yellowfin tuna

Mike with a 61.7lb yellowfin caught fishing the Otherside!

We had the opportunity to make a run to the Other Side (of the Gulf Stream) last Wednesday. We had a group of FSFA Fishermen onboard, most of us had little experience with fishing the Other Side, but plenty of experience fishing. We left the Port at 3:30am with smooth seas and calm winds. We ran almost 100 miles before setting up the lines and then turning our attention to the radar in hopes of finding some working birds. Waves were a bit rougher than we had hoped for so we pulled lines and headed south.

About 15 miles into the run we found what we were looking for and setup for the troll. As luck would have it, we had three rods go off with the call of, “Fish On!” breaking the drone of the twin Yamaha’s. Just as quickly as we had the fish hit the lines we had a Taxman (Shark) enter the spread and the Yellowfin Tuna (YFT) did a starburst breaking two of the three lines off immediately. We were able to get the third YFT (see picture) to the boat weighing in at 61.7lbs, with minimal taxes paid.

YFT always make for an exhilarating fight and my crew was not disappointed! We retied the lines that had broken off and reset for another troll through the area. The birds were still working the area so we all had high hopes the YFT were still around and hungry. Our second pass yielded a big bull Mahi-mahi and unfortunately as it got close to the boat it darted towards the engines just as the First Mate went for the gaff shot and broke the line.

Seems like no matter how successful you are, the Other Side always leaves you wanting more. No time to ponder, “what if,” we still had working birds and we retied and reset lines for a third troll through the area. Success was with us one more time and two lines went off with YFT on them. We were able to get one to the boat weighing in at 45.7lbs and giving one of our new FSFA members his first Florida YFT! Way to go John!

All in all, not a bad day for this Other Side rookie crew. We went 2 for 5 on YFT and had one of the biggest bull mahi-mahi on the line for another FSFA member who had never had the opportunity to fight a mahi-mahi. Can’t wait for the winds to subside so we can make another run to the Other Side!