Riptide Charters

When thinking about yesterdays trip the old Larry Bird vs. Michael Jordan commercial comes to mind. "Over the building, off the car, through the window NOTHING BUT NET!". Thats kind of what we had to pull off yesterday. We had terrible weather for running to the canyons for well over a week now. The water has been there, but the window to run to it has not been. As we looked at the long range forecasts we saw a window for Sat or Sunday.

As the days grew closer and bouy reports were still in the 7-10' range our hopes were dwindling. But the window still ooked like it might be open for Saturday albiet a very tight window. The seas were going to drop down from 5-7's to 2-4's after dinner on Friday and were not supposed to pick back up till Sunday. It seems like a decent opening, but when you consider the run is over 100 miles each way and if your wrong about the forcast that 100 miles can be a back breaking 10 hour slog home it gets a little dicey.

I had a solid crew on standby for the trip. Mike C, Jr and Ruge were all ready to jump if and when the window opened. They were all solid enough if it slammed shut while we were 100 miles out to take the pounding ride home. At noon on Friday I made the call, we are going! The boat was ready, the gear was loaded and the crew showed up for dinner and a quick nap before we headed out at 0100. We splashed the boat in Falmouth and we cleared the jetties at 0200. The run down the sound was fast and flat. Ruge and Jr in the bean bags, Mike C on watch and me on the wheel. As we rounded Gay head the 3-4' short swell that was forecasted came into play. I had to slow to 30kts to keep the boat firmly planted in the water and not jumping off the back of the waves.

As we ran farther out the seas eased a bit until we cleared the shipping lanes and then the swell became a 3-4' steep short chop. We eased to 25kts and Jr and Ruge almost woke up due to the occasional bumping. By 0500 we were at Block Canyon and ready to look for the temp break we were aiming at just off the mouth of the canyon.


OUr game plan was to troll the last mile or so till we went over the edge and then push south to the break. The edge is always fun for me since there are a ton of hi-fliers and mahi are almost a guarantee. As I steered to the edge we passed a few flier and managed a few small 5-7# mahi. While not the main target at least we were on the board and it's always nice after a long run to hear the rigger clips pop.

Just before the edge we had two rods go off and these fish were a little bigger than the mahi. One pulled the hook on the inital run, the second came to gaff. It was a nice 40# yellowfin. This was the target and we were on the board legitimatly now.

I pushed over the edge and we pressed south looking for the big break. Due to clouds our temp shot was older than I like and it was off the mark. We could not hit the 78-80 degree water that was shown. We hit a nice break from 71 to 75 and thats where the next fish came. The short rigger when off in a spray of white water and Ruge got to work on the fish. In good time I stuck a gaff in the shoulder of another yellowfin a good bit larger than the first.


We continued to work the area without any real luck. There were only a few boats that made the trip and the limited talk on the radio seemed bleak. After a few hours the seas began to build and we were trolling around in 3-5' steep whitecaps with nothing to show for it. We began to weigh our optiions. Since running to another canyon was not really in the cards due to conditions and moving north to the lanes or the dump was likey to only yeild small bluefin we decided to get on the numbers where the larger yellowfin came from and just pound it until it produced. After another hour on the numbers trolling downsea and then running back upsea to reset the spread we got another nice yellowfin.


It was coming close to 1530 and we planned to head back around 1600 so we began to troll north figuring we'd pick up lines a few miles onto the edge after maybe picking up a few more mahi for the ride home.

Durring the day we were chatting with another center console named Ohana out of Portsmith, RI. They were planning to do an overnight and had been having a slow day as well. On our last run south to reset the troll we powered over a school of yellowfin I didn't see cruising just under the surface. So on the way out I told Ohana about the fish and gave him the numbers as a likely spot to check out for him night chunking. since they were slow they began to head to the numbers from the edge. We passed them as we climbed the edge. A mile after passing them and just onto the edge we had three rods go off HARD! One pulled the hook on the inital run but Jr and Ruge landed the other two and both were nice yellowfin around 70#.

I called Ohana to tell them and the response was "two guys, tripled up, can't talk!". After landing the triple Ohana told be the were just shy of the numbers I gave them and the fish we saw were on top and tearing up bait like crazy now! It was 1630 and we were due to pull the plug and head home. The crew was tired and it was a 50/50 split on stay or go back south 8 miles in sloppy seas to Ohana's location. As we pondered the options the radio crackled "Ohana... Riptide....another double!". We all looked at each other and without a word the boat was made ready to run HARD!

I plugged in Ohanas numbers and they were about a half mile east of the numbers I gave him. With everything stowed I hammered us through the sloppy chop towards Ohana. A mile from them we found more fish busting. I chopped the throttles and the crew had 8 rods out in seconds. It took only slightly longer for the yellowfin to find the spread and we had a triple on. We handled the chaos and landed the three fish.

The yellowfin slowed up and were replaced on the surface by hordes of skipjack. We hooked up a bunch while Jr and Ruge bled and iced the fish from the triple.



The flurry of tuna slowed for both boats and the clock was pushing 1900. We were back out 10 miles from the edge and we REALLY had to head home. So we said goodbye to Ohana as they settled in for a hotplate dinner of pasta and sauce and prepared for a night of chunking. We stowed everything, gave the boat a quick rinse and Mike C and Ruge snuggled into the beanbags while Jr and I aimed us north.

We made 30 kts for the first 30 miles since running with the seas was much easier. after crossing the shipping lanes things layed down even more before finally becoming glass calm arund the dump. TO make up for the late return I pushed the throttles up a bit and trimmed us up in the flat water. We screamed along at 40kts on water as flat as ice. We made great time coming back and we were at the dock in Falmouth by 2200.

It was a long day but well worth it. We landed 8 nice yellowfin, a bunch of small mahi and skippies, we dropped 3 more yellowfin due to pulled hooks durring multiple knockdowns. The water temp that held the best fishing was 71.6 - 72.5 degrees. That thin band was the hotspot for us. The lure of choice was the Offshore Inovations Green Monsta. We got fish on that lure in every configuration, bars, chains and solo behind a bird. We did get fish on ballyhoo, but my homemade bars and even moreso, my homemade GM / chgger chain was the hot setup. The chugger chain on the short rigger chasing the GM bar was the best lure in the best position. Most of the fish hit very short and dispite rain and drizzle all day Ruge did manage to get the HD video cam out for a few minutes here and there. Shaun "Steady" Ruge was able to get one of the triple knockdowns on video!!! The footage is AWESOME!

Overall it was a wet, sloppy trip with great results. The weather looks to be going away again so we won't be seeing yellow for another week from the way it looks. It took allot of planning and pouring over wind, weather and sea forcasts but we got it right and it paid off for us. Thanks to a soild crew we were able to get it done!
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Good Luck,

Capt. Terry Nugent
Riptide Charters
www.riptidecharters.com

ads427

Sounds like you had a good trip, well done! I'll be heading out that way in a few weeks.

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fishing machine

Get Reel

Thanks for the report Capt. I have been watching that water and waiting for someone to make the exploration. Nice fish.....

fightingcouch

Nice job Capt.

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Blake Conlin
tight linzzzzzzzzzzzz
F-troop Ch.68/19

http://www.lennysnow.com/history.htm

CaptDom

Nice work Rippy.

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CAPT. DOM PETRARCA
COASTAL CHARTERS SPORTFISHING
NEWPORT, RI (401)-862-0358
www.coastalcharterssportfishing.com