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Come and Experience
'The Thrill' as described in Ernest Hemingway's words;
...'a flock of birds wheeling and diving over an agitated sea - tuna!
The boat turns, lines are reeled in, and heavy gear is substituted. |
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| As one approaches, the sight is almost frightening as enormous bluefin
tuna engage in a feeding frenzy on the surface of water which literally seems
to boil. The captain increases speed and passes ahead of the school. Nothing.
He turns his head back. Suddenly a ratchet screams; the rod is bent double.
The engines are throttled back. You jump into the fighting chair as a shoulder
harness is being strapped on. The boat is dead in the water, but the lines
continue to scream out; it starts to smoke and someone pours water over it;
a pause and the rod is jammed into the fighting chair holder, your hands
grab ahold. The line screams again and mercifully someone clicks off the
rachet. Almost half a mile of line is out before the fish stops. You begin
to pull, crank, pull, crank - slowly the fish is coming in. The line scorches
out again; ten minutes work lost in a few seconds. Back, fighting the fish;
forward, reeling frantically for every inch of line. After 20 more minutes
every muscle aches, your legs are aching but the fish is within 50 feet;
it takes one look at the boat and the line screams out again, this time it
goes deep. You pull, crank in the line, pull crank . An hour after the strike
you are within 20 feet of success and are extremely exhausted; people on
the fly bridge can see the shadow of the fish; it's huge at least 400 lbs;
you pull crank, again the line screams and then ...slack. The big one gets
away this time. |
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