water so it could tangle in them, kept him hydrated and took over the pole when we had him up to the boat. we opened the side  door, he gaffed him and it took 2 of us to pull him on the deck.

 

He went back out with 3 of his buddies Saturday a.m. and once again there was nothing but Ghost Fish.

[Scorpio64 5,156]

Looks like that's a tuna.

[Downtownv 1,779]

Yes, It's a Big Eye Bluefin Tuna.

[Tunaman 549]

No it isnt.  Its a Bluefin...not a Bigeye.  Completely different species.  And it is only a baby.   But nice catch anyway.

[Downtownv 1,779]

FIFY Thank you for the correction. Been seeing them for the past 3 weeks and nobody was catching them. We were just thrilled to bring it on board.

[NJ_Sig 37]

Fantastic!! I haven’t caught one in 4-5 years

[DaddyNick 408]

I hate bluefins. They refuse to give up. Lol. My biggest on standup gear is around 100lb and Haven no desire to do that again well....maybe on spinning gear. Lol. 

I like my 60-70 yellows and smaller longfins. They give up the ghost much quicker than the bluegins. 

The weekend after Thanksgiving we saw them while chasing stripers. We didn't even attempt to throw anything at them. One popped up 20 yards from the boat. It sounded and looked like someone dropped a dishwasher into the ocean. Lol 

[Krdshrk 3,877]

Nice!  That's gonna make for some nice Sushi/Sashimi!

[Tunaman 549]

Lb for LB,  the Bigeye Tuna is the most enduring,  hardest to catch(land) of all the tunas.  They get to be around 400 lbs,  and we have been straight up and down on 325 lbers for 6 hrs before landing 3 out of 5 of them.  They are the brutes of the sea.  They will kick your ass.  They are so fun when a wolfpack of them crashes the spread!  BlueFins are fun too...but they give up much easier...

[Downtownv 1,779]

2 hours ago, DaddyNick said:

I hate bluefins. They refuse to give up. Lol. My biggest on standup gear is around 100lb and Haven no desire to do that again well....maybe on spinning gear. Lol. 

I like my 60-70 yellows and smaller longfins. They give up the ghost much quicker than the bluegins. 

The weekend after Thanksgiving we saw them while chasing stripers. We didn't even attempt to throw anything at them. One popped up 20 yards from the boat. It sounded and looked like someone dropped a dishwasher into the ocean. Lol 

It painted 3 times, saw the boat and ran out more line. The are one tough fish especially compared to stripers. 

[Downtownv 1,779]

12 minutes ago, Tunaman said:

Lb for LB,  the Bigeye Tuna is the most enduring,  hardest to catch(land) of all the tunas.  They get to be around 400 lbs,  and we have been straight up and down on 325 lbers for 6 hrs before landing 3 out of 5 of them.  They are the brutes of the sea.  They will kick your ass.  They are so fun when a wolfpack of them crashes the spread!  BlueFins are fun too...but they give up much easier...

We will try for another, we are stupid like that.... The good news is we were back at the dock by 10am and then the slicing and dicing took another hour and a half or so.lots of 1 gallon zip locks bags.

Later we portioned them into 2 pack foodsavers.

 

Everything bagel crusted ready to sear later

 

 

[Displaced Texan 11,750]

4 hours ago, Downtownv said:

We will try for another, we are stupid like that.... The good news is we were back at the dock by 10am and then the slicing and dicing took another hour and a half or so.lots of 1 gallon zip locks bags.

Later we portioned them into 2 pack foodsavers.

 

Everything bagel crusted ready to sear later

 

 

Looks like it’s ready to eat just as it is! 

[10X 3,300]

A number of years ago I was diving on the Texas Tower, a very cool wreck with a tragic history, about 70 miles off of the NJ shore.  https://njmaritimemuseum.org/events/presentations/doomed-tower-texas-sea/

It's deep, so you quickly build up a decompression obligation, and I had just made it up to the 20 foot deco stop when I saw that a huge bait ball was in the water column with me...a huge spherical mass of baitfish, swirling hypnotically.  They're very cool to watch.   You can count on predators showing up, and first it was the bluefish, cutting into the bait ball which would just as quickly morph away from them.  Also fun to watch.  I was wondering if the local sharks would show up next, but instead we got a school of yellowfin tuna.  I was watching the first of them zipping into the baitfish/bluefish frenzy when I was hit hard from behind...a glancing blow, but a solid one.   The yellowfin that hit me had no interest in me, other than I was between it and dinner, and it was quicker to brush me aside than to go around me.    It was a very cool encounter--really drove home the enormous power of those fish.

[Downtownv 1,779]

6 hours ago, 10X said:

A number of years ago I was diving on the Texas Tower, a very cool wreck with a tragic history, about 70 miles off of the NJ shore.  https://njmaritimemuseum.org/events/presentations/doomed-tower-texas-sea/

It's deep, so you quickly build up a decompression obligation, and I had just made it up to the 20 foot deco stop when I saw that a huge bait ball was in the water column with me...a huge spherical mass of baitfish, swirling hypnotically.  They're very cool to watch.   You can count on predators showing up, and first it was the bluefish, cutting into the bait ball which would just as quickly morph away from them.  Also fun to watch.  I was wondering if the local sharks would show up next, but instead we got a school of yellowfin tuna.  I was watching the first of them zipping into the baitfish/bluefish frenzy when I was hit hard from behind...a glancing blow, but a solid one.   The yellowfin that hit me had no interest in me, other than I was between it and dinner, and it was quicker to brush me aside than to go around me.    It was a very cool encounter--really drove home the enormous power of those fish.

Did it soil your wet suit?