East coast head boat tuna

bill19804 · September 12, 2022, 03:06:44 AM

so the saga continues another year just back from 30 hour voyage in search of that big one. should have stayed home is best way to describe it. no tuna, no sword, few mahi for the boat. and im wearing skunk oil myself. but there will be another 6 early saturday morning sailing to make up for this one. more next week!!!

Decker · September 19, 2022, 10:53:04 PM

Glad to see you got out, Bill. Good luck on the next one!

bill19804 · September 20, 2022, 03:52:39 AM

so went again this past weekend. capt wouldnt say where he was going but it would not be the Hudson canyon. so off we went after 6 hours started mahi fishing on lobster pot bouys. some had fish on them some didnt so about 6 or 7 pm started drifting off the edge for the big guys. not much happening a big ray around boat the eventually got snagged was the premier event. moved location tried some more nada for a few hours then a regular in bow landed maybe 51 inch fork length swordfish then a few mahis committed suicide. meanwhile nada for me or partner. sorta hard to concentrate from dinner time to breakfast time with nothing happening. but at maybe 4 am more mahi and i had one biting and he left and then it happened peck peck and boom down went rod tip. i set hook held on and got a friendly mate to take over when i physically fizzled out. maybe 20 min later swordfish at boat. used a measuring device to determine legality of length with fish in the water. nope 1 inch too short cut fish off and he scooted away seemingly healthy. that was it for big fish. on way home found a mahi swarm and a lot of 10 fish limits were had and enforced.

got in, took our fish whole and headed home. partner drove both ways in my truck and processed the fish sunday night. he is a taxidermist so hes set up for store type packaging etc.

asw a whole personally satisfying trip as it proved my equipment and methods are up to par on swordfish.. more next monday after another trip

bill19804 · September 24, 2022, 02:59:19 AM

trip due to sail 9/24 cancelled im just as glad my back killed me last trip and its no better. maybe ill get a new united composites rod done for next week. a 7-6 centaur is 2/3 of way done so will give it hell trying to finish it

oc1 · September 25, 2022, 05:17:04 AM

Sometimes back problems can been a sigh thet you've been having fun. It's good to see it all coming together for you.

bill19804 · October 11, 2022, 12:35:32 PM

so the next trip went off as scheduled past Saturday morning a t 630 am.never got word where we were headed. fished a bunch of pot but no exceptional quantities or size but still fish. anchored up for o9vernight chunking for tuna by 7 pm nothing happens for hours. then my partner, a newby, get a hit lands 65 lb yellowfin. half hourt passes and i get real small hit a swordfish? but no runoff. 5 minutes later a bigger hit set him up started cranking. got it to boat a 40 inch sword lassooed around his swprd. gave so slack and he was gone healthy as ever gotta be 47 inches to be legal.
that makes two short swords but no legal ones.
an hour later a yell from the bow fishon and soon the tailbeat of 60-70 lb yellowfin slapping deck was heard. we kept picking away and getting a nice bunch of identical 65 lb yelloe fish. somewhere in there we had 4 on in stern at once.
someone up front lander a 80 wahoo on a popper.
partner got 2 more in thgat mess for his limit the tutor(me) got one little yft. almost a skunk.things continued till like 7am picking away at them. a lot of limits filled
as a whole a good trip lots of mahi later and lots of yft limits.

score 1 short sword rele3ased, 1 30 yelloe for me 3 nice fat 65 lb yellows for my rookie partner.

oh well thats fishing.

Vintage Offshore Tackle · October 11, 2022, 03:46:57 PM

Thanks for the report Bill.

The fishing may not have been what you were hoping for, but the 99.9% of us who have never caught swordfish would be thrilled to catch one of any size!

Benni3 · October 12, 2022, 01:42:54 AM

Great job bill,,,,,,

sabaman1 · October 12, 2022, 04:00:33 AM

Nice Bill. Thanks for sharing your catch report!

bill19804 · October 13, 2022, 04:29:13 AM

ive been pondering how to increase my catch like most fishermen 30 years ago half or more of the catch was long fin with at least one big eye on every trip seldom a swordfish.

lately i have seen one long fin in 2 years and just 2 big eyes in same period and now a lot more swords. wondering whats going on? longfin and big eye are colder water fish then yellowfin. has our water in hudson canyon increased in temperature?

are more swords being caught cause there are more of them now with moratorium off florida or guys are exploring the deep more because nothing happening in shallower depths or is it colder water?
just pondering whats happening to figure out how to take advantage of it. got 2 more trips to get my act together before its over for this year

it used to be put a bait at 120 down and wait but not long now they are all over map 90 to 350 deep with no honey spot. this past weekend action was deeper then 300 ft. nothing in 100-150 frrt and not much till at least 250 feet.

any guys from the east have thoughts about this? id love to hear about them.

Gfish · October 21, 2022, 07:51:14 PM

I'm way past even the West coast and never fished the East. So no speculation, but it's interesting stuff to think about. Critters go for food, procreation and environmental comfort zones.

Benni3 · October 22, 2022, 03:47:49 AM

If you're going eastcoast let me know,,,,,,

I will chip in on it,,,,,,,

bill19804 · October 24, 2022, 01:36:01 AM

so 3am rolls around on saturday morning partner calls to make sure im up and moving. he arrives with enclosed trailer and two newbies never been before. one is gung he bought new international 50 wide and big spool of cortland hollow and lots of terminal gear. load up and away we go get to boat for 700 departure at515 boat almost full. leave at 600. the ride seems endless. the veterans go to sleep knowing what awaits them the newbies chatter drink coffee and tell fishing tales. 5 hours later squid trawler in sight set up to drift their wake not much luck. move to different trawler partner hooks up good fish hook pulls at boat. maybe 100 lb yft.
move again and anchor for night. cap says there are fish there at 120, 150, 300. finally a yell and fishon. maybe 60 lb yft. then another and then another. then two at a time then 4 at a time and mass mayhem mostly 30-50 yft. mot a bite for me thought. our two newbies picked up one once in a while.
limit is 3 fish each soon all 3 partners are fishing for last legal fish, and i find zone
50 lb yft, 40 lb yft 50 lb yft. boat limiting out lot of guys are done
get out sword gear big squid calstar gf7470xxxh rod rated 80-unlimited and atd 50 w 130 cortland with 200 flouro topshot 100 lb hook leader

down goes bait send it zooming past yft zone down to 300 and wait and watch. nada nada nada. cap says 10 more minutes and go home drop bait 50 ft more i thought but bait wont take slack line. ooops nibble nibble boom battle on. i cant control the fish give him all the drag im comfortable with probably 26 lbs. and he does what he wants when he wants. spools gets smaller and he still takes line at will. doing rail rod thing with butt of rod under crotch and hang on for dear life..,finally make headway in low gear but i gain 50 he takes 40 20 mins into battle and im still able to go head to head. put lot of thumb drag on spool so must be close to 40 lbs drag he still runs ooops my thumb got caught tween top cross bar and spool and locks spool pow and aw #### moment.
now ive locked horns with my share of clarion cows but this sucker had more go power then any of them. a guess a big sword but who knows.
looks like catch is 90 yft 6 long fins no swords
back at it in a week same boat. same time probably same place

bill19804 · November 02, 2022, 03:38:18 AM

it hell to get old and i am that 80 this year. tripped over my feet couple weeks ago aggrivated old back injury ouch hurts to walk or sit.

valled the boat and cancelloed out for last week

called them today and cancelled this weeks trip. thats all they have for this year so im done

seems like off sahore tuna is over early nov or at least boats dont go that far out with the weather being what it always is in november---iffy at best risky at times.

so now i have the best tackle arsenal of any unemployed swordfish chaser flouro leader by 10s of yards custom rods by half dozen at least 1 f every atd accurate from 30 up with 3 international backups and it all fills a room
heres hoping the is another year for me chasing

a summary of the year
a couple of great trip a couple of weather cancellations and a couple chicken out by me cancellations.
general thoughts on season
fish seemed to be concentrated more then normal get a boat load or not many nothing inbetween.big eyes-didnt see any long fin saw 6 out of about 110 fish.personally had swords on three successive trips. id say swords are coming back strong and 47 inch size minimum seems to be working. expecting to see swords targeted more by rec fishermen in future. longfin? where did they go 20 years ago 3 yellowfins and 5 longfins over 40 lbs was a fair day, not a great day. now longfins re on par with swords in the catch

thats one old guys story and opinions and im sticking to it.

follow your passion, give it all you got. its worthwhile as anything else

over and out

swordfish chaser (bill19803@aol.com)

Ron Jones · November 02, 2022, 04:21:06 AM

Any way you look at it, a whole lot of fishing and a whole lot of life. God speed, here's to many more years.
I hope your back heals well.
The Man