Always wanted to go bluefin tuna fishing, and I saw a great video on GoFISHn about a tuna fishing trip off Cape Cod with Captain Josh Zacharias back in June. I've been on vacation up on the Cape, and signed up for a trip with Josh. My daughter Justine and I left Pamet Harbor in Truro, just south of Provincetown, shortly after dawn and cruised in his 23' Seacraft around Race Point and headed north east to look for the bluefin, which had not been around, at least on the surface, in recent weeks. But we weren't above Provincetown very long before Josh picked up a lot of birds on his radar, and we raced off to see what was up. It was a scene we'd see three times in the next hours — lots of birds wheeling and diving over churning water as bluefin tuna and minke whales sliced through balls of bait, mostly sand eels and mackerel, in a feeding orgy.
We could see the whales rolling over on the surface and the backs of the tuna as they raced through the water not more than a few feet from the boat. We all raced to grab rods and throw surface plugs as well as RonZ eel-jigs into the frenzied waters. We got off casts and I expected the massive strike of a tuna any second. I cast again and again, but the waters calmed down and the fish disappeared and the birds winged away. Extremely frustrated sorta understates the case, but we chased the birds some more and got some intel from other boats nearby, including one that had hooked up two tuna but lost them both, one when the rod snapped.
Two more times we got to the fish with the same disappointing result. Josh could not believe we didn't hook up, but he was throwing a line too, so it wasn't just us. Bad luck I guess. Though Josh said that our window to cast was very brief compared to what happens when the fishing is really hot and the tuna stay around on the surface for a good while.
The goods news is that the tuna are feeding on the surface again and this September should be great for tuna, as it has been in recent years. I just hope I can get back.
