captbogan
09-28-2020, 12:42 PM
Pennsy Guy had Gambler canyon report for Weds trip and I can't think of anything to add to it.
The Gambler got back from another 36 last night. Good trip again, although there were fustrating moments.
We steamed out at 8AM on Weds, headed for our last location. The reports were not encouraging. Set the Gambler on a drift by noon. I was anticipating the 1PM bite that we had last trip. By 2PM, I saw some goods marks on my machines, but no bites. Gave it a good 2+ hours. Heard a little chatter to our SE and went to check that out. Just a few bites but no landings.
Headed off to try a drift through the Hudson. During the night, we caught a handful of mahi. Released a small sword and landed a hundred-lber. Released a mako shark, too. The crew and some of the fishermen did pretty well catching squids for bait.
Cruised back to the flats before day-break. Hooked and released a 6ft tiger shark but not much else.
Got a report a few miles away about whale activity and shot for that. So much amazing whale, porpoise and bait life around us that I half-expected David Attenborough to start narrating from my pilot house. Caught a big yellowfin and released a huge White marlin. Big clouds of sandeels filled my screens. --But for two hours, barely a sniff.
At about 11, I got a call. A few miles North of us, some fish were starting to bite --almost exactly where I had started my first drift, the day before!
Before I got to the numbers, I saw a school of skippys and albies on top. We stopped on those and within 5 minutes, yellowfin mayhem! We held 2 to 6 fish on for two straight hours. Very good fishing on mostly 50 to 75lb yellowfin. By 2:30 the bite had waned and a school of chicken mahi swept in to take up the slick. Just amazing. The customers and crew were happy and I breathed a sigh of relief.
There was a point when I was tempted to make a long ride to try something else, somewhere else. Thank God I did not. I would have found a way to kick my own butt if I were 30 miles away when it broke loose. I spoke to the captain on the Miss BL and we both agreed --not too much sleep for either of us in 30+ hours.
There are tough decisions, sometimes, to be made: 24 passengers and 4 crew depending on you to make the right choice. It's hard to be patient at times. I don't know a captain that does not want to catch fish but there is a very fine line between patience and prudence --and often they are the same thing.
That trip was not the first time that customers had asked me to go mahi fishing when the tuna bite was off. And I get it. But if I think there is a chance to catch tuna, I will always set my sites on tuna. If the tuna bite is strictly on a night chunk, I will happily hunt mahis until dusk. But we need to work on tunas when the tuna bite has been around at a certain time of day.
Also, when I make my dockside anouncements, I remind our guys:
Fish one rod at a time.
Wear boots on deck.
Don't lock your reel-up in a rod holder --seldom catch tuna that way
Fresh dead squid is just as good as live squid (kills me when I see someone throw a perfectly good, fresh squid away because it's not moving its tentacils)
Don't get upset if a deckhand takes your rod to get you out of trouble while you are fighting a fish --you'll get it back.
Unfortunately, we are going to cancel this Weds 36 hour due to weather. We have room on upcoming Canyon trips.
Hope to see you aboard
Capt Bob
The Gambler got back from another 36 last night. Good trip again, although there were fustrating moments.
We steamed out at 8AM on Weds, headed for our last location. The reports were not encouraging. Set the Gambler on a drift by noon. I was anticipating the 1PM bite that we had last trip. By 2PM, I saw some goods marks on my machines, but no bites. Gave it a good 2+ hours. Heard a little chatter to our SE and went to check that out. Just a few bites but no landings.
Headed off to try a drift through the Hudson. During the night, we caught a handful of mahi. Released a small sword and landed a hundred-lber. Released a mako shark, too. The crew and some of the fishermen did pretty well catching squids for bait.
Cruised back to the flats before day-break. Hooked and released a 6ft tiger shark but not much else.
Got a report a few miles away about whale activity and shot for that. So much amazing whale, porpoise and bait life around us that I half-expected David Attenborough to start narrating from my pilot house. Caught a big yellowfin and released a huge White marlin. Big clouds of sandeels filled my screens. --But for two hours, barely a sniff.
At about 11, I got a call. A few miles North of us, some fish were starting to bite --almost exactly where I had started my first drift, the day before!
Before I got to the numbers, I saw a school of skippys and albies on top. We stopped on those and within 5 minutes, yellowfin mayhem! We held 2 to 6 fish on for two straight hours. Very good fishing on mostly 50 to 75lb yellowfin. By 2:30 the bite had waned and a school of chicken mahi swept in to take up the slick. Just amazing. The customers and crew were happy and I breathed a sigh of relief.
There was a point when I was tempted to make a long ride to try something else, somewhere else. Thank God I did not. I would have found a way to kick my own butt if I were 30 miles away when it broke loose. I spoke to the captain on the Miss BL and we both agreed --not too much sleep for either of us in 30+ hours.
There are tough decisions, sometimes, to be made: 24 passengers and 4 crew depending on you to make the right choice. It's hard to be patient at times. I don't know a captain that does not want to catch fish but there is a very fine line between patience and prudence --and often they are the same thing.
That trip was not the first time that customers had asked me to go mahi fishing when the tuna bite was off. And I get it. But if I think there is a chance to catch tuna, I will always set my sites on tuna. If the tuna bite is strictly on a night chunk, I will happily hunt mahis until dusk. But we need to work on tunas when the tuna bite has been around at a certain time of day.
Also, when I make my dockside anouncements, I remind our guys:
Fish one rod at a time.
Wear boots on deck.
Don't lock your reel-up in a rod holder --seldom catch tuna that way
Fresh dead squid is just as good as live squid (kills me when I see someone throw a perfectly good, fresh squid away because it's not moving its tentacils)
Don't get upset if a deckhand takes your rod to get you out of trouble while you are fighting a fish --you'll get it back.
Unfortunately, we are going to cancel this Weds 36 hour due to weather. We have room on upcoming Canyon trips.
Hope to see you aboard
Capt Bob