Gambler 24hr tuna 11/9

[Pennsy Guy]

At 9 PM the Gambler shed her moorings and headed for the Hudson canyon and a shot of 67* water with Capt. Bob at the helm. After some looking, dropped the hook and first yellow was in the tank before 4 AM. Shortly after I fought and released an immature swordy. From then until full sun-up, it was very slow with a couple of Blue sharks bothering us and a couple of more yellows on ice. NOAA's forecast was good until then but instead of blowing a little harder, the wind came on and it was honking causing the boat to swing with us switching port and starboard continuously. Both birds and yellows were boated during the day with too many lost--pulled hooks or saw offs from the severe boat swing. The shark problem was much worse during the day but we ended up with, I think, 28-30 tuna. Almost half were on the jig while the bait of choice was butterfish, occasionally a sardine caught. YFT's 35-60# were outnumbered by the Longfin 40-70#(pool winner). Water was clean. still some blue in it. A few squid were seen early, weren't eager to chase the squid jigs--a couple were. Crew was kept busy with so many tangles and difficult gaffing. Kudos to Capt. Bob for finding the fish, the crew--2nd Capt. Greg (Capt.74), Pete (Ol Pedro) Nico, John and Eric for dealing with a trying time and us.
We had a very bumpy, slow ride in taking a long 6 1/2+ hr. ride in. Let's hope the Nasty Lady doesn't show up on the 11/20 trip and it is as, if not more, productive.