OI skunk Saturday

[CaptNemo]

found massive schools of BFT, busting up top, airing out, 200+ lb class fish, breaking for hundreds of yards, would not touch a trolled lure or jig...

tried to deep drop in 50 fa after strike out on BFT and only pulled up bluefish off the bottom?

The BFT are out there, in mass, maybe a less crowded day or an earlier find would have been better, there was about 40 charter boats working the schools by the time we found them, I know a lot of them got their fish, hopefully there will be a mid week weather window with less traffic out there.

Got boarded by USCG coming under the bridge for a wake violation, since the no wake sign is gone, they were cool about it, no tickets, but they are stopping people right under the bridge and said they were also looking for tuna to check HMS permits.

Crack is good, center span is good 16 +ft, the inlet channel is narrow but decent, north and south of the channel is shoaled up good and big breakers across both sides.

also the water was 71.7 where the fish were, heard of a couple YFT, a mako and a wahoo caught, had one bite from a toothy fish on the shotgun, squid was cut up like razor blade cuts.

[Earesponsible]

Wow. Good to her the fish are around, bummer they wouldn't bite. Thanks for the inlet info.

[HIT N RUN]

Right on schedule. Sounds like the fish have started shoving south into the hot. Yeah when those fish are in that much tide, hard on the move with calm seas & lots of boats, that is a recipe for lock jaw but the great news is lots of fish schooling up along the change where they typically congregate from mid Feb on. This is the report I was hoping to hear. It will get better if things stay on track.

[CaptNemo]

it was one of the most amazing sites I've seen in the ocean, literally hundreds of 200+ lb fish airing out everywhere, water boiling with monsters...I think we got some on video I'll check with the guy who was shooting and post up for ya'll,

[tubbyama]

Thanks for the report. Man that sounds frustrating. I would have loved to see those babies in the air! Next time for sure.

[jimpyne]

We must have missed all that action. We ran to the point first then trolled south along the 100f till we got to the bulk of the fleet. While there we went through a patch of warmer water and picked up a gaffer dolphin (suprise). On the way back we stopped to play with a school of FAs. A lot of fun catch and release on cedar plugs. We picked up a mako as a bonus. All in all a beautiful day on the water.

[bgtuna]

We went out of Hatteras yesterday on the Godspeed but ended up north with the OI boats. We sniffed around the tower for about two hours with no YFT hits so headed up north....two BFT's boated....kept one that weighed out at 140 lbs and sent another back that was upwards of 300 lbs. Also released a 7-8' Hammerhead just before pulling lines up to go home.

Coast Guard was checking the Hatteras Harbor fleet when we came back in....checked the tuna and boarded for a safety inspection.

[ncglock]

When was there a No Wake Zone under the bridge. I have been going in and out of there for years and the Charters are hauling ass thru there along with eveyone one else.

[Lance]

I:m not positive, but I believe that by law you are supposed to reduce speed to minimum needed to maintain steerage under all bridges. Might be wrong here, but don't think so.

[smithbros]

what bridge did the cg stop you at ? Bonner bridge or Pc ?