It was a rough ride out Monday and a bumpy night, but it was well worth it. I headed directly to a break on the sat shot near the 150 050. There was a break from 71 to 74 degrees short of the 100 fathom line. There were about six boats set up or setting up in the area of the 150 050, so I head north up the 100 fathom line to find some room, but found myself heading out of the 74 degree water. I made a U-turn, headed south and dropped the hook a few miles down the 100 fathom line. We were still in the water, but a good mile and a half from the nearest boat.
We had fish right from the get go. We were setting the second line in the water, just got it 100 feet down and we hooked up to a nice 85lb yellowfin. As soon as we boated that fish and began setting the lines out, the next fish hit. It went on like that for most of the night. All the fish were 80 to 100lb. There were only three of us, so we all got pretty beat up. Because there were only three of us and these were large fish, we stayed away from double headers. We went 14 for 17 on YFT before we called it quits at 2am and waited for the sun to come up before heading home. We could have caught fish all night. The screen covered with bait and tuna from 40’ to 200’. You could see the streaks from the tuna tarting up from below into the bait (a really cool thing to see).
I will post the pictures tomorrow evening at http://www.indyattheedge.com/photo-gallery/.
Thanks,
Report: The Indy II ran to Toms Canyon over the weekend for a tuna, shark combo overnight trip. We put lines in about 8 miles short of the Toms at a nice weedline. The trip was off to a fast start as we landed a 20lb dolphin 5 min after the lines went in the water. We had 2 other runoffs and a wahoo hit at that weedline, but that was it. We trolled the west wall then turned east with nothing to show for it. We set up for night sharking and had a good drift, but not much life. During the night we caught 2 large bluesharks (on a live bluefish and fresh bunker) and a 15lb mahi. Back on the troll at first light thru Toms we worked the 100 fath line after 1 runnoff and 1 skipjack. After working that area to death, we trolled Hendrickson canyon. With no tuna in the box, neither the charter nor I wanted to throw in the towel. It was a good thing we did not head for home at that point. We were working the 500 fath line, and as soon as we turned up the 500fath west wall of the Toms we landed a nice White Marlin. He whacked the ballyhoo behind the bird, and then ate the ballyhoo off the long rigger which was dropped back. Unfortunately, we broke his bill; but we released him quickly and he swam away. He did not need to be revived. We worked the area after that, but came up with nothing. The overnighter turned into a 32 hour trip. No one wanted to call it quits (until we ran out of coffee).
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Report: After a couple of scuba diving trips and engine repair, the Indy II got back to fishing. With the offshore weather forecast looking poor, we decided to change our scheduled canyon overnighter to an inshore night shark trip. We set up about 30 miles from Manasquan inlet on the eastside of the mudhole, about 4 miles directly north of the Lillian. From 8:30pm to 3am there was absolutely no wind and no drift. We were cover in bluefish for that time. The only shark bait we could keep from getting devoured by the bluefish was bridled bluefish heads. At 3am the wind really picked up giving us a great drift. We began to chum heavily using all those blues we had caught earlier. When the wind turned on, the bite turned on. We caught 4 bluesharks and 2 makos (both under 100#) from 3:45am to 7:30am, before we left for home. All were released unharmed. The first shark was hooked on a bluefish head, which is a great shark bait when the bluefish are thick. After the sharks appeared the bluefish dispersed and we were able to switch back to fresh bunker and bluefish fillet baits.
Again, the water was green, but there was a ton of bait (all over the screen and squid under the lights) all night long.
We still have 2 spots available for an Open Boat Canyon Overnighter the weekend of Aug 4 and 5. The boat leaves at 9:30am Saturday morning and returns Sunday afternoon. We will be trolling for tuna during daylight hours and set up for shark and swords at night. The cost is $550. Please go to www.IndyAtTheEdge.com, email or call (917.363.6258) for more details.
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With the canyon reports sounding terrible, Bob and I decided that 110 miles was a long way to run for a shot at maybe 1 or 2 yellowfin (Bob had to convince me; I wanted to go to the deep!). So we decide to do some inshore sharking. We left the inlet around 7:30pm on Fri and headed out about 15 miles to the edge of the mud hole to load up on bluefish for the shark trip. And load up we did. We had enough bluefish for several shark trips, all in the time it takes to go thru only a half a can of chum.
Then we headed off to chicken canyon for a night/morning of sharking. On our way out, I marked a ton of bait in the glory hole. Several different large pods of bait. The water was still green, but I expected to find greenish water in chicken canyon. The temp was good and there was a lot of life, so I pulled back the throttles, we power drifted for about 20 min, then set up for the night.
The night was slow; a few bluefish here and there and 3 blue sharks. We were chumming heavily all night long to try and make something happen. We used frozen bucker chum, bunker oil and countless fresh blues and bunker thru the grinder. We also tried something new, an idea I stole from fisherman in Florida. With the water being so green, I figured a threasher would be our best shot to get something for the table. To get sent/chum down through the entire water column we mixed together a combination of ground fresh bluefish and bunker, bunker oil, instant mashed potatoes and sand. Combine the instant mashed potatoes and bunker oil a few hours before you leave the dock. The potatoes suck up all the oil. Then add the ground bait and sand. Add just enough water so you can make a softball size ball that stays together. Drop the ball over the side. It breaks apart very slowly on its way down, taking the bunker oil and ground fish down with it.
Back to the report. We released another 2 jumbo blue sharks in the morning. Then around 7:30 am we hooked up to a big threasher on a bluefish fillet/green skirt, about 50 feet down. A very typical threasher hit; the clicker goes off, then nothing, then he pick up the bait and strolls off. Only after that does he realize he’s hooked. The fight took about an hour and a half, with 14 year old Rick Oberci fighting that fish for 95% of that time. We had him by the boat about 45 min into the fight, but the fish was not ready. To let us know, he hit Bob in the head and arm with his tail, before he went back to the bottom for another 45 min. He weight in at 405lb at Hoffmans.
This has been a great sharking season. In the five shark trips this year, the Indy II has released 41 bluesharks (while turning away a lot more), 3 makos (est. 140, 154, est. 160) and 2 threashers (324, 405). Hopefully the canyons will open up soon (this sharking is wearing me out). Regardless, the next report you read from me will be a canyon report.
Thanks,
Lee
]]>Report: We went a few miles south of where we left off the day before. With the much slower drift, it took longer than yesterday to get something going. By 11:30am we had released our first blue shark. We released a total of 7 blue sharks that day. Around 1pm we caught a mako approx 160 lbs. We did not weight it in, as it would not have placed in the tournament. At around 3pm we hooked into something big on the near line (no weight, no float) on a fresh butterflied bunker. He began running passed the bow, so I started the boat to turn the transom around. Bob put the chum bucket and ball over and we began the chase. The fish took us down to the backing of the reel 3 times. After about an hour we boated a 324 thresher. Bait used was fresh bunker and fresh bluefish.
]]>Report: Capt Mike Montorio on the NYSE-ly Done fished the fingers on Friday and reported a lot of life, blue sharks and a thresher, but green water. So I decided to head east and try to find bluer, clearer water. We set up our drift south east of the Triple Wrecks over good bottom. The water was clear blue, with a lot of life, but still cold (62 degrees). It was blowing hard, but it gave us a fast drift and a good slick. We started catching blue sharks 45 min into the drift. By the end of the day we released 13 blue sharks. We caught a 154lb Mako at 11:45am (near rod, no weight, no float). At 1pm we had to leave our chum slick to back down on what we thought was nice size Mako, only to have on the biggest blue shark I have ever seen. He certainly did not fight like a blue shark. Bob put a chum bucket attached to the ball (we always have one ready) over the side as soon as I started the engines. After we released the blue shark we went back to our unbroken chum line. We were using fresh bluefish and fresh bunker.
]]>Report: The only temp chart available when we left the dock was 3 days old. We headed towards 64 degree water on the old chart in the area of chicken canyon. On our way out the water temp was 61 and falling fast. The water temp hit 58 about 10 miles from chicken canyon, so I decided to change coarse. It looks as if the passed days of E and NE wind brought in the cold water from the east. So we headed south. We ran down to the triple wrecks area and only found 60 degree water. But there was some birds working, dolphins and other signs of life in the area. We set up for the drift. Within the first 45 min we had a big runoff on the deep rod (100 ft down) on a bluefish fillet, but we missed him (probably a thresher). We had big blue sharks all over us all night long, releasing 16. At one point we had to keep baits out of the water, until the blue sharks moved on. At 8:00am we hooked a mako on a butterflied fresh bunker (no skirt). It was 70 inches. We took him for the table; we thought we had earned it after a long night of fighting off blue sharks. No bluefish and no dogfish (thank God). Our drift shifted significantly three times during the night. By morning we had drifted in a large oval pattern.
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