Chasing Tunny Tuna

Spent a great day out on the water with Steve Traves owner of AMI Outfitters and Capt. Rusty Chinnis on his boat chasing tunny tuna (false albacore).
We met up with Rusty at Mar Vista and then headed out through Longboat Pass into the gulf searching for diving birds and explosions of fish.

This was a first time experience for me fishing off a flats boat and on that I was really looking forward to.

Steve with his Tunny Tuna. Photo courtesy of Rusty Chinnis.

The day was hot & clear and the sea looked flat but as soon as we got off shore the swell picked up and made life interesting. We chased pods of fish for a good while but infuriatingly as soon as we got into casting position they went down, eventually Steve managed to get one to stick for a while before it broke free. I managed to get a couple of fish to have a good look at the fly and briefly had a small one  before it broke free. A change of fly to a top water gurgler and Steve was in again this time he managed to get the fish to the boat.
We kept chasing the pods which seemed to be getting smaller and I managed to bring to the boat a Spanish mackerel, not what I really wanted but still a tug on the line.

It's been a great learning experience for me today, the need to speed up my initial cast to try and get the best shot and probably more important how to cast better from a rolling boat. I definitely will be having another shot at this when I'm back next year

A few days left before I head back home across the pond after another great three weeks here on Anna Maria Island with new friends made.

Tight Lines.