A Trip to Oceanographer's Canyon

After fishing with and against Tommy Howd over the last two years in some of our region’s premier shark tournaments, we were recently able to switch gears and go after our real passion — chasing tuna at the canyons. The Howd family boat TOKATOMIST had just taken 4th at the 2013 Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament when he invited me out for the boat’s first overnight to the canyons. Tommy mated this offseason for the Canyon Runner down in North Carolina while his father Tom Howd built the 61′ custom Richie Howell TOKATOMIST, a very similar boat to those that Tommy mated on. I had been excited to hear about the boat’s progress all winter, so taking this maiden voyage out the canyons was a can’t-miss opportunity. Our crew would include all of the Howd boys – Tom, Tommy, Mike, and Steve – along with Will Powell and Seamus Joyce.

I met up with the Howd family and friends around midnight in South Dartmouth, MA early on August 3rd. After a quick conference, we reviewed reports, possible destinations, the overnight weather forecast, and water temperature charts. The Northeast Canyons are a long run south, and despite the weather we faced on the way out, we decided to go long and target the tip of Oceanographers Canyon, 130+ miles from the dock. We had heard some solid reports from the weekend prior but due to heavy storms in the past few days, no boats had been out to report on the action. Making the long run on only a few positive fishing reports was a gamble and we knew it. However, the overnight weather was laying down and a nice temperate break had formed over the walls and tip of the canyon. We pushed off from the dock leaving Padanaram Harbor around 1am and began our run through Buzzards Bay, cutting through Quicks Hole into Vineyard Sound and then steaming south past the Vineyard, Nomans, and into the open ocean.

The comfort and speed of TOKATOMIST was spectacular. With Tom Howd at the helm we cut through 4-6′ foot seas with ease cruising around 30 knots. Tommy and I started rigging ballyhoo as the sun was rising just south of the shipping lanes. Despite the 6 hour trip to get out to Oceanographers, the crew maintained their excitement for seeing what the blue water was holding. Finally, Tom throttled back 5 miles north of the canyon and we deployed our 12 rod spread. Our setup consisted of Canyon Runner bars, Bigeye Runners, Birds and ballyhoo and 3oz Joe Shutes with rigged ballyhoo.

After only twenty minutes of trolling, one of the 50s exploded and line peeled all the way to the dacron – most likely a nice tuna. Tommy’s younger brother Steve stepped up to the fish and we started clearing the spread to make room for what would become a serious battle. Steve was working hard on the fish but it was clear that it wasn’t your average 40 pound yellowfin. After 8 minutes in the harness we saw the brilliant colors of a nice tuna shine through the blue canyon water and fish was leaded, gaffed, and brought through the tuna door and we could celebrate. We all were surprised with the size. The tuna weighed in the mid 80-pound range and was the biggest yellowfin any of us had seen in the Northeast Canyons — an awesome way to break TOKATOMIST in on her maiden voyage out to the edge.

We put the spread back in immediately and circled back to our numbers, but we couldn’t raise any more tuna. We continued south to find the temperature break to the south over the deeper water of the canyon proper. It wasn’t until an hour later on the fringe of a rain cell that we found some storm petrels working around high flyers and some large porpoise feeding. Suddenly Tommy screamed “Marlin!” and we all saw a bill in the spread. Outrigger clips started popping on after the other as we saw more fins, bills, and even one fish eat a ballyhoo right off the transom. Finally, one of the rods went tight after getting wolf packed by white marlin. Mike Howd stepped up to the rod to fight a healthy white around 70 pounds. After some aerobatics, the fish started digging deep and running. We all thought we had the fish after it had finished its airborne routine, but we ended up pulling the hook 10 minutes into the fight.

The marlin loss was a tough break but we had found a big body of them, so Tom circled back for a second crack at it. SNAP! — another ballyhoo pulled from the clip but didn’t stay tight. Tommy dropped a pitch bait back to try and pick up a second marlin but it avoided the hook as well. Then, a 3rd hit on the rainbow bigeye runner connected and we were on again. Tommy gave it a good set to make sure we wouldn’t suffer our third break off in a row. The fish didn’t show itself, but we knew it was a nice white. After a quick fight, Tommy got the fish boat side, passed the rod and with the help of his two brothers, he leadered, billed, and pulled the marlin onboard TOKATOMIST – another first for the boat and for myself. We were all ecstatic to finally get a shot at redemption. Tom looked down from the helm and said, “Nice job boys”. We took a few photos and released the fish.

We continued south to the tip of the canyon and trolled into dark. It wasn’t until we were about to pull the spread in that we had a three rod knockdown. Will, Seamus, and I got behind the rods as the crest of the crew cleared the lines and made room for three healthy longfin albacore tuna to add to the box. It was a nice way to end the day and set-up for the night bite.

Despite the slow night, there was plenty of squid and life in the light Unfortunately, we didn’t get any takers on our squid hook-baits. Tom turned the engine around 4am and Tommy, Will, and I were in the cockpit getting ready to head back on the troll just before first light. We set the spread in the dark and we watched the sun come up over the ocean. I remember watching some porpoises play just off our bow with Will when the long rigger popped and line started screaming off a 50-wide. Tommy and I cleared the spread while Will hopped on the rod and started the battle. I prepared the gaff and stood next to Will, waiting to see the first nice yellowfin of the day. As the fish came up to the surface I saw a pointed snout that clearly wasn’t a tuna. The fish then slashed sideways and I saw the stripes of a very large wahoo. I yelled to Tommy, “I need a second gaff!”.

We both stuck the big wahoo and pulled it over the gunnels and the three of us started celebrating. “Nice job boys!”, we heard again from the tower as we set the spread back out. After getting the lines back out we had a second to check out the fish. The wahoo weighed in at 80 to 90 pounds and was yet another first for TOKATOMIST.

Less than 10 minutes later, we saw white water on the center rigger but the rod didn’t come tight. A second after that, a long rigger popped and we were on again. Steve was on the rod and we quickly pulled in another wahoo around 40 pounds.

As we kept trolling north out of the canyon and on our way home, the center rigger went off again. I made sure we stayed tight on the fish from the tower and passed the rod down to Tommy and Seamus, who strapped into the harness and started recovering the 300 yards of lost line. Tommy leadered the fish when we saw color and he and Steve gaffed a 60-pound yellowfin — our last fish of the trip. Everyone agreed it was a great way to end our canyon run and we set a course for home.

It’s always a pleasure fishing with the Howd family and I feel very fortunate that I was able to be onboard the TOKATOMIST for its maiden voyage to the Northeast Canyons. It’s a fishy crew and boat and I can guarantee that you will be hearing its name again in the near future.