Hudson / Toms overnighter

[Capt. Mark]

Made the run to the band of warm water between the Hudson and Toms over the weekend. Just outside 500 fathoms we came across the break from mid 50's to 65-66 degree water. Water quality was good and we marked bait consistently througout the day. 8 hrs of trolling produced one shot of bluefin, going 2 for 3 and much to our surprise 8 for 10 on gaffer mahi. We set up for the night on the edge of the break with a 2kt drift to the east. Overnight saw a few blue sharks before we had a rod start screaming right at grey dawn. The fish ripped off 200 yards of topshot going into the backing against 24 lbs of drag. Unfortunately , after getting all the lines cleared and angler strapped in the harness the line went limp. The bait came back untouched and there was a small 1" area of chafe about 3 feet above the bait. We stayed on the drift for another two hours hoping for another chance , but it was not to be ... great weather, great crew and a nice change from working on the repower on the Canyon Runner (which is coming along awesome by the way .. we should bve splashing this week with new Cummins QSM 11's and a complete new electronics package from Northstar)

Mark

[plumbers crack mike]

mark,what was the bait that started screaming?all in all sounds like you had a good trip,.its a shame that screamer came unbuttoned.what class were the bluefins?

[Capt. Mark]

You know what bait it was ... the bait we caught that 74" fish on last November ..

Mark

[plumbers crack mike]

oh that one

[jwalker]

Good to see you made the effort to get out there and kick off the seaon for you guys, looks like a decent amount of meat for the crew, any other boats out there? How where the conditions?
JW

[tunakiller777]

what size were the bfts?and its good to hear that you made it back to the dock in one piece the early season runs are bold due to no boat traffic,god forbid.

keep on fighting the good fight and congrats on a good first trip.

dave

[Capt. Mark]

Hey John .. it was an expolaratory trip .. we start fishing in a few weeks. The conditions were perfect .. did not see any other boats but there were two that I know of south of us and one to the north. From what we could gather it was slow for everyone.

Mark

[jbones11]

The OH WELL out of OC was south of you and out for the day troll on Saturday...same story from their end...they ran 100 to that water out of OC and into the deep of the spencer up the line into the deep of the Lindy with only gaffer dolphins. One of them though weighed in at 28pounds. Never saw any Tuner.

[Begley22]

hey mark,

that 74 inch bluefin sounds awfuly familiar....

still have the pictures all over my office.

is the boat in cape may?

[JD5652]

Capt Mark-

Thanks for the report....hope the water moves a little further north east soon!..VERY SOON!