Doug on Fish

A friend from work had the opportunity to come down from New Hampshire to go over an account we're transitioning so I took the chance to get him out in our ocean and onto some fish. The day started out very ugly with showers south of us and more on the radar. Being the trooper that he is, Doug gave the go-ahead so we were off. Our first strike was probably the best of the day, but unfortunately, we didn't boat the fish. Based on the screaming reel and the look I got when the fish jumped, I think it was a wahoo! It hit a big ballyhoo with a pink/blue Iland Lure skirt. Before heading in for lunch we brought in this little guy that ate a ballyhoo about the same size as he was.


On the way back from lunch, we had a dolphin double header with Doug on the cow and me on the bull. We brought both to the boat, but I lost the bull when the line got tangled on one of the rods on the gunwale! I almost dove in after the thing when I saw him swim away with my blue/white Iland Lure and the wire leader trailing from his mouth.

Dolphin, Cuda and Tuna Oh My

I got another chance to go out with Ernesto and was delighted to see a repeat performance of the infamous fish dance. Ernesto's version sure seems to bring out the fish! Our day started at about 6 AM with a run to Dunkin Donuts. We were back and heading out towards the inlet by about 7ish. We tried getting some livies, but had no luck as usual. Our plan was actually to anchor out in about 70-ish feet and try to get some yellow tail, but we quickly got bored. We decided to head out and see if we could find any structure offshore. We didn't have any ballyhoo, but we decided to let out a couple of lines with Rattle Jets and another with a cedar plug. Right after letting out the second line, we got our first hookup. Ernesto brought the first Barracuda in shortly thereafter. Right as we were resetting, we get another hook-up. This one was much smaller... much smaller. It ended up being a black fin tuna that was about a foot long and it tried to swallow a 6" cedar plug. Even though it was the first tuna landed on the boat, I decided the tuna gods would look kindly on a release of the baby and a try at finding mom or dad.

We circled around for a while, but with no more success we headed further out. It was a beautiful fish, can't wait to catch a bigger one. At about 7 miles, we got our next almost simultaneous knock-downs with two dolphin on the lines. We had the usual fire drill walking around each other, but Ernesto's fish spit the hook. I brought in the other one pictured above. The only other knock-down was a smaller cuda that was released.

When it was time to clean the fish, I tried a new method. Pulling the skin off before removing the fillet is much better than trying to slice it off after the fillet is off of the carcass. I also took the fillets off of the barracuda, but didn't end up using them for fear of ciguatera toxin.

First Dolphin of the Summer

Alex suggested that I get out before the baby comes and the seas cooperated with me. I set out alone at about 10:30 AM after rigging up some ballyhoo on wire with an assortment of Island lures. I was at the inlet at around 11:00 and saw several balls of baby pilchards. I tried casting the net for some, but since I was alone it wasn't a pretty sight. I headed straight out and put the lines in the water. Since I only have three rods, I didn't bother with the outriggers, but I should have - seems that's what made the difference today. In about 750ft. of water, I finally pulled out the starboard rigger and hooked the Penn's line through it. A couple of minutes later, while reeling in another line to check the bait, the rigger pops and the Penn starts singing! Fish On! A couple of minutes later this cow is boat side and I manage the solo gaff shot.

Fresh dolphin sandwiches for lunch! I'm going to have to get a new cooler.
I'm going to have to do this more often, even if just to practice how to filet these things. Since I don't do this often, I end up hacking them up and not getting as much meat as I can from them.

Pair of 'Phins

Went out Saturday morning with Ernesto at 6:00 AM. The inlet bait scene was busy so we didn't spend too much time, but did end up catching one :). Headed straight out into easterly 10-15kt winds and 2-4' seas. Boat handled great. Trolled two fresh ballyhoo with blue/white Iland Sailures and one with pink/blue Sailure. I had a lot of tangles heading out and spent most of my time clearing those up. At about 5 miles out, we pulled the lines in and ran out a little further to about 7 miles. Started seeing weeds forming thin lines along rips and put the spread back out. This time, I extended the out riggers and put the pink/blue sailure on the starboard side back about 80 yards. Weeds were consistently thin, but we started seeing a lot of flyers and the water looked more fishy than before. That's when the rigger popped and the bait caster started screeming. Don't remember the rest too clearly, but this is my recollection. Ernesto took the rod until the another rod started going off. I saw another dolphin jump and told him to reel in the Penn. That's when we realized there were fish on both of the other rods. The Shimano's crank started coming off, so Ernesto took the Penn and brought him in. I tried to gaff, but the little gaff I have is useless. We ended up hoisting the fish over the gunwale and then throwing them in the box. I looked for a bit to see if there were other fish in the water with the first one, but didn't find any. Ernesto brought the other one in and we almost got it stuck on the swim platform. I lost the third when the line on the shimano snapped against another rod. Pure bedlam, but very much fun! Didn't get any other hits the entire day, but saw a bird and a number of other flyers. Made it out to 11 miles. (Link to Forum Thread)





I ended up losing a blue/white and a pink/blue Sailure. One on the one that got away and the other on a reused wire leader that snapped while we were trolling. Note to self: never re-use leader!

Cleaning the fish was an experience. I've done smaller fish, but getting the skin off of these without taking too much meat was not easy for me. I've got to get the knife sharper and get a better cleaning table. The top of the cooler isn't cutting it!