granttutty Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Hello guys, I recently spent some time working on board an oil rig in Angola. Some of the guys mentioned that the south African chaps spent their lunch breaks fishing so I went down for a look expecting to see them pulling in a few tiddlers. I was shocked when i arrived to see them pulling in tuna after tuna around the 30 KG mark and soon became hooked on spending my lunch breaks fishing. The method used was to cut a 40mm stainless steel tube to around 250 mm long and attach a hook and some strimmer wire that the storeman sourced for us. We would throw the pipe lure out as far as we could then drag it across the water back to the edge of the rig as fast as we could. As we were 10m off the water line you could see the tuna chasing the lure like a pack of dogs. once the lure reached the rig you would dip it in and out of the water which is where most hook ups happened. After the hook up the tuna would go bonkers and shoot off in multiple direction which usually ended up in smoking riggers gloves. Once we had the fish tired out we would attach a 3 pronged gaff on a knotted rope to the line and slide it down to the water line to hook up the fish, then drag it up 10m to the deck. All of the fish we caught were cooked up and helped feed the crew. Mostly Tuna but sometimes we managed to land some Dorado... Every so often we would hook something unstoppable which would take all of the line and break it off when it reached the end, when this happened we would stand well back because if you were caught in the line you could easy lose a finger / hand or worse. The image shows the largest tuna we caught while i was on board... I'm waiting on the delivery of a new boat so hopefully i will have the same luck when i start fishing off Sydney! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Squidy Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 30kg tuna in your lunch break, thats epic.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish-On Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 No f#%ken way!!!! That's awesome. The only tuna I catch at lunchtime comes out of a can Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simda Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Wow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plankton Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Yea not bad...... Bloody insane beats any job I can think of!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plankton Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Is that a Big Eye Tuna (first photo)? If you look at my profile pic I am holding a Tuna. Until recently I was sure it was a Yellow Finn. But the short sickles made me recently realise it may be a Big Eye. Caught off Sydney. Can anyone confirm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boattart Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Now that a lunch break I wouldn't be keen to go back from. Then again I've never had a lunch break I was keen to end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
granttutty Posted October 24, 2014 Author Share Posted October 24, 2014 Yes big eye tuna mate, we looked it up at the time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest no one Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Amazing story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Great story and thanks for sharing. 3 prong gaff?? You would need a crane to get some of those fish up 10m. Wow Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocolate Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Wow that's awesome, There more than 30kg fish wow, You lucky bugger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
granttutty Posted October 24, 2014 Author Share Posted October 24, 2014 It took 2 of us to pull the big ones up on a knotted rope, the gaff was more like a grappling hook, we used a caribena clip to attach it to the line, slid it down to the fish and gave it a yank, usually took a few attempts to stab the fish.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Simply awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommychucka Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 So how do we chuck in for an oil rig? Brilliant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsswordfisherman Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Great fishing story that one Grant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Bloody awesome job you have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbh00d Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 This is epic..... where can I sign up for a job like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
night_rider Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Love the make shift lure making and adaptive fishing technique... There are a lot of people on big boats who spend lots and lots of money chasing these fish with half the luck you and the guys are having... Awesome!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oziodin Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 like you Technique Awsum Cheers Oziodin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paikea Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Great story and pics, thanks for sharing. I once fished near rigs in the Gulf of Mexico (out of Fort Lauderdale) It's amazing how they let you fish right up to the rigs. Imagine trying that off the Bass Strait or North West shelf rigs. Or fishing from them in your lunch break. No way Jose! BTW we never caught any Tuna but my mate did get a nice Cobia. Cheers Paikea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve12 Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 I did some work out on them a few years ago doing some bits and pieces. Didn't manage any tuna when was out there but millions or morwong, sharks and snapper. There were also some huge crays in between all the structure when we were diving. They are top blokes out there we ran out of hooks so the manager of the rig got a chopper to make a special trip from one of the sister rigs just for hooks haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giffo Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 So that's how they get tuna oil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paikea Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 So that's how they get tuna oil! Love it! Cheers Paikea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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