Thursday at the Canyon......

[venture]

Left the dock at 2:00am on Thursday with Josh on board....put the lines in five miles north of the "Tails" at 5:30, and got covered up with skippies all day long. Water temps were perfect at 77 - 78 degrees. Had one big fish clear the water right behind our Marlin chugger......but no hookup.....Fish cleared the water completely.....Couldn't tell what it was......it could have been a mako or a big eye. Couldn't really tell. that was it.....millions of skippies......NO TUNA.

Hit the pots for mahi with the fly rod..........and saved the day with all the mahi you wanted....they aggressively hit the fly. No big ones, with the fish averaging 4 to 5 pounds. but they put on a really great show...........and all were jumpers.

Nice day, but it seems like this year, the yellowfins are not around. Hopefully things will pick up.......

Howie

[h2p530]

how far off were the pots ? any jumbo bluefish?

[dewey]

hi howie, never heard of the tails before?? wheres that, near what canyon. howie look for the scallop boats they been seeing some tunas <nothing like last year> but there has been some around . the fish have been fpollowing the boats and eating the scallop guts that get tossed over dewey inbound:confused:

[venture]

Masterbaiter......the pots we fished were on the 100 fathom line, which is about 70 miles offshore......and no blue fish are out there.....thank god. The skippies caused enough trouble. All we'd need out there was to have bluefish eating $20 - $100 lures......

And Dewey.....Thanks for the tip......the next time I'm out there, I'll look for draggers dumping scallop guts....

And Josh, I hope your finger is better........and you were able to get back to NYC the next day.....

Howie

[h2p530]

I'm not to smart on the off shore lingo yet, What are skippies. Dewey Inbound ment for you to look for boat that are cutting scallops thay throw the guts over well thay cut one at a time .

[Albiemanmike]

Master,
Skippies are Skipjack Tuna which are found offshore and occasionally come inshore when there are warm water eddies from the gulf stream. They are a nuisance to most offshore fisherman because they eat the lures that are intended for bigger game. I love catching them on flyrod gear as they are absolutely the most fun fish to catch on the fly. Unfortunately they don't show inshore enough to get a shot at them often. Howie sounds like you guy's had some awesome fun with the Mahi out there and even though you didn't get the bigguns you were looking for catching Mahi on the fly isn't all bad. I would love to have the opportunity to go out and catch a bunch of those for the grill. They are awesome eating fish and maybe the prettiest fish we ever see around these parts. We got one 2 years ago right off of the mansions in Newport as well as skippies and bonito in one trip. That was a great day but all too rare. I sure wish I could get out there with you for a day, would be a ball and we could try to get a tuna on the fly:eek: . Got my first bone Friday in the western sound. Not many fish but they were there. Got into the bass again as well yesterday. Nice report keep em coming I love reading your offshore reports.

Tightlines,
Mike M.

Here is a skipjack!
http://www.fishcontest.com/Mike/Skipjack.jpg

My buddie Al's biggest bass ever!
http://www.fishcontest.com/Mike/LunasBiggunWeb.jpg

[h2p530]

those skippes come down the beach ,when the temps is up. thats one stud of a rock I'm not permitted to catch them in NJ . Are those skippies good eatting? I'm sure that thay put up one heck of a fight. Before I set alot of time I'll cast or jig on a mark and last year I foul hooked a false ablbacore wow we I though that I hooked a hudge tuna.

[dewey]

Originally posted by Albiemanmike
[B]Master,
Skippies are Skipjack Tuna which are found offshore and occasionally come inshore when there are warm water eddies from the gulf stream. They are a nuisance to most offshore fisherman because they eat the lures that are intended for bigger game. I love catching them on flyrod gear as they are absolutely the most fun fish to catch on the fly. Unfortunately they don't show inshore enough to get a shot at them often. Howie sounds like you guy's had some awesome fun with the Mahi out there and even though you didn't get the bigguns you were looking for catching Mahi on the fly isn't all bad. I would love to have the opportunity to go out and catch a bunch of those for the grill. They are awesome eating fish and maybe the prettiest fish we ever see around these parts. We got one 2 years ago right off of the mansions in Newport as well as skippies and bonito in one trip. That was a great day but all too rare. I sure wish I could get out there with you for a day, would be a ball and we could try to get a tuna on the fly:eek: . Got my first bone Friday in the western sound. Not many fish but they were there. Got into the bass again as well yesterday. Nice report keep em coming I love reading your offshore reports.

Tightlines,
Mike M.

] mike catching that skippy must have been a real thrill. al thats a great looking fish, that must of been a great feeling when that hit your deck. keep sending those pics guys i really enjoy looking at them