Okay, maybe my story is not that bad and can be repeated here.
It was one of those fishing trips that you can never duplicate, but also never forget. Now this is a pretty good story but the names have been changed to protect the guilty....
It all started on a Friday afternoon. I was working for the railroad at the time and was on one of my two week vacations. I was married to a lobsterwoman then and she suggested I head out with TC for some Tuna Fishing for the weekend. That sounded like fun so I asked and he agreed. Now there was me (a land-lubbing railroader), his sternman ,and TC, the boat captain. A young guy, about my age if not a little younger at about 30 years old. So anyway we load up and head out.
Well Tuna fishing is pretty boring really. We go out about 40 miles off the coast of Maine and start chumming. That is crushing up crab and tossing it overboard. You see the macrel come in first, then the strippers chase the macrel schools and then finally the Yellow Fin Tuna chase after the Strippers. So we position ourselves for the best time to and place to intercept the Tuna and help the process by doing a little baiting. Which is all legal fishing by the way.
Well that is Friday afternoon,so we wait, bait, chat and put the beer to us. I mean what else are you going to do out in a 42 foot boat 40 miles off shore with nothing to do but wait? TC is a good captain and has got plenty of money tied up in this tuna fishing thing. Something like 15,000 for the Federal Commercial Tuna License and another 10 grand in the Tuna gear. So we talk Tuna and fishing stories until Sunday Morning.
At 3 AM TC is on the back of the boat taking a whizz from all the adult beverages that had been consumed. The sternman is passed out in the bunk in the bow of the boat, and I am well, awake but barely. All of a sudden the alarm goes off and the reel starts whizzing out. TC grabs the reel and tries to set the hook. Now the fun really begins.
You cannot reel in a 400 pound fish, but rather just fight it, wearing him out, taking in line as the fish shortens the distance to the boat. With the Sternman passed out I have no choice but to take the helm. Now here I am half lit, while TC is on the back of the boat, his undies around his ankles as he tries to reel in this fish. I am swerving the boat, trying to keep the line from going underneath the propeller. But its not as easy as it sounds because TC is yelling in Port and Starboard language and I am used to left and right. Plus he has to convert Port and Starboard around as he is backwards on the boat. Not easy when everyone is pretty well lit and the fish is all over the ocean trying to rid himself of the hook.
Anyway we finally get the Tuna next to us three hours later and get a harpoon in it and winch it aboard. We behead it and gut the fish and finally call up my father in law on the marine radio and let him know we are coming in. My FIL at the time owned a lobster pound and called up the Tuna buyer. Now this is at 5 AM on a Sunday morning when everyone is at their best.
Four or five hours later we make it in to shore. We no more then get tied up when the Marine Patrol pulls up behind us. TC yells out, "Hey John, come on board we got plenty of cold beer for you." Now I am sweating bullets because there is a zero tolerance rule for commercial vessels and right on the dash is a mirror with about 20 lines on it. I don't partake in such stuff, but most fishermen have their vices..." I just know all three of us are going to do some federal time for this. Anyway the Marine Patrol guys are like "We would TC but we're on duty, another time perhaps." TC just looks at me an in a whisper says "Always invite them, because they never come aboard when you do."
Anyway I get the camera to take some pictures of the catch. Not a bad take. The Tuna buyer cuts a sliver out of the tail, finds out it has high fat content which means a lot more money because its sold for Sushi or something on the Japanese Fish Market. We cut some Tuna steaks out of the neck of the Tuna but quickly found out that was not good eating. All in all the fish brought in 9,000 dollars for 280 pounds of gutted Yellow Fin Tuna. Not bad, but of course if we fished for lobster for that amount of time we would have made more money.
Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose I guess. That trip happened a few years ago, still it was quite the trip. Nothing I'll ever do again, but one I will never forget. If you take the link, it will take you to a webpage filled with pictures of this Tuna.
http://www.railroadmachinist.com/Coastal-Tuna.html