Veatch Canyon Report - 7-30-12

By Andy NabreskiAugust 6, 2012

Every trip to the Canyons is an adventure. Any time you head 100+ miles offshore, the adrenaline surges a little faster than the typical afternoon fishing trip. Last Sunday two OTW staff members hopped aboard two different boats out of Falmouth Harbor and made the voyage to the edge of the continental shelf.

As always, it was an amazing experience. The weather wasn’t cooperative, and neither were the fish, but the end result was a few fish in the box, and a few lessons learned in offshore fishing. Photos by Andy Nabreski and Matt Rissell.

frmReadMail_Attachment — I was fishing with OTW contributing writer Jon Pilcher aboard the TunanuT, a 33-foot HydraSport center console powered by twin Yamaha 250’s. She’s a fast, stable and dry ride. We cruised at just over 30 knots and got there quick; arriving at the edge of Veatch Canyon in around 4 hours.

frmReadMail_Attachment-1 — My co-worker Matt Rissell was riding with Larry Backman on the Skipjack, which is a 28-foot Carolina Classic. Larry’s boat is a fishing machine, and he’s a veteran of the Northeast Canyons, with over 80 trips under his belt.

frmReadMail_Attachment-2 — This 31-foot Edgewater, also out of Falmouth, was working Veatch Canyon as well. It was nice peace-of-mind having three boats working together, and we all stayed in contact throughout the trip and shared information.

frmReadMail_Attachment-3 — The TunanuT deploys a six-line trolling spread and begins the search. Note Jon’s homemade sword floats in front of the console.

frmReadMail_Attachment-4 — Larry Backman steers the Skipjack towards a pod of porpoises. We received some good reports from other boats heading back in from an overnighter, and we were greeted with signs of life as soon as we reached the canyon.

frmReadMail_Attachment-5 — Nice bloody deck! After 30-minutes on the troll, the TunanuT gets a knockdown, and we landed a nice yellowfin around 45- to 50-pounds.

frmReadMail_Attachment-6 — It’s always a great feeling to get the first tuna in the box. This fish was quickly bled and packed in ice.

frmReadMail_Attachment-7 — The iridescent colors of a fresh tuna are an amazing sight. These are incredible fish.

frmReadMail_Attachment-8 — Back on the troll, we decide to rig up a spinning rod so we could cast for mahi from the bow.

frmReadMail_Attachment-9 — These ”high flyers” are buoys with radar reflectors that offshore lobster boats use to mark their pots. They are bountiful on the edge of the canyons, and are magnets for mahi.

frmReadMail_Attachment-10 — The first highflyer we cast at gave up this nice mahi. These fish are usually overmatched on heavy trolling gear, but are a joy to catch on spinning gear. This one took an Ocean Lures Surface Swimmer. We ended up catching one other smaller mahi in the same manner.

frmReadMail_Attachment-11 — The Skipjack was next to hook up just as the day receded to darkness. Jackson Parmenter displays a glistening yellowfin that hit a ballyhoo on the long rigger.

frmReadMail_Attachment-12 — It’s always wise to troll into the darkness in the canyons. Bigeye tuna are notorious for hitting in the dark, and yellowfin will continue to hit as well. As soon as they got the lines back in, a second yellowfin crashed the spread, and made it’s way into the cockpit.

frmReadMail_Attachment-13 — As full darkness set in, we cleared the lines and set up a good drift for the night. It would end up being a cold, dank, rough and windy night. A steady northeast wind refused to let up, and it would turn into a long and uncomfortable overnighter.

frmReadMail_Attachment-14 — Jon is a swordfish specialist, and prefers to fish in water deeper than 1,200 feet. He uses a large Hydro Glow light to attract squid to the boat, which helps attract the swords.

frmReadMail_Attachment-15 — But Veatch Canyon didn’t provide us with much life that night. All three boats reported an unusually low amount of bait. We saw a few squid, and were paid a visit by this five-inch mahi, but all three boats would end up fishless that night.

frmReadMail_Attachment-16 — As the sun came back around the horizon, all three boats resumed the troll. All of the tuna caught so far came on ballyhoo behind blue-and-white islanders, so the crews included more of them into the spreads. Jackson prepares three extra rigged ballyhoo, so they can be quickly clipped on and set out if the action gets fast. These baits don’t hold up well to missed hits, so check them often.

frmReadMail_Attachment-17 — Around 7:00 am, the Skipjack hooks up their third yellowfin. Once again, it chose a ballyhoo behind an Illander.

frmReadMail_Attachment-18 — This would be the final fish of the trip for all three boats. Sometimes fish don’t like to cooperate, and this would be one of those trips. Three boats spent countless hours pounding the Canyon, and only came up with 6 fish to show for. It wasn’t an epic trip in terms of the fishing, but every trip to the edge is an adventure to be remembered. The Canyons are a magical place, and I can’t wait to get back out there.

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