CASTAFARI WEEKEND CANYON TRIP WELKER HYDRO

[cappyD]

We blasted back out to Welker Canyon with 10 time returning Castafari guest Chris Jenkins and crew for another adventure at the edge. I decided to deploy baits at the tip of Hydrographer Canyon along a 3 degree break where I thought there might be fish. Sure enough before we had time to put the teasers in...Wack...the short bait L Lady gets nailed and the clip pops....then nothing. Typical white marlin scenerio...I knew there was one back there prowling beneath the spread trying to decide what to eat next. Then a shadow appeared behind the left long. This was no white! lol A huge dorsal rose from the whitewater...then the head of a 500 plus pound blue...lit up like a slot machine. POW!! the rigger snapped violently, and Johnny baited the fish which came back 3 times before melting some skin away from young Johnny's thumb and doubling the Biscayne rod right over. What a way to start a trip after a 4 and a half hour run! This fish absolutely screamed. Classic blue marlin fishin....big belly...lots of black smoke...and some yelling and screaming in between The fish greyhounded 100 feet from the boat a few times, ripping line across the surface. She stayed high while the Castafari's transom swung in all directions. 30 minutes later we had the wire and a healthy release of a 500 pound class fish. On the board early...the only pressure now was that of "Pressure Drop" playing on my stereo...life is good.

We trolled along the edge of the canyon for a few hours with nothing. The ocean looked beautiful and dead. I trolled all the way to welker...now 4 hours without a bite. Where were the fish?? I worked my bigeye numbers at welker...nothing...though I did see a few breaking fish...big fish too. We pounded the area and then I saw a sight for sore eyes...gold in the far away oceanic world of the northeast canyons...a nightmare to mariners running at night....a dream come true for bluewater fishermen in the northeast 115 miles from shore...a 20 foot floating tree! Where the hell did that thing come from?....Africa? lol All I know is I climbed up the tower to get a better look. We passed the piece of wood at 8 knots...9 rods in play dragging a buffet of candy into its neighborhood. As I peered down into the water next to it my blood boiled. Over a dozen wahoo lazily patrolled the ocean around it while a massive school of tiny trigger fish balled its way directly beneath the log. None of those fish would live very long. As the Castafari passed by the floating nieghborhood the wahoo blasted out...so fast it looked as if they simply vaporized. Immediately I heard screaming from down below...followed by an ochestra of clips and drags....every rod was hit. I honestly think we had 5 or 6 wahoo hooked at once...certainly a first on the Castafari. Some mahi and small yellowfin were mixed in...even the teasers got hammered. I watched in frustration as a 30 pound yellowfin repeatedly took swipes at the last moldcraft squid, refusing to accept missing its quarry until one of the pink rubber squid was carried off into the depths by the determined fish.

Soon after the deck was shelacked with blood, flailing hooks, and bouncing fish...some with teeth like scalpels. We cheered after a long awaited catch and firedrilled back into position. I made another pass...and again I looked down at the wahoo camp to see what might still be there. Sure enough there they were...50 pound wahoo and big mahi doing circles around the rolling ball of triggerfish. The boat missed the tree by a few feet. The fish blasted out again..baboom wam..snap..zzzz..."tight!". This trick only lasted a few times before the fish decided to ignore the re-appearing "school of bait" that always seemed to show just after a big object cruised by lol I told my friend Kevin to give it a shot and he pulled a nice wahoo from the batch. There was also a huge school of skipjack working the area too. I knew those wahoo were probably inhaling those things like posicles. We caught a few more yellows and mahi before venturing off to deeper water in search of bigeye back at the numbers. In hiensight I should have stayed as we didnt get a sniff for the entire dusk hour...except a white marlin visit.

We spent the night swordfishing in the deep water...nothing! The next morning we worked the bigeye numbers some more. The wind picked up. Then when I thought about running out of the canyon to another spot the right long got hit hard and the reel started screaming. Within seconds this fish was well into the backing. Eyeball I thought...no question. A yellowfin wouldnt come close to this kind of power. As the spread was cleared we pounded the transom into 2 to 4's with some 5's thrown in for good measure. We backed down hard for 10 minutes straight. I think Dan Cambria was right next to us for a while. The fish stayed high...hmmm...no jumps, but blistering runs. Eventually the fish sounded and the grudge match was on. Inch by inch we pulled the mystery a little closer. I noticed the rod didnt have that tuna tail pulse motion...this was a big blue marlin! We eventually wired the fish and righted her for a prolonged release which took almost 30 minutes...the fish was exhausted. 2 for 2 again on blues. Things were shaping up again.

We trolled north into the break 10 miles north of the canyon. Nothing....lots of porpoise...and weed! So then I decided to pick them up and run back to Hydro...dont ask me why. Off we went plowing into 4 to 6 foot head seas. 40 minutes later we arrived on scene...68 to 74 degree water...tons of petrels and shearwaters...and boats complaining of no fish...except marlin...no problem! We deployed the billfish spread(4 sale on castafari site!) and within minutes had our first white marlin up. Evenbtually we hooked one up that stayed on...a nice fish for a quick release. Then as we trolled by a flyer a big flash and POW! The short bait...a huge marlin lure..roddy hayes andrometer got hammered...20 pound class mahi. Eventually we decided to head back..wahoo, mahi, tuna, and billfish behind the belt. Great trip...back out tomorrow!

Tight lines.

[JSeas]

Cappy D... Congrats on a great trip!

JSeas

[SaltyDog]

Nice job, lets see some pics for the guys that didnt make it out!

[Thynnus]

We were about a half a mile behind Damon when that blue ate and I thought he might actually get to us! Thank God he didn't There were more weeds in that water than I have ever seen in the canyons in my entire life. We trolled through 5 miles of them when we put in at the break 8 miles north of the canyon, it was unfishable. Our action came with the small fleet right in the canyon proper with Damon and Kevin on Diablo right next to us. Thanks guys for talking to us and making us feel safe in our 31 foot Contender. We had a tough trip going 2 for 7 on YFT, dropping two nice 60lb class fish, one on the leader and one because of a pulled crimp. I didnt find the log until after it had been pounded, so no mahi / wahoo love for us. There were tons of shearwaters and a few small groups of YFT on the surface which I have only seen once in Lydonia. We had a decent nite bite going 1/2 on yellow and losing a big sword / shark on a whole butterfish which was set up for tuna chunking. Overall it was a slow trip for us but we got some sushi and made it home safe, so that is a successful canyon run in my book. Thank you to Castafari and Diablo for talking to us and helping us dial in on the bite, you guys are both first class and damn good fishermen!

[The-Avid-Angler]

That was some pretty work watching The Castaphary do what it does best.

Even though we didn't crush it Dan, there was still plenty of action on the SeaHabbit. I had a great time out there with ya, and the tuna was out of this world, looking forward to getting out fishing together again soon.

damn WEEDS!

Eric