Got a call Wen. morning from Andy who was looking to put together a team for the VBTT and run his 33' side console contender in the tourny. Good buddy Dave Akridge had referred me to him as a guide/mate. I spoke with Andy and agreed to run the pit for him and met him that night at the captains meeting.
At the meeting, standing in the registration line, Andy put together his crew of five anglers on the cell phone... 4 of which had never been offshore, wow talk about last minute. What have i gotten myself into.
Andy and i came up with a two part plan over the next couple days which consisted of first targeting yellows and then running in for the blues... knowing it was gonna take 3 fish to win the tourny. Andy did a great job of preping the boat... rigging the outriggers for short lines and rigging flat line clips. Plan was to meet at the boat at 4AM at his house on Bay island.
Saturday morning and the crew is all there on time and we begin to load up the boat. Andy lowers the boat and fires up the engines to warm up while we continue to prep for departure. I run to the truck for a last minute check and Andy runs in the house for supplies. I get back to the boat, and our first plague. The starboard engine isn't pissing and we have an overheat alarm. I shut her down and Andy goes to work accessing the problem. Intakes are clear and we hook up the hose and flush out the clog... 45 minutes lost but she starts pissing again.
We launch and head out as I run through the tourny rules and prep our green crew on what to expect and how to react when the bites come. We clear the cape at 35knots and are greated by tight 4-5 footers. Bound and determined to have lines in at 7:30, we plow ahead taking a beating all the while. 10 miles out, plague 2 the port outrigger completely falls apart and the lines are wipping. 15 minute stop to get it at least secured, but its gonna require a serious rebuild to be used.
Off and running again and 20 minutes later, plague 3 as the crew yells to stop. All of our rigs were secured on the back of the helm to the rocket launchers and in all the bouncing around, 2 hooks found there mark in one of our anglers. I go to work performing surgery on removing one hook from the calf and the other hook from the worst place to catch one... nothing like a hook to the sack that early in the morning.:eek: No real damage down as the barbs didn't sink, but another 30 minute delay.
We make it another 20 miles or so and again the call to stop comes, plague 4. The helm rocket launcher has ripped out and four rods nearly left the boat. If it wasn't for the quick action of the crew, the day would have been over early. We get the rods stowed forward and after another 15 minute delay, we continue on.
We arrive at the tip of the canyon around 8:15 and I start deploying the starboard baits as Andy goes to work on the port rigger. After some serious afro-engineering, the port rigger is operable although rigged in a way that would make any seasoned vet laugh to tears if they saw it. Credit to Andy for getting it operable.
We troll the north wall of the canyon north easterly and soon find our 5th plague...whitey! Over the course of the next 40 minutes or so we had at least 3 whites come through the spread ravaging bait and knocking lines out of clips. Had one come up on the short rigger and as aggressive as he was, i was able to pull it away from him with out a hook up... only in a tuna tourny. We did have 2 come tight but both threw the hooks on the crank in.
We regroup after the whitecapade getting the baits re-rigged and re-set. Andy makes the turn to the north in about 1000 fathoms and we start zig zagging the 100 to 500 fathom line. Up ahead about a half mile, we can see a trawler and a distinct slick trailing it. It appeared that the trawler was pulling their nets. We tuck in behind, about a quarter mile away running up the slick. It wasn't long and the 6th and worse plague appears...birds! I have delt with birds many times offshore, bombing on the baits but this was absolutely insane. There must have been at least a hundred birds working over our spread, poping the clips and tearing up the baits. I was constantly pulling a bait away, just to have another dozen birds bomb on it, there was nothing that could be done to keep the baits away from them. The inevitable finally occured and drag started pulling on the starboard long line...slow and steady. The angler grabed the rod, and I put on the gloves preparing for our first bird release. I could see its wing sticking up with the bird skipping across the top as he cranked it closer to the boat. As it got closer, i was surprised to see it wasn't a bird after all, but a juvie tuna. I slung him in the boat and he taped at 29" so in the box goes our first yellow.
We had to re-rig almost all the baits after the bird plague, but get the lines back out and track back towards the trawler. As soon as we were back in the slick, the birds were back by the hundreds. Clips started popping and we began the drill of pulling baits away. Both long lines popped at the same time, but this time, drags were singing. One pulled off but the other stayed tight and the angler went to work. After a nice battle and some materful turns by Andy, I had the leader in hand and could see the color of a nice tuna. I sunk the gaff and we boxed a 40lb yellow.
Baits re-set and back in the slick and immediately 5 clips pop and 4 reels are singing...one screaming. The crew goes to work cranking as the rest of us clear the lines. It becomes readily apparent that we have some tangles so the anglers do the over under drill continuing to gain line on the fish. The first comes to the boat rather quickly...being pulled in on 2 rods and i sling another juvie in the boat, tangled with the shot gun. This one tapes at 25" so back he goes. I get on the leader of the next fish and see color and its another nice tuna. As i leader it boatside, it does one of those crazy backflips and i have to drop the leader... hes back on the rod peeling off line. The other fish, the screamer is close and i grab the leader and start working it in... its heavy. I can see its a fatty and get Andy to come in behind me with the gaff. I leader him up and Andy sticks him and slings him in....60lb yellow on the deck. Work the other fish back to the leader and i sink the steel in that one and put another 40lber in the boat. Four fish in the box and time for plan B... 10AM. Stow the gear and start running westward toward 26 mile hill for plan B.
Must have passed 2 dozen boats running eastward. We run accross a nice bait ball about 10 miles east of the hill that looks to have some nice marks around it. I have 4 horses rigged and start deploying them on the longs and shot gun, way back. The fouth is for the planer and I start to set that up. Plague 7.... down rigger won't stay locked and continuously pulls out. No problem we have another. Grab the other downrigger and send the planer down. The plague continues though as the wire line snaps and the planer is gone... crap... that was our only planer.Oh well, run our spread without it and work over the bait for the next hour or so without even a sniff. We point the bow westward and make the slow troll towards the hill with little to nothing showing up on the finder. Work the hill over well with 50 other boats marking a few fish here and there but no ones hooked up and time is running out. We finished the day trolling towards the crotch with nothing to show for our efforts on the blues. In hindsight, should have picked heads instead of tails and run towards the lumpy.
It was a hell of an effort for a crew of 5 anglers 4 of which had never been offshore fishing. Andy did a hell of a job running the boat and for a man that hasn't down a lot of offshore fishing himself for many years, it is apparent that he definitely carries a golden horseshoe. I can't say enough about the captain and the anglers... they did everything right, we just couldn't find that middle class blue that would have put us well over the top. All i can say is look out for Andy and Sedation next year!!!!
We weighed in at 143.8lbs with our 3 biggest yellows putting us in a very respectable 9th place.
Thanks to Bob and everone else that had a hand in this years tourny. The parties and comradery were top notch... as they are every year.
Got some pics, and i will post them up when i receive them.
Full Version: VBTT- Sedation- 7 plagues
Virginia Beach Sport Fishing > VBSF.net Sport Fishing Forums > Offshore, Gulf Stream & Canyons (Ocean City MD to Hatteras NC)
All of that and still placed 9th in the VBTT. Good job guys!
Is this a great post or what??!!!
A testatment to preseverance.
Great job!
A testatment to preseverance.
Great job!
QUOTE (gordy @ Jul 13 2009, 12:56 PM) 
Got a call Wen. morning from Andy who was looking to put together a team for the VBTT and run his 33' side console contender in the tourny. Good buddy Dave Akridge had referred me to him as a guide/mate. I spoke with Andy and agreed to run the pit for him and met him that night at the captains meeting.
At the meeting, standing in the registration line, Andy put together his crew of five anglers on the cell phone... 4 of which had never been offshore, wow talk about last minute. What have i gotten myself into.
Andy and i came up with a two part plan over the next couple days which consisted of first targeting yellows and then running in for the blues... knowing it was gonna take 3 fish to win the tourny. Andy did a great job of preping the boat... rigging the outriggers for short lines and rigging flat line clips. Plan was to meet at the boat at 4AM at his house on Bay island.
Saturday morning and the crew is all there on time and we begin to load up the boat. Andy lowers the boat and fires up the engines to warm up while we continue to prep for departure. I run to the truck for a last minute check and Andy runs in the house for supplies. I get back to the boat, and our first plague. The starboard engine isn't pissing and we have an overheat alarm. I shut her down and Andy goes to work accessing the problem. Intakes are clear and we hook up the hose and flush out the clog... 45 minutes lost but she starts pissing again.
We launch and head out as I run through the tourny rules and prep our green crew on what to expect and how to react when the bites come. We clear the cape at 35knots and are greated by tight 4-5 footers. Bound and determined to have lines in at 7:30, we plow ahead taking a beating all the while. 10 miles out, plague 2 the port outrigger completely falls apart and the lines are wipping. 15 minute stop to get it at least secured, but its gonna require a serious rebuild to be used.
Off and running again and 20 minutes later, plague 3 as the crew yells to stop. All of our rigs were secured on the back of the helm to the rocket launchers and in all the bouncing around, 2 hooks found there mark in one of our anglers. I go to work performing surgery on removing one hook from the calf and the other hook from the worst place to catch one... nothing like a hook to the sack that early in the morning.:eek: No real damage down as the barbs didn't sink, but another 30 minute delay.
We make it another 20 miles or so and again the call to stop comes, plague 4. The helm rocket launcher has ripped out and four rods nearly left the boat. If it wasn't for the quick action of the crew, the day would have been over early. We get the rods stowed forward and after another 15 minute delay, we continue on.
We arrive at the tip of the canyon around 8:15 and I start deploying the starboard baits as Andy goes to work on the port rigger. After some serious afro-engineering, the port rigger is operable although rigged in a way that would make any seasoned vet laugh to tears if they saw it. Credit to Andy for getting it operable.
We troll the north wall of the canyon north easterly and soon find our 5th plague...whitey! Over the course of the next 40 minutes or so we had at least 3 whites come through the spread ravaging bait and knocking lines out of clips. Had one come up on the short rigger and as aggressive as he was, i was able to pull it away from him with out a hook up... only in a tuna tourny. We did have 2 come tight but both threw the hooks on the crank in.
We regroup after the whitecapade getting the baits re-rigged and re-set. Andy makes the turn to the north in about 1000 fathoms and we start zig zagging the 100 to 500 fathom line. Up ahead about a half mile, we can see a trawler and a distinct slick trailing it. It appeared that the trawler was pulling their nets. We tuck in behind, about a quarter mile away running up the slick. It wasn't long and the 6th and worse plague appears...birds! I have delt with birds many times offshore, bombing on the baits but this was absolutely insane. There must have been at least a hundred birds working over our spread, poping the clips and tearing up the baits. I was constantly pulling a bait away, just to have another dozen birds bomb on it, there was nothing that could be done to keep the baits away from them. The inevitable finally occured and drag started pulling on the starboard long line...slow and steady. The angler grabed the rod, and I put on the gloves preparing for our first bird release. I could see its wing sticking up with the bird skipping across the top as he cranked it closer to the boat. As it got closer, i was surprised to see it wasn't a bird after all, but a juvie tuna. I slung him in the boat and he taped at 29" so in the box goes our first yellow.
We had to re-rig almost all the baits after the bird plague, but get the lines back out and track back towards the trawler. As soon as we were back in the slick, the birds were back by the hundreds. Clips started popping and we began the drill of pulling baits away. Both long lines popped at the same time, but this time, drags were singing. One pulled off but the other stayed tight and the angler went to work. After a nice battle and some materful turns by Andy, I had the leader in hand and could see the color of a nice tuna. I sunk the gaff and we boxed a 40lb yellow.
Baits re-set and back in the slick and immediately 5 clips pop and 4 reels are singing...one screaming. The crew goes to work cranking as the rest of us clear the lines. It becomes readily apparent that we have some tangles so the anglers do the over under drill continuing to gain line on the fish. The first comes to the boat rather quickly...being pulled in on 2 rods and i sling another juvie in the boat, tangled with the shot gun. This one tapes at 25" so back he goes. I get on the leader of the next fish and see color and its another nice tuna. As i leader it boatside, it does one of those crazy backflips and i have to drop the leader... hes back on the rod peeling off line. The other fish, the screamer is close and i grab the leader and start working it in... its heavy. I can see its a fatty and get Andy to come in behind me with the gaff. I leader him up and Andy sticks him and slings him in....60lb yellow on the deck. Work the other fish back to the leader and i sink the steel in that one and put another 40lber in the boat. Four fish in the box and time for plan B... 10AM. Stow the gear and start running westward toward 26 mile hill for plan B.
Must have passed 2 dozen boats running eastward. We run accross a nice bait ball about 10 miles east of the hill that looks to have some nice marks around it. I have 4 horses rigged and start deploying them on the longs and shot gun, way back. The fouth is for the planer and I start to set that up. Plague 7.... down rigger won't stay locked and continuously pulls out. No problem we have another. Grab the other downrigger and send the planer down. The plague continues though as the wire line snaps and the planer is gone... crap... that was our only planer.Oh well, run our spread without it and work over the bait for the next hour or so without even a sniff. We point the bow westward and make the slow troll towards the hill with little to nothing showing up on the finder. Work the hill over well with 50 other boats marking a few fish here and there but no ones hooked up and time is running out. We finished the day trolling towards the crotch with nothing to show for our efforts on the blues. In hindsight, should have picked heads instead of tails and run towards the lumpy.
It was a hell of an effort for a crew of 5 anglers 4 of which had never been offshore fishing. Andy did a hell of a job running the boat and for a man that hasn't down a lot of offshore fishing himself for many years, it is apparent that he definitely carries a golden horseshoe. I can't say enough about the captain and the anglers... they did everything right, we just couldn't find that middle class blue that would have put us well over the top. All i can say is look out for Andy and Sedation next year!!!!
We weighed in at 143.8lbs with our 3 biggest yellows putting us in a very respectable 9th place.
Thanks to Bob and everone else that had a hand in this years tourny. The parties and comradery were top notch... as they are every year.
Got some pics, and i will post them up when i receive them.
At the meeting, standing in the registration line, Andy put together his crew of five anglers on the cell phone... 4 of which had never been offshore, wow talk about last minute. What have i gotten myself into.
Andy and i came up with a two part plan over the next couple days which consisted of first targeting yellows and then running in for the blues... knowing it was gonna take 3 fish to win the tourny. Andy did a great job of preping the boat... rigging the outriggers for short lines and rigging flat line clips. Plan was to meet at the boat at 4AM at his house on Bay island.
Saturday morning and the crew is all there on time and we begin to load up the boat. Andy lowers the boat and fires up the engines to warm up while we continue to prep for departure. I run to the truck for a last minute check and Andy runs in the house for supplies. I get back to the boat, and our first plague. The starboard engine isn't pissing and we have an overheat alarm. I shut her down and Andy goes to work accessing the problem. Intakes are clear and we hook up the hose and flush out the clog... 45 minutes lost but she starts pissing again.
We launch and head out as I run through the tourny rules and prep our green crew on what to expect and how to react when the bites come. We clear the cape at 35knots and are greated by tight 4-5 footers. Bound and determined to have lines in at 7:30, we plow ahead taking a beating all the while. 10 miles out, plague 2 the port outrigger completely falls apart and the lines are wipping. 15 minute stop to get it at least secured, but its gonna require a serious rebuild to be used.
Off and running again and 20 minutes later, plague 3 as the crew yells to stop. All of our rigs were secured on the back of the helm to the rocket launchers and in all the bouncing around, 2 hooks found there mark in one of our anglers. I go to work performing surgery on removing one hook from the calf and the other hook from the worst place to catch one... nothing like a hook to the sack that early in the morning.:eek: No real damage down as the barbs didn't sink, but another 30 minute delay.
We make it another 20 miles or so and again the call to stop comes, plague 4. The helm rocket launcher has ripped out and four rods nearly left the boat. If it wasn't for the quick action of the crew, the day would have been over early. We get the rods stowed forward and after another 15 minute delay, we continue on.
We arrive at the tip of the canyon around 8:15 and I start deploying the starboard baits as Andy goes to work on the port rigger. After some serious afro-engineering, the port rigger is operable although rigged in a way that would make any seasoned vet laugh to tears if they saw it. Credit to Andy for getting it operable.
We troll the north wall of the canyon north easterly and soon find our 5th plague...whitey! Over the course of the next 40 minutes or so we had at least 3 whites come through the spread ravaging bait and knocking lines out of clips. Had one come up on the short rigger and as aggressive as he was, i was able to pull it away from him with out a hook up... only in a tuna tourny. We did have 2 come tight but both threw the hooks on the crank in.
We regroup after the whitecapade getting the baits re-rigged and re-set. Andy makes the turn to the north in about 1000 fathoms and we start zig zagging the 100 to 500 fathom line. Up ahead about a half mile, we can see a trawler and a distinct slick trailing it. It appeared that the trawler was pulling their nets. We tuck in behind, about a quarter mile away running up the slick. It wasn't long and the 6th and worse plague appears...birds! I have delt with birds many times offshore, bombing on the baits but this was absolutely insane. There must have been at least a hundred birds working over our spread, poping the clips and tearing up the baits. I was constantly pulling a bait away, just to have another dozen birds bomb on it, there was nothing that could be done to keep the baits away from them. The inevitable finally occured and drag started pulling on the starboard long line...slow and steady. The angler grabed the rod, and I put on the gloves preparing for our first bird release. I could see its wing sticking up with the bird skipping across the top as he cranked it closer to the boat. As it got closer, i was surprised to see it wasn't a bird after all, but a juvie tuna. I slung him in the boat and he taped at 29" so in the box goes our first yellow.
We had to re-rig almost all the baits after the bird plague, but get the lines back out and track back towards the trawler. As soon as we were back in the slick, the birds were back by the hundreds. Clips started popping and we began the drill of pulling baits away. Both long lines popped at the same time, but this time, drags were singing. One pulled off but the other stayed tight and the angler went to work. After a nice battle and some materful turns by Andy, I had the leader in hand and could see the color of a nice tuna. I sunk the gaff and we boxed a 40lb yellow.
Baits re-set and back in the slick and immediately 5 clips pop and 4 reels are singing...one screaming. The crew goes to work cranking as the rest of us clear the lines. It becomes readily apparent that we have some tangles so the anglers do the over under drill continuing to gain line on the fish. The first comes to the boat rather quickly...being pulled in on 2 rods and i sling another juvie in the boat, tangled with the shot gun. This one tapes at 25" so back he goes. I get on the leader of the next fish and see color and its another nice tuna. As i leader it boatside, it does one of those crazy backflips and i have to drop the leader... hes back on the rod peeling off line. The other fish, the screamer is close and i grab the leader and start working it in... its heavy. I can see its a fatty and get Andy to come in behind me with the gaff. I leader him up and Andy sticks him and slings him in....60lb yellow on the deck. Work the other fish back to the leader and i sink the steel in that one and put another 40lber in the boat. Four fish in the box and time for plan B... 10AM. Stow the gear and start running westward toward 26 mile hill for plan B.
Must have passed 2 dozen boats running eastward. We run accross a nice bait ball about 10 miles east of the hill that looks to have some nice marks around it. I have 4 horses rigged and start deploying them on the longs and shot gun, way back. The fouth is for the planer and I start to set that up. Plague 7.... down rigger won't stay locked and continuously pulls out. No problem we have another. Grab the other downrigger and send the planer down. The plague continues though as the wire line snaps and the planer is gone... crap... that was our only planer.Oh well, run our spread without it and work over the bait for the next hour or so without even a sniff. We point the bow westward and make the slow troll towards the hill with little to nothing showing up on the finder. Work the hill over well with 50 other boats marking a few fish here and there but no ones hooked up and time is running out. We finished the day trolling towards the crotch with nothing to show for our efforts on the blues. In hindsight, should have picked heads instead of tails and run towards the lumpy.
It was a hell of an effort for a crew of 5 anglers 4 of which had never been offshore fishing. Andy did a hell of a job running the boat and for a man that hasn't down a lot of offshore fishing himself for many years, it is apparent that he definitely carries a golden horseshoe. I can't say enough about the captain and the anglers... they did everything right, we just couldn't find that middle class blue that would have put us well over the top. All i can say is look out for Andy and Sedation next year!!!!
We weighed in at 143.8lbs with our 3 biggest yellows putting us in a very respectable 9th place.
Thanks to Bob and everone else that had a hand in this years tourny. The parties and comradery were top notch... as they are every year.
Got some pics, and i will post them up when i receive them.
Rarely does a trip go smoothly without a bit of adversity> Way to hang. Too bad you had to deal with those pesky whites!!
All I can say is WOW and great job with less than perfect conditions
wow Gordy...that's a serious day right there....working through all the problems and still maintaining a winning attitude...way to go man....Bob
Gordy,
Way to hang with it. Great job out there!!!
Scott
Way to hang with it. Great job out there!!!
Scott
WOW! Great stuff Gordy. And a great job under trying circumstances!
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.