Recent Tuna Rude News
TUNA RUDE Crew members earn Top Angler Awards
After an exciting year of fishing in 2006 two Tuna Rude crew members
came home with some new hardware. Capt Mike won the Ultra Light
Division and he earned 3:1 Award honors with his 17.4 lb Tripletail on 4
lb test. Paul won the Jr Heavyweight division in 4 categories: Snook,
Tripletail, Cobia and Kingfish, a Sportsman Award for releasing 11
species of fish and a Sailfish Release certificate. Only 3 sailfish where
released this year and two of these fish where released on the Tuna
Rude! Then when the top angler awards where announced, our own Jr.
angler Paul Wilson was awarded Jr ANGLER OF THE YEAR 2006!
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December 30, 2006 "The Boys hunt Redfish" By Capt Mark
With offshore blowing hard and the crew still feeling the effects from the sporty seas on Thursday Paul, Zack, Mark B and myself decided to target some redfish
this morning. There we only two days left in the FSFA Annual Points Fishing competition and Paul still needed a 5 lb Redfish on ultra light plus a release to reach
his personal goal for 2006. We launched locally and targeted an area that I haven't fished in many years. We where pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the
first spot to find a school of 50-70 redfish, unfortunately they too where surprised to see us and immediately broke into 3 smaller schools and went in different
directions. As Mark B. patiently poled us around the two boys worked the schools with Paul having a banner day landing 3 reds on three different artificial baits.
December 28, 2006 "The Boys get thier first Sailfish" By Capt Mark
First thing we saw this morning was a 33T heading “IN” from the jetties as we where heading out. With rollers inside the port I figured it was rough but I
was hoping that is wasn’t rough enough to turn that brand new Contender around. After raising him on the squawk box I realize that it was Jessie on the
Reel Deal and he wasn’t bailing on the day he just forgot his sabiki rigs back in his truck. I offered him an 8 pack of rigs and he quickly did a u-turn and then
like a flash that 33T was cresting on the horizon. Real nice boat Jessie!
Onboard I had my father in law, Paul (little DW), my neighbor (another Mark) and his son Zack. It was very sloppy on the way out and we stopped at the
bouy to bait up. Our goal for the day was to put Zack on either a King, Cobia or Sailfish and Paul on a Sailfish, each achievement would be firsts for each
kid. Bait was everywhere down low but the Spanish Macks wouldn’t let any bait reach the baitwell. After going through half a dozen or more rigs we
decided to scratch the live bait effort and more than likely the sailfish opportunity and use dead cigar minnows.
Heading out to the bouy from the port the Jupiter was skipping on top of those sloppy waves at 40 mph and we quickly found out that its not what the boat
can handle but what the passengers can handle. There was a plea to take it slow to our next destination so 20 mph here we goooooooooo. It seemed like
an eternity to get out to 8A reef.
Arriving at 8A, we got there just at the end of a hot kingfish bite. First up was Zack who scratched Kingfish off his list of fish to catch with a 14 pounder that
came off the downrigger. Then the birds moved in and we released bird after bird for the next hour.
Next we watched all the other vessels leave the reef with their limit and the seas started taking effect on one of the passengers. After no action for a
while the bite turned back on and Paul was up and landed a big 21 lb King followed by his grandpa with a 16 lb King. We lost another fish then we got a real
“slow drag sound” on the flat line. We handed the rod to the Zack and he begins to chum in a bucket and hands the rod back. Now we call Paul back into
action and then the drag picks up momentum and before we know it the line on the TLD 20 is getting down to the spool. We see a sailfish grey hounding
Eastward, with 400 yards of line out. Not wanting either kid to miss out on this opportunity we have Paul and Zack double team this fish each taking turns
retrieving 100 yards of line at a time. At boat side Paul maneuvers the fish within reach of the gaff…..ah, just kidding….he positions the fish within reach of
Zacks dad who brings the fish aboard to remove the kingfish rig embedded in the fishes mouth. A few pics are taken and then a release. These two boys
will share their first sailfish memory for a lifetime.
December 03, 2006 "Bite was hot!" by Captain Mike
The TunaRude crew consisting of Captain Mike Cochran, Randy Austin, Tom Turner and Karl Pappas headed out after a month of rough seas to see if the
bottom dwellers had arrived for the winter. Needless to say by the photos below - the bite was hot!! A few details...Kp got the sail with a 2" white bait we got
in the cast net at the ramp. TomT got a 13lb Trashcan on his first drop while jigging - Randy got a 6lb red porgy (HUGE porgy!), KP got a scamp for a nice triple
to start the day and the fish kept coming thanks to the Lowrance LCX-111C-HD fish finder showing Captain Mike where the fish were. Captain Mike laid down
his bottom rod to grab a spinner as a 15lb mahi swam up. The mahi hit the bottom bait suspended and did not fight. Captain Mike eased the confused fish to
the side of the boat where the mahi was introduced to a gaff! Then it went crazy! KP got a new AVET and spooled it Saturday pm. He got a scamp, a red
snapper and a 19lb gag on his first trip. Let's just say KP likes AVET!
October 22, 2006 - by Captain Mike
Reports of bottom fish had yet to heat up this late in the season but
Tunarude made a last minute call to head out and do some ‘recon.
The crew consisting of Captain Mike Cochran, Tom Turner, Dale
Badgett and Captain Jon “I am invisible” Turla headed out to do
some bottom bumping. With an approaching cold front (by Florida
standards) the hope was the fish would be chewing. Fishing was
slow in the morning but then the afternoon bite lit up and a nice box
of fish came home on ice thanks to perseverance and our
Lowrance LCX-111C-HD fish finder. Total was three Grouper and 4
Red Snapper for the dinner table. Great job guys.
Saturday September 2, 200 by Captain Mike
The Tunarude crew consisting of Mike Cochran, Tom “TT” Turner, and two of Captain Mike’s long lost buds Steve and Pat Lucas embarked on a trip to the 27
fathom ridge to target some bottom fish. Seas were calm and skies were clear but Ernesto left the waters dirty and cold. The crew hung tough sharing some
good memories and catching an assorted bag of grouper, flounder, kingfish, and sea bass. Captain Mike picked up a hot spot on the Lowrance LCX-111C-HD
display in 145’ of water and was greeted by a rod bending, drag burning fish that did not want to come off his hole. After a short fight the leader came up
frayed, a sure sign of a big grouper taking the bait back in the rocks far below. Next time!
Sunday August 27, 2006
The Tunarude crew consisting of Mike Cochran, Mark Wilson, Bill Taylor, John Turla and Scott Bradford ventured to the Otherside of the Gulfstream targeting
a late season Tuna run. While the morning was spent dodging numerous thunderstorms we where able to find birds and our targeted species using our
Lowrance LRA-5000 Open Array radar and LCX-111C-HD display. After fishing 5 packs of birds our fish box was filled with 14 Tuna. All fish where caught in
84.7 degree water at a range of 72-82 nm offshore Port Canaveral. The catch garnered Tunarude a quick snippet in the Florida Today Newspaper.
Copyright TUNARUDE 2006,2007
December 24, 2006 "Daughters First Cobia" By Capt Mark
Thanks to a tip from SC53 about the sea conditions and cobia near shore got me thinking about a
Christmas Eve bouy run! With relatives in town the window of opportunity was very small, I convinced the
family into a short 2 hour beach run with fried chicken and cold beers. We launched around 11:00 am
from the tiki bar and returned before 1:00 pm with my daughter landing her first cobia! Initially we ran the
bouy line for an hour, nada. Saw another vessel boxing up two brownies using live bait. I was only packing
a dozen live shrimp for triple tail and a cobia jig so we moved on. Not a lot of debri and we never saw a
triple tail. After positioning ourselves in the center of a huge pack of birds in front of the Cocoa Beach pier
with bait everywhere we found a nice size ray. Nothing in tow but we where in a "target rich environment"
so we continued to drift. Next was a pair of brown cookie cutters on the surface and after tossing them a
jig I thought we would land both on one hook! They each fought to hit this jig aggressively and the winner
was a 24 lbr that my daughter fought. Water temp was in the high 60's and very milky in color. On the way
in I put little DW at the helm to get his wheel time. The sooner he can handle the Tuna Rude, the sooner I
will fish again!
