SWC 8/11/08

[captdom]

Had a 3 man group hell bent on getting out, they were already in CT from NJ when I called them on Sunday at 2PM to discuss the possibility of a reschedule!!

After getting little to no sleep, I awoke at 1:30 am and walked the dogs. I carefully watched the radar from 2am-3:45am to be sure the storm cells working south of MV would clear the bay to the east, and it looked okay till mid day, so I went for it.....

Got off the dock and looked to be the only venturous souls out, till I hit the SWC and saw the rest of the fleet...all 3 of the other boats!!

Whales and birds everywhere, a few small surface pods of hungry tuna, and plenty of bait greeted us as we scanned the horizon in the lumpy, grey morning light. I spotted a huge swarm of birds off in the distance just west of the corner, and quickly got to the spot.

The guys cast surface lures towards the melee, and had several hits before finally we came tight. Fish ripped off a ton of line, circled the boat, sounded and then quickly came up. These fish act pretty freaky when they get these big surface plugs with 2 trebles stuck in their jaw, and this fish was no exception, coming to the boat rapidly, then blistering away on a run that parted the 65 pound braid, fish off.

We scoured the area for several hours amongst the whale watch boats, and had another surface frenzy, only to have a lure picked up in the middle of a WFO blitz by a DUMB Stellwagen Striper in the 40 pound class, which was quickly released to the delight of the WW boat that was just off our port stern. What is it with these stripers in amongst the whales and tuna????

That would be the only love for the day, 5 or 6 missed hits, 0 for 1 on the tuna, 1 for 1 on the stripers. We got chased off the water at 1PM with a few distant flashes of lightning, and made it home through a deluge from mid bay to Green Harbor.

Attached is a cool screen shot from the finder today....plenty of fish, just not too eager to feed on the surface.

[paul708]

nice report
great screen

[AlloyToy]

Nice shot at em Dom......great report & pics

[Dads Dream]

*Dom keep those awesome reports coming- always a great read! Say, wondering if your crew put any time into vert jigs & butterflying on those fish?

I lost 2 SBFT last fall up here in Maine waters and one was a great learning exper for me. We were running & gunning, following the birds as our queue~ and several times we arrived just as the surface blitz had ended~ birds flew off~ no more fish or bait on the surface~ just the oil slick from the melee

And although we were RIGHT on the SPOT where it was hot just minutes before our arrival....it seemed it was DEAD??!!

Glanced at the Humminbird and saw 3 large red dots at 45 ft~ yep, you guessed it~ dropped a line~ tried to motion to one of my buddies onboard like a wise captain.....'we're marking fish at 45'....' and with that BAM.....I'm tight.....

Everything's gotta be perfect, right?....and in this case, 40 lb flouro which had been used for live lining herring to stripers on the last outing?? Nice job A-hole!! Oh, also, add to that....the drag was cranked because we had just retrieved the lure in one of our run & guns........and then POP!!! Game over BFT wins!

Keep the faith

[captdom]

Hi Capt. Rich,

Thanks for the kudos, and the input. Love the fact that my reports are read and enjoyed!

I have spent too many hours to relate trying to jig these fish....for some reason they just do not respond well to them up in CC Bay and East....or maybe it is just because there are so many damn doggies in the way, makes it tough to spot the small jigs amongst them??


We did take a 77" fish back in July on a jig, and it was one of the coolest catches my boat has recorded ever! We drop jigs almost every trip. I like to watch the jig on the finder and put it right in front of the marks....sometimes it pays off...like every 100-200 drops. Not the best ratio, but a true jigging enthusiast would have no problem dropping down 100 or 200 times if they knew an outsized tunner was the result of just one of those. We have had 3 or 4 hookups on BIG fish on the jigs as well, a broken in half jig, an assist hook and a solid ring minus the jig and split ring, popped lines, etc. I had one other tuna to the boat on a jig as well this year up there, a nice 53" fish on wispy ground gear normally employed for cod or haddock.

[paul708]

always like reading good reports with great pics
thanks for posting

[Dads Dream]

Originally Posted by captdom

Hi Capt. Rich,

Thanks for the kudos, and the input. Love the fact that my reports are read and enjoyed!

Not the best ratio, but a true jigging enthusiast would have no problem dropping down 100 or 200 times if they knew an outsized tunner was the result of just one of those. We have had 3 or 4 hookups on BIG fish on the jigs as well, a broken in half jig, an assist hook and a solid ring minus the jig and split ring, popped lines, etc. I had one other tuna to the boat on a jig as well this year up there, a nice 53" fish on wispy ground gear normally employed for cod or haddock.

Thanx Dom
There was a report from this past Sun of cod guys on a small CC like mine on Jeffries ~ minding their own bizniss jigging for cod....and bam- tunner hookup in 150 fow....yep, drag is set heavy for cod......rips the ROD outa his hands?? GONE......hour later his buddy hooks up same way...but they'd lightened the star since tragedy #1 and this 60-80' class fish gets within 100 ft of boat before straightening the cod jig swivel.....ahhhhhhh the ADRENALINE!!!!!