Coastal Charters BFT update

**captdom** · 10-21-2010 11:58 AM

August's slow fishing due to the heat was followed by the most dismal weather in September and early october I could imagine. After only getting out a handful of times in September and not once in October until the 9th, the past week and a half has seen some fishable windows and a few decent weather days scattered in. I was able to get 8 trips in in that time frame, and every trip saw excellent action with multiple fish hooked and landed on just about every trip. I was fortunate enough to have a good group of hearty Japanese fisherman who didnt mind the wind and cold, and had numerous bites/landings in several days of hard fishing in trying conditions off Chatham last week, including a triple hookup with all 3 to the boat with the 45"/58" over under thrown in. This week the CC Bay and Stellwagen areas have been red hot with varied size fish, many of them slot fish, all over the place and very receptive to many methods. The topwater and jig bite has been lights out for us, with the jigs seeming to be favored by the larger 68-70" models that appear to be back around in numbers after a long hiatus.

With all the signs pointing to much improved numbers and action over the late summer/early fall, the latter part of our season appears to be shaping up quite nicely. I would expect the fish to be here well after Thanksgiving, and I hope to get out whenever mother nature allows. This time of year sees fewer boats and large numbers of eager fish, good luck for those who stay on the tuna trail this fall.

A few pics from recent trips:

**Massbaytuna3** · 10-21-2010 12:19 PM

Nice work Dom! The photos are great!

**WeCatchEm** · 10-21-2010 01:12 PM

Great job as usually Dom, Btw we hooked up on that wreck you pointed out a couple weeks back. Took two swings over it trolling shankas, slowed way down on the second pass and bam brought a 66" fish to the side of the boat in the pouring rain. Thanks for the help. Ill see yah out there on my boat but definetly want to get another trip on urs before the season ends, I'll let you know.

**captdom** · 10-21-2010 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by WeCatchEm

Great job as usually Dom, Btw we hooked up on that wreck you pointed out a couple weeks back. Took two swings over it trolling shankas, slowed way down on the second pass and bam brought a 66" fish to the side of the boat in the pouring rain. Thanks for the help. Ill see yah out there on my boat but definetly want to get another trip on urs before the season ends, I'll let you know.

Hey Tom,

Good talking to you out there, and always happy to point in the right direction. It's what you do with the area when you get to it that matters, and you got it done that day. The bite has really picked up, so hope to see the grady out there gettin it done. Anytime you want to hop on let me know if your not going on yours.

Dom

**28Conquest** · 10-21-2010 05:14 PM

Great Job, Dom - I think we saw you guys out there on Tuesday off the SE corner of Stellwagen - very distinctive boat and weather gear!

Just curious if you hooked up after the slack tide. We boated one fish at 9:30am, but we fished the next 3 hours with tuna jumping everywhere, but not even a whiff at our spread. We were thinking the bite might turn on again at the next slack, but we couldn't hang around long enough to find out.

28C

**captdom** · 10-21-2010 05:36 PM

Originally Posted by 28Conquest

Great Job, Dom - I think we saw you guys out there on Tuesday off the SE corner of Stellwagen - very distinctive boat and weather gear!

Just curious if you hooked up after the slack tide. We boated one fish at 9:30am, but we fished the next 3 hours with tuna jumping everywhere, but not even a whiff at our spread. We were thinking the bite might turn on again at the next slack, but we couldn't hang around long enough to find out.

28C

Thanks, there sure were alot of boats out there Tuesday, so I probably saw you. Congrats on your fish, nice to get out on a decent weather day and score some tuna love!

The set up was perfect early am when I first arrived, there were literally fish everywhere along the southern edge of the bank feeding north coming out of the deep water and up onto the high ground. That body of fish stretched all the way up a few miles onto the bank and east well past the lanes. The fish were not really bunched up tightly, but the first few schools we rolled on had 30-50 pieces in them when we got them in our sights. They aren't staying up good, but the birds have been giving them away early am while the light is low. Then the boats showed up and it became 4-5 pieces, then ones and twosWe had two fish blow up on lures and then came tight before 7:30, we lost that one to a broken hook. We then had several more explosions that missed and a few half hearted boils/refusals all before the slack. Once the few boats that insisted on running all over the place trolling a spread at wahoo speeds and casting off the bow or just running at every group of birds in the area at mach 1, it put the very many fish present into a much less receptive mood to surface offerings and we took our only topwater fish a nice 55" that fell to a stickbait at 9am while blind casting and drifting. I see alot of that jumping singles eveywhere in the fall, and I typically get most of my love by fishing deep. Alot of my anglers get really frustrated as do I on days like that when they are clearing air and busting up but wont take a thing at the surface.

My Japanese group did not want to jig as they were testing lures and rods(Carpenter) for surface tuna, but I couldn't resist dropping some metal around noon after seeing so many juicy marks right where I like to see them this time of year. I managed to hook 4 fat bluefish in the 10-14 pound range and 3 tuna by 2PM, 2 of which made it to the boat on jigs. I used Pt. Jude Deep Force jigs made right here in RI, great tuna jig. There are several other jigs that will work well like Stingo jigs and good old hammered diamond jigs in 6-10 ounce. I know of several boats that used Ron-z or weighted Got-Strypers, Hogy's, etc. that cleaned up all day till they left them biting late afternoon. The bigger fish around seem willing to strike a jig, several boats had 70 plus inch fish that they released so be sure your jigging gear is appropriate for larger model bluefin.

Jigging this time of year can really put fish in the boat when they are less than receptive to trolled surface plugs or topwater casting. Make a few drops down deep next time with some metal or soft weighted and it might score a fish for you.

**Captain Greg Sears** · 10-21-2010 05:41 PM

Nice work Dom thanks for your help this season.

PEI Style : Congratulations from the crew of the Fortuna...

**captdom** · 10-21-2010 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by Captain Greg Sears

Nice work Dom thanks for your help this season.

PEI Style : Congratulations from the crew of the Fortuna...

Greg, always a pleasure seeing the MBG guys out there. Nobody works harder than the Sear's crew, you got a hell of a fishin family there. It sure was nice being able to work alongside you on many occasions, and the thanks goes right back to you for the courtesy and intel all season long.

Not all us run and gun guys are bad apples...