[Palomarknot]

Just wanted to do a quick post and thank everyone at Galveston Party Boats for my 1st "Fantastic" 30hr Tuna Trip.

1) For the ladies at the front desk being professional and pleasant with the two weather delays and having me call just a few times to double check before I drove down this final time from DFW, Thank you
2) For the deckhands that answered my questions, showed me the ropes of being on a Party boat, dealt with my fish, and a few line tangles, Thank You
3) For Captain Matt who got us on the fish on the way out and at the rig, and at various times came down to see what was happening and help out, Thank you
4) To Mr Fang and Mr Brazil (sorry drawing a blank on your name) thanks for the comradeship and helpful information you imparted to me. I will practice my casting in confined places to get that Halco out into the shadows for next time.
5) I also love this community here at 360TUNA. The beginners guides, links to Videos etc... definitely had me at least 50-60% prepared for this first trip.

18 Vermillion, 3 Blackfin (2 more lost at the boat), 1 possible Yellowfin that bent a VMC 6x Treble hook to get off my Halco, and I could definitely say I had a great time.

BKK makes some solid products, their Raptor Z series are one that you can fish with confidence as is their Viper 41 series also.
The Raptors Z 2/0's would probably be considered 3/0 with a lot of other brands, as you can see in the pic.

Viper 41's are not quite as heavy, but strong also.

 

[Palomarknot]

Actually prefer the Raptors on certain jigs, as they snatch anything close it seems. And the Viper 41's on Hard plastic baits, either way they solid.

 

[Palomarknot]

Viper 41 2/0's

 

[Palomarknot]

What an awesome trip! I had a group of four guys with me and we had a blast! I caught pinfish and tried for grouper, however no grouper for me…. We ended up with 5-12 vermillion each. I lost one fish in a tangle that bit like a grouper and fought like a grouper but who knows. On the second to the last bottom fishing spot, I had my bait on the bottom and had a small fish hit it. I was reeling it up when it suddenly took off on a big run. The electric wasn’t moving the fish and the fish was running so I had to unplug and fight it by hand. Some help from my buddy Mike and the deckhands and we stuck the gaff in my new PB AJ… we guessed it to be about 70lb!

On the last drop I had a small fish bite again and reeled it up from the depths…. What seemed like 2 hours later and my first golden tile hit the deck! What an epic trip!

Tuna for me was super slow…. My buddy Ivan hooked up early and several people helped fight his tuna before he lost it at the boat due to knot failure…

5 min later, Mike hooked up with a tuna, lost it and then hooked up again with a nice yellow. We were able to get that one in the boat. I didn’t have any luck on the Halcos other than toothy critters that kept two of mine so decided to go jig. The people that were jigging (saltynoob) and friends were crushing the blackfin on Williamson Bethos speed jigs. I think they both went through 2 stacks of tickets! Another group were crushing them with diamond jigs. I cycled through my jigs and Ivan hooked a nice yellow on the white hammered diamond jig. His line went slack and I thought to myself “I tied that knot! Oh crap”. Suddenly a shark starts attacking the tuna on the surface and destroys it! Sharks 1 team tuna 1…

I managed to catch three smalll blackfin on the Williamson but added them to the chunk pile. Chunking was a challenge. Mostly I ended up with cut lines other people caught heads. It was tough to get a tuna in the boat from a long distance!

when we moved to the drill ship, I had two really strong bites and runs on the speed jig but somehow both came unbuttoned. We were catching decent blackfin but decided to go to Auger…

when we hit Auger, I was reaching for my jig pole and noticed two people hooked up on the bow. I ran up front, grabbed my popping rod and cast out…. Boom, immediate hookup and a strong run then slack… sharked! Retied And next cast, cut leader… sharked again! Next three casts two baby yellows and a blackfin. What an epic bite! Every cast we hooked up! It was insane!
Saltynoob lost a big yellow to a shark right at the boat. Sharks were fierce!
As always this was a great trip and a great time meeting new peeps and seeing some of the old peeps again!

Great read and thank you, while im new to signing into the forum. Ive been peeking in here since 2008 or 2009. Folks used to talk a lot about their trips, it seems so many dont anymore. Its the same way on the TFF. Its nice to have this to read. More need to do so and get these forums back to being fun.

 

[Palomarknot]

Bucket list trip for me even being spoiled here in SoCal. This fishing looks so fun!

Definitely should do that, the GOM is a fantastic fishery with some outstanding boat Captains that take great pride in what they do. You come over this way once, you'll be back again, pretty much bet on that.

 

[Palomarknot]

I used to do the snapper trips then decided to check out a tuna trip and haven't looked back! Not only that but you were on the best trip of the season so congratulations to you and all on board! Sounds like the kind of trip we all hope for! You now have lots of swimming ribeye to enjoy!

I used to do private charters with a 12 hour party boat trip here and there, both east coast and west coast and of course Galveston.
After getting involved with these 36 hour Tuna Safari trips this year, myself will never look back. This is by far the best bang for your buck. I want my money back from the private charters, lol. Should have been doing this all along. I'll never pay for another private charter again, I can get 4 or 5 or more of these 36 hour trips for the price of 1 private charter. You get to meet folks from all over the country, tie your own knots, fish your own tackle and go about it how you want to.