Hello Grady, I got a tuna!

luckydude

GreatGrady Captain
Joined
Jun 5, 2020
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Location
Santa Cruz Mountains, CA
Website
mcvoy.com
Model
Seafarer
So those of you who know me, know that I replaced the hard top with a custom pilot house because I wanted to be able to see. I did that a couple of years ago so I could see tuna.

I've gone on a tuna journey, I put my madmacs in the water a couple of years ago and my stuff came undone like a cheap suit. So I went nuts on knots. I tested all of my knots to 70 pounds. The guy who schooled me on tuna thought I was nuts but I said my shit didn't work, I want it to work. He said he never did more than 35 pounds of drag. I said the pull I put on the knots is sort of a static pressure, I'm slowly leaning back against the knot. The fish is a more dynamic pressure, it might be only 35 pounds but it is head shakes, runs, etc.

So year 1, my shit came apart. Year 2, I fixed my knots. This is year 3 and I got a tuna, a frigging nice tuna. 157 pounds. And it was work to get it in.
You know how wicked tuna pulls their tuna in, one hand on the reel and the other on the line? And they are doing that with 850 pound tuna? They are gods. I tried to do the same thing, my hand on the line, I twisted it to get more grip, when that fish was 150 feet below the boat, it did not want to come up. I tried with my hand on the line and my other hand on the reel, nothing.

My buddy on the boat was trying the same, nothing, we could not move the fish.

So what we did, we had 7 foot swells, we moved the fish up as the swell went up and reeled up as we went into the trough.

It's an hour and 15 minutes fight. I gaffed the tuna, we could not get it in, my buddy put another gaff in it, still no go. I used my gaff, this is a bad idea but I did it, I used it as a lever to raise the fish and then we got it in.

Blah, blah, but I reworked my boat to get tuna and we actually got one, 157 pounds as my first tuna. Go Grady.
 
So those of you who know me, know that I replaced the hard top with a custom pilot house because I wanted to be able to see. I did that a couple of years ago so I could see tuna.

I've gone on a tuna journey, I put my madmacs in the water a couple of years ago and my stuff came undone like a cheap suit. So I went nuts on knots. I tested all of my knots to 70 pounds. The guy who schooled me on tuna thought I was nuts but I said my shit didn't work, I want it to work. He said he never did more than 35 pounds of drag. I said the pull I put on the knots is sort of a static pressure, I'm slowly leaning back against the knot. The fish is a more dynamic pressure, it might be only 35 pounds but it is head shakes, runs, etc.

So year 1, my shit came apart. Year 2, I fixed my knots. This is year 3 and I got a tuna, a frigging nice tuna. 157 pounds. And it was work to get it in.
You know how wicked tuna pulls their tuna in, one hand on the reel and the other on the line? And they are doing that with 850 pound tuna? They are gods. I tried to do the same thing, my hand on the line, I twisted it to get more grip, when that fish was 150 feet below the boat, it did not want to come up. I tried with my hand on the line and my other hand on the reel, nothing.

My buddy on the boat was trying the same, nothing, we could not move the fish.

So what we did, we had 7 foot swells, we moved the fish up as the swell went up and reeled up as we went into the trough.

It's an hour and 15 minutes fight. I gaffed the tuna, we could not get it in, my buddy put another gaff in it, still no go. I used my gaff, this is a bad idea but I did it, I used it as a lever to raise the fish and then we got it in.

Blah, blah, but I reworked my boat to get tuna and we actually got one, 157 pounds as my first tuna. Go Grady.
I'll get you pictures when I get them off my phone.

I am so stoked we got one. And both of us are Grady 228 owners. That boat is the shit out here, if I could smack Grady in the face, I'd say wtf, why discontinue this popular boat? That's a great boat. Would I like bigger? Of course I would but I've taken my little boat 73 miles offshore, did 160 miles that day. The 228 is probably the most sea worthy 22 foot boat in existence.
 
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