Blackened Mahi and Grilled Swordie !!! Awesome NS 30 hour Offshore Trip

[Blackfish Bobby]

Left tog practice alone for a while and took the team out for our annual 30 hour offshore adventure. Went back to an old favorite NS vessel that is back on the offshore scene. A great offshore fishing platform.
Needless to say it was a great trip despite the YFTs being scarce. Going to the canyons this time of year is always a special treat whether you catch fish or not. We had a gorgeous weather window Saturday and Sunday for this trip.

After a 4 hour steam out to our canyon of choice it was lights out....non-stop MAHI MAYHEM. Every spot was loaded !! We caught mahi on light tackle for almost 3 hours filling the 20 man boat limit of 200. Just incredible. A nice mix of fish up to 15 pounds. Just gorgeous, acrobatic colorful fish. Seeing them light up in the blue water is great. We did well with bigger fish on whole box squid from shop-rite and live spot ...mahi candy !!!

Steamed a little further offshore had a nice dinner and started chunking. Had a ball catching large squid to keep fresh bait on the hooks. RJ was our jigging master working jigs most of the trip. I kept Scotty in the tuna zone rotating live squid, live spot and sardines for bait. With no YFT bites happening I went to plan B and set up my special glow stick rig for swordfish. Hooked up a fat juicy live squid and not 10 minutes at 250 feet I get the classic swordfish knock at the door.... swordfish will often smack the bait with their sword before eating it..... a second bump and the fish was off to the races. Locked him up and 25 minutes later he was break dancing on the boat deck. Through the night 3 pup swords were released and one of the mates hooked and landed a 250 lb class swordie. Watching someone who knows what they are doing put the boots to a fish this big in 45 minutes ALL ALONE was fantastic. This same mate was one of 5 who sunk 5 gaffs into the 300+ pounder my buddy Dave and I landed on the same boat in 2004. Great to see Chris get his personal best !!!
We had one more taker on the deep rod shortly before first light but only came tight for 5 seconds and the hook popped.
All in all the life around the boat all night was spectacular..... squid, bait balls, whales, one very large blue dog and porpoise.
At one point what I thought were two small swords were actually white marlin in our slick. Very cool. Just after sun up one of the guys flat lining actually hooked up with a white marlin that proceeded to put on a spectacular show tail walking 3/4 of the way around the boat.
Another Jersey style canyon trip that did not disappoint and gave me , my son RJ and Scott a lot of laughs and lasting memories.
Hoping to get back out and do it again the last week of October.

[hartattack]

Awesome trip with the boys Bobby. Your grinning enthusiasm is contagious

[HDMarc]

Awesome report Bobby, you guys had one Helluva trip! See you after November 16th for your specialty species

[shrimpman steve]

Very nice report Bobby.
Great time spent with the kids.

[courbeco]

Nice report! The blackened mahi and grilled swordie steaks look delicious!

[Blackfish Bobby]

Thanks guys...... I was remiss in not mentioning that the boat shared the 250 pound swordie caught by the mate Chris with all the fishermen on the trip !!! A great gesture of thanks for sailing with them. Bravo !!

[Blackfish Bobby]

Originally Posted by shrimpman steve

Very nice report Bobby.
Great time spent with the kids.

Hey...u OK with storm passing ?

[dales529]

Great Job Bobby and sons! Wow you almost look the same as in 2004 LOL
Well the smile is the same
Glad you got em and hope to see you on the rocky stuff in November

[shrimpman steve]

Originally Posted by Blackfish Bobby

Hey...u OK with storm passing ?

No problems for me Bobby. Thanks for askin.
I’m on the east coast