CaptainRickyWheeler

We made the run to the deep looking for billfish on the Wish You Were Here. We got started around 630 and before long we found a weedline that was holding some mahi. We picked at a few of them and then in the mix we released our first white marlin. After that we had a little lull until we had 4 white marlin in the spread. We had hooks in 3 of them and somehow as bad luck would have it, pulled the hooks on all of them. Ouch!

Not long after that chaos we got hooked into a blue marlin that put on a great show and then got down and dirty for over an hour before we got the release on the 250# blue. Awesome teaser bites!!!

We picked away at a few more white marlin bites and ended the day with some mahi in the box, 1/1 on blue marlin and 2/6 on white marlin.

We fished the Mid Atlantic Cup out of Cape May, NJ on the Wish You Were Here. We had beautiful flat calm weather and some fog in the morning that burnt off around mid day. The fishing overall was slow in the area we were blue marlin hunting but we kept at it. Without a bite all morning we picked up and ran off about 6 miles into 600 fathoms. We had a big mahi up on the long rigger but it never ate. We kept on pounding it out and at 210 there she is on the left teaser (Breakfast). Then she moved in on the Fish Downsea 1.5 dredge. Once we had that out of the water the blue ignored the pitch and then piled on the right teaser (pink squid chain with a black and purple express mackerel chaser). I played a bit of tug of war before she let go and piled on the right shirt, and finally GAME ON.

After a little more then an hour Brett brought the fish into range of the gaffs. We pulled the fish through the door, took the measurement to be sure it was what we thought, and turns out she was better! 108″ long, 60″ girth and weighed in at 489 pounds to be the WINNER! Awesome fish, and what a day!!!

I mated today and wow, it’s was Lake Atlantic. Flat calm and beautiful weather today. We ended up with a gaffer mahi, 1 35# yellowfin tuna, and 3 throwback yellowfins. Bonus fish of the day was releasing an 8o# mako on the troll. Great fight! Overall tougher fishing today and a lot of boats out there taking advantage of a beautiful day on the water. Nice having flat calm days!

We ran up to the Lindenkohl Canyon in hopes of getting into the action we heard form a couple friends in the morning hours before we left who were picking away steadily at yellowfins. The weather was perfect, flat calm and a nice ride out. We dropped lines in and WHAM! We got a nice 50# yellowfin on the boat. After that we raised two white marlin that didn’t connect. That was it for the evening. The bite seemed to have shut down a couple hours before our arrival.

Night time was a beautiful starry night, but lifeless. No bait at all in our lights or on our sounder. Around 2 am finally we got a bite on our shark rod and game on. This one was serious and stripping drag. After about 25 minutes we had the shark close to the boat but pulled the hook. All I could think was “Really?” Ouch!

At first light we got on the troll and worked into the Carteret but only manages another white marlin bite and some small throwback yellowfins. We tried to work inside of the Lindy to see if the fish didn’t push in but no love. Tough one for us.

Today we ran out on the Low Profile searching for tunas and we were able to get into some action. The water was blue green and 71 degrees and winds 10-15 out of the SW.

We started the day with a mahi and then picked away at a few fish in the morning that all were shy biting on the long riggers with ballyhoo rigged with tuna flares. As the day progressed we caught a few throwbacks and then had a lull mid day. The dolphins got very active around 100 and wham! Triple header of 45 pound yellowfins to end the day with 7 in the box!

Today I ran the Wish You Were Here and we took a shot at the Carteret and Toms Canyon where there have been some bigeyes and yellowfins caught and an eddy that has been holding there the past few days. The morning started slow with just some mammal life.

Around 11 we released a nice white marlin and got back on the troll after a great acrobatic show. We proceeded to pick away at some tunas letting go about 10 throwbacks and putting 3 in the box along with a nice mahi. Fun day of fishing.

We fished the Washington Canyon on the Low Profile for our second day of the tournament. The day started off with a big bite on the right flat line which ended up being a mako shark we released. We sure were hoping it was a bigeye!

The rest of the day we picked at a mahi here and there and some tunas most of which were throwbacks but we did out three keepers in the box including one that went 55 lbs and placed in the tournament.