Anglers leave Port Aransas, haul in huge offshore catch
By David Sikes

Thursday, January 26, 2012

CORPUS CHRISTI — Folks in Port Aransas and far beyond are still talking about one of the most successful tuna trips in recent party boat history.
Scat Cat Capt. Russell Sanguinet out of Fisherman's Wharf earned hero status when he returned Sunday from a 56-hour offshore trip with 72 yellowfin tuna mostly between 80 and 120 pounds each, 120 blackfin tuna, roughly 400 vermilion snapper, four dorado, three or four brushytail grouper and a 167-pound mako shark.
There is no bag limit on blackfin tuna, but house rules at Fisherman's Wharf limited each angler to five. The bag limit on yellowfin is three per angler.
"Word spread pretty quickly that the Scat Cat was coming in with a heck of a catch," said Fisherman's Wharf manager Scott Garrison. "By the time the boat pulled in there were 50 to 100 people waiting at the dock."
The 80-foot catamaran left Port Aransas at 6 a.m. Jan. 19 with 24 anglers who paid $700 each for a shot at catching the tasty and coveted yellowfin tuna. The yellowfin is considered the Gulf's premier big-game tuna, reaching weights of nearly 400 pounds. The boat traveled about 140 miles, charting a south-southeast course. The exhausted crew and passengers returned about 2 p.m. Sunday to an excited crowd of curious onlookers, Garrison said.
"We generally see smiling faces at the end of these tuna trips," he said. "But after this trip everyone was really singing praises to (Capt.) Russell and the crew."
Surprisingly, this trip does not represent the most successful outing for the young veteran seaman, who has been a captain at Fisherman's Wharf for four years. A November 2010 trip resulted in about 8,000 pounds of fish for Sanguinet. This week's trip yielded closer to 7,000 pounds.
Highlights of the trip included schools of 3-foot squid attacking the blackfin tuna as nighttime anglers reeled them in, a daytime yellowfin surface bite and the spectacular above-surface acrobatics of big makos.
"Just a good day fishing," Sanguinet said. "We had great conditions and dynamite fishermen. That makes a big difference."
The ship's manifest included passengers from Hong Kong, New York, New Jersey, California, Houston and Dallas.
"Those guys from New York were pretty impressed," Sanguinet said. "This was their first time down here, but they'll be back."