We had a fantastic weekend of fishing. We did a combo of inshore striper and offshore tuna, the best of both worlds in one weekend.

Saturday we started out in front of Fort Story. The crew was me, Lanie, Michael Jr. and Doc Ike. Doc picked up a nice striper and Michael Jr. picked up a 33 inch bluefish. Seemed to be slow so we picked up and ran south hoping to see a beehive. Ran all the way to False Cape with no signs of life. Got a call from Art  who was fishing on Weekend Warrior saying it was on at buoy 2C so we ran back there and picked up some more nice striper to 39 inches putting 5 in the box. (I know this but one should never leave fish to go find fish).

One fish on a chartreuse parachute, 2 on a chartreuse tomic, and 2 on my favorite umbrella that was sadly lost as we got too close to some freaking nets.



Click this for a short video of the CH striper action. CH Stripers 9 Dec 06.

Here's a few pics from the day.













We over-nighted at Rudee Inlet Marina and had dinner with Doc Ike and Cathy at Rudee's on the Inlet. I think we smelled like fish when we walked in because the hostess sat us way in the back corner all by ourselves...that was OK because it was toasty warm back there.  

Got up early and met Naved and Erik at the docks we were underway at 4:45 am heading SE 65 miles, 50-100 fathoms in 67-69 degree pretty blended but bumpy water. Got a tuna early on the green machine / bird on the way far back line then nothing but had great marks so we stayed to work that area. At first we seemed to be by ourselves but soon a mini-fleet showed up. Here's a tip....if you want the action to turn back on, start eating lunch. Picked up another single, then a triple, then lost 2 more. Final tally, 5-7 tuna in the 40-50 lb class. Most of the hits on blue/white, blue/pink, or pink witches with 80 lb fluorocarbon leader. As much as I hate to do it ($$$), I'll likely switch to all fluorocarbon for next season.

Long sloppy ride back with the worst kind of beam seas 4-5 foot with some 6-7 tossed in to keep the pucker factor up but we made it back just before dark.

Finally a yellow fin tuna for my son (his first) and it was Erik's first offshore trip so took care of 2 yellow fin tuna virgins in one trip. Erik took some great offshore video that he will provide later.  Had to pull my offshore gear out of storage for this trip....maybe this time I'll put it up for the season. But who da thunk it, tuna out of Virginia and it's almost Christmas.

Video

Here are some pics from the trip.











A little chaos in the cockpit after our triple.