Well bud first of all, the commercial tuna boats around here are mostly downeast style boats without a flybridge, most just have a second station and the person driving the boat needs to know whether the fish is running or not, the person fighting the fish may be focused on fighting the fish and it's not always easy to give directions in the middle of a fight, trust me I've been in the situation many times. It doesn't matter if its on or not, it's people's personal preference. Haha you must know a lot about giant fishing! You must be a pro! Listen when there's a $10,000 fish on the end of the line not everyone thinks straight, the best of the best wont always have their pattern of fighting the fish down because every fish fights different. I fish on a boat that the captain has caught hundreds of giants and knows what he's doing real well and when we're fighting a fish, when anyone is fighting a fish, a professional crew like we have to go to an armature crew in seconds. No hard feelings but I do this every day in the summer and I'm not saying I'm a pro but I have learned from a very good giant fisherman, shit can go wrong real fast

 

"I still think it is funny they NEVER show the rigging. The captains must have an agreement with the show that terminal tackle and connections cannot be shown."

Maybe they are worried about being embarrassed ..............................naive about thinking they individually have something special in their rigging that makes a difference that others don't know about.....................
Maybe the producers ( not the fishermen ) could be holding out for product placement fees ................ He He.

Tuna captains tend to have egos as big as their boats and are paranoid. They all think there way is the best and don't want to share any special secrets. At least that is what I get from the show.

 

Denis he's right about the boats..Most Downeast boats have second stations not only for tuna but bottom fishing...Second station with a pot hauler for pulling the hook also for pulling pots...

When your in control of boat the hauler from the same station makes life much easier...Also the power in under the wheel house so Noise is not a real issue in the ****pit...On my sportfsih when I'm is the marlin tower I dont hear the motors ..I like to stay in the tower when tuna fishing..

i build rods for many many commercial anglers from inshore fluke to giant tuna...Rigs/ rigging/line /hook/knots /rods all top secret..The blanks they use the cuts they make... How long the rods are, guides everyone has their way & I keep each one as secret as I can...

bait what type how you cut it chum it
fish on ten commercial boats & you will see ten different way of fishing for the same fish...

Fishing spots what time of year & day to fish them what tide moon it never stops..I dont think you will see anymore that what common knowladge...

 

I agree with Captain Ritchie that 10 boats will have 10 different styles. Over the last 5 years open boat trips have become more common and I have fished multiple boats for school tuna in NJ. All of them have different styles and all of them all effective at different times. I was taught to always keep the reel in free spool with the clicker on while bait fishing. Let the fish run with the bait and swallow it. Wait till it comes out his " A" hole. Then put the reel in gear to set the hook. Obviously the majority of boats on the show fish with the drag tight right from the get go. Obviously both methods work. Just preference.

 

Haha you must know a lot about giant fishing! You must be a pro! Listen when there's a $10,000 fish on the end of the line not everyone thinks straight, the best of the best wont always have their pattern of fighting the fish down because every fish fights different. I fish on a boat that the captain has caught hundreds of giants and knows what he's doing real well and when we're fighting a fish, when anyone is fighting a fish, a professional crew like we have to go to an armature crew in seconds. No hard feelings but I do this every day in the summer and I'm not saying I'm a pro but I have learned from a very good giant fisherman, shit can go wrong real fast

No hard feelings but if their are several seasoned fishermen on a boat then shit wont go wrong fast!!! A good Capt and crew is 3-4 steps ahead of the fish and is ready for any move the fish makes. Im sure you fish very hard in the summer but there are comm guys tuna fishing year round as their profession and problems are few and far between. The only issue a truly expert capt should have is a pulled hook because most of the time that is out of his control.

 

Rich
Understand where both you & Downeast are coming from.
Maybe you both took the flybridge example too literally in regard to the skipper position.

I'll try again
IME the issue is background noise with engines 'on song' in close proximity to the angler & drowning out the ratchet noise...................doesn't really matter where the hand is on the wheel , inside cabin, second station outside the wheelhouse, flybridge .
Chasing actively moving fish in longish fights has relevance way beyond just giantfishing......................its actually harder with oversized fish on light line as the fish are more mobile than their bigger brethren.
The most important thing is for the skipper to understand what the angler's posture/signal is telling him about what the fish is doing & the angler knowing what he needs to indicate ( & that doesn't mean waving an arm about ) . Relying on what you can hear is a poor substitute & unreliable.

If you want to translate seriously good Skipper-Angler communication & boat positioning technique during a fight to your own Giant fishing , I suggest you look at videos of Dennis Braid ( I'm not Dennis) & how he goes about establishing what he wants to communicate & where he wants the boat to be during the conduct of a fight rather than the questionable presentation of a reality TV series ...........................just see what Dennis does & then what the boat skipper does.

The context of the TV series IS Profishing.................. its a series on PROfishing.
One expects that as its professional, the crew have developed the necessary teamwork...............if not they damn well should have in the interest of the income the hunt represents...................and any skipper business owner who has not.................. is taking a very unbusinesslike approach to his operation & is play-acting at professional fishing.................or play-acting for the camera.
The behaviour does not represent professional fishing , be that commercial fishing or professional charterfishing with a trained crew.

I might be wrong , but some of the comment in the thread seems to be referencing single skipper charterfishing with irregular crew...................always a problem when trying to translate what is seen in a video/show in one situation into another different situation and retaining relevance to the context
or
translating personal experiences in one situation into a different context & situation as seen in a video or TV series .
The situation presented in Wicked Tuna is one of professional / commercial fishing for tuna..................not charter crew, not amateur recreational fishing, but fishing for a living, where fish landed pay the bills as the sole income source ( seasonal in the case of the 'wicked' crews).

More than once in >30yrs on the ocean as a business owner/skipper I have employed stopgap crew who have overstated their skills & knowledge, who on arrival at a distant port , having demonstrated their lack of skills & learning during the trip, have been sent to the bus/train station with sufficient pettycash to get back home & their catchshare followed when fish were sold.
Professional fishing requires a willingness to rapidly learn to work as a team, your income & the boat's income depends on it.................... successful recreational fishing for large fish depends on it too.

IF you are the angler anticipating a long tough fight on mobile fish................YOU.............want to find out what your skipper on the day wants you to tell him ( by action or words) what the fish is doing before you put a line in the water.
If you are not HIGHLY experienced with SUCCESSFULLY tackling large fish & are chartering................its not your place to tell the skipper what to do , you are relying on his experience , find out what he wants you to let him know in words or actions , so he can use his experience to try to land that fish of a lifetime for you.
You might be paying him/her.................but what you are buying is THEIR experience.
Its only the highly experienced & successful angler that buys a boat & someone to drive it where he wants , when chartering.

The take home message is :-

There ain't much you see on Wicked Tuna that is of value to you as a recreational angler, its interesting in its own way, but treat it as if you were watching the Kardashians.
.................then there are the naive teenagers & betweeners that just have to have the Kardashian perfume & clothes in the belief that it makes a difference ................He He He.

not intending to flame, just putting a context to things

 

Wayyyyyyy to complicated here gents .
Shit can go wrong when you have a 10lb cod on the line lol, but you just dont go overboard because its a 10lb cod. The key is not getting hot, staying level headed and calm. Just because you are a comm tuna fisherman doesnt mean that you have the ability to stay cool when things go bad. But, if you are a comm tuna fisherman that does have that ability, things will be alot smoother.

Or just go crazy and scream lol

 

No hard feelings but if their are several seasoned fishermen on a boat then shit wont go wrong fast!!! A good Capt and crew is 3-4 steps ahead of the fish and is ready for any move the fish makes. Im sure you fish very hard in the summer but there are comm guys tuna fishing year round as their profession and problems are few and far between. The only issue a truly expert capt should have is a pulled hook because most of the time that is out of his control.
Have you ever seen a giant react the same way twice? It is impossible to predict what the fish will do next.

 

Have you ever seen a giant react the same way twice? It is impossible to predict what the fish will do next.

Yes i have whether it be on a comm longline boat, rod n reel or handlining. A good Capt should have the boat and crew ready if the tuna does anything squirrelly. If something out of the norm does happen a good crew doesn't freak out they just roll with it and implement plan B.

 

Did anybody notice which boat using shimano reels?

 

Did anybody notice which boat using shimano reels?

I think it was the .com boat. The same boat where they all wear Bass Pro outfits. Hmmm, I wonder who is sponsoring them?

 

Denis your the best...

Cant agree with you more about skipper & Angler communcation on a fish..I tried to explane it on another thread & so guy jumped all over me...

I ran a 36bertram/ 32Albemarle my boat for tuna... My boat is much better as far as Capt/ angler communcation but a Downeast is better than my boat...
Yes it a TV show & loud mouths & drama sell add's...But dot.com is a good giant fisherman along with Bounty & Hard...There only going to show you wnat they want & what sets them apart form the others you will never see on TV..

 

I think it was the .com boat. The same boat where they all wear Bass Pro outfits. Hmmm, I wonder who is sponsoring them?

thanks. umm. how can I reach him? he is like super star now.

 

Nope just look him up on his website and call

 

Nope just look him up on his website and call

thanks.

 

Have you ever seen a giant react the same way twice? It is impossible to predict what the fish will do next.

Down east you are trying to change the mind of a bloke from down under. They do fish different. And to the mate from down under, Tell me a black marlin is predictable when boat side. I do not care how experienced your crew is? and your communication. Best be safe around them when they leap boat side at any moment. Fishing is about shit happening. it sure does happen a lot on the boats I have been on. Make the perfect plan just like a military plan before battle. Then tell me after if everything went the way planned??? Almost never unless something rare happens. . Fighting a giant from a swivel rod holder and a 130 is one kind of fishing. Also why do they almost never show the boats trolling for tuna up your way??? Or the stick boats? Or the green stick boats? They are some giant squid bars they use up there with great success. Then the whole rigged mackeral they troll in PEI. The show is made for entertainment and getting sponsors to pay for stuff. Catching live bottom fish is almost glanced over on the show. Most prefer it if possible.

 

Yes i have whether it be on a comm longline boat, rod n reel or handlining. A good Capt should have the boat and crew ready if the tuna does anything squirrelly. If something out of the norm does happen a good crew doesn't freak out they just roll with it and implement plan B.
Jeez that's pretty crazy then, I've never seen it before myself but hey, I guess we've all experienced different things...

 

Bligh, I'm unsure of what a bloke from down under is? But I agree with your next points! Same thing I'm trying to get at! I'm pretty sure they didn't start filming until right after we stopped trolling, there hasn't been much giant action for us trolling in the past couple years as well. They had one episode I believe about Kevin on the Christina harpooning but nat geo got a lot of flack I think because people didn't think it was "right" to kill a fish like that.

 

Hmmm
seems we still have a issue with context

Not talking about training to make a particular play before the fight.
The fish has a mind of its own , they do what they want to do .
the crew & skipper need to be adaptive , the fish is leading the fight, the angler gets firsthand knowledge about what the fish is doing, the skipper then has to respond.
Its about communication as a team about what is happening NOW , not about training to make a play .
In fishing there are only 2 things during the fight you can plan on doing to the fish at your discretion.
- setting the hook
- gaffing/pooning the fish.

Lots of drama expended in the shows about those 2 basic stages of the fight, where the tactics to be used & the necessary skills should have been well understood by all on the boat....................let alone all the stuff between hookup & boatside that you can't plan , but only react to by good teamwork with your experience.................with both angler & skipper knowing what eachother needs to know to do their jobs effectively.

As Adam has said, 2-3 experienced crew have been there , seen it before, done it before, and know what needs to be done as a team when one of the 'hundred' things that could happen does happen.
The truly exceptional & unusual things are few & far between, they are there thats for sure, but they are not every year events.

 

I watch the show and aside from the unnecessary drama, enjoy it mostly and watch for clues on terminal gear etc. I am curious about the derivation of the term "Googan". Does anyone know how the epithet came to be? It reminds me of the term "monkey boat" that was popular among the Destin charter boat captains in the 60' and 70's. When I first fished with a radio, I was first puzzled about the term until I realized they were talking about us amateurs who imitated and followed the pros...as in monkey see monkey do. There was once a Monkey Boat Billfish Tournament in Pensacola...

 

So Tyler, capt of the pinwheel, will be speaking at a seminar up here tomorrow. I was asked to go but I said I'd probably say something Tyler wouldn't appreciate lol. He isn't on my favs list lol. Thought about stopping in anyways but I doubt it.

 

So Tyler, capt of the pinwheel, will be speaking at a seminar up here tomorrow. I was asked to go but I said I'd probably say something Tyler wouldn't appreciate lol. He isn't on my favs list lol. Thought about stopping in anyways but I doubt it.

Is that the kid who killed the short on Georges Bank and brought it in trunked to sell? That show is a joke. I watched it once and saw the aforementioned event and that was enough for me.

 

Googans

 

Googans

looks a lot like the Great south bay to me...