Chicken Canyon, Long Island NY August 6 2013

Al received Intel that the fish are holding farther offshore and he asked me to be at the dock at 4:00AM, Under the dark skies we set the hunt looking for Charlie,

In the early AM we headed out with beautiful condition and calm seas with a slight breeze, on the way we stopped at a pod of skippies and we casted and jigged close to them but no love, Ray kept on pushing us offshore till we saw the fleet concentrating in a small area so we decided to stop and give it a shot before we head out to the designated area.

As soon as we stopped Ray shouted I am marking fish at the bottom, I dropped a jig and so did Ray and game on, Ray is tight on  the first drop of the day , he set the hook and took full charge till he get it close to the boat to set the gaff by Al after I missed it, celebration took place and a hefty 63 inch hit the deck,
how could you have a better day then that when luck smiles at you and you are at the right time and the right place.

We took few pictures and kept on drifting hoping for more bites but as the day progresses the bites start ed to die down, so we decided to run to our number,
after  12 miles we saw a number of boats in the area, we stopped as we were 1 miles away from our number and started drifting, we marked fish here and there and we put in all our effort  but there was no solid sign of tunas in the area, I guess the good bites are in the early AM.

Ray made a call to head back to the same area where we hooked up our fish in the early AM, we looked around and decided to call the day off,  it was long a day and we had a great time on the water with such amazing conditions, hope to get back at it soon!
I thank Ray and AL for their generous invitation again J

Tackle used:

Rods: Outer Banks 400 & 500 Jigging rod, Black Hole, Race Point 150 & El Maestro
Reels: Shimano Stella SW 18000 & 20000, Stella 2013 20000SWBPG.
Line: Jerry Brown, Sunline, Varivas
Leader: Saltywater Tackle Twisted Leader, Varivas and Seaguar Fluorocarbon leader in 100lb & 130lb
Jigs: FCL Labo, Hot’s Drift Tune,  Haoli Half Pitch Series II, Shout Shab Shab.

  Tight lines

    Sami

Coimbra Wreck Long Island, New York July 2013

Watching the New York & New Jersey bite in the past 3 weeks was not fun at all until Al walked in to the shop gearing up for a trip from Long Island, after 10 minutes of talking Al offered me an invitation on his trip with a set dates as Wednesday, he then called in to set the dates on Tuesday as Wednesday does not look good,

I found myself in Long Island at 4:00 AM at his door step and he introduce me to his brother in Ray, while waiting for the weather to pass I took a 30 minutes power nap and we found ourselves cruising out of Fire island on 29 foot Yellowfin paired with twin 300 Yamaha, we made the 60 miles run in less than 90 minutes and get in touch with the other boat that launched out of shinnecock,

The other boat consisted of Tom, Paul & Raymond, Tom decided to run his boat offshore with the Saltywater crew, Paul had an early bite on topwater but the fish did not commit all the way,

We cruised around looking for life but there was nothing so we decided to set adrift, after 2 drops we marked fish on the screen and sure enough boom, I was tight in about 5 cranks off the bottom, the fish charged me right away to the top and made an amazing run back down, after 10 minutes of give and take I got it to the boat side and I was surprise to see this class of fish in our water, I estimated that fish to be around the 65 to 66 inch with hefty shoulder, unfortunately the hook pulled right at the boat side while the tails still flapping on the surface, such a heartbreaker on the first hook up.

We go back to the same drift and game on same fish behaviors, after a nice run the hook became untight, I guess I need some adjustment here,
so I looked into my hooks and for the first time I was using a 5\0 size Shout Kudako hooks, I switched to the 6\0 to have a wider gap and a better hook up ratio.

Back to the same drift and I have to attest that Ray Skills on the drift was amazing, he put us back on the same point and he shouted I am marking fish, couple of twitch and boom, again and this time I strike the hit with all my power and made sure to set the hook couple of time before that fish start making it is way to the surface, after 5 minutes we had a nice 50 inch fish in the boat with high five and celebration on board, in the same time Paul was tight on the other boat but on a stickbait, he was casting topwater lure and get bit with vengeance, unfortunately the fish kept on shaking it is head till she set herself free.

Now everybody is relaxed on board as we have our fish in the box we go again to repeat the drift, in the meantime everybody’s talking on the radio that the bite died down and no nobody is catching any fish,
we in the other hand having good result, reason is we are putting our effort and dedication to what believe the right approach to target those fish.

Al shouts we are marking fish in mid water; we drop the jigs to the bottom and again game on!
the fish hits the jig in the mid water columns, after about 5 minutes and with a bit of huffing and puffing we got it to boat side and it happen to be bigger than the first one we landed, we released it  to fight another day and we called to the day off.
I wanted to thank Al and Ray for their generous invitation and I am sure we will fish together again,
I slept 2 hours in the past 24 hours and in the early morning today I found myself pushing the stroller with my little Sasha for my 6 miles run, it can’t get any better!

My observation to this fishery in Long Island:
I’ve notice most of the fleet trolling while fish are holding in mid water and off the bottom, most of the guys that they were jigging they  are basically yoyo jigging while you actually need to work the water columns as fish are seeking bait in various depth, another reason why we are getting bites on topwater stickbait, I encourage anglers to have 1 casting set up as I am very positive from what I’ve seen and encounter that you will get a topwater bites on stickbait.

Tackle used:

Rods: Saltywater Tackle OBX 400, Black Hole, Race Point 150 Prototype & El Maestro
Reel: Shimano Stella SW18000 & SW 20000
Line: Shout Sasame
Jigs: Shout Shabo Shabo, CB One, Hot’s drift Tune
Hooks: Shout Kudako

  Tight lines

    Sami