7/15 - 7/16/21 - overnighter in the Dip/Fish Tails

[Jigman13]

Left Montauk at 1 AM Thursday morning pointed the boat towards the Dip. Lines in at 5 am. Immediate steady pick of rat yellowfin for like 3+ hours with the occasional keeper sized fish in the mix but we were throwing them all back. Had on 50 lb class fish in the mix and one about 35 lbs that went in the box. Around 11 AM we switched to deep dropping tiles a few miles away in a diff part of block canyon.

Tilefishing was slow with a slow pick of small to market sized golden tiles. We boxed a dozen then went back to trolling around 430/5 PM. More rat yellowfin... we got covered up several times and dropped down to a 7 rod spread. Shortly after 6 PM we had a white marlin come up and eat the WWB schute and bally. Jumped off after a short fight which was fine--saved us from having to clear the lines LOL...

Cruised around more into the dark hunting a bigeye but no takers. Set up at night way off the edge in 1800' and dropped two sword baits down to 300' and 175'. Minimal chunking... had a lot of snake mackerel and squid around the boat--very good sign.

About 11 PM the 175' deep close rod goes off screaming... gave it a 15 count and cranked down on the 80W bent butt--we're tight. Fish immediately sounds straight down in 1800' of water at full strike. Couldnt stop it. Once it settled on the bottom we gained some line inch by inch. It was painful. Once we got a decent amount of hollowcore back onto the reel we'd bump the boat to achieve some scope hoping to work an angle to get the fish to the surface. It worked and we got some mono topshot back on the reel. Then she sounded again... this time 1700' down. This back and forth went on for 5 hours, at full strike on an 80W. Me and a buddy were on the rod for 4 of the 5 hours while my brother chipped in early on and off until his shoulder could no longer function.

Around 4 AM we start seeing the Pittman sword lights flashing, coming up from the deep. We got a deep glimpse of the fish. It turned broadside and we were disgusted by the reveal--1000+ lb manta ray. It looked like a 12' board of sheetrock. Deflating is an UNDERSTATEMENT after a 5 hour fight. We gained as much mono back as we could and some of our lights. I looped the line at the reel and cut her off. I was shot--deflated, exhausted, drenched. The building winds and seas added salt to the wounds lol. I passed out for 45 minutes after that.

Back on the troll at 5 AM, headed back to where we caught the better sized yellowfins. I say to my father about an hour into the troll "would be great to get 4 or 5 more plugs like the ones we boxed yesterday, and head for the barn." He laughed and said yea, it would be. Not 5 min later we got covered up--all 7 rods. The tuna tango ensued. Up, over, under, around, etc etc. We went 7 for 7, 6 fish were 35 to 50 lbs and one was 28 or 29" which was delivered back to the great blue yonder. Added a nice 6 pack to the 4 we had on ice already for nice even 10 yellowfin. I guess it was some good karma and reward for releasing all of the just over yellowfin and the 5 hour nighttime battle... But we were satisfied.

After processing the fish and wrapping up the trolling gear we did a few more tilefish drifts adding a few more to the box for 16 in total. Headed for the barn and docked the boat at 2:30 PM Friday.