Stellwagon Report Monday Oct 11

[City Hands]

Left plymouth at 5:20 and arrived SW corner to see no life whatsoever. Kept heading East and a bit south where we found many feeding whales, birds and airborn tuna. Lines in at 6:30 SE of the SE corner. At 7:30 the orange/black splash bar on the inside rigger came tight. I turned to see the take, splash, watched the line come tight, out of the outrigger clip and then...gone. Fish missed the hook. Arghh! Continued to troll the area hard until 1:00. Saw intermittent jumping tuna and whales throughout the period but had no more action. At 1:00 ran to golf ball in hopes of finding tuna away from the boats but nothing doing. returned quickly and spent remainder of the afternoon trolling the bank's contour from SE to SW corner. BEAUTIFUL afternoon but no tuna for us despite seeing some more airborn late in the day. Heard of several fish caught including one on the Fortuna (50ish or so I think I heard) and a 70" from another boat mid-afternoon. Prime Rate also had a 52" right next to us at 7;15 a.m.

Hope to get out a couple more times this fall

[CaptainCJ35]

Left the dock at 6AM, with a 12 year old and 3 other guys who had never caught a BFT before, and steamed to the old BE buoy where we put lines in around 7. Trolled the eastern contour for a while and listened to the radio chatter of fish popping off Scituate. Moved back across to the western edge and trolled down to the SWC.

Right as we got to a mark where I had hooked up before, a big'un exploded out of the water on a black and purple bar, but just missed never to be seen from again. It did wake everyone up though. We moved east towards SEC, and heard Fortuna had come tight and boated a fish in the direction we were headed. Before long we caught up to the boats fishing in that area.

As we kept our distance from the rest of the fleet, I moved south off the bank, between the two corners, when another fish swung and missed a pink and black splash bar and then other did the same. I slowed down, then spead back up. Seconds passed as I began to decide how I was going to swing around to that same spot, when BAM! The way back black and foil Squid Bars Co. daisy chain came tight! Chaos insues, and no one is volenteering to pick up the rod. Lines are cleared, fish is still dumping line, and Paul gets the belt and harness on. 20 minutes later a fine looking 52" fish is lip gaffed into the boat. High fives and camera flashes. Got some nice "Congratulations", PEI style, on the radio too!

Get the lines back out, if only to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Pull the plug at 3, for a smooth hour and 30 minute cruise back to Marina Bay. A perfect way to end the season.

[City Hands]

congrats on your fish. Heard you radio to Greg about your black daisy chain. Wish we could've pulled one out of the hat but only had the early miss

[CaptainCJ35]

Like everyone else was saying, it was really like playing the Stellwagen lottery. There was no action going on where we got hit, they randomly came up and decided to bite. We just got lucky. Black in the Back is definitely the way to go though.

[parmentj]

Missed three and dropped one due to a cheap rigger clip. It was steady action for us in the morning, fish were everywhere, but it was over after the AM tide.

[City Hands]

Steady action sounds good. We saw plenty of life but didn't have steady action. what were you trolling?

[CaptainCJ35]

It was steady action for us in the morning, fish were everywhere, but it was over after the AM tide.

Thats about what I was hearing on the radio when I got out there. Boats that were out at dawn, or pre-dawn, saw a lot of action until the tide change at 8-830. There was a lot of chatter about fishing popping by the H Buoy in the early AM too. After that it was hit or miss. Nearly impossible for me to get to the bank that early from Marina Bay unless I want to risk running over a lobster pot in the dark.

[sokinwet]

"Nearly impossible for me to get to the bank that early from Marina Bay unless I want to risk running over a lobster pot in the dark."

I hear you there...it was a long cold & wet run for us coming from the Town River and we got there a little late too. Saw a few air out between SE & SW but no hits. Keep your eyes open on the run down; we saw big breaks just south of Minots on the way back.

[WeCatchEm]

Yea we got out there around 6:45 marked deep tuna on the SWC so we jigged for a while only pulling up some monster blues. Also had what I think was a blue dog take a jig and cut right through the 130lb flourocarbon leader we use in a matter of 5 seconds. Pushed east and saw a monster toad break water along the weed line near the SEC in 130ft of water. Trolled the weedline with xraps and had a quick hook up that took line for about 10 secs and by the time we got to the rod was loose. After that saw various fish breaking on the SEC till about 9am then shifted back to the south side and jigged all day after seeing nothing. Really warmed up and the became flat for the ride in around 4pm.

[parmentj]

Steady action sounds good. We saw plenty of life but didn't have steady action. what were you trolling?

Just bars. Got bit on all black but the smaller 8" white/ blue bar saw the most action.