I thought some of you would enjoy reading this.
posted on 30-Jun-2003 1:29:26 PM
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Hi there fishing fools. Zigh here with a report of the Big Minnow's first, Virginia launched, offshore excursion of the season. And, oh was it ever an excursion. Departed Salt Pond's around 5:30PM on Saturday. After nearly 30 miles we stop at the CLT for a little Spade action. Fortunately there were only a couple of boats and fishing was easy. We set anchor and it wasn't long before 1,2,3 rods are bent over and crying. You really have to love the sound of a spinning reel drag at full tilt. ZZZIIIINNNGGG There was a bit of a light show in the sky and a few passing showers to make things interesting. We caught many fish and kept some for the ice box. The fish were up to the 21" release limit, but I'm unsure if we claimed paper or not?! The fish were so thick they were finning up top, and the water was the cleanest I've seen it yet this season. Fish were stacked up under the chum bag unbelievably thick. The fish seemed somewhat more aggressive this time also, as I noticed several fish actually chase the clam piece down. COOL!! So after some nice pullage, and because it's now dark, we set our course and auto pilot headed SE to the bluewater. The ride out was awesome. Really dark out there with no stars or moon, but a site to behold with lightning dancing in the clouds on the far off horizon. We traveled at around 9.5kts and arrived in the area we wanted to target a little early. This being the case we headed further S, down to, I believe the 750 line. Lines in and we're trolling at 5:30AM. Water looks good and clear with a temp. ranging from 72* up to 77.6* at the warmest. We're running a 9 line spread in assorted colors and styles. After a bit we get a nice fish on and get the 17lbs. Mahi aboard. We have another short strike or 2 over the next couple hours and then box a Skipjack Tuna. It's in this area we begin to see distant boats and a lot of life. I have never seen as many porpoise together in all of my life. We are talking acres, upon acres of mammals folks!! We trolled around them and thru them to no avail. We did have 1 good bite in this area, but after a brief battle the fish was gone. We had seen the large beast hammer the bait 2 times and upon retrieval of the line, discovered we had been bitten off by a suspected Mako. He was BIG!! Bye, bye chugger. Also saw some Pilot Whales and some cruising Hammerheads. We start to zig-zag the 100 fathom line N, and despite the absolutely beautiful weather and sea conditions, the fish are not cooperating. We changed the spread around periodically and tried deep and shallow. The SE breeze was just enough to keep it pleasant, and the hours slipped by like syrup off a stack of flapjacks. It's now afternoon and while seeking out some fishy areas from the tower, we are treated to all kinds of scenery. At 1 point while passing an ocean going Sunfish, I looked down to see 3-4 male Cobia swimming underneath. Pretty cool, but no takers. Actually saw at least 4 sharks, 4 Sunfish, some Pilot and Humpback whales, loads of petrels, porpoise o' plenty, 1 flying fish, some bait balls, Blue runners running, and busting fish throughout the afternoon. Nearer the Cigar now, we are fishing some great looking rips and real fishy looking water, but nobody's doing much. We talked to several folks who all had the same report. Few bites, maybe 1 Tuna, and a scattered Dolphin bite. Oh well, you don't know until you go. But, just when things are looking grim, we finally get a fish on. It's now 2PM and we boat our first and only YFT for the trip, a pretty 35lbs. fish that took the small blue/green jethead running on the flatline. Which reminds me that several of our bites came on that bait, and the bait that was bitten off was a green/silver mylar SeaWitch. Odd that after all that trolling, we finally scare up a fish in 130ft. of water. Go figure. We troll NW towards home and pick up 1 more Mahi for the cooler. This fish fell victim to the black cedar plug on the middle flatline. We pick'em up and start the long journey homeward with a waypoint that's 75 miles away, after being as far as 110 miles from port. Great sea conditions made for a nice cruise in, and it was nice to just absorb the scenery. We couldn't resist the CLT as we passed since it was still daylight and the water so calm. We had a little clam left and drifted with the other couple boats in the area, again picking up some real good fish with multiple double, and triple hook-ups. The guys on'JobSite', were cool enough to offer some clams to us for bait, but we used our's up and rolled out at 8:15PM with no intentions of fishing longer. Fought the tide a bit getting in, and arrived back at Salt Pond's around 10:15PM or so. Got the fish and boat ready to go, and headed home just after 11PM.
So that's the account of our journey. We, the '30 hour club', had a blast, even if the Tuna won for today. We'll be back at it soon!!
Fish On
