6/18 RipDog Tuna Report

[droneb]

The crew for this trip was Skippa Scotty Clay, Capt. Jim O’Brien, Mark Baughan, Sean Cragan and I.

We all met up at Scotty’s on Thursday night for some pizza and the Celtics game. After the very disappointing outcome we all managed about 30 minutes of sleep and departed from Falmouth Harbor at 0200 hoping that a Tuna fish or two would ease our sorrows from the C’s defeat.

We had a beautiful ride through the Sound, around Monomoy and out to the East before stopping at our first spot at roughly 0430. We worked an area near crab ledge for about 2 hours without any luck. There was some decent life there, but no big concentrations of feeding whales. We did see one big school of busting fish right next to the pin but they were up and down pretty quick.

So Scotty made the call to take a ride up to the North to try and find some life. We cruised the shipping lane which was void of life except for seeing multiple pods of porpoise here and there before cutting in towards Nauset…..

The area at Nauset looked pretty fishy with shearwaters hammering big concentrations of bait. We quickly got the spread out as we approached the birds. There were big schools of striped bass all over the surface rolling on the bait there in 350’ of water. We did have some really good tuna marks down around 100 feet so we decided to pound the area for a while. 30 minutes in, and we had a big fish come up and attack the “hot tomato” bar from the side for a swing and miss….Scotty took a few cranks and got the fish to come back for a 2nd look but again missed the hook and swam away freely. After that the little life that was there really let up considerably and we were left rolling around aimlessly still without a fish on the board.

At 0900 Scotty made the call to make another move, this time about 25 miles to the SouthEast. I felt it was a pretty aggressive call since we had no intel to go off, and our time would be pretty limited once we got there but off we went….

We arrived at the new location at around 1015 hrs, and immediately stumbled upon an area that looked very FISHY. There was a big whale field and hundreds of little black storm petrels hovering the surface. We quickly sprang into action and deployed the spread. Before we had the spread completely out, the right long “cotton candy” bar got smashed and hooked up hard but didn’t pop the clip. I watched in amazement as the RipDog’s port outrigger slammed violently towards the water and bent like a pretzel. The line somehow got wrapped around the clip and eventually snapped the outrigger line and the main line simultaneously. The fish and our infamous “cotton candy” bar were both gone and Scott’s outrigger was left in a mangled mess. Just a real unfortunate situation for us and the fish.

Just as I was starting to get the feeling that this wasn’t our day, we get another explosion on the left long black bar! As the fish is melting line off the Accurate 80, the crew started clearing lines and helping Mark get belted in for his first ever BFT…..As I’m clearing the center rigger, I glance over to see the right long “hot tomato” bar get rolled on …snap….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz………………Double d Up BABY!!

Chaos ensued in the pit as we cleared the rest of the spread and Mark and I began doing battle with these brutes. It looked like Mark had the better fish, so we put the focus on landing mine first. In about 35 minutes I finally had my fish to leader and we quickly dragged him up for a measurement, tag and release. Fish taped out at a hefty 70”…..

Now it was Mark’s turn as this fish was giving him all he could handle. He had gained a considerable amount of line back when the fish made another big run and dumped him right back to where he started from…..Mark was doing a fine job, but you could tell he had had enough of this grueling experience. At the hour mark, he finally got the fish to leader and we decided to release this fish in the water after a quick tag. It was tough to get the exact measurement but I had it as being 72”…….Just an awesome fish that kicked away hard. Mark was left on his back in a feeble mess on the deck of the DOG and then began puking violently off the transom. You gotta get in shape dude if you’re gonna tangle with these big fish!! Haha….

We had enough time for one more shot so out went the spread…….This time the left long “trick or treat” bar was absolutely crushed…..the boil around the bar was massive but it didn’t stay tight……5 seconds later the fish comes from the side and piles all over it again and misses again!…..WTF…… The view of this action from the tower was incredible. Just as my eyes were about to pop out of my skull, the left short pink bar gets crashed….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……..We got Seany Cragan belted in and cleared the spread quickly. Sean did a great job with this fish and had him to leader in about 40 minutes or so. We dragged him up on deck for a quick measurement, tag and another healthy release. Fish taped out at 68” and was fat as hell. Looked like an October fish.

From there – we decided to end on a high note and head for the barn. Those three hours were packed with some of the sickest action I have ever seen.

So we finished the day going 3 for 7 or 8?? Not really sure how many swings and misses we had. All in all it was a great trip spent with a great crew. Congrats on your first BFT Mark and thanks for everything Scotty. Damn – these fish are big and strong this year!

-Brian Droney
(Albatross on the RIPDOG aka ReleasePuppy)

[28Conquest]

We were just off Nauset when we heard you guys on the radio thinking about making the big move -- obviously the right call!

Not sure where all the other fish were that day, but they sure were NOT off the golf balls or PHB! There was an amazing striper blitz going on -- pretty much as was described a couple of days ago by Riptide.

[Tight]

Yeah I second that, GREAT REPORT. Way to put a hurting on them BFT after they gave you some hurt. Great job!!

[JSeas]

Nice report! It was a great day enough said! I even got to finish the evening on the deck at Nancy's sippin a cocktail! It does not get any better than that!

Looking forward to a great season! Canyons anyone!!

Jim O (J Seas)

[backman]

Friday - be there or be square.

[AlloyToy]

Nice work & great report Brian!!!