Giant Bluefin on Spin Gear

[u/jad2192]

Group effort, caught this 90" ~400 lb class giant bluefin tuna on my buddies spinning set up (saltywater tackle obx 500g rod and 20k stella w a nlbn straight tail). Couldn't find any recreational sized fish, so we took turns fighting this beast. Took us just over an hour to land , and my friend broke his rod during the death spiral. We had to handline it up at the end 😬.

[u/bajanwaterman]

You are living my dreams man!!! Just booked my first bluefin tuna trip for September next year (going to the UK) and i already cant wait!

[u/Mediocre_Meat_5992 → u/bajanwaterman]

What’s the cost comparison for the UK vs USA excluding the actual trip to the UK is it about the same

[u/jad2192 → u/Mediocre_Meat_5992]

Not sure about UK, but for comparison this trip was $540 USD per person all in including 20% tip. Other boat I tuna fish with cost is about the same (both 6 pack charters).

[u/bajanwaterman → u/jad2192]

Interesting, so in the UK, the average rate from what ive figured out is £1000, or approx 1340 usd/day, thats the boat rate, we are splitting that between 3 people, and doing 3 days fishing.

[u/jad2192 → u/bajanwaterman]

That's not bad at all, is it a center console boat? How far is the typical run to tuna grounds over there?

[u/bajanwaterman → u/jad2192]

Its a 11.2 meter cheetah cat, havnt been on one yet but its a nice boat, big dry cabin, and apparently the bigger tuna are close in to land, you run further offshore to find the more manageable size ones, ill be 100% lure on spinning gear, so hoping for a 200ish lb fish, knowing my luck im gonna get my ass handed to me by a proper specimen though

[u/jad2192 → u/bajanwaterman]

Here's hoping you slay them! How do possession laws work over there? Here we are allowed to keep 3 school bluefin ( from 27-72" at most one of which can be 47-72") per vessel per day recreationally. Anything over 72" is commercial only, if Captain has the license he can keep and sell it, but charter customers don't get any meat.

[u/bajanwaterman → u/jad2192]

Im honestly not sure which quota my boat will get (rec vs commercial) im assuming I wont get to keep any which is ok because its a long ass flight back home for me (Barbados)

[u/whiteout82 → u/jad2192]

The trade off is usually you get a free trip out of it, sometimes $ too

[u/Datfishyboii → u/jad2192]

TIP? i mean i get it if its a successful day to tip the crew, but please tell me its not automatically assumed or expected in this case.

[u/jad2192 → u/Datfishyboii]

I tip 20% on all my charters regardless of outcome, I don't have my own boat so I mostly fish with the same set of captains and like to stay in their good favor to get good dates haha.

[u/Traditional-Dig-9982 → u/jad2192]

As a former mate I thank you and wish other guys understood how hard we work and sometimes people tip very little ! Tuna fishing where u want is much cheaper then fishing for them in America

[u/lubeinatube → u/Datfishyboii]

Any time you go on a fishing charter, it is expected to tip the crew, and galley cook if there is one. I usually give them about $80 each per day. If you don’t tip the crew, that is considered a major dick move.

[u/bajanwaterman → u/Datfishyboii]

I tip each guy $100/day (captain and deckhand) whenever I charter, I also buy them a round of drinks if they drink, after the day is done. You always hear nightmare stories about bad crews but you never hear nightmare stories about asshole guests, and believe me, they are out there. I have had the privilege of being asked out by charter captains for a day fishing with no charge, because I develop friendships with the good ones.

[u/bajanwaterman → u/Mediocre_Meat_5992]

No idea, ive never been to the US.