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BAHAMIAN-STYLE
Story and photos by CAPTAIN BILL HARRISON
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Historically, bluefin tuna season starts in the
Bahamas about the middle of May and goes
through the first two weeks of June. If the wind
blows before or after this period, fishing can be good but
the fish will be difficult to bait because there will be lots of
singles and doubles which are hard to see on a cloudy day.
During the last four years there has been little southeasterly
or southern wind in May and each year June has had low
pressure systems come through bringing wind, clouds and
rain.
I remember when 12 or more boats would arrive in
Bimini for the three or four weeks of tuna fishing every
May. Docking in Bimini, we envied the 15 or more boats
that fished out of Cat Cay because they arrived earlier and
stayed longer during the season. They also had a short
run to tuna alley where most of the fishing is done. Tuna
alley is a white strip of sand that starts just west of Gun
Cay and runs for 15 miles to the south separating the deep
blue Bahamian waters from the shallow bank. Much of
the shallow bank has miles of white sand making it easy
to see the tuna. The schools of bluefin migrate north along
this edge and frequently go shallow when the water is
clear. Every tuna fisherman wakes early with the hopes
of wind out of the southeast to southwest. The harder the
wind blows the better! The ideal fishing day is one where
there are southeasterly winds, north current and good sun
light. A hard wind out of the southwest causes lots of fish to
march up the edge but baiting these schools in 60 or 80 feet
of water is hard with the waves breaking, and sometimes
flooding the cockpit.
Bluefin tuna fishing is a team sport. A good tuna boat
has a captain, a spotter, a man running the cockpit and, most
importantly, an angler who is willing to use heavy tackle.
Really heavy tackle! The spotter’s job is to ride in the tower
with the captain. He will direct the mate in the cockpit when
a school of tuna is seen and baited, leaving the captain to
concentrate on controlling the school of tuna. As the boat
travels south down tuna alley, the group in the cockpit gets
to eat, drink, talk and have fun while the captain and spotter
concentrate on finding a school of bluefins. Once a school
of tuna is spotted, the boat comes around and prepares to
bait the group of fish. The crew in the cockpit then takes on
a more serious mode since the chance of the “big bite” is
always there. Each group or school averages 10 to 30 fish
and every one is big. I have not caught bluefin less than
500 pounds in the last 40 years. Since those in the cockpit
are looking aft, straight down the line as the boat baits the
school, they usually see the spectacular strike. The spotter
is passing the instructions from
the captain to the cockpit as
he watches the perimeters of
the school. If you get outside
of the last tuna, the school will
frequently accelerate and pass
by, making it hard to start the
process of baiting again. Every
boat now uses 200-pound
test or heavier. The days of
fishing a tuna tournament with
130-pound test are over. With
fewer tunas and no wind, the
opportunity to bait tunas and
have strikes are rare; no one
wants to take a chance of not
catching a tuna.
Angling for tuna involves
fishing on sight and the sun
makes it easy to see the schools
of bluefin. The problem with
the few windy days this year
was the rain and clouds. Only
two tuna boats participated
in this year’s migration. They
were both 43-foot Merritts, the
perfect boat for catching tuna.
The first is the Celia P owned
by Nik and Coco Paleologos.
The next is the Fighting Lady
owned by Bart Sherwood. Both
boats have a great history of
catching bluefin tuna and blue
marlin in both the Pacific and
Atlantic oceans. I feel lucky to
have run both boats, catching
bluefin tuna, blue marlin and
swordfish.
The last few years, Nik has
taken the Ceila P over to Cat
Cay in early May and stayed
until July. Bart arrives later
at Cat Cay with the Fighting
Lady and is joined with veteran
angler Don Barnes. His team
has had the best track record
for the last four years. Reports
from the Ceila P were that the
fishing was slow for most of
May. Although they fished day
after day, the wind rarely blew
more than six or eight knots
out of a southerly direction.
The Ceila P did see several big
schools of bluefin tuna during
May; they were not able to bait
them. Coco, Nik’s brother, kept
a detailed daily log of the exact
number of schools and, to their
best ability, the number of tuna
in each school. During May and
June of 2006 those onboard the
Ceila P logged 1,102 bluefin
sightings. Sometimes there would be only one or two
tuna, but there were schools with 50 or more. The largest
school contained 75. Coco and Nik feel the average school
during this year’s migration contained 20 tunas. The slow
fishing all changed around June 9. A low pressure system
came through the lower Bahamas and that afternoon, the
southern wind started to blow at Cat Cay and Bimini.
Every boat saw several schools of tuna including some
private boats that were on the edge.
The next day was like a different world. Nik, on the
Ceila P, was the first boat out and saw a school before he
hit the edge. He baited six schools and gave up at dark.
Bart, on the Fighting Lady, saw four schools, but stopped
fishing at dark. The next day, June 11, started with heavy
clouds and some rain. The tunas were marching up the
edge. Nik baited schools of tuna all day. Nik had veteran
captain John Sabonis from the 43-foot Merritt Cats Meow
riding the tower. This year the Ceila P had one of the best
bluefin mates still fishing, “Tuna Tony” Carrizosa. He is
known for making great tuna baits and being one of the
best wire men around the tuna fleet. For 12 years, John
and Tony teamed up on the Cats Meow, and were one of
the most successful tuna boats on Bimini, always producing
strikes and catching tuna.
The next day was overcast and very windy; this is a tuna
fisherman’s dream. Nik was first on the edge and had already
baited two schools of tuna when the Fighting Lady with
Bart and Captain Alex Adler, of the 43-foot Merritt Tracker,
turned south on tuna alley. Immediately seeing a school of
tuna, Bart put Barnes in the fighting chair. And, to his credit,
Barnes has been the most successful tuna angler during the
last four years. As they made their first pass at baiting this
school, a wall of water as high as the tower erupted as the
tuna struck the bait. His tail flailed high in the air throwing
spray everywhere before the battle started. After an hour of
racing around, Bart had the leader and the rest was history.
The tuna tipped the scales at 800 pounds exactly. Everyone
living on Cat Cay celebrated since Don and Bart gave
packages of filleted tuna to all. Barnes has now teamed with
Bart on the Fighting Lady to catch two bluefins weighing 800
pounds or more.
The wind started to drop and the tuna soon disappeared.
Nik and the Celia P stayed for several weeks more. With no
wind, however, there would be only a couple of small schools
seen during the rest of June.
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