Well we completed our second overnighter on the canyons. This was a what might have been, what could have been, almost got em, heartbreaking trip. With a crew consisting of myself, Lanie, John, and Rich we headed out at 1 pm Saturday heading for the Norfolk Canyon. Got lines in just before 4 pm and started trolling the south wall where we caught some nice YFT last Tuesday. Spoke with Brian (ocnsr) on C-Time who was just leaving and got some intell.
Spoke with Dr. Dan Williams and crew who had just broke off a 500 or so lb BFT after an impressive 10 1/2 hour fight. Understand they touched the leader a few times and was ablel to see and ID that it was a giant BFT. Heartbreaking. They had tuna busting on the surface so we troll their way on the north side the canyon at 100 fathoms. We found some skippies there and also saw some long liners had set up just offshore of that with great bait marks around the area. Troll to sunset with nothing but the skippies which we saved for bait.
We calculate our drift and it's due north at around 0.8 knots so we head south a bit to the mouth of the canyon so we can drift toward where the long liners had set up. Break out the big squid and glow sticks and put some lines out, 2 on balloons and 2 straight down at various depths. Got the 2 balloon lines out and working on the third when we see a green glow darting around the boat. A huge silhouette passes by the boat several times. It's a big sword. Rich and I clearly see what it is, as it seems to be dancing around our light line from the boat, dragging around our green glow stick. This sword hit a rig that was set at 150 feet and rather than go down or out, he swam straight up to the boat. No screaming drag, no balloon crab walking. So we crank, crank, crank to try to take out the slack but he must have wrapped his bill around the main line and it was cut off before we could get all the slack out. Now we are excited that we are in the right place for my first sword. But it was not to be. Not another pull of any kind all night long. But I will keep trying until I get one. My guess is he liked that big squid that he just ate at 150 feet and thought he saw more by our boat so headed that way for a second helping. Hmmm, so do all the baits have to be down deep. Might try a surface bait next time next to the light.
Early in the night I do something stupid. I jam my hand in the tackle bag searching for I don't remember what but I come up with a treble deep in my finger. Ouch. So I'm a wimp for the next 30 minutes trying to wiggle it out, not going. I try the fishing line back out trick, not going. I try to run it through so we can cut the hook and run it out point first. Angle is not good so I opt for the turn my head while John hanks it out in one motion with a pair of pliers. Double ouch but it's out. Watch out of loose tackle in bags guys.
Beautiful night, seas stayed down all night. At 4:30 am we put the 9 line spread out start the troll down the North wall of the canyon. At 5:45 the short goes off and John cranks in a nice 50 lb YFT. He hit a 9 inch squid chain with a blue/white islander, medium hoo.
At 8 am my crappiest reel (Okuma Silver 50) goes down hard with a red/white stretch 18. Yes I like to put a red/white stretch in my spread. Folks tend to snicker about that but I have caught YFT, BFT, Wahoo, mahi, and even a mako on this. It's Lanie's turn so we get her strapped in and safety line attached to her. This was a quality fish. First run about spooled her. After about an hour, the fish seems to be at a stalemate with Lanie. But it was not over. This fish mostly stayed straight down and she could not even get a turn most of the time. Occasionally this fish would run out and we would drive the boat towards the fish so Lanie could gain some line back. But as soon she would get the fish near the top, it sounded again almost spooling Lanie. After 3 hours of fighting this fish, I'm trying to convince Lanie to tighten down the drag a bit more but she knows this fish might break her off and she was not willing to take that chance after 3 hours invested. Well the fish finally did break her off and we never saw what it was. Could have been a Big Eye or big BFT or bosco YFT, we will never know because we never saw the fish. Lanie was a trooper the whole time never wanting to pass the rod to anyone.
What are my thoughts on my Okumas? They are decent reels, far less expensive than Tiagras or Penns. But I don't trust the drags on them. The drags are simply not as smooth with consistent pressure as my tiagras. I have 6 tiagras with only 3 okumas left. I am slowly replacing the okumas for tiagras but the tiagras are expensive. Strike was set at 18 (60 lb momoi) lbs but my guess is during the surges with the inconsistencies of the okuma drag, it was varying between 20 to 30 lbs. There were times when the line was humming like a guitar string. But after 3 hours of fighting, we were beginning to have serious discussions about tightening the drag and horse the fish in. Anyways, this battle gave me some things to think about for the next big battle.
It's now after 11 am and most of us had little sleep last night so I ask the crew, do we want to troll more even though the morning bite may be dying down or go drop for blueline tiles for an hour before heading home. Neither John nor Rich had dropped for tiles before so we go catch em up about 20 of them in less than hour, biggest 17 lbs.
Beautiful ride home in seas 2 foot or less. Cleaning the fish and boat was real hot as temps approached 95 degrees. Where is the wind when you need it.
Overnighters are fun and will probably do more in the future. And I will get that sword I missed this time. Enjoyed talking to Dr. Williams and crew and hearing his epic battle and talked with Scott on Fixit who spent the night too and also lost some big boys.
Here is a short video from the trip. Lanie picked out the song thinking the title fit the trip.
Video - What Might Have Been
Until next time.
