Albatross

After debating for some time on Thursday on which Canyon to go to, Scotty and I decided that the best water still looked to be at Fish Tails so we decided to go there instead of to an Eastern Canyon like we were hoping.

Early Friday morning was spent getting food/ice, rigging baits and loading the RIPDOG with gear. There is a lot of prep work involved with doing an overnight canyon trip and it’s always nice to do the majority of it on dry land. At 0900 we were ready to roll.

The crew for this trip was Capt. Scott Clay and his 9 year old son Tommy Tuna, Timmy Johnson and Pickles (Brian Kelly) regular RIPDOG crew members, Timmy's friend Adam, and finally and most important me.

So we left out of Falmouth in FAC conditions and blasted down Vineyard Sound, past Gay Head and then eventually past Noman’s. We then set a course of about 204 degrees and headed right for the tip of Fish Tails.

The ride down was gorgeous. We stopped to make a few casts at some busting SBFT and some skip jacks but didn’t have any luck. A few miles before the Canyon in 74 degree water we started seeing large pods of porpoises and a few shearwaters so we decided to go lines in and troll down to the Canyon Wall. We quickly boated a off a high flyer and then in about 30 minutes both short rigger spreader bars got lit up hard .......Timmy and I grabbed the rods and the rest of the crew got us strapped in and cleared the spread. After 10 minutes Timmy's fish who appeared to be coming in first went on a huge run and then eventually popped off. So we put the focus on my fish, and after about 15 minutes the fish was brought to the boat and gaffed. Nice fat 50lb Nice to get the skunk off early

This kind of set the tone for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We worked an area on the East wall around the 100 line where there was a high flyer every 200 yards or so running from North to South for about 3 miles. There was tons and tons of life. Big schools of porpoises, a variety of different whale species and shearwaters everywhere. The water temp was 74.6

We went a pathetic 10 for 20 on the YellowFins which were in the 40-75lb class. Being the first Canyon trip of 08’, the crew was definitely a little rusty. Each time we got a hit, we either had doubles or more commonly 3-4 rods going down at once. And each time we would either drop 2 of them or 2 would just get off as we were clearing the spread and getting ready to fight them. We did manage to land at least one fish though out of every savage wolfpack attack.

The way the fish were hammering our spread was an amazing site especially from the Tower. It would start with the short riggers and then basically everything in the spread would get hit. The one interesting thing was that the Tuna were being pulled from the pot line for the most part. Get your spread in tight to the high flyers and you were rewarded big time. We also went 4 for 6 on Mahi and did manage to land one nice bull in the 10lb class.

As the sun set the crew relaxed for bit over a nice hot dinner and a few cocktails. The weather was spectacular. Complete Pond, clear skies and warm temps. The night chuck bite was nonexistent though. We did have good life in the lights all night with big schools of squids darting in and out grabbing our chunks. The highlight of the night was when a huge school of porpoise had the squid all corralled up behind our boat. They effortlessly feasted on them and the chunks we were tossing in our lights. Just an amazing site to see these animals in their own element.

The next day we got back on the troll just before 0500. We picked up a quick Mahi and missed 2 hits from YellowFins. With a bunch of Tuna under our belt, we decided to make a little gamble and head for a break that went from 74-78 degree water on about the tip of the 500 line 10 miles to our SSE. A little risky of a plan, but at this point we were looking for something with a Bill or maybe a . During the ride down we saw a big school of busting YellowFin, but by the time we got our spread out they were out of site. These fish were definitely on the move so we pressed on towards the warm water. Once we got to the break the water went from 74 to 78 within a mile. It was the best looking cobalt blue water that we had seen on the entire trip. We worked the area for about 2 hours without a hit. There wasn’t much life other than a random whale or two and a few birds. So we decided to return back up to Fishtails and finish the trip with hopefully some more Tuna as we weren’t really on the board yet for Saturday other than a Mahi.

On the way back up to Fishtails we spotted a huge Manta Ray and stopped to check him out for a few minutes. It was easily 5 feet long by 8 feet wide. First time I had ever seen one out there. Quite an impressive site! Thing looked like it was from outer space. LOL....

We finished the day at the Southwest mouth of the Canyon and worked a tight area with about 12 other boats. Had 4 more Wolfpack hits and managed to land another 7 fish and a few more Mahi before we pulled the plug at 1300.

All in all it was a spectacular trip. We finished the 2 days going an estimated 17 for 34 on YellowFin. Out of the 17 that we landed, 13 were released. We also boated 5 Mahi for good measure. Fishtails is full of life right now. Probably the most life I have ever seen in a Canyon. We saw Sea Turtles, Porpoises, Whales, Manta Rays, Birds, Mahi, and of course YellowFin Tuna! Thanks again for taking me out there Scotty. You’re the man! Good Luck everyone!!

Some pics below…..

ALBATROSS