9/21 RipDog Redemption Day

[Albatross32]

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This report actually needs to begin with Sunday’s trip 9/20 aboard the J-SEAS…..

We had planned to do back-to-back out East trips with the first day being on the J-SEAS and the 2nd on the Dog. So we set out of Falmouth Harbor at 0315 with a crew of Capt. Jim O’Brien, Skippa Scotty Clay, Tommy Tuna (Scott’s son) Chris Walsh and I….

During the ride out, we all got to witness one of the most ridiculous skies that I have ever seen. Planets clearly visible, shooting stars everywhere and the amount of star constellations were amazing. I usually don’t get too caught up in that kind of $hit, but the planetarium effect that night was just surreal….

So anyway - we arrived on scene at the Regal Sword area at roughly 0615 to find scattered bird and whale life…..We decided to go lines in and just start pounding the area. At 0700 the left short “RootBeer” bar got whacked and ran off for a good 10 seconds before the hook somehow managed to shake free…. We should of known right then and there that it just wasn’t gonna be our day…

We worked the area for 3 more hours without another sniff before we eventually moved South towards the BB to try and find some better life. The life was there at the initial #’s, but it was just really spread out and never got confined into any sort of big feeding frenzy.

We ended up finding some nice pods of bigger fish a few miles to the South that were up hammering the halfbeeks though….out went the spread and the frustrations continued……Jimmy did a nice job with the boat and gave us 2 or 3 real good chances, but it’s really tough to pull them off the small schools of bait that they were chasing

We finally pulled the plug at 1400 and got to sit in the salon and watch the Patriots lose during the ride home on the satellite TV, which was a fitting end to our day. Just a tough, frustrating day all together but sometimes that’s the way it shakes out. It certainly wasn’t for a lack of effort though. Thanks for the invite Jimmy. It’s always a pleasure to fish on the J-SEAS. We will get em’ next time!

So after we got back and cleaned the boat it was almost 1800 on Sunday evening before Scotty and I even started talking about yesterday’s trip. We had each asked a bunch of guys but no one was game for Monday and after Sunday’s skunking the two of us were on the fence at best for making another trip.

So we went back to the Clay household and each made a few more calls to try and get at least one guy to come with us. Nothing but rejections from at least 10 people and that’s when him and I started really leaning towards not going. Then he called JC Burke (Captain of the Karenielle) and JC managed to get Scott fired up with a few choice words of motivation…Scotty talked me into it and the two of us snapped out of “herb mode” and I got in touch with Timmy Jutras and told him to head down. He was game, and we made some final gear arrangements, scrounged together some food for lunch and went to bed.


So the 3 of us left a little short staffed out of Falmouth Harbor at 0345 with renewed spirits and the awesome feeling that something big was bound to happen. This was a new day and I was pretty confident that a 2 day skunking was not in our cards. Being on the RipDog certainly didn’t hurt our chances either…

So we rolled through the Sound and again were treated with the amazing planetarium effect from above. Sprinkle in a little Reggae and a beer or two, and the Mojo was sky high!

We arrived on scene in the area of the Wreck at about 0615 and immediately spotted a huge school of porpoise cruising around. This was already a better concentration of life than we saw the entire previous day. We pushed on until we found the whales and birds and this time they were feeding and also grouped together nicely….All the signs were there, so we quickly deployed the spread. 5 minutes later we had two big pods of fish up busting on the bait so I headed in their direction….The plan was to be as aggressive as possible today, and to try and get on the board quickly so I literally drove right through the middle of the school of fish….I typically never do that, but like I said - we were very anxious. So just as Scotty yells up “Dude – you drove right over the F-ing school of fish”….I turned around and was about to politely tell him to STFU and get ready….We get absolutely gang raped!!!…..”Left Shorttttt – F*CKKK he missed….THE BALLYHOOOO….HE MISSED THAT TOO!!! - LONG RIGGGGHHHHTTTTT BLACK BAR”……..SNAP CRACK RRRRRRRRAAAHHHHHHZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ……Scotty grabbed the Rod as this fish ran off with some serious steam….Timmy J got himself harnessed in and Scott passed him the rod and cleared the rest of the spread himself….We got the fish under control, and TJ had the fish to leader in about 30 minutes or so….I leadered the fish up and Scotty ran back and ended things with a sweet gaff shot. Fish taped out at 63 inches and was PHAT! A few high fives amidst the bloody mess and we quickly regrouped and got the spread back out as the area still looked unreal.

Once the spread was out TJ and I started prepping the fish and getting him ready to get iced down. All I could hear from up top was Scotty yelling stuff like “Holy $hit, Holy $hit….get ready dude - get ready!!” Just as I slammed the fish box door shut, I finally look up to see a massive explosion on the left short “RootBeer” bar…..SNAP CRACK……….ZIIIIIPPPPPPADYYYYYYY…….ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…..
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ – This time I grab the rod as TJ cleared the spread….This fish was tough, and it took me a good 40 minutes to bring him up with an Accurate 80….Once the fish was ready Scotty and I dragged him through the door and on to the padded mat. The fish was quickly measured (68 inches) tagged, photographed and shipped on his merry way. He swam away nicely so we felt pretty good about his chances.

We got the spread back out and were pretty pumped with the 2 fish and it was still only about 0830. We hammered the area for another hour and by this time about a dozen or so boats had joined in on the fun including our buddy JC who was also into the fish.

Then at 1000 it happened again….. This time it was the Center rigger WWWTFB with a naked Hoo behind a big green bird….The rigger pop sounded like a gun shot and the Shimano 80 sang the song that we all love….I grabbed the rod and whacked the fish a few times….I’ve learned the hard way that trolled ballyhoo and Big BlueFins don’t always stay connected – but this fish seemed to be hooked well and was racing off at an astounding pace….definitely a nice fish!! TJ was belted in so I made the transfer and cleared the spread. This fish really gave Tim a run for his money. Just one of those grueling, down deep….we would gain a little, he would take a little, we would gain some more, and he would take some more right back kind of fights. This fish was no joke and it’s amazing how much harder they pull without a face full of squid bar to contend with.

So after a solid hour we had color with the fish down about 30 feet 3 or 4 times. Since we were in tag and release mode, we really tried to horse the fish up but he just wasn’t having it. TJ was sweating his ass off and I asked him if he wanted me to finish the fight…He responded with a big FU, so I told him to stop being a wuss and hurry up! LOL….

Finally he got the bird in my hand and I really struggled with the last 15 feet of leader. The fish was still thrashing , circling and kicking hard as hell after an hour fight. Scotty raced down and the two of us dragged his fat ass through the door by hand….Fish taped out at a hefty 73 inches and looked to be in the 225 lb class. We stuck a tag in him, spun him around and slid him back out the door. The fish swam off like he had a rocket hanging out of his ass….Just an absolutely awesome animal and great team work by all involved!

So with 3 fish under our belts before noon we decided to end on a high note and headed for Oak Bluffs and Coope De Ville for some celebratory chicken wings and beer. During the ride in we had fish of all sizes busting in every direction for 5 miles inside the Regal Sword. We stopped at a few pods to make some casts and I actually came tight with a pink weighted sluggo but I dropped him shortly into the fight.

Big thanks to Skippa Scotty Claaaa…aaaa…aaayyyyyy for that trip. Boy am I glad we got our butts in gear and got out there. It’s shaping up to be a sick fall guyzzzz…..

-Brian Droney
Albatross on the JSEAS & RipDog

[backman]

Nice release! Bet that felt good for both you and the fish.

The Ripdog rolls better with Droney and Timmy than me. Beers and reggae at 0 dark thirty, lordy,lordy, I'm too old.

I like the creative use of a diaper; get used to it sir .

[clcharette]

Nice job and awesome photos.

[dunn6253]

Nice report, glad to hear that you guys got some payback....

[SaltyDog]

Redemption trips are the best, sounds like you guys got the dock record for BFT so far this year. Nice job!

[Col. Kurtz]

Excellent read and pictures. Thanks for posting!

[scottclay]

I have always wanted to tag and release a keeper BFT, it was a great feeling. Those fish are easier to kill next to the boat then to have them released healthy and to not have killed us in the process. Great job guys getting that done!

RIPDOG

[JD5652]

Great report and way to hang in there after a discouraging first day....bet all those guys that turned you down were kicking themselves after hearing about the trip.....

[Albatross32]

Originally Posted by JD5652

Great report and way to hang in there after a discouraging first day....bet all those guys that turned you down were kicking themselves after hearing about the trip.....

That's for sure JD - and anyone that knows Scotty....knows that he LOVES to rub it in...especially to the guys that were asked to go but declined.....

[chumtini]

Tough little SOBs when they're not pulling those big bars around. Did you see all the bait (halfbeaks) getting sprayed with tuna bustin and airing out in the afternoon? They were all around us. But wouldn't touch a thing we had to offer. But we did get some video! I could sit and watch that stuff for hours.