Tuna Fishing Begins at 50
“My love of the sea and fishing began at a very early age. I liken it to two reasons. One, I was born on the 17th of March so I’m a Pisces, sign of “the fish.” Other is, my uncle Mike had a sportfishing boat as far back as I can remember. I would salivate just thinking of going fishing with him and my cousins, Mickey and Henry.”
I met Vincent “Vinnie” Petrucillo and his wife Cheryl this past summer in Pt. Judith, R.I. when AJ and I were visiting good friends Ken Rockefeller and Cindy Facey. Vinnie’s a storyteller. I was quickly absorbed with his tales of fishing, and by the fact of his not taking up offshore tuna fishing until age 50. Would have been impossible for me to even begin to take notes that evening so we made a loose date to get together this winter here in Florida where he could tell the stories again over a few beers at the Tiki Hut.
“A single mom, my mother brought me and my older brother up. Although she was an angel, she had a tremendous fear of the water. Probably from a childhood girlfriend who had drowned. She was very reluctant about letting me go fishing or be on the water in any boat. At least she compromised and took me to the docks and jetties at Port of Galilee in Pt. Judith where I could fish from shore to the wee hours as she watched close by. Never really caught much, maybe an eel or choggy, but it’s where I learned you have to learn to love the fishing, not so much the catching, and I sure did that.”
In September, Vinnie and his mother would go back to Galilee and watch the Giant Tuna being brought in during the Atlantic and the Rhode Island tuna tournaments. One year his 17 year-old cousin Mickey, fishing on his dad’s boat, hooked and landed a 647-lb Giant Blue Fin and took 2nd place. Vinnie was hooked, but for now he had to store the dreams away.
“From High School, to College, to marriage and raising three wonderful children, my fire for the sea and tuna never really burned out. Oh, I’d do some fresh water fishing up in Ontario, Canada, and some bass fishing in New England, but I knew it would never be the same. After some 35 years, I hooked up with a childhood friend, Ron Lombardo who had an Albermarle 22. Between us we learned how to fish for Stripers and could feel comfortable running out to Block Island. We got pretty good at finding them and seldom came back empty handed. Then, in my early 50’s, I was fortunate to have achieved a financial position when I could purchase my first real boat, a used Grady-White, 23' with twin outboards. Ron had found the boat for me and then also found a cottage for Cherie and me on Point Judith Pond. It was almost too good to be true. I could begin to dream realistic dreams now about catching tuna.”
Problem was, tuna fishing was a whole different ball game than pulling in a few Largemouth Bass or renting a cabin and boat on a remote Ontario lake and trolling for Pike and Walleyes. Vinnie had a bunch of catching up to do. Began reading tuna fishing books, studied old fishing newspapers, and “loitered” in free time at the tackle stores. He bought used tuna gear, lures, and assorted tackle and rods and then figured out how to use them. He chuckles even now about the 14' gaff he bought, still hidden away from embarrassment. “It wouldn’t even fit on the boat. Can’t imagine using it on anything smaller than a Great White.”
With the “new” Grady, Vinnie could begin to fish further out. “We’d go over to Block for a week or two in the summer, run out a ways, do some chunking with fish lights on. There’d be flashes of tuna coming by. These fish were so full of energy, green with energy. One would hook up and we’d hang on for dear life. First fish ever really hooked, we were able to bring up to the surface quickly. Ron was standing ready with a 6' gaff and I started to say, “Don’t gaff on the first pass.” Fever and excitement had taken over. Ron gaffed it, but the tuna had so much energy it just kept on travelling, gaff and all.
“I loved the Grady, but it’s 150-gal. tank and wide body wasn’t really safe enough to get me out to the offshore tuna grounds. I still promise my mother in heaven I will be safe every time I venture out. Always a three-day window. We could run out as far as “The Horns,” 35 miles off of Block for an overnight, and we did catch about a 100-lb. Yellowfin one night which did a tail walk for me. Then we lost another gaff and fish after hooking it in the head. Then, right after, we caught a 70-lb. It was big. The two of us could just get it in the boat.”
“Night before we’d also had some extraordinarily good fortune trolling late in the afternoon. Had 7 rods out. Two on outriggers, four on two spreader bars and one mid line with a daisy chain of assorted lures when 4 rods went down at once and then a couple of lines start to cross. Nothing we can do but keep the boat going in a straight line and try to sort them out. More fish started to attack the other baited lines and those hooked up. One rod breaks in half. Then a retrieving spreader bar gets hooked under the trim tab.” This mangled mess finally begins to resolve and they’ve pulled three tuna into the boat. Vinnie then realizes the line from the hooked spreader bar and now broken rod is laying quietly on the water. He separates the spreaderbar from the trim tab, gently tugs on the line and feels pressure. With quick thinking on Ron’s part they cut the lures off another rod, part the broken rod line, and tie it to the new rod line. Slowly, with ultimate care, Ron begins to reel it in. Dilemna now is whether there’s room on this reel for more line as well. Slow and deliberate, the line fills the spool. Up to the sides of the reel. Leveler is just moving as tuna comes to gaff range. One chance and Bingo! Another waterborne memory!
“But I still had dreams for bigger and better. I wanted, yes, needed, a bigger boat.”
To be continued......
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Summer Salad
Great dishes often take a bit of titravation, but I find it’s really difficult to screw up a summer salad. Generally, it’s whatever’s in the vegetable drawer that has the appearance of “leafy” or close thereof. Keeping in mind a good individual portion of salad is an open handful, last night’s salad was composed of arugula (also terrific on sandwiches instead of lettuce), romaine lettuce, baby spinach, dried cranberries, chopped walnuts, and some cantaloupe. Also high-temp sauteed a small amount of chopped sweet onion and green beans. I had a bottle of creamy Vidalia onion dressing of which I took about an eighth cup and double amount of half/half cream and mixed well. Wasn’t a leaf in the bowl left to be had.