Hydro 8/7-8/8

[backman]

Hydro 8/7-8/8

Canyon trip # 74 is in the books. Let’s start with the bragging rights. RIPDOG still owns them on E-dock. For the time being. Though not for lack of effort on Skipjack’s part.

I made the call to set out for a Sat/Sunday overnight trying to pick the best of an iffy weather window. We got what we expected; decent trolling conditions, but a sloppy but manageable night.

I also took the chance of taking a crew of 2 rookies to the canyons which on a 3 person boat means lots of work for the captain. It all worked out fine however and 2 more have joined the “ruined forever by a night at the canyons” club. They got a good one.

It was hard not to target Hydro given last week’s experience and info I also had of more recent trips. I hate the loaded steam out not for the time but for the fact that if anything breaks I’d have to turn back; as always my 4.5 hr cruise carries that worry in the back of my head. No issues, no problems but my boat really does not sound happy with 400 gallons of fuel in front and 300 pounds of ice in back. Visions of engine load and heat concentration always run through my head on those heavily loaded power ups. For all my worries we had no problem; transferred fuel at 20 knots and arrived 10 miles NE of Hydro at 1:30.

My other worry on the way out is my fuel budget. I have it finely worked and I allow myself 9 hours running time; 4.5 hr’s out and we’re trolling boys. We dropped into 71 degree water grey blue and 3 miles later I said to Kevin and Matt – “what do you think of the water color – welcome to the canyons!”. 74 degrees and bright, bright blue. The radio was calling me to come; but my math I had a 5 mile troll; why bother?

We worked our way eastwards towards distant white spec’s on the horizon. Pastures of blue, punctuated by columns of steam. Whales! A huge concentration of finbacks was up on the flats in 3-400’ of water grazing on large marks and lines of bait.

I hate crowds and stayed a mile off the bite that had happened, mentally hearing 400’ and finding my own section of 400’. 3 PM, I wasn’t too worried about the lack of action; I was pretty confident any time I wanted I could join the bite club a few miles north; I was also pretty confident that the bite would go off big time at 6 PM. Meanwhile we were going to find our own fish.

We started with a couple skipjacks; the rookies were surprised how uninterested I was in these gorgeous little tuna jewels. On my part I had forgotten just how marvelous a skipjack is to see in the clear blue and bright sun. Onwards south for a 4 PM double knockdown that turned into a 50# yellowfin. I’ve been spoiled by Jackson and Christian; this time I had a rookie on the sticks and a rookie on the rod. It all worked out fine and I got a reminder how much fun leadering and gaffing medium fish can be. One in the box!

With the pressure off we explored the deep; nothing, down a wall, nothing, 5 PM, time to head back up. Boat ½ mile up stopped dead after passing a flyer; angle inside him to leave room and also cross the school – skippies on the surface e- watch the spread guys – bang, bang, bang – they got the thrill of the wolfpack. Next round was a mix of skippies and baby yellows; limited again to only a couple knockdowns by my spread selection.

6PM, time to get serious, worked around the crowd – Montauk East August 2010 convention? – and raised and boated another 50 pounder. 2 in the box; time for ice management so we started releasing 50 pounders. A bigeye had been caught at this spot yesterday so sunset on the L.I.E. got a bit intense for my liking. Instead we worked south a bit also angling across the canyon to set up for what I expected would be a fast SE -> NW drift. There must have been a casino or something on the east wall because every flyer had a downeast tied up. In fact open ones were being advertised on the radio “getcha red hot orange balls over here”.

28’ deep V – we set up for what was to be a tough series of drifts in a steady SE10 with occasional puffs of 12-15. Not dangerous, but the odd swell from the storm out at sea combined with the 2-3’ chop to snap the boat all night long. I knew it was going to be a sleepless night so I set out the Hydroglow and 4 baits fast and laid down knowing what was about to happen. Matt and Kevin were entranced by what the light brings when the deep bait went off. We got everything in and your standard canyon size 7’ mako swims up to check us out before peeling off a couple runs to make Kevin sweat. OK – 45 minutes for the 1st 200# shark – what’s next? I sent Kevin down for a rest; introduced Matt to the wonders of a canyon night sky and waited, again knowing what was going to happen in 78 degree 500’ water as we drifted up onto the bank. Deep bait; slow and steady. Matt got the tussle this time; deep fish, strong fish, no runs just steady pull. It eventually sawed through the 200# leader, my bet was Tony the Tiger from the way it fought.

Reset back to the city of lights on the eastern wall; the drift now much sloppier. I went below, hearing the bilge pump periodically cycling; not a cause for concern, just an indication the boat was taking water through the scuppers and down through the fish box gutters. Something to keep in mind. Maybe 20 minutes rest before Tony’s brother showed up and kicked Kevin’s ass. He wisely left the rod in the rod holder and played yank and crank. He got the shark to 40’ on the fishfinder 8 or 10 times; each time it would dump off 20 or 30 yards, then come back to hang under the boat. Mercifully after ½ hr it broke off.

I now noticed the water on the deck was worse; went below, equations of time till dawn, sea conditions, batteries and the like in my head. No sleep of course; just rest. I think I heard another runoff but ignored it and it went away. 3 AM and one snap roll too many – I went up; sent Matt below and planned for my 4 AM mad chunk time. I was in 300’; I wanted to be just over the edge at 4 AM, 3 mile idle at 6 knots; wait till 3:30 and move.

At 3:30 I started the engines. Click, Grr. Not a Grr-GRR-Vroom, not a Grrrrrrrrrrr., not a Grrr, clunk, grrrrr, but Click, Grr.

OK – so that’s why we have 2! Click Grr. OK, let’s have an adrenalin rush on no sleep. 105 nautical miles from the dock, engines won’t start and a storm coming by in 36 hours. One more try. Click, gr on both.
Stop, breath, think.
“Lady Di – Skipjack on 68. Hi George – alerting you I have a potential problem….”
“Skipjack – Lady Di – we’re a couple miles west of you – we’ll be by at dawn if needed”
“Skipjack – Presto – we have jumper cables and can also help if needed”
“Skipjac k – Diablo – I had some funkiness like that once – have you checked that engine room solenoid”
Skipjack – Ace of Diamonds – we have 8 12V’s on board – we’ll drop one on your deck and you’ll be on your way”.

Support at 3:30 helped immensely. I shut down everything but the anchor light; dropped 2 baits overboard and sat and thought.

House side is fine – no low battery indicator, engines started fine 2 hr’s before; 2 year old batteries with no issues, 4 of them. If I can get the hatch up I can fix the problem somehow. If I can’t a loaner 12V jumpered to the lift solenoid will raise it so I can work the problem in the battery bank. I know the house side pair is good – I can rewire those 2 each to one engine - I can get us home, I can get us home, I can get us home.
OK – keep thinking. The batteries are not dead; confirm it. On to the helm – turn the key to ON to power the console; 12.5V on both. The batteries are not dead; the batteries cannot be dead, check again. 12.5 V.

OK – solve the problem – electrical or starter – can’t be both starters at the same time – has to be electrical. Think – key switch, neutral safety…Hmm. Check the gears and look, LOOK!

“Guys – I think we are back in business”; Click- GRR-VaROOM! One burning. Click-GRR-VaRoom – two burning.
I can start breathing again.

“Lady Di, Diablo, Presto – Skipjack – we solved our own problem; the gears were not in neutral”.

And for bonus points the wind had let up – back on my game – with the engines running we idled east 3 miles to set up for a predawn drift over the wall. I sent the boys away and pulled the Hydroglow. Dark and power chunking, a spoonful every 15 seconds and watch the finder – 600’, 550’ bait at 100’, bait at 100’, marks at 50’ – I’m getting them up. Jig rod out; one exploratory drop….

“What are those lights?” I asked myself. Low white; high white green at an angle – Ship! Fire up the radar; blob at 2 miles, 1.75 M, 1.5 M. Still white, white green – he’s passing our stern with his starboard. OK but, 1 mile, ½ mile. I broke and ran 200 yards at that point still seeing white, white, green no red, but too close for comfort. Matt woke to say “what’s happening” as the lit stern crew quarters of a coastal freighter, perhaps 400’ long slide by ¼ mile away. 20 minutes later a bulk carrier did the same thing off our bow – dawn traffic jam at Hydro!

I could see its silhouette lit by light to the east. Easier to do than to explain – I put Kevin in the tower; set the throttles at 1100 RPM and said “head east and don’t hit anything!” as I went to put out the dark dawn spread. I gave Matt a long and a short for the starboard; got the center, port long out; got the port short bar in the clip and was raising it when it got blasted 10’ off the boat, 2 more hits, 2 out of 3 stuck and we had a double on. God only know what could have happened if we had more than 4 out!
I hoped bigeye till they stopped, Matt and I played the unwind game to reverse the twisted lines and we boated one and released another. 3 in the box – we were full minus room for an exception.

Lines out again – the magic hour coming – doubled up again in minutes; one stuck. Matt was tired so I took that and told him to start working on the fish on the deck. I got the fish to the boat – neither Matt or Kevin had leadered before so I decided to teach. I showed how to pull, not wrap, wasn’t paying attention when the fish got under the boat and bye-bye Black Bart Costa Rica Plunger. My own fault.

Onwards trolling; more onsie/twosies as I started to work the 13” marlin lures into the spread. LIE commute was on – I sent Kevin to open space as he trolled up a couple more. 6:30 AM, perhaps 10 hits and 5 till the boat in 90 minutes – we’re done yellowfin fishing – lets go marlin fishing!

We circled the outskirts of the area as I slowly got the spread as I wanted it. 4 big lures; a couple mid sized ones, a mousetrap back and still 1 bar and a ballyhoo in close.

Not for long – we watched a yellowfin cross the transom fin high, smash the ballyhoo (pinkie by the way) and either cross or have its brother eat the bar on the other side. 2 down, 1 on. Matt was still working on the fish on the deck; this was a TLD fish and a long ways out so I rod hogged to get it done fast. I had visions of marlin dancing in my head. I powered the 200 yards in fast and something changed at the 30 yard mark just when a yellowfin makes the second run. It gave up. I cranked hard expecting to get a head back but it was still there. To my surprise it swam to the boat and hung docilely by the transom as we releasing to lazily go sideways then down. As I was sorting the mess – bar and snap swivel were gone – fray marks on the 100# test line, fresh bill marks on the ballyhoo leader. Hmmmm.

Down to a 7 rod spread; 4 big, 1 noisemaker and 2 little. Matt and I were head down solving another problem. The 78 degree water on the deck had eaten all the ice in the fishboxes. We had a 120 quart cooler and a few other bags left. We repacked the 2 fish from yesterday into that and started to cool the 3rd in the cold fishbox water when – bzzzzzzz. What’s that.

“Short – right there” – Matt pointed to the rod by my face, Left Short – the one I had put a Wide Range on 15 minutes ago. I had no doubt from the lure and the sound the rod was making what was on the other end. I grabbed a belt and jumped on the rod. Deep and screaming; down into backing, the V of poorly packed braid showing now. I had enough time to look and see the line furrow 200 yards off, a furrow that meant only one thing; I leaned back to see what was going on and the hook pulled. Ahhhhhhhh. The long crank in, some disappointment but also some pleasure from the fact we had in fact raised a blue marlin. The scar’s on the 13” Wide range left no doubt.

Spread back out – “keep doing what you are doing” I told Kevin. I also told Matt – “we always need a pair of eyes on the spread”.

10 minutes later my eyes were on the spread as a fin and back came in hard to the Right Short, knocked it out of the clip. I was on that rod in no time; cranked twice as it came again, “Marlin, I have him I have”. Gone. Drop back, crank again; hit; fin high, slash, bill, slash, bill, gone. Drop back, crank again, drop crank, there he is – but this time he faded away. Hard to say whether it was an angry white beating up a lure way too big for it or a small blue but we had now raised 2 in 45 minutes.

Now I had everyone’s attention! Even though neither had seen the bill and fin – they now got it.

20 minutes later, snap – where – bill on the right short again, bigger bill, white water as I cranked, faded, crank, crank, nothing. BZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!

“Where?” “Far, far” Matt yelled. Far? Center rigger was OK – long right was down hard. Ugh – a 30 and *that* 30. *That* 30 have never been the same since the 45 minute marlin on a showerhead episode – but that was another story from another time and another place.

I belted in and yelled “clear the transom” as Matt scrambled down the tower leg. No doubts about ethnicity here – I had seen it in close and there; there – white water motorboat waking 200 yards out at 7 o’clock heading to 5 o’clock at warp speed. “Holy shit” I heard from above as the marlin tore the water. Then it jumped, triple leaps each time as if on springs. Once, twice, now 300 yards out, more white water the fish plowing the water in its rage, more jumps, further out, one last set; then the hook pulled.

This was even more of a crank in – my 30’s are loaded with 600 yards of spectra and 150 yards of topshot and this one was packed full, now at least half way down. A long time later I finally got the mousetrap in. Let’s just say the 7/0 hook in the 6” lure wasn’t up to holding on to a 300#+ fish! Boatside or not – the 2 Black Bart Costa Rica Plungers I had got at yard sale prices from one of Stew’s blowouts expressly for white marlin had paid for themselves in memories burned into at least my mind.

That was it – 9:15 we pulled the plug – on zero sleep I was concerned about the 4+ hr run back and a possible wind pickup as we approached the islands. 1:50 ; off plane and into Falmouth Harbor.

As I had told the 2 rookies before the trip “canyon fishing is not about catching – it’s about experiences you can’t imagine till you’ve had them”. They got a good set on this trip.

[Albatross32]

just an epic report Larry.......enjoyed every second of it.... Great job man!! SkipJack - the little boat that DOES!

PS ~ I thought you said you were working today??..haha

[simonsez1]

What a report, Larry, that was an awesome story! Thanks!
Kevin

[fin-chaser]

I never get tired of your canyon reports. Excellent report with exquisite detail !! Maybe I'll get a chance to fish with you at the canyons some day.

Great job !!

Fin-

[tunaddiction]

good job....i am going to bet jackson is kicking himself for missing out on this one

[Albiemanmike]

And once again the SJ gets it done with an epic story told and another canyon adventure in the books Congrats once again for a successfull adventure with green crew!

[Relentlessfishing]

Great report and thanks for the detail

[Oro]

damn good read, thanks for that

[Kamo Gari]

Brilliant report and adventure. Thank you for taking the time.

[Riptide Charters]

Nice job LB, i had planned to make the run today or tomorrow but the E/NE forcast even though light has me spooked (been there done that)

Nice to see the boys had your back at 0330 !!!!