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| Squid with the first Western Sound Spanich Mackerel that I have ever seen |
Headed out early on Saturday morning in search of Hardtails! Well, it didn't take long to see our first signs of life. There were tuna jumping clear out of the water. We were stoked, and tried to cast to them. This only happened twice. Then could not find them again. We were blind casting lures when a friend on my boat hooked up with what he described as a small bluefish. When he swung it into the boat, we were both surprised to see its long slender body and yellow spots. SPANISH MACKEREL. BAM! We had no more hook ups, and did not see anything after this. So we braved the bumpy seas and headed to Long Island where there were rumors of Albies reported. We thought we were on them, because there were small tight groups of birds hovering just over the water with boats surrounding them casting lures into the mix. We soon found out they were just small blues. We gave it a solid hour, then drove back to the islands where we found bonito steadily showing themselves. We caught 2 to end the day. Great first day of Hard Tail Hunting. Now I had a starting point for where to find them the next day.
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| Squid with a Bonito |
Sunday morning we decided to take the whole family out. I had our baby Lia strapped to my chest (with her life vest on) while I drove the boat. My other daughter Lucy was running around the boat. Which left it up to my wife Diana to seal the deal with Mr. Bonito. In usual fashion we pulled up to the blitzing fish and within a few casts directly into the blitz she was on. BONIO. She was beyond excited. We had to wade through a few small blues, but ended up with 3 bonito landed on the boat (2 for my wife) 1 for me. Don't mean to toot our own horn, but catching these fish alone with two competent anglers can be a daunting task as it is, then throw in 2 small children, almost impossible, between bottle feedings, snack breaks, Moana fishing rod casts, Moana sound track playing on the boat speakers, and the usual, and frequent tantrums... but damn, we made it happen. It was a circus.
On a more serious note; I felt so lucky, and blessed to be able to share this experience not only with my wife, but with out 2 small children. They may not remember it. But we will.
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| "Ughh...This is not an albie, Dad." |
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| My Wife, Diana sniped out a few Bonito. |
