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A Night to Remember
Article posted on: Jul/02/01
author: Bruce Karas
(howto@noreast.com)
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When I’m old and gray and think about the highlights of my life, I’ll think of the day I got married, the day my children were born, and my first canyon trip on my new boat in 2001. You see I always dreamed of the day I’d be off to the Canyon in my diesel equipped sport fisherman, accompanied by a few friends. Last year I sold my 29’ gas-guzzler and bought an 87, 31’ Shamrock Grand Slam with twin diesels. After years of dreaming about it, here I was heading South East from Moriches Inlet on a beautiful, hot, sunny day in the new Canyon Fever. I heard some nice yellowfin had been taken at the Dip and decided it was time to head out. Just a few days before I trolled the inshore waters With George Scocca and son, had the pleasure of seeing George Jr. hooked up to his first tuna. The 20 lb bluefin was very exiting under these circumstances but only wet my appetite for larger prey.
Thursday night I pulled a temperature chart and agonized over where to start trolling. I decided to start a few miles from The Dip hoping to find bait and fish breaking the surface in the warm canyon water as I trolled the edge toward the deep. I decided it was too early in the season to chunk at night and that dropping a few cans of chum for shark would be more productive. The long ride offshore seemed longer than usual for myself and crew of three, as everyone was anxious to drop the outriggers and begin trolling. As we passed the Coimbra area we overheard two boats from Shinnecock talking on the radio. One was on the way back from The Dip with a report of 4 yellowfin between 65 and 95 lbs and a half dozen albacore! Now my blood was rushing as uncontrollably as a 13 year old boys going through puberty.
As we approached The Dip the water turned from green to that beautiful blue color and the temperature rose to 74 degrees. We started to troll about 3pm but didn’t see much life until about 4:30. No knockdowns but suddenly things started to happen. First I started to mark large pods of bait. Not just a few marks but solid bright red marks about 50 feet wide at about 150 to 200’ deep. Then a whale about 100’ long breeched near the boat. In the distance we could see what looked like tuna breaking water. As we got closer we could see a school of at least one hundred porpoise leaping out of the water. I headed that way trolling at 7.5 knots. Suddenly dolphin were all around us, swimming along side the boat, jumping in the wake, diving under the bow, and putting on a show that could only be seen in the wild by those lucky enough to venture offshore. At this point there wasn’t another boat in sight.
Everything was perfect except no knockdowns. Soon a few more boats showed up including Canyon Bound who reported having caught a few nice yellowfin between 7:00 and dusk just two nights before. At 8:00 we still hadn’t caught a fish but Makaira hooked up right beside us. Capt. Tred boated the fish and told us it was caught on a small lure so we put out a few feathers. Dusk was coming fast and we knew something had to happen soon. Just before dark it happened. We went through a thick school of bait at the surface and saw tuna breaking water just off the port side. I turned hard to the left and dragged a Moriches Mauler, run off the outside rigger, right through the breaking fish. We boated a 65lb yellowfin right at dusk.
I decided to anchor, rather than drift, for the night. We set out the chum bag and through some chunks of mackerel and whatever fillets I had left over in the freezer from last season. As we started to set out the lines a Mako about 150 lbs. swam right up to the boat. John Randazzo, who had never caught a Mako, dropped a squid over the side and watched as it picked it up and dropped it before the double line even left the rod tip. The Mako circled and picked it up again. This time John tried to set the hook only to pull the squid right out of his mouth. As the squid drifted back almost out of sight the Mako grabbed it again, took off, and the fight was on. Ten minutes later a feisty green Mako was at the surface 20 ft from the boat. The flying gaff was brought out but the Mako shook its head and spit the hook. The next several hours produced one blue shark about 125 lbs which ate two baits and was caught on two rods. As the night dragged on everyone fell asleep. At about 3:45 I was awakened by the sound of a drag. I came flying out of the cabin to find three rods bent over! I grabbed one, John another, and Bill Serviss the third. My rod was down at about 100’ with a squid and light stick. The other two had wire leaders with bluefish fillets. At first we thought all the lines were tangled and on one fish. After a few minutes we could see we had three fish. 15 minutes into the fight John dropped his fish, after slacking up on the drag, because the line was hitting the keel. Ten minutes later I had a 150lb sword at the surface 20 ft from the boat. Just as we got a good look at it the line broke a few feet from the hook. I guess I should have used wire. Bill was still fighting his fish. Ten minutes later he gave me the rod. We took turns fighting the fish for 15 minutes each for over 1-½ hours. We were convinced it must be another sword because it was straight down and couldn’t be budged. Finally the huge beast surfaced. It was a Tiger shark of at least 500 lbs. Bob Labretti leadered it and we took several pictures. Bob couldn’t hold the huge shark and it swam off pulling the leader from his hands with a few slow movements of his tail. We fought it back to the boat again, and I petted its back as Bob released the fish to fight another day
By now it was light enough to see and we started to troll. We picked up one 35lb Albacore at 5:20 and another at 6:30. At 8:30 we headed back as seas began to build and the forecast was calling for 20 to 25 knt winds. Good luck to all in 2001. Tuna season has arrived!
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| Some of these articles have been gathered from the archives of Nor'east Saltwater and all references to size and bag limits may be out of date. Be sure to check the regulations section of our website for the latest regulations in your area. |
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