We did a lot of different types of fishing on this overnighter so this is gonna be a long report.
We left from Rudee saturday at one with Connor and Carson and friends aboard for an overnighter. Plan was to take it easy and head south. We cruised out slow in slick flat conditions to the south tower, where we met Dr. Julie and Robin. They gave us some live croakers to help us at the tower. We played at the tower for an hour catching a bunch of AJ's with the croakers and after we ran out of croakers we were still catching them four at a time on jigs. There were a ton of fish there, just not big AJ's. We did however scrapout two papers, a 51 and a 53'' fish.
Next we cruised do to the 790 in 20 fathoms, about 80 miles from rudee and put out lines for the troll. Conditions over the edge in the 700's looked really good. Pilot whales everywhere, sharks cruising, scattered bait, even saw a large sword cruising the surface. No bites on the troll in the evening. Working down the line we setup for the evening 90 miles from rudee in the upper 600's with the commercial fleet.
Conditions through the night were beautiful- small waves, light winds, and 74-75 degree water. The only problem was that we couldnt get a bait past the sharks. There were hammerheads eveywhere. Our first fish of the night was a mako. The bite screamed off and went slack and we thought we lost it. It gets to the boat and we realize it is still on the line and we gaff a 56'' mako. Next comes a bunch of hammerheads. Most were in the 8 foot range. I think everyone on the boat stayed awake and caught a one and got a release citation for shark. They were fun, but not the bigeyes we were hoping for. We consistenly had bites all through the night and we did have a couple mystery bites that didnt come to the boat that I would have liked to have seen what they were.
We started trolling at daylight at the 660, working our way all through the tuna hole from 100 to 600 fathoms. I thought with the 73.5 degree water temperatures it would have been raining tuna from the skies. It wasnt. We worked throught there until 9 in the morning without so much as a decent mark. I saw very few of the motherload of boats in this area stopping and the only thing that made me think there were some fish was that we did find some two toners up around the 700 which I worked for over an hour. We did get a double bite on the yellowfins at the 730 . One came tight on the bird bar, but pulled off just before leadering.
Next move was deep dropping. Caught 20 or so tiles. The tile bite was a bit slower than usual. I hadnt fished these holes in a while, but you could tell that fishing pressure was getting to these fish. The size was way down and there were just fewer fish in the area. carson did scrap out two citation sized fish though and we put some meat in the box.
By now it was 1130 and we were still 80 miles from home and needing to get moving north. With no grass lines, temp breaks, flyers, anything to speak of, we set up a blind troll to the northwest, where we would troll 15 miles and work our way from the 750 in 50 fathoms to the 900 in 20 fathoms. This troll was producing nice dolphin about every 20 minutes. We didnt have any citation dolphins, but we did have a 24.5#, a 22#, and a 21# out of the seven we caught. It was all single bites. All on small ballyhoos on the longriggers. It was strange to me that there was a somewhat consistent bite here, considering the unusually featureless conditions.
We picked up and ran 10 miles from there and stopped at the south tower. We pulled up to take a look and two cobes come rolling under the boat. Connor throws a bucktail out and the bigger cobe follows it, but so do about thirty AJ's. He makes a couple of casts before I take over the rod and show him how its done. On the second cast I hooked up and caught the cobe, a nice forty pounder. Then, Connor and Mike grab my spear gun and commence to go for a swim at the tower and see if they cant kill a spade or two out of the football field of spades around the tower. They end up killing a spade on the spear which was a first for them and looked fun, but I saw a huge mako there several years ago and you arent gonna find me in that water. Connor said there was tons of life in the water and even a huge jewfish on the tower leg the was about as big as he was.
From the south tower, we had a 50 mile ride home and I had my eyes peeled. We did see some cobes, but they were spooky and we just didnt feel like dealing with it. One thing that I found that was very interesting. About 7 miles off the beach at corolla, I saw a large float. Expecting to see a cobia or two around it, I pulled up to take a look. Out comes a bunch of bailers- within sight of land in 70 feet of water. We didnt bail any, but pretty cool to know they were there. Finally, finish the cruise home and pull into rudee at 6 pm. We spent almost 30 hours on the water but the calm seas and variety of fish made for a good time.
Final Tally:
1- 56'' mako-
6/?- 6-9' hammerheads, All were release citations
0/2 yft
20ish bluelinetiles, 10-4 and 10-8 citations for Carson
7/10-mahi biggest 24.5#
Motherload of AJ's- two release citations
1- 40# cobia
1-spade
Photos to come soon.
We have charter dates available. For more info, check www.matadorcharters.com.
Full Version: Matador overnighter-lots of variety & paper
Virginia Beach Sport Fishing > VBSF.net Sport Fishing Forums > Offshore, Gulf Stream & Canyons (Ocean City MD to Hatteras NC)
sounds like fun
good job
good job
QUOTE (capt. jakeg @ Jun 9 2008, 10:43 AM) 
We did a lot of different types of fishing on this overnighter so this is gonna be a long report.
We left from Rudee saturday at one with Connor and Carson and friends aboard for an overnighter. Plan was to take it easy and head south. We cruised out slow in slick flat conditions to the south tower, where we met Dr. Julie and Robin. They gave us some live croakers to help us at the tower. We played at the tower for an hour catching a bunch of AJ's with the croakers and after we ran out of croakers we were still catching them four at a time on jigs. There were a ton of fish there, just not big AJ's. We did however scrapout two papers, a 51 and a 53'' fish.
Next we cruised do to the 790 in 20 fathoms, about 80 miles from rudee and put out lines for the troll. Conditions over the edge in the 700's looked really good. Pilot whales everywhere, sharks cruising, scattered bait, even saw a large sword cruising the surface. No bites on the troll in the evening. Working down the line we setup for the evening 90 miles from rudee in the upper 600's with the commercial fleet.
Conditions through the night were beautiful- small waves, light winds, and 74-75 degree water. The only problem was that we couldnt get a bait past the sharks. There were hammerheads eveywhere. Our first fish of the night was a mako. The bite screamed off and went slack and we thought we lost it. It gets to the boat and we realize it is still on the line and we gaff a 56'' mako. Next comes a bunch of hammerheads. Most were in the 8 foot range. I think everyone on the boat stayed awake and caught a one and got a release citation for shark. They were fun, but not the bigeyes we were hoping for. We consistenly had bites all through the night and we did have a couple mystery bites that didnt come to the boat that I would have liked to have seen what they were.
We started trolling at daylight at the 660, working our way all through the tuna hole from 100 to 600 fathoms. I thought with the 73.5 degree water temperatures it would have been raining tuna from the skies. It wasnt. We worked throught there until 9 in the morning without so much as a decent mark. I saw very few of the motherload of boats in this area stopping and the only thing that made me think there were some fish was that we did find some two toners up around the 700 which I worked for over an hour. We did get a double bite on the yellowfins at the 730 . One came tight on the bird bar, but pulled off just before leadering.
Next move was deep dropping. Caught 20 or so tiles. The tile bite was a bit slower than usual. I hadnt fished these holes in a while, but you could tell that fishing pressure was getting to these fish. The size was way down and there were just fewer fish in the area. carson did scrap out two citation sized fish though and we put some meat in the box.
By now it was 1130 and we were still 80 miles from home and needing to get moving north. With no grass lines, temp breaks, flyers, anything to speak of, we set up a blind troll to the northwest, where we would troll 15 miles and work our way from the 750 in 50 fathoms to the 900 in 20 fathoms. This troll was producing nice dolphin about every 20 minutes. We didnt have any citation dolphins, but we did have a 24.5#, a 22#, and a 21# out of the seven we caught. It was all single bites. All on small ballyhoos on the longriggers. It was strange to me that there was a somewhat consistent bite here, considering the unusually featureless conditions.
We picked up and ran 10 miles from there and stopped at the south tower. We pulled up to take a look and two cobes come rolling under the boat. Connor throws a bucktail out and the bigger cobe follows it, but so do about thirty AJ's. He makes a couple of casts before I take over the rod and show him how its done. On the second cast I hooked up and caught the cobe, a nice forty pounder. Then, Connor and Mike grab my spear gun and commence to go for a swim at the tower and see if they cant kill a spade or two out of the football field of spades around the tower. They end up killing a spade on the spear which was a first for them and looked fun, but I saw a huge mako there several years ago and you arent gonna find me in that water. Connor said there was tons of life in the water and even a huge jewfish on the tower leg the was about as big as he was.
From the south tower, we had a 50 mile ride home and I had my eyes peeled. We did see some cobes, but they were spooky and we just didnt feel like dealing with it. One thing that I found that was very interesting. About 7 miles off the beach at corolla, I saw a large float. Expecting to see a cobia or two around it, I pulled up to take a look. Out comes a bunch of bailers- within sight of land in 70 feet of water. We didnt bail any, but pretty cool to know they were there. Finally, finish the cruise home and pull into rudee at 6 pm. We spent almost 30 hours on the water but the calm seas and variety of fish made for a good time.
Final Tally:
1- 56'' mako-
6/?- 6-9' hammerheads, All were release citations
0/2 yft
20ish bluelinetiles, 10-4 and 10-8 citations for Carson
7/10-mahi biggest 24.5#
Motherload of AJ's- two release citations
1- 40# cobia
1-spade
Photos to come soon.
We have charter dates available. For more info, check www.matadorcharters.com.
We left from Rudee saturday at one with Connor and Carson and friends aboard for an overnighter. Plan was to take it easy and head south. We cruised out slow in slick flat conditions to the south tower, where we met Dr. Julie and Robin. They gave us some live croakers to help us at the tower. We played at the tower for an hour catching a bunch of AJ's with the croakers and after we ran out of croakers we were still catching them four at a time on jigs. There were a ton of fish there, just not big AJ's. We did however scrapout two papers, a 51 and a 53'' fish.
Next we cruised do to the 790 in 20 fathoms, about 80 miles from rudee and put out lines for the troll. Conditions over the edge in the 700's looked really good. Pilot whales everywhere, sharks cruising, scattered bait, even saw a large sword cruising the surface. No bites on the troll in the evening. Working down the line we setup for the evening 90 miles from rudee in the upper 600's with the commercial fleet.
Conditions through the night were beautiful- small waves, light winds, and 74-75 degree water. The only problem was that we couldnt get a bait past the sharks. There were hammerheads eveywhere. Our first fish of the night was a mako. The bite screamed off and went slack and we thought we lost it. It gets to the boat and we realize it is still on the line and we gaff a 56'' mako. Next comes a bunch of hammerheads. Most were in the 8 foot range. I think everyone on the boat stayed awake and caught a one and got a release citation for shark. They were fun, but not the bigeyes we were hoping for. We consistenly had bites all through the night and we did have a couple mystery bites that didnt come to the boat that I would have liked to have seen what they were.
We started trolling at daylight at the 660, working our way all through the tuna hole from 100 to 600 fathoms. I thought with the 73.5 degree water temperatures it would have been raining tuna from the skies. It wasnt. We worked throught there until 9 in the morning without so much as a decent mark. I saw very few of the motherload of boats in this area stopping and the only thing that made me think there were some fish was that we did find some two toners up around the 700 which I worked for over an hour. We did get a double bite on the yellowfins at the 730 . One came tight on the bird bar, but pulled off just before leadering.
Next move was deep dropping. Caught 20 or so tiles. The tile bite was a bit slower than usual. I hadnt fished these holes in a while, but you could tell that fishing pressure was getting to these fish. The size was way down and there were just fewer fish in the area. carson did scrap out two citation sized fish though and we put some meat in the box.
By now it was 1130 and we were still 80 miles from home and needing to get moving north. With no grass lines, temp breaks, flyers, anything to speak of, we set up a blind troll to the northwest, where we would troll 15 miles and work our way from the 750 in 50 fathoms to the 900 in 20 fathoms. This troll was producing nice dolphin about every 20 minutes. We didnt have any citation dolphins, but we did have a 24.5#, a 22#, and a 21# out of the seven we caught. It was all single bites. All on small ballyhoos on the longriggers. It was strange to me that there was a somewhat consistent bite here, considering the unusually featureless conditions.
We picked up and ran 10 miles from there and stopped at the south tower. We pulled up to take a look and two cobes come rolling under the boat. Connor throws a bucktail out and the bigger cobe follows it, but so do about thirty AJ's. He makes a couple of casts before I take over the rod and show him how its done. On the second cast I hooked up and caught the cobe, a nice forty pounder. Then, Connor and Mike grab my spear gun and commence to go for a swim at the tower and see if they cant kill a spade or two out of the football field of spades around the tower. They end up killing a spade on the spear which was a first for them and looked fun, but I saw a huge mako there several years ago and you arent gonna find me in that water. Connor said there was tons of life in the water and even a huge jewfish on the tower leg the was about as big as he was.
From the south tower, we had a 50 mile ride home and I had my eyes peeled. We did see some cobes, but they were spooky and we just didnt feel like dealing with it. One thing that I found that was very interesting. About 7 miles off the beach at corolla, I saw a large float. Expecting to see a cobia or two around it, I pulled up to take a look. Out comes a bunch of bailers- within sight of land in 70 feet of water. We didnt bail any, but pretty cool to know they were there. Finally, finish the cruise home and pull into rudee at 6 pm. We spent almost 30 hours on the water but the calm seas and variety of fish made for a good time.
Final Tally:
1- 56'' mako-
6/?- 6-9' hammerheads, All were release citations
0/2 yft
20ish bluelinetiles, 10-4 and 10-8 citations for Carson
7/10-mahi biggest 24.5#
Motherload of AJ's- two release citations
1- 40# cobia
1-spade
Photos to come soon.
We have charter dates available. For more info, check www.matadorcharters.com.
Nice job Jake! Quite a trip.
Sharp hooks and tight lines.
Dave
Nice job Jake! Sounds like an action packed trip even though the tuna weren't in force. Thanks for posting!!
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