Chatham Offshore

[Bob Parsons]

Rounded the corner of south beach off Chatham to find the type of conditions I look for in order to travel out into the unknown. Almost no wind and a releatively gently swell. Perfect conditions would be FAC. But this was doable. Next step was to listen to the forecasts to see how long the conditions would last. Satisfied that I had a good window of oppurtunity, I turned the bow E and went up on plane. Had to keep the speed to about 20 since there was that occasional swell that sent me airborne if going faster. After 10m. I was in about 85' of water and the temp had gone from 63 to 67. Scattered birds sitting on the water. I did spook some fish just under the surface but think they were big bluefish. Travel another 10 into 230' of water and poke around. Did try to jig up some cod but nothing there. Did have a huge basking shark circle about the boat Headed in checking for cod in a few other places, rewarded with a couple of dogfish and a big sculpin. While running back I went through some bait dimpling on the surface and spraying out of the way of the boat, splash to my right good size fish jumping turn around and see a small tuna (50-100#) crash on the bait in my wake. Stopped and took a couple casts, but that was the last I saw of them.
Went out looking for tuna and found some. A successful day.