Tuna off Galveston

Boboe · 02-12-2008, 04:14 AM

As some of you may know or don't know, I captain a 165' offshore crewboat out of Galveston, TX. It does 25 knots and burns 300gph. Glad the drilling company buys the fuel and not me

Anyway, take a heading of 150 and go 135nm from Galveston, and you'll come ot the Ocean Star, a semisubmersible drilling platform. We can't make a big effort into fishing, but can try to fish while standing by, or while loading/unloading cargo under the crane. Last week we saw sporadic surface activity with yellowfins from 50-100# crashing fliers and coming clean out of the water. A couple were hooked (and lost) by my crew. Unfortunately, the work we do has us right up against the rig, and that's where the shittons of barracudas live. Tuna fishing is usually better a few hundred yards off the rig.

Today we were at the Ocean Valiant, 50nm on a 265 heading from the Ocean Star. Saw yellowfins blowing up on fliers but didn't have a chance to fish. A boat out of Port Aransas was there fishing but didn't see them hook up. Long run from P.A.

To make the long story short, there are a few schools of tunas around, but not thick and concentrated. With a livewell full of hard tails and fliers, and a bit of rig hopping, I'd imagine a trip could be made out of it.

DavidL · 02-12-2008, 10:30 AM

Im working on a multi purpuse supply vessel, performing subsea jobs of Galveston.

Now we are on N 27 26,1 W 092 26,5

Have som tackle with me, but no experience of tuna?

How is the easiest way ta catch them?

DavidL · 02-25-2008, 07:07 AM

I had about 15 Bigeye tuna (think it was big eye?) on speed jigging tonight. All small, but very strong, and great fun! I let them all go.

One was taken by a shark at shipside..

Nice to have some, and will try for more!

LedgeCrawler · 02-26-2008, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidL

I had about 15 Bigeye tuna (think it was big eye?) on speed jigging tonight. All small, but very strong, and great fun! I let them all go.

One was taken by a shark at shipside..

Nice to have some, and will try for more!

David,
Where are you?

If you're in the Gulf, chances are they were blackfin. If you bleed them and eat them fresh they are very tastey. Get some soy sauce and wasabi and go to town.

Boboe · 02-27-2008, 03:31 AM

DavidL: Blackfin have a gold stripe down their side, and the little finlets going down to the tail will NOT be yellow, as they'd be on a yellowfin or bigeye. Lots of football blackfins get around the rigs.

Right now I'm back home in Austin. I'll be back in Galveston on 3/10 for two weeks, running out to the same area I talked about before.

The best way to catch yellowfin, in my experience, is live baiting with fliers. Chumming helps a lot, but as you know, we don't really have the option of carrying around 100# of chum and chunking them all night while trying to offload or backload cargo.

What company is your boat contracted to?

02-12-2008, 04:14 AM	#1 (permalink)
Boboe Hooked Up Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Austin, TX Occupation: Alaskan Fishing Guide, Gulf of Mexico Offshore Crew Boat Captain Posts: 743	Tuna off Galveston As some of you may know or don't know, I captain a 165' offshore crewboat out of Galveston, TX. It does 25 knots and burns 300gph. Glad the drilling company buys the fuel and not me Anyway, take a heading of 150 and go 135nm from Galveston, and you'll come ot the Ocean Star, a semisubmersible drilling platform. We can't make a big effort into fishing, but can try to fish while standing by, or while loading/unloading cargo under the crane. Last week we saw sporadic surface activity with yellowfins from 50-100# crashing fliers and coming clean out of the water. A couple were hooked (and lost) by my crew. Unfortunately, the work we do has us right up against the rig, and that's where the shittons of barracudas live. Tuna fishing is usually better a few hundred yards off the rig. Today we were at the Ocean Valiant, 50nm on a 265 heading from the Ocean Star. Saw yellowfins blowing up on fliers but didn't have a chance to fish. A boat out of Port Aransas was there fishing but didn't see them hook up. Long run from P.A. To make the long story short, there are a few schools of tunas around, but not thick and concentrated. With a livewell full of hard tails and fliers, and a bit of rig hopping, I'd imagine a trip could be made out of it.

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02-12-2008, 10:30 AM	#2 (permalink)
DavidL Lines In Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Malmö/Sweden Posts: 11	Im working on a multi purpuse supply vessel, performing subsea jobs of Galveston. Now we are on N 27 26,1 W 092 26,5 Have som tackle with me, but no experience of tuna? How is the easiest way ta catch them?

02-25-2008, 07:07 AM	#3 (permalink)
DavidL Lines In Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Malmö/Sweden Posts: 11	I had about 15 Bigeye tuna (think it was big eye?) on speed jigging tonight. All small, but very strong, and great fun! I let them all go. One was taken by a shark at shipside.. Nice to have some, and will try for more!

02-27-2008, 03:31 AM	#5 (permalink)
Boboe Hooked Up Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Austin, TX Occupation: Alaskan Fishing Guide, Gulf of Mexico Offshore Crew Boat Captain Posts: 743	DavidL: Blackfin have a gold stripe down their side, and the little finlets going down to the tail will NOT be yellow, as they'd be on a yellowfin or bigeye. Lots of football blackfins get around the rigs. Right now I'm back home in Austin. I'll be back in Galveston on 3/10 for two weeks, running out to the same area I talked about before. The best way to catch yellowfin, in my experience, is live baiting with fliers. Chumming helps a lot, but as you know, we don't really have the option of carrying around 100# of chum and chunking them all night while trying to offload or backload cargo. What company is your boat contracted to?

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