[Pennsy Guy]

Just back--this 'll be a quicky, I'm whipped. (But in a good way). Capt. Mike headed us to the Bacardi and its general area where all the boats are tunaing now. A light tuna chop on the way out under a cloudless sky--1' gentle swell with little wind waves and warm slight breeze. first pull was a Skippy, then a real one, only to be dropped. This happened a few more times with, I think, two y's boated during the day. Since there aren't any temp breaks-everything is 69-70* from canyons to beach-we stayed at anchor most of the night. Tuna turned off, squid and blue sharks turned on. Pulled the anchor after first light, made a short run and drifted. During the day we had several "tuna pulls" mostly Skippies, some were kept. We had some good shots of y's come through-for 3-4 hrs. we could see both yellowfin and Skipjacks darting about in the slick at the boat 15'-25' down. Seas began to build a little with larger wind waves during the night while a few kept fishing and the mates catching squid. The Gambler has a great new live well. Chunks, butters and sardines all caught and I think mates jigged some Skippies and at least 4 baby Bluefin tuna-all throw-backs. Anglers accounted for 2-3 more baby blues and all the little fellows were successful throw-backs. By toot-toot-toot, seas had built to 3'-4' with some honest 5' and more than slightly increased south breeze. Ride in was quite bumpy and didn't really settle down a lot until Jersey was well within sight.
We did boat one mahi (5-6lb) during the night. Average depth was around 180' throughout the trip with 69-70* water.
KUDOS to the crew for their attention to details and always there to expertly deal with tangles, gaffing, their various responsibilities during the trip and comradery with us. A special shoutout to Captain Mike for his ability.
TOTALS: 19 yellows 50-70lbs., too many kept Skipjacks, one mahi.