The last week has been increasingly and steadily busy down at the Chatham Fish Pier. A couple weeks ago I asked a commercial tuna fisherman when he thought the fish would show up. His reply was "after the moon." The full moon was the 10 th. Some of the larger boats, the gill netters and tuna guys are spooling reels and getting the boats ready. The moorings have ben empty of a few boats in the harbor the last couple of days, you know the ones, the boats that always are on the "spot". I hear the transient fleet is taking up residence in the harbors of Harwich and Hyannis as well.I heard that fish were caught in Cape Cod Bay in the last two days. I know fish were caught yesterday and the day before off Chatham. I talked with a fellow that broke one off the day before yesterday and was headed back out (yesterday). I also know that there are a lot of boats still off the mooring, meaning they havent got one yet. I know the limit is two, but I also know that there are a lot of guys better at this tuna game than I, that are still out there.
I suppose that it is time to start thinking seriously about rigging the boat over from chartering to Giant tuna fishing. It means putting in the time as long as you can, spending the day and sometimes the night, offshore where the big fish are. When you fish from a 25 foot boat, that is an untertaking in and of itself. Its one thing to try it in Cape Cod Bay, but east of Chatham fishing is weather and tide oriented and it gets rough and uncomfortable out there.
For those of you thinking buying a tuna charter is what you want to do, think about leaving the harbor at 12:30 to 1:00 AM so that you can arrive at the spot in time to meter the area, rig the baits, in time for the dawn of the day and then the coming slack water. Then think about beating your way 30 to 40 miles out into the tide against the wind chop, that seems steep and meant to wear you to a frazzle just to get there. As you steam southeast, your buddy is sitting beside you looking a little green, and you wonder if its all worth the $1000 plus dollars you paid to reel in a fish that the Captain is going to sell anyway.
This is the reality of Giant tuna fishing in fall. Call or email me if you still are interested. Fish ON !!!!
Bruce
