Maggie B 9/14-9/15 Canyon Report

[JD5652]

Capt Mike, Madchark and myself left Noank on Sunday afternoon and went to Montauk to fuel and ice up. Had not decided on a firm destination as there had not been a decent sat shot in days. Met up with the Carly 2 crew and exchanged some intelligence about the bite in the Atlantis - Veatches.

Left Montauk around 2 AM and did the "downeast shuffle" towards Atlantis. There were many temp breaks and lots of grass up on the flats on the trip down. Put lines in about 15 miles northwest of West Atlantis around 7:30 AM. Had a gaffer mahi and a small keeper YFT in the boat within the first hour.

Got some good intelligence about the hot bite east of Veatches. We weighed our options regarding weather, range and fuel and determined that the bite way east was out of our range. We continued to troll toward West Atlantis and had a blue marlin hit the right flat. Madchark dropped it back and had her hit it twice, but did not hook up. Put a couple more small keeper YFT in the boat during the afternoon troll. Saw lots of porpoise in the are all afternoon.

Set up on the 100 fathom line at the top of West Atlantis for the night bite. Capt Mike rigged up a couple sword rigs, a yo-yo rig and a shark rig for the chunk. Almost immediately we had great life in the sprad including great squid, a couple mahi and what looked like sardines. We jigged up quite a few live squid and live-lined them. Around 11 PM had one reel scream and after a great fight, Capt Mike reeled in a very nice 60# class albie.

Around 2 AM we had bite on one of the live squid rigs and the fish ran under the boat and got tangled in the running gear. We finally got it loose using an extended boat hook. I fought the fish about 30 minutes using as little drag as possible since we were concerned with possible chafing. The fish made a run toward the bow and got the line wrapped under the boat gunnel and into the anchor. I walked the rod around the gunnel up the starboard side....untangling the line from the anchor and back down the port side....all this in 6 footers, 20 knot wind at about 3 AM. It was tough getting back down the port side, so I took a chance and put the reel in free spool and slid it down the gunnel to Capt Mike. He grabbed the rod and the fish had again gotten fouled up in the running gear. We tried everthing for about another 45 minutes and could not free the line. We ended up cutting the line around 4 AM. We figured the mystery fish was either a swordie or possibly a mako........

Got up on the big-eye troll at daybreak into pretty sporty conditions. Took a couple laps around the canyon with no love. Mid morning pointed the Maggie B north burying her bow a couple times.....didn't quite look like the predicted 2-4's to me. Picked up four more small keeper YFT up on the flats with one double knock down which gets pretty interesting with a crew of three.

Picked up late morning and headed to the barn. Refuled at Montauk and was back at Spicers around 3 PM.

It was a great trip with a couple of my great friends.

All total..... 1 gaffer mahi...raised a blue marlin....7 YFT....fought but lost one mystery fish.....PRICELESS!

Wish we could have made it out to the hot Veatch bite, but it just wasn't an option for us due to range. Nedless to say, I see a 150-200 gallon bladder tank in my near future.

[SaltyDog]

nice report, what are you using to jig up the squid, i have found they are pretty skitish this year for me using sabiki's, it always kills me not seeing that night bite and wondering what it was..

[JD5652]

Originally Posted by SaltyDog

nice report, what are you using to jig up the squid, i have found they are pretty skitish this year for me using sabiki's, it always kills me not seeing that night bite and wondering what it was..

Salty-

We keep it pretty simple....using a $25 spinning rod combo with a squid jig lure and casting out beyond the spreader lights .....let her sink for a bit and slowly reel her in....I'll try to get a pic of the rig for you......

[backman]

nice report and even nicer call on not going further than one's safe range. I live with the bladder and range call each time out and empathize.

[Mako Wish]

Great trip JD. I had a wonderful time.

First of all fishing a 44ft bridge boat with 3 guy's with multiable hook-up's is interesting ...

A great time on a great boat with 2 of my best friends a 100 miles off the beach was as good as it gets.

I will say 1 thing JD went on the bow with a fish on in 6ft. seas and did what ever he could do to catch that fish. I tip my hat to him he does whatever it takes. He has become a excellent angler !!!!

[clt_capt]

Sounds like a good trip. Glad to see you getting out there

[scratchinbottom]

Nice report JD! glad to see you guys got into the fish. Capt Mike knows how to find em. Congrats

[Taradise]

Excellent Report JD!!! What a crew! Glad you guys had fun I heard the fish at 3am was a sea monster... haha. Hope to see ya soon.

[WAHOONBOX]

GEEZUS H JD!!! I GOT GUNNEL CRAMPS JUST READING THIS PERIL!!!! DOING THE WALK AROUND IS NO PICNIC!

GLAD YOU WERE NOT LEFT STRANDED IN 6 FTERS! STILL, YOU GOT SOME MEATNDABOX!

[BTH284]

Lost my balance just reading this. Good going guys sounds like a great trip!