CASTAFARI CANYON REPORT 8/9-8/10

[cappyD]

After taking some much needed time off we blasted back to the edge on Monday morning with a group of new Castafari clients...all salty souls who live to hunt and fish. I knew from early on that this would be a fun venture. Its no surprise to anyone here that Hydro has been where the action is. So thats where the bow of the Castafari was pointed at 8am Monday morning. 4 hours later we were deploying lines in 73 degree water roughly 5 miles northwest of the tip of the canyon. The water up there on the flats is blue green, not the greatest looking stuff but there is bait and small to med yellowfin there. We didnt get a bite until actually entering the canyons west wall where we encountered our first white marlin...just a quick knockdown and dissapearing act. We worked the 100 fathom line on the west wall for about 45 minutes until a bomb of whitewater went off on the left short....nothing followed. Then seconds later the rigid dorsal of a blue blue marlin popped up like a periscope and in the blink of an eye the entire top section of the fish broke the surface and sliced foward with a stealth like grace. The clip popped as the fish vanished back beneath the 2nd wake leaving a bent rod and a screaming reel. Before I had time to think...BOOM! the center bait erupted with an explosive array of white water. The center rigger line snapped violently and one of the 50's in my rocket launcher sprung foward and began wailing. I noticed the rod in my starboard gunnel was no longer bent. Fish gone! Now our attention was directed toward the fish cartwheeling its way across the spread. Text book blue marlin fishing...lots of deisel smoke and screaming. The pesky 400 pound class blue tore its way across the surface and then sounded. We cleared the spread and brought the fish boatside in 30 minutes...great fish...successful release. I captured some amazing footage from the tower, especially when the fish aired out right next to the boat. It will be featured on the Castafari Monster Club IPTV show documenting this trip. Also just a heads up to folks releasing blues and whites...always keep the marlins head completely submerged and the only way to correctly do this is to keep the dorsal right side up. DO NOT pull the fish sideways...thats useless.

We went back on the troll and soon after clips popped and whitey was in the spread testing our patience. Seconds later we were on and a fiesty marlin danced its way to the boat and in for a quick release. Then the tuna showed up and we enjoyed more excercise. The fish were the same 60 pound class fish with a few rats thrown in. As the day grew late, I decided to slow things down a bit and deploy a tuna spread which consists of some jets and bullet heads behind birds and skirted ballyhoo. I pounded the numbers where we raised a monster fish during the Block Island Tri-State tourney. The bait was there down deep and we worked the area relentlessly. A couple of wahoo showed up and sliced through my flat lines like butter. Soon after my complaining about losing 80 dollars of tackle a couple of real bombs went off on the left side followed by bent rods. The big eye were still there! We lost one right away, but the other was solid and we went into the grudge match. An hour later we were circling hard and the fish swam sideways beneath the boat pulling stubbornly. This was a smart fish which made lots of unexpected turns and dashes...kept me on my toes! The sun melted behind the horizon and left a dark ocean which we lit with spreadar lights. Eventually I saw color...twice and it was big color. This was a very big fish, but just before we thought it was a done deal the rod snapped back...and the hook pulled. Everyones heads dropped...as we all shared a moment of involantary angry silence..as if we'd been cheated by God.

The night bite was dead. We all ate like kings though and talked about catching more fish. The next morning we were back on the troll and soon after catching more tuna. Clips started popping and we raised several more white marlin, bringing another one to the boat. The highlight of the morning was when we boated a very nice yellowfin...my guess over 80 pounds...maybe bigger. We picked up a mahi too and a few more 60 pound class fish. Overall this was a great trip with a great bunch of guys. Its nice to know we have such a worldclass fishery located right here in our local waters. It would have been nice to get the northeast grand slam and catch that bigeye. Thats 0 for 3 on eyeballs for us this year. Were supposed to be back out there tomorrow but the weather is iffy at best. The Monster Club will be updated by the weekend with some great bluewater offshore footage including the 7 marlin taken over the passed couple weeks. Tight lines.

[backman]

I'm jealous - I warmed that seat up for you

[JD5652]

Great report there Cappy!

Did you run into the Scarfish out that way?

It was a pleasure to meet you and your crew at the Tri-State....

JD - Maggie B