Rhode Island: Bluefin Tuna 8-15-09

**Date / Time:**8-15-09 Location: Rhode Island Block Island The Characters: Kory Kapaloski, Jeremy Cameron, Greg Snow Weather: Partly cloudy, mostly sunny Water Temp: Mid 60s or so Water Level / Tide: Don’t remember tides Water Clarity/Quality: Clear Moon Phase: Close to new, last quarter Fishing: Drove out to Block Island under calm conditions to meet Greg Snow to chase Bluefin. Rumor had it that they were being seen so we went for it. Jumped in Greg’s boat and headed out. Within an hour we started seeing fish bust the surface and Greg proclaimed that we would not be able to get them on the fly and he wanted meat on the boat so he was going to throw the plug. This was news to us as we intended on throwing the fly regardless of how productive it would have been. The bluefin started to get really fired up and we were seeing busting fish in every direction, several of them skying out of the water and exploding on bait. Huge schools of mackerels were spraying everywhere with tuna in hot pursuit. The visuals were incredible. Eventually we had a good shot coming our way and Greg leaped up and fired the plug in. On the second cast, the tuna crushed it and after a pretty short battle for a tuna we brought it aboard. It was just under 60 lbs. Awesome to see, but frustrating that he didn’t want to throw the fly. Jeremy was highly frustrated. We spent the next 40 minutes dealing with that fish and were unable to cast to the tuna blowing up all over the place. By the time we finished the action had subsided. We got another shot or two but then it was over and Greg wanted to head in. We took the surfboard back out to see if they were still around, but nothing showing. Went back to Quonnie and got our ass kicked as the wind and tide had picked up. We wanted something on board so headed to where we knew blues or bonito would be. Fired in the teaser plug and had some on it pretty quick but conditions were rough and it wasn’t happening. Called it a day fishless. Awesome to see the tuna, but lame that we couldn’t throw the fly as it was an incredible opportunity.