On the morning of February 9, Jim McDowell headed out on his 26' Glacier Bay "Her Ring" and navigated Tiger Pass enroute to the famed Midnight Lump.
Upon their arrival around 8:00 am, they made a pass around the Lump, looking for a "parking spot" among the numerous boats already on the hook. The crew found a spot, dropped anchor and began chumming. The first action came 5 minutes later when they picked up a 20-pound Blackfin tuna. The bite was not fast, and a hour later they boated their second fish of the day, a 30-pound Yellow fin.
The crew continued the laborious task of chumming for a couple of hours. As they ate lunch, their left line began to scream then went slack. Almost immediately, the other reel began slowly ticking as something was taking line. After what seemed like an eternity, Jim pushed the lever on the reel to strike and began to crank fast to set the hook.
Although the hour and a half fight felt like an eternity to Jim III, his father summed it nicely stating "it was a three or four Beer fight."
When the big sickle fins came into sight, Jim Sr. and family friend John Meyer stuck the tuna with two gaffs. With the help of another friend, Mike Clayton, they wrestled the fish on board.
According to Jim McDowell III, "You only get so many times to fish with your father and to be able to have a memory like this is wonderful."
Great catch, Jim!
