8/31 day trip

[southport]

We went for a day trip yesterday leaving the dock at 2:30.
We went to the water above atlantis and worked our way down to atlantis. Lines in at 5:45. There was a nice break of 74 to 79 but no real signs of life. We had a run off that lasted for 10 seconds and one other missed hit. Interestingly there were no pots around. A few other boats also having no luck. So at around 7:30 we picked up and ran to the back side of the break at Veatch. The run to Veatch was flat 79 degree water. Found very similar conditions with no real life at all. Water in the canyon was between 80 and 77. I ran southeast and found a small 79 to 76.5 break but still no real life. Found pots that had real small 2-3 pound mahi on them but they were a pain destroying the baits. When we were in Veatch, we heard one boat say they had plucked one small yellow fin. At about twelve, I decided to run north and find some pots in water that was cooler. We found a couple of pots in 74 degree water and ended up with about a dozen mahi. When we were on the pots, we could hear two boats in Atlantis and one was catching a few fish. They said the bite started around 2 pm. I still have to figure out when the right time is to move and when the right time is to stay. I also want to learn which side of the eddy has the better fishing if one can figure that out. I was fairly confident about my moves in real time yesterday. Although, I did leave a good break and ended up in water that did not have such a good break. I was swayed by the lack of pots. In retrospect, maybe I should have stayed with the temp break. I was not comfortable enough to stay in the area of the temp break without the pots for structure and I think I should have done that. Although that is not to say we would have caught anything at Atlantis before I broke off and ran north. Every trip is a good learning experience. There certainly is value in doing the overnight though, as I would have been less tempted to move as quickly as I did. I would appreciate the comments.

I also want to thank the boat that made a sat phone call for me if you read this board.

dave

[tunacutter]

We were out there as well and ended up with one yellow in W. Atlantis and a few Mahi. Biggest issue we had was we were not making any bait. The only bait we marked was where we got the one fish on the w. wall on the cooler side of the 74-78 degree break.

As far as your question re: structure and pots, we look for temp to guide the way and then watch the sounder for bait / marks. Unless we want Mahi, we pay very little attention to pot placement.

As far as side of break, it changes (I think). A few weeks ago we were fishing the dip area and couldn't do anything on the break (cool or warm) but found fish in the stable warm water with the skip jack. Other times we have been in perfect 72-74 degree water only to jump to the cool 68 degree side and get pummelled by fish. If you can figure it out, i'd love to know! Fun part for us is it changes every trip and we have so much to learn. Were you in "southport 28" on the radio?

[Bill_N]

Sometimes moving works out and sometimes it doesn't. That's my take on it. Time is limited out there and if you're not catching then you need to figure out why.

A couple weeks ago we ran down to the Dip and put in at the start of the temp break. Saw a fair amount of life there but kept going thinking it would be better further south. By 1PM with no fish we decided to run back up to the break. Ended up finding a weedline that we got 2 yellows and some mahi out of. That move worked for us but we knew there was more life showing there before we left.

[iguana1]

The pattern seems weird this year with some of the normal things not working. A couple of observations from my 6 trips.

The NW corner of the eddy rule doesn't seem to be holding. Not sure why, but it seems to me that the eddies have been pretty stationary and the NW corner doesn't have much mixing going on maybe? What we have seen is that the east edge of the eddy seems to hold fish where it hits the 100 fathom curve (the wall). My theory is that this is creating more mixing than a stagnant NW corner. Bait on the edge seems pretty scarce this year. Our tuna have had mainly empty stomachs, some whiting and some krill. I find that big stationary eddies tend to get somewhat stale and I think this has been exacerbated by the lack of wind this year. We have pulled zero tuna from canyons this year and almost all of our fish from east edge of eddy.

I also find that when water is baitless tuna hang on pots. I have saved three skunks this way. When in search or wait for pop mode I always troll flyer lines. Tuna off pots usually have baby triggerfish and stuff int eh stomachs. Beat starving I guess.

[backman]

I hate wasting valuable day trip time running around. i typically target a location with a fallback plan for a 10-20 mile troll to a 2nd location. I'd much rather troll over water in a search and wait for the pop mode than run over what might be a small pocket of life, completely unseen at 25 knots.

I note this year that the cold side has been unproductive apparently across the board. Over the year's I've saved many a trip by getting out of the 73 degree water and getting yellowfin, wahoo, mahi and the odd white marlin 2 miles into 68 degree water.

One thing we all forget is water edges are 3 dimensional and moving. Just because you on a 3 degree break at the surface; the water 60' down might have the real break 3 miles further north.

I'd counter "no bait" with too much bait. last canyon trip and last east of the dump trip both had lots of bait, lots of slicks and few tuna.

I'm hopeful that after Earline blows past we'll see hard sharp 67->70 degree edges, a welldefined thermocline and a wide open Sept bite in 50 fathoms.

[On The Edge]

I hate wasting valuable day trip time running around. i typically target a location with a fallback plan for a 10-20 mile troll to a 2nd location. I'd much rather troll over water in a search and wait for the pop mode than run over what might be a small pocket of life, completely unseen at 25 knots.

I note this year that the cold side has been unproductive apparently across the board. Over the year's I've saved many a trip by getting out of the 73 degree water and getting yellowfin, wahoo, mahi and the odd white marlin 2 miles into 68 degree water.

One thing we all forget is water edges are 3 dimensional and moving. Just because you on a 3 degree break at the surface; the water 60' down might have the real break 3 miles further north.

I'd counter "no bait" with too much bait. last canyon trip and last east of the dump trip both had lots of bait, lots of slicks and few tuna.

I'm hopeful that after Earline blows past we'll see hard sharp 67->70 degree edges, a welldefined thermocline and a wide open Sept bite in 50 fathoms.

From your mouth to the fish gods ears Larry..
Looks like we may have one more offshore weather maker behind Earl to deal with first.

[southport]

Yes tunacutter, I was Southport 28. We had the same issue with bait, my screen was empty. In July, it seemed the NW side of the eddy was holding the fish but not now. Although, the fish don’t appear to be on either side. I also use the pots when there is little life and that were no pots around above Atlantis. I agree the water temp is not a continuous column as well and cruising on both sides of the surface break is a good idea. I think the main problem for the last couple of weeks is that there aren’t many fish around west of Oceanographer