12/28 Va Swords

[Graceland]

Left out of Rudie on Thursday about 2 PM on the Matador with Jake Hiles at the helm. We had a good crew on board consisting of Jake, Tommy Tuna, Bill Funk, Julie Ball and Becky. We initially made a run about 70 miles south and sat down on the 100 fathom line in about 6 acres of tuxedo dolphins just as the sun was setting. We figured that was a good sign, there had to be bait holding them in the area. After about two hours with no runs, Backlash calls us and says a long liner gave him some info and we needed to move a little further south.

This move payed off. We hadn't much more than set out 4 lines at varying depths when we got the first run. Julie hits the rod and starts fighting the fish. Jake is taking the leader and I had the priveledge of the gaff shot. During the fight I noticed the deep line had come tight. The release hadn't popped and the balloon was still up, but there was definitely something on the line. We decided to take care of what we had hooked up and wait on the other line. Sword comes boat side, Jake says he's legal and I stick him. Not a big one, 54 inches and around 70 lbs. Jake and I are working on clearing the deck and Julie gets on the deep rod and is hooked up again. This one comes to the side of the boat but he's short, so back he goes. 9:30 and we have two fish boated already, it's going to be a good night. Well that's how it looked anyway. That was the last hook up we had that night.

Next morning just as the sun comes up Jake decides it's a good time to go tuna fishing, so we pick up the sword spread and run down to the 700 line. We never could find any good looking water. We had one strike on the short rigger that didn't come tight. Bill and Tommy pulled all the stops out looking for a tuna while Jake got a much needed nap. We even put out the secret weapon, a pink sea witch on a #4 planer. Most of our marks were deep and this seemed like a good idea, but it never paid off. Listening to the radio chatter the bite was slow every where, the OI boys were down to catching blue fish and sharks.

OK, on to plan C, tile fish. We moved up to the 740 hole and after a couple of sets Jake had them zeroed in and we were catching steady. We ended up with about 60 fish, most in the 6-7 lb range. After being on the boat for 24 hours it didn't take us long to tire of cranking fish in 240 feet of water so we decided to head home. On the way we did hit one wreck, just to check our numbers. They were good and it looked to be loaded with fish. We fished it for a few minutes, but the bite never really turned on, plus there was a lot of wind and current making it difficult to fish. We ended up with about 10 sea bass and 4 blues. I did manage one real good knothead at 5 lb 3 oz.

We hit Rudie well after sunset, and I was about 10 PM getting home after cleaning fish. Talk about a long day fishing. I am on the ship on duty today so I will have to get the pics up tomorrow. Great fishing with you guys and a big thanks to Tommy for teaching me how to rig for those funny looking, pointy nosed fish.

[Glenn W]

Pretty work guys & gals.

[flatbottom]

that must have been a fun trip. Congrats Graceland

[Deep C]

Nice trip!

[Graceland]

OK, here are some photos from the trip.

The tuxedos frolicking in the boat wake at sunset.






First sword in the boat.




Short that was released.




Citation seabass.




The days catch at the dock.

[Bite Me]

Sounds like a helluva great time with a great crew.

Pretty work.

[Miles Offshore]

Nice job guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Thanx for the report and the pix Darren!!!

[Seaker]

Nice way to end the year and grat pics

Thanks for sharing

Vin

[Graceland]

Thanks guys. Seemed a lot like floating eels for stripers, except we used squids, larger tackle and deeper lines. Well maybe it wasn't all that much like eeling stripers now that I think about it.

[WAHOONBOX]

GEEZUS H GRACE!!! WAY TO DO IT SON!!! AWESOME PICS AND STORYLINE!!!