10/11/2011 - 3 dog night!

[backman]

10/10/11 – West Atlantis


If you canyon fish you no doubt have been watching the water and weather like a hawk the past month. After a fairly nondescript summer with few eddies and little clear blue water under Southern New England a stationary eddy far to the east broke free and started moving northwest. In some spots blue water reaches within 50 miles of the islands.

You also are no doubt well aware of weather patterns in a New England fall where balmy mild southwest winds are replaced by cold and hard northerlies and where typical sea conditions offshore change from forecasts of 2-4’ to forecast of 4-6’.

So; if you’re like me you have been watching weather since last Tuesday and hoping against hope the absolutely absurd long range forecast of variable winds and 1’ seas for 3 days might just hold and knowing in your heart it wouldn’t. You of course saw the 4 day window of perfection shrink to 2; then to 1; then to 20 hours and keep moving back. You no doubt watched the wind and sea condition forecasts and made your own risk/reward assessment based on your boat and your experience and then made a go/nogo decision.

Mine was made for me by Thursday. The window moved out of the weekend and into a tight Sunday/Monday one with a lot more wind and a lot less calm than I was comfortable with in a 28’ boat over a 12 hour October night. Add to that the fact my regular crew had other commitments and promises and a dockmate with a much bigger and more seaworthy boat was planning a run and I quickly shifted focus from captain to crew; a rare experience for me. Jim and my personal weekend personal commitments also coincided; we both had Saturday and Sunday AM commitments; the plan called for pre-prep on Saturday, final prep Sunday at noon and a 2 PM departure for the nice looking breaks a few miles north of West Atlantis.

Our plan was to get a couple hours trolling Sunday night; set up for a deep water swordfish bite and also try and get a chunk bite for yellowfin going. In summary for those not interested in more details – we hit it out of the park. Read no further.

We left Falmouth at 1 PM and Jim got JSeas up to a sedate but comfortable 20-21 knot cruising speed. The Ocean is no rocket ship, but canyon fishing is about pace, not jackrabbit speed. The comforts of a 16’ beam apparent I did what good crew should do on a 4+ hour ride out to the grounds; grabbed a nap down in the cave in front of the engines. Lulled to sleep by the beat of 2 old school DD-671’s I woke2 hours later, refreshed and aware from the boat feel that we were in the Lanes. Up to the bridge my feel was right on – big container ship behind us, 20 miles to the edge; 10-15 to our target.

Patriots on Sirius we set up the cockpit for the troll, 9 rods, tuna spread. At the end of the 1st half we found the break, as expected about 10 miles north of the tip. The water temp jumped from 71 to 74 in a few hundred yards and with that jump; down went the fishfinder – the sounder unit failed – spitting GSM messages al over the console. OK – so lets fish blind; its going to be dark soon anyways.

Lines in; 4, 6, 7 and 9 rods out, autopilot taking us south everyone sitting back ready for action when on cue, like a script in a fishing movie; bang, zzzzzzz – the transom rod, a Ripdog special purple plug went off hard. We waited for a 2nd, which never materialized and put Jon on the rod. Young muscle is great; young experienced muscle even better; he got the fish to color even as I was getting the gaff out of the engine room; Kevin on the leader, nice clean presentation and a high back shot on my part and we had a 60-70 pound yellowfin banging on the deck. All in the time it took the Patriots to go up 27-14!

Lucky strike; as we continued south in the gathering dark, seeing the fleet strung out like a row of diamonds. Coming into West Atlantis we saw a line of 12 or 14 lights, west to east, all in a row – little did I realize that parking was required in the canyons after Oct 1st. I also did see a brighter light down and to the east. Gee I wonder how that was going to play out ! Stay tuned.

We eschewed the idea of parking in straight lines as well as also respecting other people’s property so we continued south past the line of flyers each with a boat tied up; some big, some small and continued to the deeper waters. Northwest wind and swell ; we figured a southeast drift and set up 3 miles down in 800’ just off the west wall. No one was within 2 miles of us.

Sundown, dark, full moon and not a cloud in the sky – Jim stopped the boat and we let her sit and judged the conditions and roll. Well- it was not 1’ seas and it was not light and variable, but it was 2-3’ seas and only 10-12 knots of northwest wind. Warm air and water – unbelievable conditions for October. Aesthetic moment of enjoying the scenery gone I started dropping baits. The target was swordfish, my plan was to put 2 baits down deep; below the thermocline and just above it. With no active sounder I decided the thermocline had to be at 100’ and very accurately and with intense precision measured the 1st at 125’ and the 2nd at 75’. Precision was assured by the pull and count methodology. Rigging was a matter of artwork also. Sewing and beading is for girls; I grabbed a PanaPesca 12” squid; took a 10’ length of 150’ mono leader with an 8/0 J hook; hooked the squid securely through the mantle in finest Eagle Eye fashion and dropped her down. Duralume light on one, glow stick on the next; old school 16 oz. blacked out sash weight and down she goes.

I did get the 2nd squid out and was ruminating on my next opus – the tuna chunk spread when just like Jaws; click, click, click. Just like Quint no one heard it but me, but I knew. A minute later; click, click again, others heard; I still knew and said “sword”. No one took me seriously as the line wasn’t doing anything. I waited a bit and decided to take the chance.

I should mention Scott could not come on this trip due to family commitments; since we missed him we took his rods to at least have him with us in spirit. Both deep baits were on bent butts which made the swordfish test phase easier. I took 2 cranks; thought I felt something and took a couple more. Pressure but not weight; resistance but not pull. A feel, a hint a sense so I kept on cranking.

Something there, swimming with me. “We’re on!, start the boat!”. JSea’s has a weak spot in her weaponry. A 2’ swim platform protrudes from her stern. Its great for boarding at the dock; useless on the high seas for fishing. More than one fish have been lost at that platform. Jim got her started while someone – Jon or Kevin grabbed my play action belt. It was still indeterminate that I had a fish still on the line but bitter experiences have taught me well. In tight at 3 o clock the fish woke up and dove deep towards the bow; “go, forward and to port!” I yelled and Jim helped me dig it out spinning and getting forward of the fish at the same time it took off and dumped a couple dozen yards of line hard and deep.

I was pretty sure we had a sword on, certainly not a tuna and probably not a shark so I worked carefully and steadily; no jerks to possibly tear out a hook; the light glow of the Duralume 60 or 70’ down, then the light its self and a shape below it, long and billed; swimming hard and upright against the boat. Boatside choreography; keep the fish out from under the boat and away from the platform; throttle jockeying; leader and gaff in one choreographed set of motions; transom door open and the 1st sword for JSeas and crew was beating on the deck as everyone marveled in the sword; the eye; the fins of the fish.

Until you have seen one you don’t know how cool they are but shape says Predator, the eye says Hunter and the bill says I’m the BADDEST guy in town. Its been a long time coming -Jim was so excited he made a celebratory call while we took pictures and reset the rigs.

While the next one took more than 15 minutes we were tight again in an hour. Jim saw the initial hit; handled the bite and got the fish tight before handing off the Jared. This was a tougher fish; he fought it hard for 20 minutes; but never got to the glow of the lightstick before handing off to Jon. 4 years older and 30 pounds heavier Jon was able to turn the fish, handle a couple good runs and once more – boatside choreography; myself at leader, Kevin at gaff; Jim on the throttles and this time a bigger fish; guestimate 80-90 pounds came aboard to stay. If the boat was rocking 45 minutes ago; it was jamming this time!

Reset and nothing as we drifted across the canyon untouched. 2 in the box and an agreement the next one was to be released. 10:45; a 3 hour drift took us across the canyon with no action; we decided to move up and west again. The radio was filled with whining – a series of boats tied to flyers had been rousted by “The Landlord” the lobsterman trying to make a living hauling pots. He had evidentially interrupted an epic yellowfin bite by working for a living and having the temerity to want to haul his gear. DON’T TIE UP TO THE FLYERS and you won’t have this problem. Anyways; we reset the drift; put Jim to bed. I followed 90 minutes later and left Kevin with Jon.

I should mention by midnight the sea conditions had increased to Force 4, winds 12-15 knots and a steady 3’ sea with the odd larger one rolling in from the northwest. I did not expect to sleep; only to rest. But JSeas is a big girl with a wide bottom and her roll lulled me to sleep; head up against the engine firewall. I woke to a starter and rumble of an old school 2 stroke DD diesel. Up and on the deck – Jon hanging to the rod, hand bleeding; Jim on the throttles; Kevin gloved. Another sword had taken the same deep bait as the last 2 times; Jon had hooked it and cranked it to the boat, swimming with us. At full strike it woke up and boatside; almost took him overboard before he stopped himself with a hand caught between rod and gunwale. Blood flowing – hard core angler he hung tight; Kevin wired; I got the photo shot and Kevin released sword number 3 to swim again.

What a night!!! And it was only 3. Jim sent Jon to bed; as I was up I sent Kevin back to bed. We slowed the chum, my plan was to get across the canyon, up towards the east wall then chunk heavily till dawn trying to get the yellowfin under the boat. At 4I changed the trickle of chunks to a stream, 4;30 and we had them in the lights.

Now the confession. I blew it. Having worked hard and got the fish to the boat I did not take the time to step back assess what was going on and react to the conditions. Every spoonful of butterfish brought 2 or 3 prowling yellowfin along the shadow of the lights. 3 rigs out and I didn’t reset; I tried jigs, I tried a Ronz and sluggo; I switched jigs – I rebaited a couple hook baits but I didn’t change out the heavy leaders and cut off the noisy snap swivels. As a result, having worked hard for the fish – we did not get a bite.

I expected a bite on the dawn troll; it didn’t happen; I expected a bite when we trolled the pot lines of still tied up boats; it didn’t happen. Sea conditions in the canyons were marginal for a 45’ boat, solid 3’s and the odd 5 making trolling into it sloppy; downsea and further south made little sense since the tuna were on the flats so we beat north, working the pots, working the flats for no love. At 9 we started trolling north, at 10:40 facing a building sea we picked up and ran. Comfortable on the bridge water spraying eye high it was hard to visualize just how nasty the sea conditions were till we passed the Lanes and things settled down a bit. Nondescript in a big boat; would have been hell in mine or a smaller one.

Back to the dock at 2:30; cleaned and cut by 4:15. Trip # 83 and the last one of 2011 was an end on a high note – 3 Sword night!

[Albatross32]

Great trip guys....and congrats to Captain Jimmy for the first sword on the JSEAS! Hoping and praying for one more canyon shot!

[backman]

Here's the shots - Jim with #1, Jon with #2 and #3 swims free. Did I forget to mention:

1 - invasion of the giant jellyfish all night long
2 - trolling up a 12" amlaco jack on a 13" squid stinger
3 - the little sparrow that stopped by for a visit before heading off to sea again

[tunaddiction]

Great trip larry! The swordfish is still on my bucket list...maybe we will get one more shot

Brian

[The-Avid-Angler]

Great Read,

Congrats on a fine Canyon season.

[Agitated88]

Excellent read, I really appreciate you sharing your adventure with us!!!

[On The Edge]

Nice trip Jim, Larry and the crew of JSeas. In true LB fashion a great read of a great experience Larry. From the sounds of it, you may have been fishing some of the same water that we fished on Strad 3 days previous. It was moving fast to the west and would put it right about where you were Sun Mon.

Congrats on going 3 for 3 on Swords, that in itself is an accomplishment.

[Reel Pursuit]

Nice job, Larry, Jim and crew!
Coincidentally, we had a visit by that same sparrow and a 2 dog night. He must be a good luck charm!

[Fortunate One]

You certainly had the Mojo working that night.

Must have been the bird.

We had one on board when we landed.

We figured if it wasn't a sign of good luck, he was destine for sacrifice at sunrise.

The second picture down looks like a murder scene.

[Bill_N]

Great report! Thanks for the colorful description!