Clark and Darrell went to some numbers a commercial buddy gave us and it went WFO right away with a 14 fish stop.

The chipped away at them and almost plugged the boat under some lousy conditions as the seas built before the BIG storm that is shutting down the ocean for 4-7 days.

While they were at it, a buddy on Reel Therapy hooked a huge BFT and played it for 2.5 hours before he lost it.  DAMN.

The 100-300lb BFT (blue fin tuna) have been around for a month or so and more and more of them are coming our way.

We are standing down for the big storm and then going at them hard until the fish leave.

If the water stays warm (67 degrees yesterday) we might just get some halloween tuna again.

Captain Mike

We got a good report of lots of tuna 69 miles NW, so we headed that way.

Fishing was solid all day with an excellent troll bite and 5 or 6 bait stops.

Despite having 4 newbies, we almost plugged the boat.

Clark is at it in the AM.

​Captain Mike

We went out to the same area and it took a little bit but it went wide open with fish boiling behind the boat.  

We got a couple doubles on the troll and had three bait stops.

A commercial  buddy went from zero to triple digits in 2 hours and we are headed that way in the AM to investigate.

​Captain Mike

We ran out to where the fish have been for around a week.

We got four early and then it totally died.

At the end of the day we decided to venture west where we saw a line of commercial boats.

Just as we got even with them a rod went off and we put 4 on the deck.

20 minutes later it was time go and I took the motors out of gear and just as I did, a troll rod went off and we put 3 more on the deck.

I wish we had another hour on station, but we were running out of daylight.

John and I are headed their in the AM.

​Captain Mike

Clark and Mike went back to the same spot and had decent fishing, but said it slowed a bit.

That is all I know.

Captain Mike

I just heard from Clark.

Lots of fish and bait out there.

They had 11 bait stops and it went WFO 4 times.

They had lots of missed opportunities due to lack of preparation.

This is not salmon fishing and it is not easy.   If you don't do your homework and have Livebait 101 down, your catch rate will suffer.

​https://www.shakenbakesportfishing.com/live-bait-101.html

Despite the poor conversion rate, they nearly plugged the boat.

Clark and Mike are at it in the AM.

Captain Mike

After a week of frustration, Clark got some revenge today.

I don't know all the details, but it was a late bite and they got 24 PIGS and were more than half plugged.

The 20 knot wind in the PM made for tough fishing, but they still got it done.

Clark is sitting out the big wind event, but back at it Wednesday.

​Captain Mike

Tuna fishing has been hit or miss, with only single digits for us last week.

We converted 2 of our tuna trips into bottom fishing trips ($300 plus tax) and had a great time catching lots of big ling cod, which is way more fun than fishing all day for one or two tuna.

The fish are there, as we are seeing jumpers and seeing them on sonar, they just won't engage.

A number of the fish that are being caught are puking up squid, which means they are down deep eating squid and when this happens we have a hard time catching them.

I got a very good report yesterday from the 126 line off of Westport, which is one hell of a long run.

Clark and Darrel are out there now and hopefully they will find some fish that are willing to play.

The fish pretty much always pop late season and when they do, we will be waiting for them.

Captain Mike

The wind has kept us at the dock for awhile, so John and I were really Jonesing to get out on the ocean.

We ran 50 miles, pretty much straight out, and there were a TON of boats out there.

It started out a little slow, but then we found a pile of fish and started to get some bait stops going.

6 or so bait stops later we were almost plugged and it was time to go home.

The amazing part was that our crew did not lose a single fish (except for the one we messed up on, but that was on us).

These guys would wait 20 seconds before they engaged the drag and 90% of their fish had the hooks so deep in their mouths that there was no way they were ever going to spit the hook.

*****If you want to catch a lot of tuna, you need to let them eat it.  Letting them eat it for 20 seconds means you don't lose fish and these guys proved it.******

We are sitting out the wind until Wednesday, but it looks really, really good for next weekend.

Captain Mike

I was lucky enough to talk to an MD on the front lines in the midwest (during the wind cancelled your charter call).

He told me that where he is, the COVID is deadly serious.

He had 6 deaths recently, just in his practice, and the potential for a lot more, as he has a bunch of patients in the ICU.

He was very, very adamant that this thing is still killing a lot of people where he practices and now is not the time to let our guard down.

If you want to fish on Shake N Bake please read our COVID protocols, as we take them seriously and if you don't, your trip is over.  Period.

On a happier note, we are headed west on Saturday, before the wind shuts us down for a few more days.

We just got a pretty good report of fish SW around 45 miles and we are going to take a look for ourselves on Saturday if the forecast holds.

​Captain Mike