We arrived in the buffer zone late in the afternoon and headed toward a nice bird school. Jon Petty got us started with a nice wahoo followed by a brief flurry of fish before dark. We were able to catch 6 tuna with the largest caught by Rick “Master Chief” Millspaugh at 160lbs. Lots of sharks, but a good sign of fish for our day tomorrow.

It’s amazing how well behaved everyone was after 4 days of travel. I fully expected the first day tuna fever/panic but it never really set in. There was an orderly queue for bait despite nice fish blowing out, lots of “excuse me”, “please” and “thank you”. No one casted baits over hooked fish, no fish were lost due to passenger ignorance. In other words, it was a really strange first day, we almost acted like normal human beings, weird! I was so looking forward to hearing Captain Yamate lecture us on proper breathing techniques, behavior and etiquette. Oh well, we have 8 more days to prove we can be as dysfunctional as any other group, you’ll see…

A tradition in my reports is to pass along a message from the angler of the day. Kandy & Eric, Rick says he is all good and having fun! He intends to catch one double that size!