Left Westerly Yacht Club 6 am Saturday (weather was iffy, trip on then off then on again
After a brief stop in Montauk for ice we set a course for the Tails. We put the spread out around 1:30 about 15 miles or so north of the canyon and did a fruitless troll until well after dark when we were lucky enough to locate a ball for the night.
There wasn't much chatter, as there were only a handful of boats out there, but we did hear of a big eye caught in 1200 fow off the se corner of the canyon. We also heard there was a good bite around 3pm.
We spend a fairly uneventful (fish-wise) night interrupted by a few serious downpours. Fortunately, the thunderstorms all found their way around us by a few miles.
Sun morning found us on the troll at first light, but once again with negative results. We did manage a nice pick of 12 - 15# mahi by stopping at several balls and chucking handfuls of chunks at them. Not sure of the final count but I believe we got a dozen and a half or so nice mahi.
Finally, around 3pm we came up tight on a nice 50# yft at the SW corner , and dropped a second fish. We pounded that area for about 4 solid hours with no further hookups. Right after we had hooked up, our new buddy Charlie pulled into the canyon on a 60' Spencer named Mono Myth, and called us for a fishing report. There was only one other boat besides the two of us working the Tails, so I told him we had just hooked up and invited him to work the area with us. After 4 hours of trolling with no more action, we did a big loop up the slope onto the flats and back in to the canyon. While we were doing that, Charlie managed to hook up and boat a 180# bigeye right where we had been trolling - "right on the numbers" as he put it, when I asked where he had hooked up. Ughh. Story of my life.
We were going to head back there and pick up a ball when we came up tight with a second yft, this one around 60#, about 1/4 of the way down into the canyon from the top, so we pounded the area til dark and hooked up for the night.
After another fruitless night of chunking, we got on the troll around 5am. Not much action for an hour or so, when Charlie called us in on a bite down off the SW corner. We hit the area and managed 3 more smaller yft in the 25 - 30# class, and dropped what had to be the biggest mahi I've ever seen after it hit the WWB bird/GM combo. I actually thought we had hooked a white marlin when it first jumped a couple times.
We trolled north up onto the flats with no more action and pulled lines around 11:30 for a very pleasant ride home.
Friday nights dinner,
Some of the catch
Last nights meal
After a brief stop in Montauk for ice we set a course for the Tails. We put the spread out around 1:30 about 15 miles or so north of the canyon and did a fruitless troll until well after dark when we were lucky enough to locate a ball for the night.
There wasn't much chatter, as there were only a handful of boats out there, but we did hear of a big eye caught in 1200 fow off the se corner of the canyon. We also heard there was a good bite around 3pm.
We spend a fairly uneventful (fish-wise) night interrupted by a few serious downpours. Fortunately, the thunderstorms all found their way around us by a few miles.
Sun morning found us on the troll at first light, but once again with negative results. We did manage a nice pick of 12 - 15# mahi by stopping at several balls and chucking handfuls of chunks at them. Not sure of the final count but I believe we got a dozen and a half or so nice mahi.
Finally, around 3pm we came up tight on a nice 50# yft at the SW corner , and dropped a second fish. We pounded that area for about 4 solid hours with no further hookups. Right after we had hooked up, our new buddy Charlie pulled into the canyon on a 60' Spencer named Mono Myth, and called us for a fishing report. There was only one other boat besides the two of us working the Tails, so I told him we had just hooked up and invited him to work the area with us. After 4 hours of trolling with no more action, we did a big loop up the slope onto the flats and back in to the canyon. While we were doing that, Charlie managed to hook up and boat a 180# bigeye right where we had been trolling - "right on the numbers" as he put it, when I asked where he had hooked up. Ughh. Story of my life.
We were going to head back there and pick up a ball when we came up tight with a second yft, this one around 60#, about 1/4 of the way down into the canyon from the top, so we pounded the area til dark and hooked up for the night.
After another fruitless night of chunking, we got on the troll around 5am. Not much action for an hour or so, when Charlie called us in on a bite down off the SW corner. We hit the area and managed 3 more smaller yft in the 25 - 30# class, and dropped what had to be the biggest mahi I've ever seen after it hit the WWB bird/GM combo. I actually thought we had hooked a white marlin when it first jumped a couple times.
We trolled north up onto the flats with no more action and pulled lines around 11:30 for a very pleasant ride home.
Friday nights dinner,
Some of the catch
Last nights meal
We prefer to drift depending on conditions
