What an epic bite is going on out there now. We left falmouth at 830am on sunday and hit the amazing 65-76 degree break south of the banana bouy above Atlantis. Found yellowfin and mahi in the warm water but the cold water was not as productive. Had a white marlin in the spread but only a quick hookup and then he spit the hook. Trolled the warm edge all the way to Veatch and absolutely loaded up on yellowfin and mahi. Most of the larger YFT were when we hit the flats before Veatch and were bigger, 30-50lbs, we lost our largest YFT, around 60lbs to a huge shark as it bit it in half...
Set up for the night bite in Veatch with 5 sword rods and really looking to get the sword skunk out the boat for this season. Conditions were perfect, nice break from 74-68 at the tip of Veacth. We drifted it 3 times at night and no bites. Had two huge tiger sharks circling the boat which may have kept us from the bite. The swords were at Veatch as at least 6 boats I know caught swords that night, some pretty big. It was crowded at Veatch which may have contributed to the no sword hookup for us.
The morning troll back to the flats off Veatch was again lit up with YFT. We decided to troll the edge home towards north of Atlantis and we could not keep the lines in the water. We ran out of ballyhoo by 9am and had to rig butterfish to simulate meat. The lure that produced the best for me was a new one called the Munson Mahi in blue and silver. Got it from a buddy of mine Roland Beamish of Beamish tackle. It caught at least 50% of our fish. It was so good we renamed it, McLovin'.
As we hit Atlantis we made the turn north on the break we had a total of 25 YFT and 20 Mahi in the boat. We were ready to pull the plug then BAM! the butterfish islander goes off. 10 minutes later we pull in an 80lb wahoo, my biggest so far!. Was the icing on the cake and the end to a great trip. The water is so full of life and fish, and the break from 65-76 degrees is stunning to see.
Mark-
Nice job on the wahoo. Sounds like you guys filled the box.
We had a similar experience with lots of rat yellows and all the mahis you could handle. No billfish or wahoo for us though.
Capped the day off with a nice mahi bailing session under a huge weed pile north of Atlantis. This weed patch had dozens of mahis, schools of triggers and a turtle. Lots of life out there.
Hopefully Mother Nature will smile upon us one more time and give us an overnighter before fatso sings.
Can you explain, demonstrate a "Butterfish Islander", certainly I get the notion..first time ive' heard of the combo.
Ive fished the canyons for awhile and have never heard of it, always willing to to learn the rigging and technique as butters are clearly cheaper than quality hoos'.
Butterfish Islander is when your 2 packages of ballyhoo are gone and you have nothing left on the boat, we improvised by slicing a butterfish in half lengthwise and rigging it like a ballyoo on the Islander, not ideal but still gave the lure a little flash of real meat on it.
"If at first you don't succeed, don't try skydiving"
Join Date
Aug 2009
Location
Milton / Harwich
Posts
126
Boat
Sea Habit - 31 Contender T
Home Port
Ryder Cove, Chatham
Best Catch
All of them
Occupation
Real Estate Broker
We did a day trip on Sunday to that break north of E. Atlantis and you are 100% right Salty Dog, that water is full of life. We got approximately 35 mahi to 35lbs, 2 yellows and an 80lb wahoo. We never made it to the edge as we pounded the warm side of that break (74 degrees all day) and kept catching fish. The wahoo ate a pink and white skirted hoo without wire so we were lucky to get her. I am praying the weather holds and we get one more shot at running south. Tight Lines!
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
