Joined
·
75 Posts
The Three G's and crew was out in Montauk for 8 days with wives, and children for a week of relaxation and fun and some fishing.
Turned out to be a Northeast blow our first couple of days so we found ourselves unable to fish. On tuesday we heard a report from a reliable source that there were 5 Wahoo and 4 Yellowfin Tuna up to 80 lbs taken North of the Ranger. With a crew that was itching to get some rods in the water, wives that probably couldn't wait to get rid of us for a day, and the Ranger being a short ride, we decided to troll south of the ranger and make some passes in that area for a short trip, even though the Northeast blow was still out there.
No life at all, and it was a little rough out there. The furthest south we made it was around the 600 line and kind of trolled between there and the 700 line for 5 or 6 hours. We figured it would not be a fruitful day, but with how weird this season has been, thought ( prayed ) maybe the fish could be inside like back in the day where yoo didn't have to run 65-90 miles!
Pretty early on we had a wahoo in the spread and he played around with a green machine spreader bar, but never jumped on. Finally had a knockdown a couple hours into the troll, which turned out to be a mahi. We then spotted the piece of wood in the water and baited another 4 into the boat before we lost the piece of wood. Biggest fish about 14 lbs. That was it for the day.
Friday, we finally had weather, and decided to march to the Middle Grounds and put em in around 390 or so. We were looking for the break from 71.5 to 76 we saw on ocean temp and although it was gradual we finally found nice water in the deeps towards the dip area, with temp running from 74 to 76.5 pretty quickly. Turqouise blue water , life everywhere, you name it we saw it and bait/fish all over the screen. Most bait/fish below the thermocline at 200-300 feet but did find some bait at 75 and 50 feet. Everyone around us on the radio reported the same thing, beautiful water, bait all over, birds working in packs of 100's and unfortunately no bites. It seemed everyone was confused as to how the conditions could be so ideal, yet no bites at all. Only bite we heard was a 3 bagger big eye earlier in the morning and we heard later they lost all the fish.
We had made up our mind to troll until dark if necessary to get fish, as they had to start biting at some point with all the good signs. At 1:30 the right long rigger pops, no fish, keep the boat in gear, about to reset and the left long rigger gets smashed, but fish doesn't get hooked. Very big splash so we knew we had some nice fish, so with two long riggers out, we decided to wait before the reset and about 45 seconds later, short rigger ( green machine canyon runner bar) peels. Fish on, nice fight, turns out to be a 62.5 lb yellow. Work that area for another hour or so and get nothing..
Continue to mark bait as start to head a little north, often making 6 seven passes unable to raise. Weird, most bait I have see on the screen in a consistent manner in a very long time.
At about 3:45 while trolling NNE, Capt. spots a fish at the side of our boat, which we realize 2 secs later was a marlin. She slowly swam into our spread and starting toying with right long rigger ( fishermans outfitter green machine bar), but wont take the hook. This goes on for a minute or so, so the Capt starts puttin em in and out of gear to entice the marlin and the fish just keeps following.... and then disappears for a 10-15 seconds. Next thing you know, back in gear at normal troll speed, boom, fish takes the center rigger ( individual green machine ) and fish on. Big Blue Marlin skipping and dancing a good 175 yds off back of the boat. She put on a real show early in the fight. 55 minutes later we get her in the boat, snap some shots and let her go. Fish was unharmed, no blood, and she swam away equally as happy as we were. Estimated 425 lbs.
Overall not the day we dream about as we want to fill the boat with tuna, but still a real fun day with a couple nice fights. Not sure what all the bait was, or where the heck all these tuna are, but with the conditions we had, everyone on the boat ( all experienced guys ) were dumbfounded at the lack of fish not only on our boat but for all the boats out there. Weird year to say the least. Where are these tuna???????? Had lots of friends in different boats stay overnight friday to sat and came back to the dock without a single knockdown on the troll or chunk.
Pics Below
This post edited by lipa11 04:55 PM 08/31/2008
Turned out to be a Northeast blow our first couple of days so we found ourselves unable to fish. On tuesday we heard a report from a reliable source that there were 5 Wahoo and 4 Yellowfin Tuna up to 80 lbs taken North of the Ranger. With a crew that was itching to get some rods in the water, wives that probably couldn't wait to get rid of us for a day, and the Ranger being a short ride, we decided to troll south of the ranger and make some passes in that area for a short trip, even though the Northeast blow was still out there.
No life at all, and it was a little rough out there. The furthest south we made it was around the 600 line and kind of trolled between there and the 700 line for 5 or 6 hours. We figured it would not be a fruitful day, but with how weird this season has been, thought ( prayed ) maybe the fish could be inside like back in the day where yoo didn't have to run 65-90 miles!
Pretty early on we had a wahoo in the spread and he played around with a green machine spreader bar, but never jumped on. Finally had a knockdown a couple hours into the troll, which turned out to be a mahi. We then spotted the piece of wood in the water and baited another 4 into the boat before we lost the piece of wood. Biggest fish about 14 lbs. That was it for the day.
Friday, we finally had weather, and decided to march to the Middle Grounds and put em in around 390 or so. We were looking for the break from 71.5 to 76 we saw on ocean temp and although it was gradual we finally found nice water in the deeps towards the dip area, with temp running from 74 to 76.5 pretty quickly. Turqouise blue water , life everywhere, you name it we saw it and bait/fish all over the screen. Most bait/fish below the thermocline at 200-300 feet but did find some bait at 75 and 50 feet. Everyone around us on the radio reported the same thing, beautiful water, bait all over, birds working in packs of 100's and unfortunately no bites. It seemed everyone was confused as to how the conditions could be so ideal, yet no bites at all. Only bite we heard was a 3 bagger big eye earlier in the morning and we heard later they lost all the fish.
We had made up our mind to troll until dark if necessary to get fish, as they had to start biting at some point with all the good signs. At 1:30 the right long rigger pops, no fish, keep the boat in gear, about to reset and the left long rigger gets smashed, but fish doesn't get hooked. Very big splash so we knew we had some nice fish, so with two long riggers out, we decided to wait before the reset and about 45 seconds later, short rigger ( green machine canyon runner bar) peels. Fish on, nice fight, turns out to be a 62.5 lb yellow. Work that area for another hour or so and get nothing..
Continue to mark bait as start to head a little north, often making 6 seven passes unable to raise. Weird, most bait I have see on the screen in a consistent manner in a very long time.
At about 3:45 while trolling NNE, Capt. spots a fish at the side of our boat, which we realize 2 secs later was a marlin. She slowly swam into our spread and starting toying with right long rigger ( fishermans outfitter green machine bar), but wont take the hook. This goes on for a minute or so, so the Capt starts puttin em in and out of gear to entice the marlin and the fish just keeps following.... and then disappears for a 10-15 seconds. Next thing you know, back in gear at normal troll speed, boom, fish takes the center rigger ( individual green machine ) and fish on. Big Blue Marlin skipping and dancing a good 175 yds off back of the boat. She put on a real show early in the fight. 55 minutes later we get her in the boat, snap some shots and let her go. Fish was unharmed, no blood, and she swam away equally as happy as we were. Estimated 425 lbs.
Overall not the day we dream about as we want to fill the boat with tuna, but still a real fun day with a couple nice fights. Not sure what all the bait was, or where the heck all these tuna are, but with the conditions we had, everyone on the boat ( all experienced guys ) were dumbfounded at the lack of fish not only on our boat but for all the boats out there. Weird year to say the least. Where are these tuna???????? Had lots of friends in different boats stay overnight friday to sat and came back to the dock without a single knockdown on the troll or chunk.
Pics Below
This post edited by lipa11 04:55 PM 08/31/2008
