I wake up minding my own business on vacation on Friday and my phone rings. Conference call with 2 of my fishing mates, have I seen the weather lets go. Next thing I know the phone rings again and its my other buddy.. let's hit the canyons..so before I know it I've got a trip going to the Toms on Saturday afternoon. We hit the inlet on Saturday afternoon and stop at fishermans supply to get bait and fuel. I top off the tank (335 gallons later) and we're good to go.
The trip out was flat and we pushed the boat for an hour hitting 31-32 knots to shorten the trip. On board I have a 13 year old (0ffShoreRy@n) an 11 year old and 4 adults. We get to the canyons and start the chunk. We arrive around 9:30 and have lines in and working the chunk by 9:40. Nothing happens and we monitor the electronics and lines for signs of life.
Unlike last trip there was no squid to be seen and we decide to just keep drifting and set up in the deep at around 1800 feet with about a 3/4 knot drift. We drift over all types of structure and see some signs on the fish finder but no apparent life. We work the radio and make contact with another boat called Sea Drift and we exchange info.
Midnight arrives and suddenly its fish on and it's you take the fish,no, no you take the fish... and finally someone works the line and brings the fish to the boat. Just as we are about to gaff the fish we have equipment failure, the hook bends and the fish is gone. We work the lines continuously and start to mark fish. We see them nearby and decide to jig. Fish on and in under 6 minutes we have it next to the boat and we peer over the side. Decide not to gaff and bring it on board. My buddy screams where's the camera, I need a shot of the tiniest tuna I've ever caught... it's 23 inches. He holds it up and the fish pops out and over as the camera flashes.
Another hour goes by and we mark several fish so we start moving the lines. Within 5 minutes we have fish on. Takes about 15 minutes and we have a nice 40-45 lb keeper on board. We break out the cigars because there won't be any skunks on this trip. Our new friend from the Sea Prompt calls us on the radio and tells us they just boated a small 100 lb sword. They ask how we were doing and we tell them e were 2 for 3 with 1 keeper. He asks that we call him if we find any more tuna as hey haven't seen a thing.
The chatter on the radio was has anyone even seen a fish out there? Nothing seemed to be working any where. Around 3 AM we start marking fish but they aren't biting. We decide to jig and boom fish on. Then, fish off. Fifteen minutes later Ryan has a tuna on a jig and brings it up. Another 25 incher and back it goes.
We continue the jig as we aren't getting any action on the lines and bring in another tuna, this one 26 inches. Back over the side it goes. That was the action for the night and while we weren't thrilled we were pretty happy we had a fish in the box and action through the night. Better than anyone else on the radio. Sea Prompt reports back in that they caught a small keeper at around 25 pounds on the jig and was starting the troll. We did likewise. The sunrise at first light was beautiful, and foretelling. There is an old saying that comes to mind when you see the picture I'm sure you'll know which one I mean.
Suddenly around 9 am we notice no chatter on the radio and most boats were gone.
We weren't finding birds, squids or any other signs of life and were debating what to do. We picked up and ran to the west wall of the Toms and continued the troll. I notice nothing...no one...no boats and decide mm, maybe I should zoom out on the weather (we had it zoomed in for sea temp breaks). I noticed a wee bit of trouble approaching from many directions and pulled the plug. Time to head in and quickly. Just then a marine warning popped up on the screen for our area (I had set the Sirius not to publish warnings unless within 50 miles). Warning told of hail in the 1-2 inch size with severe gusts (which further on they defined in excess of 70 knots) and heavy lightning off shore from Manasquan inlet out 50 miles.
The first picture shows the boat out in the Toms area on the way home with the storms to our south. The additional pictures show what we were running into. Luckily we got into the inlet ahead of the brew by about 5 minutes and there weren't any issues. One of my buddies asked me twice after reading the warnings and seeing the screen, uh Ken, exactly where are the life jackets again...
Fun trip with a little extra excitement thrown in. The aftermath of the storm was as beautiful as the sunrise and the picture at the dock doesn't do it justice.
