A blue water eddy pushing into the canyons has been luring boats to the edge early this year. Early canyon runs have a reputation for being slow and unproductive, but lately people have been rewarded for their efforts in the deep. A tight weather window opened up this past Sunday into Monday so we headed out of Edgartown Harbor towards Atlantis Canyon.
Wind was just above 5 knots and the waves were 2-3 feet when we got south of the island and on past the hooter. There were 6 of us, 4 men and 2 ladies on the 36 ft Yellowfin, RAPTOR. Good to see so much life south of the island, gives me hope for the season to come. We ran into dolphins, whales and birds all working bait in the shipping lanes and north towards the Dump.
We arrived at the head of Atlantis Canyon around 3pm on Sunday, outriggers out, lines in. We started with a spread of bars, ballyhoo and plugs and started working the east wall along a weed line. Lots of seaweed in the water meant having to set and reset lures consistently. The work paid off when the inside outrigger got knocked down and a mahi came leaping out of the water behind the boat. A few minutes later a nice 10 pound mahi was pulled boat side.
We worked the weed line for a few hours and produced a number of good mahi over 10 pounds. At 7pm we came tight as we trolled past a high flyer. Everyone thought mahi based on the fight and the proximity to the high flyer, but when the leader came into view it was a skipjack who had inhaled the lone green machine. This fish was released and no more bites came before dark.
The current overnight made sword fishing difficult. Even with the sea anchor in and a cluster of bankers weights we had difficulty keeping baits down like we wanted. We were mid canyon, drifting from the west to the east wall in 35 minutes, having to reposition and reset as we came up into shallower water. Tough night of fishing in the current and no bites so we decided to get on the troll early and put the spread in around 4am.
The slow night ended around 4:30 when a small yellowfin ate a skirted ballyhoo trolled deep. Little guy, still nice to put the first yellowfin on board, and it’s only June! A while later the spread was attacked by skipjacks, we stayed in gear and watched them trash at lures until a number were hooked up. Lost most of these before the boat, tough to fit a big trolling hook in a little skipjack mouth. All skipjacks were released but provided some welcome excitement.
Around 8am we started heading north but ran into good signs of life so decided to investigate with jigs. What we found was the biggest school of small Bluefin I have ever seen, sounder was crazy looking. There was hundreds of fish swimming below the boat. Got some absolutely remarkable underwater video of the school of tunas as well.
Great adventure, had a couple nice catches by female anglers which is always a blast. Back the dock around noon Monday, everything cleaned, dried and put away safe for the next run. Gear up, its canyon season.