21-22 May 11. Made a meat run this weekend as my stocks of fish are dangerously low. Crewed up with Fletcher, Verna, Gary, and wife Lanie. Headed out Saturday to the canyon for some deep drop hunting for wreckfish/grouper. Labrador current still running north to south at 1 knot made the drift 1.2 to 1.4 knots on Saturday making fishing deep difficult. Fishing was slow Saturday afternoon.

Got setup for some night fishing Saturday night. Not another fishing boat anywhere, just big ships passing by. Water slicked out nice right on time. Here is sunset on the 600 line (NE of the Norfolk Canyon) in 250 fathoms on little break to 66 degree water.

Once the sun went down completely little bait fish were everywhere in our lights. Soon after that, the squid arrived attacking the little bait fish. As the night wore on, more and more squid swam around our boat. Started catching all the squid we wanted on the squid jig.

Kept some for deep dropping the next day and sent some down on a hook for swords. Gary was on fire catching squid so we started calling him the "squid whisperer". 😀 Then the purposes showed and they wanted to eat. They got the squid all balled up just like on blue planet and had themselved a buffet dinner. While some played sheep dog keeping them balled up, others would take turns tearing through the squid ball. Lasted only about 2 minutes and all that was left were squid body parts floating. I can see why birds enjoy the leftovers.

Unfortunately the only other predator that visited our spread was a lonely blue shark. I did not chum this time hoping to avoid the sharks but one found us. No sword hits this time. I thought conditions were right with all the squid and bait around.

At sunrise everything was still slicked out nice so great for deep dropping. Well sort of…even though the wind was almost zero, the labrador current still pushed us to the south at 1 knot. We started out in the deep again, this time managing 4 golden tiles with the biggest going to Flether at 45 pounds. Everyone caught one but me. Also caught 2 hake on the drops.

Next we moved to the seamount at 800 feet to catch some Black Belly Rose fish or Rosies. These are small fish but very tasty. In order to make an 800 foot drop worth the effort for small fish, we used a 6 hook rig. Does not take long to fill all 6 hooks.

This is why they have the name black belly….inside their throat is black. Not much meat on them but they are very tasty…a little better than BSB (IMO).

Seabass fishing was slow for us but we managed 21 nice BSB before calling it a day. We did not try for bluelines this trip.

Great weekend of fishing. The tuna should be here so next trip offshore will be trolling time.

1-2 Jul 11. Could not pass up a perfect weather window with tuna around. Crewed up with Doc Ike, Fletcher, Lanie, and new crew member Ron. On the run out Friday talked to Duane on the Ms Ginny who caught 2 nice BFT (keeping a 52 – nice job Duane and thanks for the call) on the 26 mile hile so made a detour to give it a shot. No hits for us so ran east. Talked to Ben on Devious who was getting whacked on the 640. Got to the party late and never got hit although many got whacked good ealier. Two shots so far and got to the party late each time.

Setup at night on the canyon. No wind, no waves, slick as can be. New moon.

Unreal amount of squid around the boat. Caught some on the squid jig and sent some down for swords.

First rod to go off was the fresh squid. Ike battles the fish for about 20 minutes and the main line parts.

0 for 1 at night. Next hit came about an hour later and this on takes most of the line. Ike back on the rod and settles in for a long fight. This one is fighting like a sword. Before I can clear all the lines, the other rod goes off (fresh squid again). Seriously, a double!! All the nights I spent out in the deep with no pulls, I have 2 on at once. I jump on this rod and this is a lit up big arse sword on the surface. Come tight and no way to control this beast, he is still on the surface and get a good look at him. Shoots to the bow, then to the starboard side where Ike is battling his fish. No way to keep the lines apart on a small boat, of course they tangle. No choice but to cut my line so Ike can keep fighting his fish.

Ike battles his sword for 1 1/2 hours before getting him up near the top. 200-250 lb class sword. But right near the end game the sword makes a final run and end up in the props. No freaking way….I grab my harpoon and stick him but not the best shot. Raise the motor and I go to the swim platform to try to free him but the dart pulls free and now the fish is free but momentarily hangs there. Before I can get a gaff, I try to grab him and I do touch him but nothing to get a hold of as he makes one gentle flap of his tail and goes straight down. WTF…no way this just happened. My first thought was to jump in the water to try to grab him but quickly realized this was a bad plan so I watch him swim away while my heart sinks. We search the area with flashlights for a little while thinking he may be on the surface recovering but no luck. No other hits that night. I get some sleep but that image of that sword in my hands is now forever burned in my brain.

Later a tuna bird takes a break on our boat.

Troll at first light and there is a good bite from first light until about 8 am before it shuts down. Pilot whales everywhere. Slick calm seas enabled us to see the skippies on the surface which is where the YFT hits came off. We ended up going 2 for 8 on the YFT making all the rookie mistakes from anglers resting during the fight so the hook pulls to putting to much pressure at the end game. Fletcher and Lanie get their fish to the boat with Lanie getting a nice 50 lb YFT. Glad to see her get the biggest one as she has not cranked a tuna in a long time.

Can’t find anymore tuna so head the navy buoys and bail a dozen mahi some gaffers and some bailers.

Great overnighter offshore. Lots of action and lots of lesson learned on this trip. I’ll be replaying that lost sword in my mind over and over again about what I should have done differently but sometimes you just react to the situation presented. Can’t wait to get back out there for another shot.

0 for 3 swords
0 for 1 white marlin
2 for 8 YFT
dozen or so mahi gaffers and bailers
2 triggers

10 Jul 11. Fished on Sunday with Lanie, Fletcher, Doug, Mike K, and Rob. Worked the south wall of the canyon hard. Bait everywhere but tuna were scattered. Fletcher scored a foul hooked 120 lb mako that we killed.

Bent the hook real good but did not pull from the tough fin.

Turns out that a mako does not make a good teaser for tuna. No hits while dragging him backwards.

Went 4 for 6 on the YFT with Rob and Doug getting nice boscos.

Nice day on the water….hope them tuners hang around a while longer.

27-28 Jul 11. Another tuna trip off Virginia Wed-Thu 27-28 Jul 11.
Crewed up with Wally, Doug, Rick, and Randy and left after work on Wed. Stopped by the Navy Buoys on the way out and put the spread out. Had one solid hit that came unbuttoned. Sun was going down so left for the canyon to setup before sunset.
Chunked the canyon at night but only had big hammer head sharks. Gave excellent runs and fights but not what we were looking for. Water was flat all night so most of us got some good sleep except for Rick and Randy who wanted to pull an all nighter.

On the troll at 5 am. At 615 we spot a school of surface feeding YFT…cool sight…have not seen that in years off Virginia. Got a triple out of that but 2 come unglued one inches before the gaff shot. Spent most of the rest of the morning trying relocate the school. Get another single late morning. By the end of the day we had 11 bites and 4 nice fat YFT in the box. Not the best ratio but 11 bites kept us motivated to stay in the game.

All hits were on the 100 fathom line from the NE corner of the canyon to 4 mile north of the canyon.

Good luck to anyone that goes this weekend. Check all your terminal tackle and make sure everything is perfect, these fish hit hard and fight all the way to the end…which is why many of us get addicted to this kind of fishing.

31 Jul – 1 Aug 11. I think I may have to get a mental exam or something. I had just completed an overnighter Wed-Thur last week and was not planning another for the weekend. I was still tried from the last trip. There is a ton of effort into pulling off an overnghter and in my mind I think I’m still 22 but my body does not always cooperate like a 22 year old. But I am easily talked into fishing so looked at the weather and saw another wind laydown so what the hell….let’s go.

Crewed up with admiral Lanie, Fletcher, Verna, and Ron and left saltponds at 2 PM Saturday. Wind had only just begun to lay down so it was a bit bumpy ride out with the NE head sea but started to lay out just beyond the triangles.

Put the spread out at the tip of the canyon and worked the north wall. Good bait still stacked up around 100 fathoms. Skippies still popping here and there. Half way into the canyon came across acres of 2 tones with what everyone, including me, thought we saw busting tuna feeding with the 2 tones. We thought it was going to be game on but nothing. Then the dirty white boys kept attacking our spread. I tried my best to get away from the whites but they kept trying get hooked. We did a good job in keeping them off the hooks but they did steal a lot of my ballyhoos. Not sure how those bastards slide a hoo off a hook but not get hooked.

Got to the NE corner at sunset and decided to setup there for the night. Everything laid out just on time with lake like conditions all night. Beautiful sunset as I’m setting up the night gear.

Got 2 lines set at dusk while working on the 3rd, I see my second line had crab walking from port to starboard. I didn’t think much of it because the current out there does funny things so I thought the current had it. I go to crank it in to reset it with more weight and suddenly I feel a lot of weight on the other end and little head shake for a brief moment then the hook pulls before I can set it. Only other pull all night after that was a small mako, might have been keeper sized but too close to call so we released him to grow a little bigger. Lots of small bait around the boat including lots of these guys, not sure what they are. Some squid around but not enough to catch any.

Nobody else on the Norfolk to talk to at night but did talk to another chunker on the Baltimore. Sometimes the conditions are perfect to talk clearly for 100 miles. Also heard clearly some boats out of OI. Got on the troll at 5 am to a sunrise more beautiful than the sunset.

Worked north of the canyon and drilled the canyon again but nothing for us. Trolled through lots of pods of skippies, 2 tones, and pilot whales and no tuna and no mahi. Where the hell are the mahi? Despite my best efforts to keep the dirty whites off my lines, we manage one for Verna which was her first. She declined to be creeked but we reminded her there is statute of limitations on creeking so Verna.

No tuna for us…what a difference a few days make after going 4 for 11 on Thur. With no temp breaks, no gulf stream eddies, no weed lines, 81 degree water everywhere, labrador still running hard, there is nothing to really help on where to fish.

Still a great weekend for fishing and I’m glad we did not pass up the opportunity. Can’t catch fish unless you got lines in the water. Maybe our tuna fishing will be good again after the water cools. Will give me time to do some boat and tackle maintanence to get ready when they do. Still a great weekend on the water.

12-13 Aug 11. Fished the Norfolk Canyon Friday night and Saturday. Wally caught a pup sword that went 50 inches so we kept it…fresh sword steaks tonight. This one hit a swallow fresh mahi fillet that jumped on the surface when hooked like a marlin. Came to the boat on the surface easily but then sounded when I grabbed the leader to give Wally a decent fight.

Not much to report on the troll, went 1 for 4 on the whites and 4 bailer mahi. They let Wally catch the white so he can clinch angler of the year with the Bull Island Anglers Club.

Great weather except the ride back was a bit sloppy and got a fresh water rinse from the rain as soon as we got back to Hampton. Thank to my crew Rich, Steve, Stephen, Wally, and Mike K.

Here is a short video.

Sword 12 Aug 11 Norfolk Canyon on Vimeo

Mike
Seaduction