On Monday 22nd
September 2014, Rian Chalmers, Wayne Ritchie, my Dad and I left Johannesburg on
a 10 day fishing trip to Prince Edward Island, Canada. The goal of the trip was
to each catch a Bluefin Tuna. We had booked the trip through “Bruce Brothers
Charters” based near North Lake. After many hours in airports and in the sky,
we finally arrived at Charlottetown at around 6pm local time on Tuesday. After
collecting the rental car, we did some grocery shopping before heading East to
North Lake. The weather was terrible. The wind was blowing almost 40 Knots and
the temperature was around 6 degrees. Things did not look good.
Our first day was a rest day. We
took the time to ride around the eastern shore of PEI stopping at the very few
shops in Souris. We met up with Troy, Jamie and Craig at the harbour and
discussed the next morning’s plans. The weather forecast was still not looking
good, but we would give it a try regardless.
On Thursday 25th, we
headed to sea out of Souris aboard Jamie’s boat “Tuna Clipper” accompanied by
deckhand Blair. With the strong wind, Jamie could not get to where he wanted to
go and had no choice but to fish off North Lake. The conditions were not great
and by the end of the day, we had no luck on Bluefin. We did however release
two small sharks to the boat. One was a blueshark but the other was a meter
long porbeagle. This was the first time I had seen one in the flesh and was
quite excited to see one.
On Friday 26th we
again headed out of Souris Harbour. This time we headed 20 miles into the
Northumberland Strait towards Nova Scotia to an area known as “Fisherman’s
bank”. As we were setting up the rods, one of the boats next to us went tight,
followed by another. Things were happening. We marked 2 fish on the first two
drift but had no bites. On the third drift, we marked a few fish. Blair chummed
a few mackerel and the fish came up higher. Despite feeding a few baits down to
the fish, we had no pulls.
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| Wayne fighting an 800Lbs tuna |
While Jamie was repositioning the boat for another
drift, I rigged up a whole mackerel, hiding the crimp and most of the hook in
the bait. I was hoping that this would tempt a shy fish to eat. It was not long
before we were marking fish again. Blair chummed up three fish and Jamie sent down
the newly rigged bait. The sounder showed a fish streaking up to 25 feet and it
was no surprise when the line was ripped out of Jamie’s hands. “He’s got it!”
Jamie shouted as the fish took all the 200Lbs topshot off the reel in a flash.
Wayne jumped into the chair and Blair transferred the rod to the gimbal. There
was a lot of line in the water and so Jamie chased after it. Wayne retrieved
most of the line and had the fish straight up and down after 40minutes. Slowly
the drag was pushed up until it was over the button on 50Lbs. With the reel in
low gear and Wayne being lifted high out the chair, the fish circled below us
not giving an inch. Leaning back into the harness, Wayne managed to gain half a
turn at a time until Blair had the leader. Rian and I got some footage of the
fish before it made a sudden turn and the hook popped out. We were happy to
claim the fish as it was on the short 5m leader. The fish was estimated at
around 800Lbs. What a start!
The wind started to settle but so
did the activity around us. At around noon, Capt Craig on ”Lady Dawn”, had set
a herring net a few days prior, was marking a few fish and hooked up to a fish.
Both Jamie and Troy got the call to move to that area and a short while later, we
had tied up to the net. Sometime later, we started marking fish. Blair started
chumming and the fish came higher in the water column but we could not get a
pull.
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| On with a 900Lbs BFT |
I took over the chumming operation while Blair fed a bait down. On his
second drop, a fish engulfed the mackerel and we were on. I took the strike and
the fish absolutely took off! The line went under the boat and the herring net,
but thanks to excellent boat handling and team work from the crew, the line was
cleared and the fight continued. After about 30minutes, the fish had settled
into its deep circles and I could put some serious pressure on it. With the
drag up high and me leaning back into the harness, I slowly made headway and 20
minutes later, the swivel was at the tip. Jamie inserted a tag while Blair kept
the fish under control on the leader. It was an exceptionally fat fish and they
estimated it at 900 to 950Lbs! Awesome! After a few quick pics, Jamie cut the
leader off short and the fish swam off. We had caught our 2 fish limit for the
day so we headed home, looking forward to the next day.
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| 327kg Bluefin |
On Saturday 27th we
again headed out to the bank where we had started the previous morning. Things
were very quiet but at 8am, there were reports of fish around Craig’s herring
net. Again we sped towards the net and tied up to one of the buoys. A short
while later, we started marking fish at 100 Feet. After chumming for a while,
the fish came streaking up to 30ft and the bait, that Jamie was feeding back,
was engulfed. The fish took off while Jamie buoyed off and followed it. My Dad was
in the chair and was put through his paces on a “school size” tuna. After
almost an hour, the fish was on the leader and after measuring it, it was
released. The estimated weight was 650Lbs.
The net was obviously the place
to be and since we had a fish for the morning, we gave two other boats a turn
to tie up and hook fish. This did not take too long and by 2pm we were tied up
and marking fish. Jamie had a live mackerel out on a balloon while we were
waiting for the fish to rise in the chum. The sounder came alive with big marks
and before we could feed a bait down, the livie was taken and we were hooked up
to our second fish for the day. Rian jumped into the chair and had to hold on
as this fish nearly emptied the reel. Again, expert boat handling skills and
team work between the captain and deckhand resulted in a smooth fight and
successful release of a 750Lbs Bluefin. This was a very stubborn fish and took
just over an hour. With our 2 fish limit reached, we headed back to Souris
where another boat had brought in a similar size fish to the one we had caught
so we took the chance to pose with it.
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| Wayne's 450Lbs Jube-Jube |
On Sunday 28th, the
race was on to the herring net. We were lucky to get a spot but only started
marking fish after about an hour. I assisted with the chumming operation while
Blair and Jamie fed baits down to the rising fish. Blair hooked on a herring
and fed it down. Just under the boat, it was snatched out of his hands by a
greedy fish. Wayne had his second chance at fighting a bluefin and after forty,
the fish was on the leader. Jamie and Blair had a good chuckle at the size of
the fish as it was the smallest one they had seen for the year… all 450Lbs of
it!
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| Seared Bluefin Tuna steaks |
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| Jono's 700 pounder |
We waited our turn to tie up to
the net again and it was not long before the other boats were on to fish. Jamie
moved in and tied up. Almost immediately we started marking fish. I took up one
rod while Blair took the other. We worked baits down the chum line and when a
pack of fish came through on the sounder, Blair had the line ripped out of his
hands and we were on. I was on strike and had a very unorthodox fight with the
fish staying on the surface for most of the time. This allowed me to gain a lot
of line in a short time and when the fish tried to sound, it was already near
the boat. I put some mega pressure on the fish and managed to keep it from
getting its head down. The pressure was immense and the only way I could lift
the rod was to pull myself back using the chair handles. I inched the fish up
and Blair grabbed the leader, holding the fish for a few photos before
releasing a 700Lbs fish. It was 1pm and we had our 2 fish limit so we headed
back to port.
On Monday, 29th, our
last day, the weather turned and was blowing at least 25 knots. The whole
fleet’s Captains made a call to try a few close spots but it was too dangerous
to head out into the Strait. By 9am, the conditions were terrible and so we
headed back to port.
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| PEI Bluefin Tuna 2014 |
In the 3 days that we could get
to the hot fishing spot, we caught 6 BFT from 450Lbs to 900Lbs. Everyone had
the chance to pull on a tuna and could tick off
an item on their bucket list. This was one of the best trips I have been
on and can only thank Jamie and Troy from Bruce Brothers Fishing Charters for
the well run operation. I would highly recommend fishing with them next time
you visit PEI looking to catch a Bluefin Tuna.
