A little something to get the Carolina gang fired up
Left Ryders Cove Thurs at 4am in FOG, thick fog with Andy and Randy, my canyon fishing buddies. We picked our way thru Chatham Harbor. If you've never been thru Chatham Harbor, let's just say it's more excitment than NASCAR. We got to the last green can just before the breakers. I knew we had a decent swell from the east which spells trouble. Add an outgoing full moon tide thru the cut against the seas, plus fog in the dark...
In the words of Tred Barta....Dangerous? You bet!
We lined up on the last green can. The boat was freaky silent as we listened to the breakers, but couldn't see. And I do it all the time. All I can say is Holy Friggen Shit
Slow soupy ride out to the sword (30 mi ESE of Chatham). Got there a little late. Trolled around for a few hours waiting for the next slack. And that's when it started. Another wide open blitz. And we were right there to watch the whole thing get rolling. A classic setup with a near perfect whale bubble feed (got vids of that too) and 4 schools in a sq mile area that merged together as the whales closed the gap. Sweet!
Andy's up and in 15-20 minutes we dropped the hammer on a 58"er. While Andy and Randy handled the fish and pit, I got another line on the fish. The fish #1 hits the deck and we're right back back on it. Minutes later, the rigger pops and on again. This one nails a ballyhoo w/t blue ilander. Randy get's it on, Andy manages the pit and we get the boat lined up for another go. Smooth, like an oily wheel.
I don't need to tell you guys... Weather and forecasts get trickier and tricker this time of year in the NE. I've got a couple more weeks until I pull the plug. Then I'll be watching this board to see how you do down there. It's been a pretty good year up here. Good luck!
great report as usual Steve and even better video, we made the trek up from Jersey last week to CCB and had them on plugs biggest going a hair under 60". Now is the time they are feeding if you get the window
What was your water temperature up there? You said you were 30 miles out is this correct? What kind of structure are you fishing. I am just trying to compare to what we have down here off Jersey as I would love to target Bluefin well into the fall this year.
A cold water current (labrador current?) pushes down from the NE and up against the banks. That cold water is forced up and interacts with sunlight (photosynthesis) and the food chain begins.
Below are a couple SSTs. One from last week and one from Aug. You can REALLY see the cold water upwelling in the Aug SST
Without question, Slack tides have fished better. Far better. And that's about the bait. I think it has a better chance to ball and structure. And the whales... These big bad boys know how to make bait. Oh yeah. They pool up huge piles of bait and the fish and birds take advantage.
So, as far as structure. Look for it all. It could be a simple as a few shearwaters sitting in a slick sipping sandeels to a wide open blitz like you just saw.
I'm no expert. So please, take all this with a grain of salt. Hope that helps. And, good luck!
Thanks for the info man! Looks like you guys have a very awesome 20 fathom curve to work with up that way. That is totally different country than what we have here down south. Again, it seems to be all about the bait as the Bluefins do not care about cold water (58 degrees). You have provided a wealth of information, and again thank you for that.
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