Spent saturday this weekend looking for a tuna in the morning around the hotdog and the fingers, but no love. One bite for us which pulled the hook. We were luckier than most with the tuna fishing. There was only one fish 1 know of caught by a fleet of 20 or so boats. Went deep dropping around the norfolk and manged to catch a quick limit of tiles with 4 citation sized bluelines to 10-12. The biggest tile of the day was caught by 7 year old Troy Lindell. This kid was on top of his game and went coast to coast hooking up and cranking probably 15 tiles from 50 fathoms. I was impressed with the two kids I had on the boat. They were both all over it. We also caught about 25 seabass to 4.5#. Beautiful weather.
For sunday I'm gonna repost a report made by a crew member from another website...
This morning at 4:00am I went out from Rudee for a fun deep drop on Capt. Jake's boat, The Matador, with Tom Kidwell, Greg Allen (sfcallen), Chuck Kahlert (Flounderman2001), Dr. Julie Ball (fshgrl), her husband Robin and mother Sharon with mate Bill Gordy looking for Blueline tilefish, Golden tilefish, black sea bass and maybe some groupers. I was personally determined to get a blueline tile paper at least. The weather was perfect as the ride out allowed us all ( but mate and captain) to sleep soundly till we arrived at the Norfolk Canyon approx. at 7:30 am. At 50 fathoms we had clear marks of stacked up bluelines and managed to hook up as soon as we hit the bottom. My first fish was a weight paper that turned out to be 10lb. 4 oz. the biggest blueline caught for the day. We limited out in about an hour and a half with frequent six hook ups at a time. The bluelines were interspersed with black sea bass up to 4lbs. We must have caught about a dozen of them. Next on our target was golden tilefish and blackbellied rosefish in 150 fathons. Then the fishing really turned into work. Tom and Sharon each had an electric reel so we had them test each spot before we did any manual fishing. In no time we found the blackbellied rosefish which came up easily attached to each hook you baited and sent down the 900ft trip to the bottom then retrieved. After boating quite a few Julie's rod almost got pulled out of her hands. Big fish on . We all waited with anticipation that we had found the golden tiles. yes sir. We had found them. Julie's was a good sized one, maybe 20 lbs. Bigger baits came out and after a while another came in the boat on Chuck's rod. In all we caught seven I believe with Jake catching the biggest, 31 lbs. I didn't get one and neither did Sharon and Robin. The secret I believe in retrospect was the use of leaders that Tom had made up with the hook line being about a foot long from the mainline and using big baits.
We then started to check several places looking for groupers. It was after 1:00pm when we started the search and I fell asleep, exhausted from all the catching of the morning. By 3:00pm or so we had not located any and called it a day. I was actually glad cause our fishbox was overloaded and I was exhausted. Naps and lunch food was the name of the game on the trip back still with little to no waves to run through.
Total for the day was 49 blueline tiles, one citation of them. 7 golden tiles biggest 31lbs but littlest maybe 15 lbs. At least two dozen black bellied rosefish and two red hakes that Julie also caught. We caught and released about 6 seabirds that became an constant nuisance as they tried to steal our baits as we moved out bait in and out of the water. We eventually took up the habit of spraying them with the hose before we moved out baits.
I know everyone is sore and happy from the whole trip. Great fishing friends, great weather and a constant bite makes for fabuolous time on the water. What more can a person ask for. Julie took most of the pictures so she will post them once this gets posted. Thanks everyone for a great time. A special Thanks to Gordy for being everywhere we needed you especially in unraveling the frequent tangled lines. We've got to do it again.
I am available for charter at 757-749-6008. Thanks guys. And heres a pic for your viewing enjoyment.
Oh I was definitely going through something. I will call both the Bills tomorrow. Bill Funk.... sorry I didnt answer. Phone died this evening right when you called.
Last year everyone was talking about how great they taste and I wanted to try. When I was down in Sao Paulo my mother was buying some fish and I asked them if they had tilefish. The lady showed me a very small one... not sure if it was a golden or blueline, I ended up not buying it. I have not seen it for sale here in Fortaleza, I will look for it again next time I go to Sao Paulo.
I read about "tilefish and butter" and I need to try some
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Nice Jake
