I wanted to share this story. I posted it in the Ohio section, but not many viewers there so I thought I would copy it here also.

CHAPTER #1 . Over the years my Friend Don D"Angelo and I had spent many days fishing the gulf of Mexico for various species of Saltwater fish. We fished on head boats, charter boats , from piers, bridges, beaches and even did an overnight boat that went out over 100 miles from shore. All these trips have their own memories and stories. The one I want to retell today in memory of Don, who passed away last December, was probably the best day of fishing I ever had in my life. We had fished for some big fish like amberjack, king mackerel, grouper to name a few, but Don keep talking about fishing for Blackfin tuna that came through in the spring. Don had located a charter boat out of St John's pass south of St Petersburg that had a reputation for getting on the tuna. So we set up the charter. For some reason ( gluttens for punishment I guess) we decided to do a 10 hour charter. We did have to travel a ways out sometimes to locate the tuna. To lead us on this expedition was Capt Huffy. He was a retired Colonel from the Green Beret. He had a great sense of humor, but still very much had a military way about him. His boat was one of the long cigar shaped , open console variety, that back in those days was still unique. For the bashful types that would be interested in fishing on one of these boats, the conspicuious thing missing is a bathroom. Well except for the bucket that sat on the floor on the aft of the boat! Well is was time to head out fishing. First thing on the agenda was to go catch some bait fish. We traveled several miles out to a maker buoy. Here the mate broke out a couple of light weight rods with this rig ( the name of which eludes me right now). The rig consisted of a weight on the bottom, 8 to 10 small gold hooks, some flashy attractors on the line, but NO Bait. We could see the baitfish swimming in schools below us in the clear water. We would just drop this rig down through the school , jig it up and down a few times and presto, they would bite the bare gold hooks. Sometimes we would get 3 or 4 at a time. This was a lot of fun just in its self. When you had a few on at a time they put up a nice fight on light tackle. Whenever I have done this, it has always amazed me that the fish we are catching for "BAIT" are sometimes bigger than the fish we keep at home for the frying pan. We did this until the Capt said we had enough baitfish to last us for the rest of the days fishing. So out we headed in quest of the Blackfin Tuna.

TO BE CONTINUED !!fffisch

We traveled offshore until we reached an area that the Capt had been finding some active schools of tuna recently. The mate set up some trolling lines and we began our search. While trolling we kept an eye out for feeding tuna on the surface. It wasn't too long before we noticed off to our port side in front of us a big disturbace on the surface, as the water boiled from feeding tuna that had baitfish pinned to it. The capt headed that way and trolled along side of this boil and sure enough, one of the rods went off. I grabbed the rod and held on for dear life as someone had tied a torpedo to the end my line. Yea Haw ! Fighting my first tuna. My heart was beating, My knees were shaking. Were playing tug of war and I'm winning. Or so I thought ! I get the fish up close to the boat, the mate grabs the gaff, then my line goes slack as I am cut off. To make matters worse I then get a military ass chewing for doing something wrong that allowed the fish to tail whip the line and cut it off. Still not sure how that was my fault, but anyway on to the next fish. We make another pass and a rod goes off and Don grabs this one, a minute later another rod goes off and I grab this one. Holy smoke now we got doubles on. We better not mess this up or we might have to walk the plank. Somehow , a miracle happened and we get both tuna gaffed and into the cooler. Then just like that the school disappears. We continue trolling for some time without any luck. Then the Capt notices off in the distance a shrimp boat anchored. Tuna and other fish like to hang around the shrimp boats because they throw their bycatch over the side and the tuna get a free easy meal. So we head over to there and the capt talks to the crew and they say it is ok to fish around their boat since they are on downtime. So we toss out some rods and begin a slow drift. Sure enough a rods starts screaming. I grab it and give it a good hard hook set (Like I am bass fishing) and the Capt gives me another as chewing for setting the hook. He tells me that the tuna running away will set the hook and me jerking on it will only make a bigger hole in its jaw for the hook to come out. Fortunately for me I landed the fish. So I didn't have to hear I told you so. Next fish Don does the same with the hook set ( hard habit to break). He is also reminded not to do so. Too bad for Don though, he loses the fish at the boat when it throws the hook OOPs !@! Over the course of the next couple hours we land several bonito, which are a red , oily meat fish that we throw back. We do manage 4 more nice big fat Blackfin tuna. All brought in without error or incident. To give Don and I a breather we let the mate have a turn. He gets a hold of a nice fighter, but unfortunately for him it turns out to be a big bonito. Then things slow up a bit. I am waiting watching the rods, when One on the side gunnel doubles over and line starts screaching off. I grab it and holy moly it is a freight train, The king of tuna. We are only using 30 or 40 lb test line and the drag is set light. I am watching as my line disappears from the spool. I yell to the Capt, better start up the motor, I am about to be spooled. The Capt runs to the console and hits the key to start the outboard.

TO BE CONTINUEDfffisch

Chapter #3 Luckily the engine started right up. The Capt had to get the boat turned quickily though before I ran out of line and would have to listen to That snap/crack as it broke. He got the boat around in time and headed after my big tuna. It felt good to get some line back on the spool, but it was a see saw battle for awhile as he took back whatever I would gain on him. As I was standing on the side of the boat I looked down in the water and about 50 to 60 feet down in the clear water Following behind my fish, YIKES !!! A SHARK ! Oh NO all this hard work and a shark is going to eat my tuna. Then I look alittle harder and I see 2 sharks. Oh Man, I don't have the king of tuna, I have a shark on. At first I was sorta bummed. Then it dawned on me that this was the biggest fish I have ever had on. I want to catch this fish I said out loud. The capt said Ok, but we don't kill sharks on this boat. It is bad carma, what goes around , comes around. I was fine with that, I just want a picture of it. So I wrestle with the shark and get it to the surface and it takes off again, down to the depths. We do this two more times. The drag is set light for the 40 lb test. We estimate the shark to be about 75 lbs. So it is hard to keep it under control when it wants to take off. So the 4th time I get the shark to the surface the mate takes the gaff and puts it in the sharks mouth so we can hold it still for a picture. It flips it head and back down it goes. Then to make things more interesting the reel falls off the rod. Luckily the shark is tired and is taking a rest. So I grab the reel and put it back on. Then the mate tells me, you have it on backwards. Crap !! So I take it off, turn it around and put it back on. Then the mate goes, woops I'm sorry you had it right the first time. WHAT!! are you kidding me .. Don took a picture of this so we could keep the memory of my torture! So I do it all over again and then resume the battle. Who's idea was this anyway. Man this needs to end soon, my back is aching ! So finally the 5th time I get the shark up top, it says Uncle and lets us take a couple pics. The mate cuts the line and the shark swims away. We fish alittle longer without anything. The capt suggests that since there are sharks around the tuna have probably left. So lets leave here and go do some grouper digging. Sounded good to us. I needed a break anyway. So we headed to the next part off our adventure.

To be Continued !fffisch

The Final Chapter #4 It was nice to catch a rest after that marathon shark battle ( which I won ), but must admit had kinda kicked my butt. When we arrived to the Grouper hole we rigged up for bottom fishing. We were in about 110 feet of water here. We dropped down to the bottom and instantly Don and I had a grouper. Both were alittle short. The black grouper had to be 22 inches and the red grouper 20 inches to keep. Dropped down again and tap tap another double hookup. This happened every single time we dropped down. The capt and the mate also dropped a line down to get in on the action. In all the times I have grouper fished I have never even come close to the constant action we were getting. I don't know if you have ever caught a decent size fish from over 100 feet of water, but it is a workout. Not to mention being tired already from tuna and shark battles. This went on for a couple hours and we probably had caught over 80 grouper with only 6 or 7 being keeper size. I began to really take my time rebaiting and dropping back to the bottom. My tank was empty and had sore muscles all over. I didn't want to be the first to sissy out, since we were fishing green beret style. i could tell that Don was whipped also. He could barely move. He was older than me and was now in geezer mode. So I dropped down again and prayed , please don't bite , please don't bite. It hit bottom. Tap Tap went the end of my rod. Darn, give me a break down there. I don't care , I am ignoring this bite. The Capt started to chuckle at me. You must be tired to let that bite go by. I looked over at Don and he looked at me and said I don't now about you but I have had enough abuse for one day. Yea I said . Let me reel up this last fish and lets head to shore. So we get to shore and people gather around as we unload our catch. The Capt is so pleased that he takes pictures for his bragging board. The capt also contributes articles on fishing to the St Pete newspaper. So Don and I got our picture in the paper as well. A couple of ladies came up and talked to the Capt while they cleaned our catch and were showing interest in doing a charter. I told them they better go to the gym and work out for awhile before they go. This is the truth. My left arm was so sore that for 3 days I could not lift it above my head. But it was the best pain I ever had. Over the years since then Don and I have revisited that trip and have fished together many times, but never came close to duplicating that day of fishing. I just wish that ole Don was still here to take one last trip out on the gulf.

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