Fast-falling 7-ounce jig proved the undoing of this spunky blackfin tuna.

Sometimes a little competition is a good thing. Our two-boat trip to jig up a few blackfin tuna turned into just that, a little friendly competition. Three of us on one boat would go head-to-head against a crew of high schoolers. Our “old guy” crew consisted of a pair of seasoned anglers and a rookie, while my son’s team, on another boat, was a foursome of headstrong teenagers, each with all the cranking power of an electric reel.

Our plan was to make some quick drops on the Islamorada Hump for a few tasty blackfins prior to heading farther offshore in search of dolphin. Of course, with two boats to load and a bunch of teenagers as part of the crew, it is almost superfluous to report that we didn’t get off the dock at dawn or anywhere close. It was more on the order of late morning—with an arrival at the Hump as the sun was high. Certainly not the best time of day to coax tuna to bite.

Still, our first drops at the big seamount 12 miles southeast of Islamorada resulted in a tripleheader of hookups for the crusty old school crowd and a few swings and misses for the younger set. What made the difference? Well, youth being what it is, they decided to run right into the mix of trolling boats at the Hump, not paying much attention to where exactly they were and what the current might be doing. Instead, they just stopped and dropped. Once their jigs were down a ways, I could see from a distance a couple kids working like mad—rodtips jerking from the surface to high overhead and back down, again and again.

Our crew took a more leisurely initial approach. We idled in until the top of the Hump, in about 300 feet of water, was clearly defined on our sounder. Then we went dead stop to get a quick look at the current and drift. Winds were light, so all the boat movement was current-driven. And it was moving pretty fast, too. On the GPS we were showing a steady 2- to 3-knot drift. With the current speed and our exact location determined, we pointed our boat directly upcurrent of the Hump’s high spot and ran for about 500 feet. That would be our starting point for the first drift. As soon as the boat came to a stop, all three of us dropped jigs toward the bottom.

Trolling small lures is another easy technique.

Dropping to 300 or 400 feet can take some time, even with a heavy jig, so planning the drift is key. The idea is to get a bite before you hit bottom. Still, you’d like to have enough drop time to get the jig to or near the bottom at about the same time the drifting boat nears the top edge of the rapidly rising southwest face of the Hump. If we were not making it down in time we’d have extended the upcurrent run a little. Or, we would have shortened it if we were hitting bottom too far down the face.

Our first guess seemed to work pretty well, as all three of us hooked up before we reached the bottom or the boat reached the peak of the seamount. We ended up landing three fat blackfins, respectable fish between 5 and 10 pounds. Not bad for the first drop.