[ksong]

Jigging on HB

Hi Kil,

We tried the Braid Tantrum knife-style jigs out at the Hurricane Bank last week; the fish went wild on them. At night, they literally caught fish after fish, inhaling half the jig. I think Jason had 6 YFT in a row one night, no huge ones but plenty of fast action. You could see the fish chewed the paint off one jig half way up the metal from biting so much. You would have been in jigging heaven!

Basil


Popping on HB

Hi Kil,

We tried the big custom poppers on Hurricane Bank last week, Dennis got boiled on by one wahoo but conditions were not really good because most fish were deep. I will report on the trip when I return but the quick tally was approx 119 tuna and 67 wahoo, with 11 fish over 200 and the big one was 270. Most impressive catch I thought was a 157lb YFT on 40lb test wahoo rod.

Basil

 

[MrBill]

How long was the trip?
Is he refering to Dennis Braid?

 

[ksong]

How long was the trip?
Is he refering to Dennis Braid?
16 days.
Yes, the trip is sponsored by Braid Products and Dennis Braid was on the trip.

 

[Ragman]

Thanks for the info Kil!

Please feel free to post any full reports as you come across them.

I think this is the trip that Fishybuzz was going to first try a spinner/topwater for tuna.

 

[ksong]

Thanks for the info Kil!

Please feel free to post any full reports as you come across them.

I think this is the trip that Fishybuzz was going to first try a spinner/topwater for tuna.
Tom,
The Excel is arriving at San Diego today.
I don't thank fishybuzz was on the trip.

Here is a jigging report by Jamie who was on the trip.

Once again I got a chance to fish a ton of jigs on this last 16 day to the HB. Raiders, Hopkins, Braid etc.

The water was rough, very little sun, and the color of the sea was a bit off. I started with the standard, for me, 150 gram Gold and Pink Spanyid Raider and got bit fairly quickly. Nice Hoo. Next was the Painted Purple background Spanyid Raider which Got bit like crazy both Hoo and Tuna including a two gaff model Tuna all on 40 pound. I threw some Hopkins which have always been great but were not so productive on this occasion.

Jason, from the Excel, was throwing Braid Mega or Betta Baits (I Believe) and was getting bit extremely well. Joe was throwing Raiders in gold backgrounds and was getting nailed regularly. He was very sad when he ran out as we all were straight tying, I believe, and losing a fair amount of jigs as the wahoo seemed to be cruising through with their mouths open. Just one more reason to bring plenty of your favorite jigs with you on these super long range trips.

After dinner I joined Jason a couple of nights dropping some heavier jigs with fast retrieve and nailing tuna on almost every drop. Jason used some new Braid Butterfly type jigs, named Super Deep ( I think), with only assist hook attached and I was dropping a 200 gram Spanyid Purple Raider and we both were having a blast as well as those who were sitting and watching us. A few others came and joined us for a bit. It really was some of the most fun you can have with your clothes on.... Or off I suppose.

In the pre dawn I dropped larger TNT glow jigs with excellent results including several 100+ pound tuna on successive drops donated to the chunk line.

I did spend a fair amount of time playing with poppers. Although this was not great conditions for poppers, as it was very much a pick bite and many of the bait fish came with weight attached, it was still fun to play with. Most of the fish were being metered at 10 to 30 fathoms. Ken was throwing a new braid popper and got crashed on once or twice, that I saw, and I was throwing both Braid Super poppers and Tuna Hunter poppers which also got crashed on a few times with no hooks being stuck but some nice teeth marks in the body of the popper. Needless to say, watching surface poppers and jigs getting crashed on is always worth watching and participating in and certainly gets the juices flowing.

All in all the jig fishing was good and as always very fun.

Jamie