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Gulf of Mexico Oil Platforms Lead to Gusher of Action for Yellowfin

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 October 2007, 06:00 CDT

BILOXI, Miss. -- After two productive days of fishing for yellowfin tuna in the Gulf of Mexico, the idea of drilling for oil off Florida doesn't seem like such a bad idea.

Before you start calling and e-mailing, I'm just kidding. But the oil and natural gas rigs that we fished around were like tuna magnets.

The reason is simple: The rigs attract baitfish and the bait attracts yellowfins, as well as kingfish and barracuda.

Not all the rigs hold tuna, which is why you want to fish them with someone like Capt. Rimmer Covington. He has the knowledge and the knack for finding the most productive rigs.

Covington is so good, he had five South Florida anglers travel all the way to Mississippi's coast to fish with him on his 39-foot SeaVee. Our group included Ariel Pared of SeaVee Boats in Miami, Jamie Bunn of Lighthouse Point and Robbie Buckley and Art Sapp of Pompano Beach.

Bunn, Sapp and I made the 10-hour drive to Biloxi, and Pared and Buckley, who were working at the SeaVee booth at a boat show in Tampa, flew to Gulfport. We met up with Covington that afternoon at the marina at the Isle of Capri Casino Resort.

Covington, 25, lives in Pass Christian, Miss. He fishes out of Biloxi and Venice, La., depending on where the fish are and what his customers want to catch. Having fished out of Venice, I can tell you that the amenities offered by Biloxi _ plenty of hotels, good restaurants, stores and, if you're so inclined, casinos _ are superior.

The plan was to leave well before sunrise and run about 70 nautical miles southeast to a big oil and natural gas rig. Joining us were Bobby Carter, the director of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic, and his son Robbie.

The trip to the rig took more than two hours in choppy seas, but the big SeaVee center console powered by triple Suzuki 300-horsepower four-stroke outboards provided a comfortable ride.

Just before getting to the rig, Covington stopped at a weather buoy to catch bait. Using sabiki rigs, the baitwells were soon filled with baby blue runners that Covington called hardtails. He got excited whenever someone reeled up a medium-size hardtail.

"We call these size baits tuna crack," he said with a smile, then warned: "Every day's different. Some days they won't touch one of these. But nine times out of 10, they love `em."

Once we got to the rig, Covington had us catch some bigger hardtails. When he was satisfied with the amount of bait, Covington eased his boat around the rig while studying his Raymarine depthfinder for tuna. He likes to find the tuna first, otherwise "it's like fishing in a pond with no fish."

Covington fishes rigs in water depths ranging from 300-6,000 feet. This particular rig was in 3,200 feet and we had it to ourselves. Tuna showed up on the depthfinder 100 to 300 feet below the surface.

"They're here, we're here, we'll catch them," Covington said. "It's just a matter of time."

With Covington's guidance, our crew quickly deployed two baits _ one large, one small _ on bent-butt rods with Shimano Tiagra 50W reels spooled with 130-pound braided line with 150 feet of 80-pound Momoi Diamond monofilament as a topshot. A Mustad 39950 BL 6/0 or 7/0 circle hook was snelled to the end of a 70-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader and the bait hooked behind the head.

The lines were clipped to the outriggers and Covington slow-trolled, bumping the engines in and out of gear.

It didn't take long before the clicker on the outfit with the big bait started to buzz. Buckley took the rod out of the rod-holder and held on tight. Meanwhile Bunn, kept an eye on the other line.

As the fish ran, Buckley was outfitted with a gimbal and a harness, which makes fighting big fish with heavy tackle much easier. As Buckley began to gain back some line, Covington looked at his depthfinder. He watched as the mark of a tuna down 250 feet suddenly jumped to 180 feet. Then he told Bunn to get ready because "You're about to get eaten." Seconds later, line began dumping off the reel.

"If that don't make you a believer in Raymarine, nothing will," Covington said.

Bunn, who was also fighting the effects of a stomach virus, had his hands full with the tuna. Buckley got his yellowfin in the boat within 10 minutes. Bunn's battle was just getting started.

His tuna came to the boat after about 25 minutes, almost as if it wanted to check us out, then zipped away. Sapp regretted not bringing his harpoon on the trip, saying he could have ended the fight early with one well-placed throw.

Judging by the size of the tuna, it was clear that Bunn was in for a struggle.

"That's a stud right there!" Covington whooped. "Back off the drag and let him run, you've got 800 yards (of line)."

As the fight wore on, the rest of us encouraged Bunn _ and I silently gave thanks that I wasn't fighting the fish. Sapp stood next to Bunn, gaff in hand, and talked him through the battle as if he were Dr. Phil:

"He's tired, Jamie. He doesn't have much left. He's only 50 feet down. You got him."

An hour later, Bunn did get him. The fight lasted 2 hours, 18 minutes. When we got back to the dock that night, the tuna weighed 151 pounds.

"I never got a butt-kicking like that from a fish before," the weary Bunn said. "I caught one swordfish that was tough, but it wasn't this sustained."

While Bunn recovered, Covington was ready to catch more tuna.

"OK, there they are, 200 feet," he said, looking at his depthfinder. "Fire 'em out."

Pared caught the next tuna, which was about half the size of Bunn's. I took the rod on the next strike and fought the fish to a standstill after a few minutes. Covington asked me if I wanted to increase the drag, I bumped it up a notch and the line broke where it was tied to the swivel.

Things slowed after that, so we returned to the dock, stopping to watch a sperm whale that came to the surface and later stopping to check out a television in the water that was surrounded by schoolie dolphin.

The following morning we left at 5 and returned to the same rig. Covington saw some fish on the depthfinder, but they weren't biting, so he moved to another rig. There he saw fish down deep, so in addition to the two outrigger lines, Bunn attached a sinker with a rubber band to the line on a Tiagra 30W and put the bait down 250 feet.

When that line got hit, I took the rod and watched line disappear from the reel. When the tuna stopped running, the work began. After about 35 minutes, Sapp gaffed my first yellowfin tuna.

Then it was Sapp's turn. He briefly fought a tuna before the hook pulled, then Bunn's deep bait got hit and Sapp had a nice tuna to the boat in 18 minutes.

Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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