zyg

We set out for the edge with high anticipation for a great trip to the edge on Thunder on the first day of August. Keith and Ernie joined Deb and me for this outing.

We left Niantic about four thirty expecting flat seas for a quick run out to the Fishtails. The unexpected thick fog reduced the valuable fishing time when it socked us in BIS. Once it cleared a few miles past Montauk we ran a little shot of the distance at 30 knots.

We set out for a high speed 5 mile troll to our first destination on the NE corner. Keith and Ernie dropped in two of our Wahoo lures while they and Deb put together the tuna gear. One of the lures wasn’t running quite right at 12 knots and had a tendency to skip out rather than dig deep so I slowed down a bit. About five minutes later Keith and Deb see the lure sky out of the water splash down and get whacked by a probable Wahoo. The line comes back scared and cut. There a hoo sporting some fine jewelry out there.

We got to our first stop and were greeted by about twenty boats. We set in with our enticements and began the hunt. Well we trolled south to the SE corner. A little further down to Big Eye. On over to the SW corner and up to the West flats. Then on east to the NW corner. All that time without a single knockdown. During that troll we saw one molamola and one shark basking on the surface that we put lure right in front of. What we didn’t see was birds, whales, porpoise, weed line, baits, slicks or any bent rods on nearby boats. We found some balls on the edge that held mini-mahi, calling them chickens would have been a gross overstatement. We did hear some constant chatter from a few boats about a few good fish but there was also comments indicating that most guys must have been trolling garlic.

We did hear word on the radio that YFT were caught up in the 300 foot depths so we sucked it up and headed up that way. We found a willing mahi-mahi that took a ballyhoo bait and became the sole proprietor of the starboard fishbox and was quickly showered by a covering ice. Finally the skunk was over.

http://home.comcast.net/~thunderfish..._Fishtails.wmv

Low res video



We did some how manage to avoid a prop wrap on a line that was attached to a free floating ball. Seems some decided to separate it from the gear below for some dumb reason. That line also separated my speedometer tube from its connection and messed up the starboard motor tilt and left me something to deal with today.

By now the afternoon was growing short and we started the troll north. I had handed off the driving to Ernie and was getting some cockpit time. We spotted a swirl behind a single lure and then seconds latter the C.R. green machine right in front of it is engulfed and is sucked below the surface. The 50 wide is screaming and line is paying out fast. I get my chance at this fish we all believe to be a YFT. During a couple of short soundings the lines get cleared and some boat maneuvers are executed while I’m slowly bring the fish upwards. Just as the bar comes to the surface the fish slips the hook.

While that was disappointing there was some hope for another hookup because we saw the GW that was trailing behind us had hooked up in roughly the same spot. I turned the boat back upstream while the crew reset lines and we headed back for the mark. A few passes trough the spot didn’t raise anymore fish until I spotted a large floating object. A quick swing by brought out a pair of hard charging mahi that smacked port side lures including the rainbow spreader bar.

We picked up at 3:30 and ran home in great running conditions. Had a great day on the water with a great crew, the only wish is that I could have out us on more fish.

BluewaterTops

nice trip/report zyg

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biggame23

thanks for the report..did you find any decent temp breaks? two other first hand reports i heard were fairly constant temps and no good weedlines in the same area??

zyg

No temp breaks at all and very few small weed patches. There were more dolphin below the lanes than at the edge.