Va. Deep Drop Trip - 3 Feb

[ocnslr]

A couple of firsts for us this past Sunday. Our first dedicated offshore deep drop trip, and our first winter offshore run.

A very pretty day, so "C-Time" headed off to some spots I'd been given. Our intended targets were Blueline Tilefish and Black Sea Bass. Well, we found some - not as many as we'd like - but we also found far too many DOGFISH!

We had 11 tiles, with two citations at 13-4 and 10-11, plus 38 BSB. Probably over 50 dogfish, coming up as doubles, with a tile, or with a BSB. They are a real PITA.

[gottaflylee]

Wow ocnslr, you have made me hungry. Great catch you all have...pretty work!

[HOLWACHAGOT]

Great job OCNSLR! Way to fill up the dock with fresh meat! Congrats on the first, I'm sure it won't be your last.
Holwachagot

[SeaBiscuit]

Excellent catch C-Time crew! Good eats for sure.
Bryan, if you don't mind would you share depth and surface water temp where you fished?
Thank you,
SeaBiscuit

[merry marlin]

NICE !!!
Keep us motivated.....

[marlin magnet]

THat is simply amazing. Nice fishing. Now the question is, why take the boat out of the water in the winter, when you can do this? Can you tell us more and where you were? Norfolk, area I presume?? on the edge? what was the surface temp, not that it matters, just curious. What bait.

[austin ensor]

good work always wanted to fish like that is the winter!

[John Rogers]

Pretty work on the SB and tiles. Some good eats there

[ocnslr]

O.K. to answer the questions.

For SeaBiscuit: we were about 66nm ESE of Cape Henry, in 285 foot depth. Surface temp was 47-48*F, but not really a factor. Most of our blueline tile fishing has been in 270-310 foot depths.

For Marlin Magnet: out boat is in the water, in a slip that is a 3-minute walk from our condo. We fish all year. The water never freezes. If the air temp is headed below freezing for more than a few hours, I will put the lower units into the water to avoid any risk of freezing of the water in the lower housing.

Noted the location above, but it was about 16nm south of the Norfolk Canyon. Bait was simply cut squid - easy and cheap.

Last July we had 31 nice tiles in less than two hours. Here is a picture of two - the big one was 18#-11oz, just under the all-tackle world record that was pending at that time.

[SeaBiscuit]

Thanks for the info ocnslr.
My fishing buddy (Slip Slidin) and I were wondering just yesterday if BSB could be found in the "deeper" (120 feet +) SE NC coastal water. My theory is that since the gulf stream keeps our offshore waters rather warm (usually in the mid 60's and higher) the sea bass don't go there. We sure have lots of them around in the winter time nearshore but typically in areas where the surface water (at least) is much cooler.
Then again we have some resident fish in the 100 foot depths. Those we catch year round even in August when the surface waters are in the low 80's.
Many are the mysteries of this wonderful fish and the more I understand about them the more I can catch (and eat!) them
Cheers,
SeaBiscuit