Author Topic: Hudson Canyon Overnighter Sun,Mon Oct 20,21 2012 (Read 16901 times)

Hunter 2 · « **on:** October 23, 2012, 09:51:10 PM »

On Sunday October 21, 2012 Scott G, Jersey Joe and myself showed up at Capt.Jeffs house In Pt.Pleasant at 10:30am. We helped Capt.Jeff load the shaved ice from his ice machine, pack the boxes of butterfish and Sardines And load our gear on the Kristin Marie a 1985 36' Twin Cat diesel Topaz express. We stopped to top of the tanks and head out of the Manasquan inlet. Jeff pointed the boat east and set up a course on auto pilot for the Hudson Canyon about 83 miles cruising at 21knts with a light N.West wind creating a small following sea.
While running east at the ten mile mark the boats engines bogged down bigtime so we put her out of gear to investigate. Now we all had flies in our stomachs thinking the trips over $:-\$ . We noticed a bunch of broken up foam from a cushion coming up that must have gotten stuck in the wheels of the boat. Jeff shifted forward and reverse several times to clear the debris but the boat the did not seem right. Joe was about to put on the dive mask and jump in the 66 deg water to check it out but the seas were building and its too dangerous. We came up with a plan to secure my underwater camera to a gaff and take some video of the props. After doing so we noticed some debris stuck by the cutlass bearing before the prop. Jeff decided to continue the trip but it slowed us down about 2 knots at the boats normal cruise rpm's because it blocked some water from flowing through the port prop. On rest of way out Joe cut up some flats of butterfish for chum.
We arrived at the west side of the canyon after a 4 hour run to find around 6 commercial fishing boats dragging nets for squid in the center of the canyon. We set up a 8 line spread on the west drop-off consisting of 2 ballyhoo and skirts on the far outriggers. 2 green machine spreaders on the inside outriggers, 2 blue/white squid spreader bars close off the transom and a far bird daisy chain and a short squid daisy chain down the middle. A few whales were in the area along with dolphins, tuna chicks and other types of seabirds.
As we came close with the spread to a high flyer and orange marker ball Capt.Jeff announced here they come!

Looking back we could see Mahi chasing the lures and jumping through the waves. One Mahi became hooked and we left him out for a little while and another became hooked. One was lost at boatside and the other was gaffed and in the box. They hit the green bird and daisy chain trolled far back and center and the green squid spreader bar on the inside rigger. We trolled a little more and boxed another Mahi that hit a green Machine spreader.
The wind and seas were starting to increase so we got tied off in 800' of water to set up for the night chunk. A couple of head boats set up a bit to our south/west. Now the wind was building to a steady 25mph with gusts over 30mph the sea was nasty with cresting 6' waves hitting the bow and throwing wind driven spray down the sides of the boat. At sundown we had the butterfish chumslick started and 4 Penn international 50's set up at different depths with rigged with Sardines and egg sinkers, balloon floats placed at varied depths. Another rod was set up for swordfish and dropped deep with a live squid we netted and a glowstick. On the last rod we put a jig and sent it down then attached it to the far port outrigger so it would jig itself.
The blue sharks started showing up in numbers circling the boat and occasionally getting hooked up on the sardine rigs. All the guys took turns reeling in and releasing the 6' to 9' blue sharks hoping they would go away soon. The bigger ones fight pretty hard and my lower back and knees are still aching

. The crew took turns chumming, checking lines, netting squid, making food and napping. Around 2am on Monday the dolphins showed up in big numbers and the sharks disappeared but so did he squid which was fine with us because we were pretty tired from battling the blue sharks for hours. Capt.Jeff and I took over the watching everything and keeping the slick going. The weather got worse "bigger waves" making it hard to keep balance with the boat bouncing around forward and aft and side to side. The colder temps of night and wind driven spray were not helping either when Jeff and I heard a big snap and a thump, Something hit the sardine baited line on the far outrigger and the line must have gotten twisted in the release clip and pulled the outrigger down a bit while snapping the new 80lb mono line clean and making the outrigger bounce around a bit. I wish I knew what that fish was..
   At first light the horizon started to show more signs of life. The seabirds moved in and started playing with our chum. Its fun to watch how they run across the top of the ocean with they're wings extended and then swim far below the surface to retrieve a piece butterfish. The crew worked together as the sun broke the horizon and we put away all the chunking tackle and setup for the morning troll. We worked some markers and high flyers on the way to the south tip of the Hudson. The Starboard inside green machine spreader rod starts screaming ZZZZZZZZ!! and Capt. Jeff says Fish On!! and kept the boat in gear for a bit to see if anything else would hit. Several minutes later we had some lines cleared out of the way, everyone worked together great and a 45lb yellowfin was on the deck. We quickly set up the spread again and circled the area looking for another. Then the close stern rod goes down with the blue/white spreader on it and we pull in a Fat Albert "false albacore" Minutes later another Fat Albert is in the boat. At the south tip the port inside outrigger rod took a hit and the rod went down screaming "Again a green machine spreader" and the fish fish took 2/3 of line off the international 50 before Capt.Jeff throttled down and we started clearing the spread. Scott fought the yellowfin for around ten minutes, I grabbed the leader as it was boatside, Scotty backed up to give us room and Joe made a perfect galf shot that the late Zane Grey would have been proud of. This Yellowfin was a 60+ pounder.
   The crew decided to call it a day and bring in the spread. The ride home was gonna be slow with the 75miles of steady 6' oncoming waves till we reached the 8 mile mark and they eased up on us on really pit the throttle down. We broke the Manasquan inlet with our Tuna and Mahi flags flying around 5pm and made it back to port safe. "Maybe a little bruised up and sore but safe"
   At Capt.Jeffs we cleaned the boat, filleted the fish took some pictures and did some high fives. Funny thing on the ride home in the truck, We all looked forward to a hot shower and our comfy beds.
   Good Luck!!

Eddie "Hunter 2"

Hunter 2 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 23, 2012, 10:28:09 PM »

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Author Topic: Hudson Canyon Overnighter Sun,Mon Oct 20,21 2012 (Read 16901 times)