Trip to West Atlantis 8/15/09-8/16/09

Better late than never. The following was posted on ctfisherman.com which we recently joined to share offshore information with fellow enthusiasts.

Called Jeff Woerz for a spot on his boat Thursday at 11:oopm. He said the boat was down but that he could put together a few guys for a trip on my 55' Ocean. Left Sat 6:00 am, topped off in Montauk and started our troll about 14 miles from the wall. Struck out on the troll and went to 1500-3000 feet for the chunk. Decided to drift because it was so still out there.
Things started heating up in the early morning. With tuna in the slick and makos circling we got a very large albie. We then hooked a large Mako but didn't set the hook. After a few jumps he was free. We then hooked a bigeye who had all but spooled the 50w when we were able to gain some ground by backing down. He then outsmarted us by going straight down where he spooled us. Back on the troll in the early am we hooked two large Mahi heading back toward the edge. We finished off the morning with a White Marlin who managed to dehook himself after a few jumps. All in all it was a great trip where we were schooled by the fish. The weather was incredible, the boat ran like a charm and everyone had a great time. A special thankyou to Jeff for sharing his extensive fishing knowledge and Aldo,David,David, Rich and Adrian.

Dave with his Mahi.

Two giant bulls in the box.

Adrian with a large alby.

Rich driving home after his first offshore trip. Look how straight that wake is.

Canyon Report 7-18/7-19

The Small Fortune took a late-planned canyon trip this weekend after hearing of good yellowfin catches at Block Canyon (Fish Tails). We sailed out of Port Milford at 5:30am on Saturday, with Capt Steve, Andrew, Patrick, Glenn, and me aboard. After a detour to fix an oil filter in West Haven, we took off to Montauk to get bait/ice/fuel.

The weather was beautiful, but the seas were a bit rough when we got around the point. It was, hmm, let's call it a fishable 6-8 foot sea. All I know is that we didn't cruise out there at full speed, so you know it was a bit sporty when the 55' Small Fortune has to slow down. Absolutely safe and fishable, that's all that mattered. We started trolling north of the canyon and got a strike IMMEDIATELY after putting the second line out. Unfortunately, it was just a skipjack tuna (which were EVERYWHERE). For those that don't know, skippies do not have any business being near a dinner plate. We released double digit amounts of these little tuna, and kept a few for bait.

There wasn't much but skippies for a while, but Glenn took the wheel and buzzed us past a lobster pot buoy and we hooked up with a real nice bull mahi on the green machine spreader bar. Andrew reeled it in like a pro:



Eventually we caught what we were looking for, a yellowfin tuna on the same green machine spreader bar. This first yellowfin was short of the 27" legal limit, so it became the first yellowfin I've ever had to throw back. Shortly after, we did get a keeper yellowfin on the boat's secret weapon lure, a purple bird daisy chain with a purple jet head hook bait. So now we had a nice mahi and a yellowfin in the box.

Once the sun set, we set up for the night chunk. It was still pretty rough out there (weather man was a little premature on his "wind will die down at night" prediction. In reality, it didn't die down until sunday morning). The tuna weren't around, and this was the first time that we didn't see massive amounts of squid and baitfish in and around our hydroglow light. We figured we were in a tuna-less area but it was too dark and rough to move spots. So we put out the shark chum to see what we could find.

Not twenty minutes after setting out the chum, we had a tournament quality mako show up. Glenn quickly fileted one of the skipjacks we kept for bait and fed the shark. This thing took it immediately and the fight was on. Andrew got on the rod and fought it hard for about 30 minutes. This fish was fast and was very interested in getting wrapped up in the boat and gear. Under normal sharking circumstances, we'd be able to maneuver the boat to fight the fish better, but being that it was rough and after midnight, we didn't like the risk involved with coming off the anchor and chasing the fish. So you can see where this is going, we ended up losing the fish after 30 minutes when it ran under the boat and snapped the line. We estimate the fish to be about 250 lbs, and it is also officially a caught fish, as we touched the leader before losing it. No shark steaks, but it was an amazing scene.

The rest of the night chunk was pretty much uneventful. On the morning troll, we picked up four more yellowfin, with two being keepers and one of those keepers being a nice 35 pounder that Patrick reeled in. Patrick's fish took a blue/white jr ilander with a ballyhoo. His first keeper yellowfin:



Final Tally: 6 yellowfin (3 keepers), 1 Mahi, countless skipjacks, and a 'released' Mako. A nice trip for this early in the season, we all took home several bags of fresh fish. I have some videos of a pod of dolphin swimming/jumping with the boat, as well as an expletive filled clip of Andrew's reaction to losing the mako. I have a call into the FCC to see if it can be posted. Stay tuned for videos, here are a few more pics (click any picture for a larger image):

Spring is here

Well, spring is upon us and thoughts of tuna are running through our minds. It won't be long now. Capt. Steve and company took time out this past weekend to attend a Canyon Runner Seminar and hopefully they came away with a bunch of secret weapons and strategies. Keith has come through with a few pictures from one of our October trips from the fall. Some nice sunrise shots and one from the filet table. Thanks Keith!











It won't be long now. Save your money!