Bluefin tuna in the Adriatic Sea: Day 2

Today, Alessio was the captain again and Boris was with us to do some filming.

We left the harbour at 8 pm with 40 knots cruising speed (yes...).

Within 30 minutes we were at the tuna grounds and it wasn't long before we found the first bustups. Glass out conditions today. Good for sailing but it was like the tunas could hear the boat appraching. There were many bustups this morning until noon but everytime the boat appeared the tunas went down. We could see them on the sounder - often 20 meters below the boat. We had a couple of strikes just before noon but they were not aggressive like yesterday and they wouldn't stick to the hook.

At around 15pm the wind started to rip the water surface. It was like a switch! The tunas would eat more aggresively and show up in bigger packs.

At around 16pm with the clock ticking and no tunas boated, we were getting a bit anxious. We were chatting to another boat (with Matteo who would be the captain for tomorrow) when they suddenly put our attention to some tunas busting 70-80 meters from our boat! Alessio aligned the boat to cast at them and Nikolaj got tight within seconds. I made a cast and sweeped my lure two times and BANG! Double strike again!

Unfortunately some fairy had had fun with our camera and f..... up the settings which made the pictures a bit dark and some of them just crap.

At that time, Nikolaj and I had caught three tunas each. Jacob had been connected to several tunas to no avail. The hook just wouldn't stick to the fish! We felt that he needed a little boost so I lend him a Tackle House Britt - a long casting lure that had produced for Nikolaj. It was as if the sinking Pelagus just couldn't reach the fish under these circumstances.

And sure enough: first bust up  and BOOM Jacob was on. But he lost it again! I don't think I have ever seen a guy that unlucky. He did everything right but they just wouldn't coorporate ... Nikolaj came tight again and I actually think I saw smoke coming out of Jacobs ears.

Next bust up and YES! Jacob was on!

Jacob is in for some tuna love

They just never give up

Ever...

Jacobs first bluefin tuna was a perfect way to end the fishingday!

We went home to the hotel, had a shower and then we had dinner with Alessio, his wife and son, With Boris and two flyfishermen who had  actually caught a tuna today. The video on their GoPro looked insane! They fought it for one hour with a 16 weight rod. RESPECT!

We went home to the hotel very happy with minds full of fishing, meat and "vino rosso". A perfect setup for the 3rd and last day that unknowingly was going to be our best day.