Four am Friday the 11th of July, “Nobska” a 47’ Cabo sport fisher is headed East out of Oak bluffs. Capt. Tim Goodman, a Cabo San Lucas transplant now living on the Vineyard and mate Chris Clark another Vineyarder, are on the bridge eyeing the hint of 1st light on a clead, calm, Nantucket Sound. The two day delay for the wind to lay down has been worth the wait.
On board is Doug Curry and his son Nick who have chartered “Nobska” for their first tuna trip. Also on board is Ken and Ann Baum of Chilmark along with their grandson Mark. Guests and crew are already getting on famously as the coffee is kicking in, and the hint of sunrise has everyone on the fly bridge speculating on the day ahead.
The BC buoy east of Chatham has been hot and cold for weeks and Nobska crew and guests are all wondering if it will be their day. A mile from the BC it becomes apparent that the word is out and many weekend warriors have jumped the gun to take a shot at the summer bluefin bight. Does the word parking lot come to mind.
The squid bars are in and a rigged ballyhoo trails down the center. By the chatter It’s apparent that things are slow but Inside 250’ line the bass are mixed in with the speratic tuna and Tim keeps his guests busy with Ann Kern showing off her experience on a nice 25 pounder. But with everyone on board with a bass caught and things still slow around the fleet Tim and Chris start looking for plan B. They catch some guys out east on a lower channel talking about good conditions and by the radar they look about 8 miles away.
Trolling away from the fleet, out of sight out of mind, Nobska reels in the baits and makes the eight mile run to the east in no time. Sure enough two small sport fishers trolling in and out of the whales. The baits are back in and in no time there’s a swing and a miss from a nice size bluefin. Working to the south Tim finds a nice current break with an eight degree temp.change. Working the break another swing and a miss.
Then luck stepped in. A small plane was circling the area and called down on the working channel “Boat trolling west, there’s a larger school of tuna in the rip 150 yards to your south,good luck”. Tim brings Nobska to the south and sure enough they could see the tuna pushing on the surface. One pass and bang the long flat was screaming. Doug Curry gets on the rod and Chris has the cockpit cleared in no time.
Adrenaline is running high as Doug is in the hot seat for the first time. Chris hasn’t seen a bigger fish in over a year and this would be the first larger tuna for the Nobska that Tim only brought north a year ago. Doug’s admitted prep time in the gym is paying off as things are moving slowly. An hour passes and most of the line is back on the reel but no visual on the fish yet and typically the line is now straight down. Doug is hanging tuff and Chris is prepping Nick and Mark, two anxious teenagers on what they can do to help. With gaffs in hand their impatience with the process is growing.
Then from the bridge,”I see color”. Ken and Annie Baum grab the cameras, poised for a good shot but the fight would continue for another forty five minutes. Strong fish don’t give in that easy and this bluefin is no different as he still has some runs left. Doug is feeing the heat and the strain of the last hour and a half, but determination is working in his favor.
First visual on the fish and it’s a decent fish, 70 inches easy. A few more circles and Chris wires the fish to with in striking distance. With the help of our now over amped Labrador retrievers, the gaffs strike and Nobska’s first giant comes aboard through the transom door. Dazed, amazed, and exhausted, Doug undoes his standup harness and takes a seat in the cool of the shade of the salon door. Cheers all around as the culmination of months of planning on Doug and Tim’s part has come to a startling conclusion. Definitely in the top ten of 20 years of Nobska Sport Fishing.
The fish measures out at 78” with a 50” girth. Tim calls old friend Spider Andresen on the cell to get the forgotten weight formula used to calculate the weight of marlin and tuna by measurements. Length times girth squared divided by 800. Doug’s trophy fish calculates out at 243 lbs.
With the cockpit cleared, riggers up, and a good part of the tuna sticking out of the six foot fish box, Nobska is making 25 knots back to Oak Bluffs to drop off the now exhausted party.
Tim and Doug spend some time on the bridge reliving the experience and there is the sense that Doug will be back next year. Then Chris comes up to relieve Tim at the helm and the two share that conversation that only lovers of the sea and he hunt can share. First time working together and they get to share a day like this. Both know there will be more trips, but they’ll have to be lucky to relive the combination of calm seas, clear skies and giant tuna of this spectacular day. But for now a couple of cold beers await the two at Nobska’s home dock in Tashmoo. And if two buddies sitting on the stern toasting each other after a day like this could be captured on film, well that would be one heck of a good beer commercial.
BAJA LIFE 1996
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