This is a fishery I've wanted to see ever
since I was a kid. This water here
brackish or straight salt? When I think
of Cape Cod game fish there's really
only two species that come to mind one
is the bluefin tuna and the other
species is the striped bass. Tyler the owner and captain
of a Cynthia C harpoon boat. The
harpoon fishery is extremely intriguing
to me there is no by catch.
this is a cleanest fishery there is
Tyler has it down to an exact science
all right go ahead I got a flash I got
em 12 o'clock 12 o'clock.  My name is
Ali Hussainy
I grew up in Southern California and now
operate one of the largest sport fishing
websites in the world
just another day at the office. My office not yours. Laughing.
I"m Rush Malt Florida Keys
native and career fishing guide for the
past 20 years. When I come out to
California you can let me catch all the
300-pound tunas. Passion is our
profession and we know there's more to
fishing than just the catch.  There's a
good mark. I'm not superstitious but
that's bad luck.  whew
Get with um come with um.
We explore the people places and species
that make up the culture of fishing
You know coming from California when I
think of Cape Cod I think of a few
different things I think of lobster
rolls summer vacation beautiful summer
homes overlooking the water
the Kennedys big old houses and giant
lawns families enjoying the warm summer
weather here along the beach the other
thing that I think of when I think of
Cape Cod is of course the famous movie
Jaws. That's a good one I would say he's
a solid 12 feet it doesn't like us now
he doesn't like the boat
yeah that's a solid 12 footer Wow coming
back at the boat gonna eat the boat one
shark I haven't seen and I've always
wanted to see is the great white shark I
was hoping to see you know that iconic
animal that was awesome thank you. When I
think of Cape Cod game fish there's
really only two species that come to
mind you know one is the bluefin tuna a
fish that I love love to chase and the
other species is the striped bass and in
my mind that's the iconic every man's
fish on the East Coast. This water here
brackish or straight salt? This is
straight salt in this this place. I take a
lot of clients from the Northeast and
a fish they talk about a lot is the
striper I mean it's pretty much their
staple up here in the Northeast
yep go around the net yep. What's really
cool about these striped bass is you can
catch them in a lot of different ways
you can catch them bottom fishing just
like we would back home
you could catch them on artificials but
one of the ways we caught these fish was
rip fishing which was a really cool
experience. See him eat it right there on
the surface
see him we got his mouth. They catch him
in all sorts of ways in every location
and this was something that we had to do
I know I felt a couple whacks I might
have just got robbed. Enter our new
friend Colin Lundhome this guy is young
he's a hustler he is on it all season
long and he is the guy to put you on
that big striped bass so these fish are
actually coming up on these sand flats
with big waves breaking on them and
you're actually seeing the fish surfing
down the wave casting artificial s or
live baits in to um and watching them
literally follow the baits all the way
up until they hit the bait. I got um
coming now. Yeah that's a nice fish see
him yeah and hey look at them swimming
down the wave right there isn't that cool. Look at that big old mouth
that's a good one man now I go to oh ye
holy fish that's the guy right there
dude I'm stoked seriously thank you
that's a cos I'm good I'm going to let
him go yeah that's my kind of fish big
aggressive and also great table fare
bunker other thing that's really wrong
yeah there eat squid bunker and then
they get really tough to hook when
they're on sand eels and like little
rain bait here looks like it's the right
flavor that was a good one
sweet I've never never got one of the
ocean I've caught some freshwater ones
in rivers and lakes but never one the
ocean how does it work calling you guys
go by slot limits right so 28 and above
you can keep recreationally and then
commercially 34 inches in above but how
BIG's that guy
28 29 let's just say let's say he's
right it's 28 yeah awesome awesome
awesome so we let this guy go yeah go
for it
no striped bass in my mind is a really
awesome game fish it almost reminds me
of the Northeast yellowtail or Florida's
cobia almost look like cobia back yeah
they're so fat what are they feeding on
these ones out here been feeding on sand
eels I mean lately all these birds
picking up the surface here I've always
been fascinated by them but never caught
any somebody can tell you how a fish
bites they can try and explain it to you
but until you actually catch one and
fight one you're never really gonna
realize what that fish has to offer
until you experience it for yourself
wow they are squirrely every time they
turn and shake their head and swear
you're gonna lose them huh cookie
cutters yeah your bread-and-butter short
season we have like I'll fish May
through some May through August fish
drivers and then that's it you know
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started local knowledge one of the
things I've really enjoyed is being able
to go out with different fishermen from
all over the world oh man these are cool
I'd like even scale down the gear on
this guy right here I'm using this
little I mean it's fun on this and it's
nice after guiding people my whole life
to actually get guided now where is the
bulk of the charter fleet they just
spread out all over the place they've
they run little boats like you're
running here bigger prize some bigger
Downeast bullets and stuff yeah there's
a little better 33 inches of me might be
34 I want to learn all I can from these
different fishermen and you know what
they have to offer there we go right on
the bird all right with any fishery
there's your bread-and-butter fishery
that's that fish you're gonna leave the
dock and know that you have a good
chance of catching one or a lot of those
fish so these guys are up feeding on the
little fry man oh we're seeing in the
water this would be like good on the fly
yeah running and gunning yep yep because
they're on that little beat so four
you know San Diego it's the yellowtail
the keys we have quite a few of them up
here in the Northeast the
bread-and-butter fish is the striped
bass so little boat boats
I love the Northeast I love them too I
think these things for what I do at home
would be killer top anywhere hey guys
hey how's it going good eye speech man I
look owner and captain of the Cynthia C
harpoon boat thanks for having us out
we're stoked to check out your fishery
here up here in the Northeast and
particularly Cape Cod area this is a
fishing culture both commercial and
sport with very very deep roots awesome
boat 38 Holland yeah this is built up
here locally yeah it's built up in
Belfast Maine all of the culture all the
flavor all the awesome scenery aside
we're here on a mission and our mission
is to learn more about a couple of
species you know that this area is known
for how long you been in this fishery
I've been since I've been fishing since
85 I was 17 when that harpoon my first
fashion I've caught plenty of bluefin
tuna in a lot of different places I've
caught the biggest in PEI I've caught
some of the smallest at home but there's
one technique that I have not
experienced and that is that North East
harpoon fishery there is no bike catches
this is a cleanest fishery there is the
harpoon fishery is extremely intriguing
to me I grew up in a background in the
keys of spear fishing this is the
shooting we call the shooting line this
is the first hundred and 25 feet of the
rig the rig consists of this the
shooting line and then 500 feet of hot
wire for lobster more three-eighths-inch
one thing I really enjoy doing is
picking other fisherman's brains it's
specially fishermen like Tyler the
harpoon is 12 feet long and it's got to
weight it in made of brass the dart will
come off completely free the harpoon
will slide up the line those fish show
usually have to want a clock so that's
why you need
really nice conditions into the after
service and then you know like fisherman
the fisherman the book opens up next
thing you know he's showing us sort of
the tricks of the trade and this is why
I rig like this and this is why I stab
this rope custom made with wire going
through it so I can zap these SOPs as
soon as I get a harpoon in them I lean
in so you can think about it I'm leaning
in the belly rails hit me right about my
hips so I'm leaning forward I got one
I'm like this but you got your feet
staggered like this right yeah I'd like
some like this this would be so hard
this dick boat fishery is really very
similar to the California historic sword
fishery that we have there with the
harpoon coming into a fish you've got
two guys in the tower one guy comes down
the tower walks the plank now you've got
a wheelman and you've got a harpoon man
is you gonna have ice running through
your veins you're standing over a five
thousand ten thousand dollar bill and
you got to put that harpoon on the mark
on a moving target from a plank on a
moving boat just think about that that
is not an easy thing to do I always say
you know you can learn a lot more from a
pro in a couple of days of mission with
them then you could ever figure out
years of doing it yourself and Tyler is
a pro and this is his fishery and he
really has a lot
you
you know whenever we go to a new place
one of the first things we seek out the
fish house this is our what we call our
brine tank so after the fish are landed
the fisherman will bleed it out right
after they cut it catch it whether it's
harpooned or rotten real the fish house
that we checked out here the Wellfleet
seafood company
these guys know tuna skin fat there is
that light light orange color all right
like a steak they know how to process
the tuna they know how to chill a tuna
they know how to grade a tuna they know
how to sell it - this is a very
obviously a very regulated fishery so
every fish as soon as it's caught as
soon as we buy the fish we put our tag
on its left that's that yellow that's
this orange tag here you can't think
about this place without having an
appreciation for its deep connection to
the ocean and what the ocean provides
for the people here and has provided for
a long long time
our porting is the most selective
fishery of all the commercial fisheries
one ant you're targeting one animal
there's no hooks involved so you don't
you know it's not a mystery of what
you're going after or what bit the hook
it's you're going after a specific
animal
I look it
our forwarding tunafish very much like I
look at deer hunting be honest it's
almost identical
Tyler has it down to an exact science
where he's harvesting that one fish at a
time we we see him up running
mic will take control of the wheel and
I'll get down the front end the pulpit
see if we can't sneak up close enough to
one and take a shot with the harpoon
we'll have the plane up
about ten o'clock or so start helping us
out
yeah definitely yeah climb back up what
do you think about it right in here
let's look all right it's good-looking
conditions the plane serves multiple
birth you know sir purposes I'm a
warning
Scouty areas real quick looking for tuna
fish obviously basically is to think
about it it's just an 800 foot Tower
bluefin is kind of a unique tuna one of
the most interesting things about the
bluefin in my mind is the distances they
travel why they travel where they travel
the sizes that grow to in certain areas
you know our average fish is thirty
pounds but that average fish in PEI is
700 pounds that fish in the Gulf might
be 500 pounds it's just a unique species
that occurs really in every shape and
size you can imagine and they get caught
in almost every corner of the world it's
probably one of the most notorious fish
for a lot of reasons
yeah I see okay I'm right on doing it
got him right there you know what those
are right those were 50 pound stripers
yeah there's tuna in here gummies Dougie
saw there's tuna in here you know going
into this I had a feeling gonna be a lot
of riding around a lot of waiting but
when it was time to go it's time to go
how far you got him I got him I got him
I got him I got him right there eleven
o'clock Tyler to me is the best at what
he does there's a reason there's only
one person who gets out on that pulpit
when it's good time I got I got residual
a were right here let him square up Mike
let him get up for a second it's a skill
and it's not a skill that you build
overnight this has honed over years and
years of experience so what happened
there Tyler were they just porpoising up
and down or no they were they're up just
up on the surface we were only picking a
direction they were we did spend about
six or seven hours on the boat we had a
lot of opportunities the plane it
spotted spots of fish you know we had a
couple false alarms with some big
striped bass saw some fish quite a few
miles away ran for a ways to get up to
him by the time we got there the fish
had gone down started getting late in
the day and our spotter plane literally
was low on fuel and had to go in you
know at that moment you're kind of
thinking in your head well this this
might be over you're our eyes in the sky
or they're gone basically you know now
we're totally dependent on our own eye
right there at 12 o'clock about three
boats okay
12:30 right there see him roll in the
white water you got them all right there
swimming all right go ahead I got collar
I got a flash go go go go go
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a little bit too left go left a little
bit go left okay square up on them now
square up on them now
the thing that really blew me away about
this fishing was everybody on the boat
is in the game let me know where you got
call up now the excitement starts the
adrenaline starts going you're seeing
fish I got him twelve o'clock twelve
o'clock start making our way towards
them you know you're kind of thinking
all they're gonna stay up
well these fish did stay up
follow K give me on him I got him
I don't think so
good good good good good good good good
good slow me down slow me down slow me
down that's a monster guys that is a
monster freakin fish all right you're
about to see a recreation of Jaws I
don't know I don't know wise it's out
nope he's not dead he's going say
goodbye
one thing that marks a true fisherman
and I was not just thinking about that
one fish his efficiency was so good he
was able to actually get a fish get him
on the high flyer got fish just popped
up off the bow have another rig rigged
up ready to go and we actually got a
shot at another fish stick another
winner we're gonna go free rigged Mike
keep your eye out for him again they
might come right back up like they did
earlier
got another dart in another fish here we
are fighting two fish two fish over 500
pounds he is deader than a doornail he's
dead let's do our dead thing what are we
doing dead fish make sure he starts side
down get that tarp nice and wet and get
there electrocuting that fish that fish
dies immediately no lactic acid no
burnout
they bring that fish into the boat in a
matter of minutes all right let's get
that fish bleeding
it's bled gutted and packed with ice
there's no finer product and that's why
Tyler gets out of bed at 3 a.m. every
morning you tell me when you want me to
go back what's right on the bottom 157
feet down this is a fishery I've wanted
to see ever since I was a kid
what more exciting fishery is there than
being out on a 20-foot pole play with a
20-foot spear chasing one of the biggest
animals that roam our oceans probably
the biggest thing that I learned here
was the respect and the dedication that
these harpoon guys have for this fishery
coming here and having the opportunity
to fish with Pilar was a great
experience just meeting the guy just
talking to him even if I never stepped
foot on his boat would have been a great
experience the guy is a wealth of
knowledge the guy is a true Waterman a
true fisherman he loves these fish he's
dedicated to these fish he's chasing him
with a passion and he is stewarding his
fish and taking them the way they should
be taken this is a unique place and we
will definitely be done
I've really fallen in love with the
North East Cape College specially and
planned on coming back very soon
