Canyons
Northeast winds and big seas are not the offshore fisherman’s friend, but unfortunately we’ve had a healthy dose of that over the past 72 hours. The most recent reports from the edge came from some of the large party boats that were able to rough it in the building seas this week. The Viking Fleet out of Monatuk, NY found good numbers of 30-to 50-pound yellowfin tuna along with a keeper swordfish and a 125-pound mako. The Helen-H out of Hyannis, MA tallied 37 tuna (yellowfin and longfin) and a handful of mahi on a recent 3-day trip out to Hydrographers, Oceanographers and Welkers canyons. Captain Joe departed on another 3-day canyon mission Tuesday and is set to return today. From the sound of it, he found the fish again early on, and before the end of the first day had 7 yellowfin, two longfin and one nice mahi in the boat. The Voyager out of Point Pleasant, NJ has been heading to the deep in search of tilefish, and has been finding a number of very impressive fish. Pool fish are generally in the 25- to 40-pound range, and a mix of rosefish, barrelfish and other odd-looking deepwater species are making each trip interesting.
Some boats did make it offshore over the weekend. The Jenny Lee had 8 nice yellowfin on Reel Seat Rainbow Runner spreader bars and released a 750-pound blue marlin in Hudson Canyon. Low Bid was out in the Hudson as well and put a 276-pound Big Eye on the deck.
Some action was also had in the Washington Canyon, though that’s a bit out of range for most boats, even out of Cape May. There looks to be some good water gathering in the Baltimore Canyon, however, so when the seas subside, a number of anglers will likely head there.
Seas are expected to drop to 2 to 4 feet on Saturday before bumping back up to 3 to 5 on Sunday, as of this writing. These aren’t the most comfortable conditions, but many larger boats willing to take some abuse can still get out there and fish.
Bluefin
Not much too report on the bluefin front, largely due to lack of effort. Anglers have been chomping at the bit to get back out after the bluefin which seemed to kick their feeding into second gear after Irene passed, at least on Cape Cod. When seas calm down, expect to find the bluefin on Peaked Hill Bar and Stellwagen Bank again. Some giant tuna have made their way into Cape Cod Bay, and live bluefish or mackerel will be the ticket for doing your best David and Goliath reenactment with a 400- to 800-pound bluefin.
For the record, let me fill in a bit. It was rough as hell out there
until 2am when it laid down. At that time my crew was resting
and I was busy casting
for mahi ( which never showed) catching squid and chunking.
Not one giggle on any rod all evening until about 3am when I
heard the click, click, click of the deep bait. Sword? I rushed
over to the reel, the clicking stopped then I waited 10 seconds
and began to reel like a banshee. There was no resistance until
about 2 mins later when the fish decided to wake up. I worked
it for a few minutes then asked for a belt. Just then the rod bent into the
the infamous U and it was a big fish. I fought it a bit but then
decided to see if Capt Chris wanted to bring it in. He harnessed
up and got on the fish. 45 mins later we heard a bang and the
entire top reel stand arm was bent out of shape and the top reel
seat had cracked under the pressure of the fight! This was a
Penn 50 2sopd and custom rod! Now Chris is lock up to the reel
which is dangling from the rod. Luckily the fish decided not to
move even though we had 28lbs of drag on him. After several
unsuccessful ideas of how to re-rig, our man, BobbyNA did a
splice. It actually worked! Amazed, Chris continued to fight while
Luke stood by with one gaff and Bobby with another and me
with gloves to take the bill. As the ghostly figure came to the
boat we all looked at the silvery shadow. Sword!! Yes! Minutes
later he was done with 2 gaffs and a bill holder, steadily moved
to the tuna door and slid into the cockpit. Yeah baby. Estimated
200+lbs with a girthy 76″ body and long sword. Great crew work and great
dinners for all.
Awesome story Jeff!