The moving and setting up of the new shop in New Jersey made me stay on the land for a "while" and sitting in the shop reading those "RED HOT BITE" reports is not fun at all.
Finally made up my mind and found the time and crew to set up a trip with Capt. Josh of Outermost Angling and crew consist of John, Fee and Hing.
Met up with Capt Josh at the dock by 5.00am and by the time we reach the fishing ground it was already packed with boats out there and of course as always "The Whale Show" always comes first hehe.....but it didn't take long before we marked fish, second drop and i got a good bite but lost it right away, dropped the jig again and instantly get tight, fought it to the leader but unfortunately the hook pulled by the boat side :(
We went back to where we marked fish and believe it or not, the same jig(Lamble Bait Half Pitch Series II) in pink was on fire again, finally had charlie into the boat and it was a 55" beautiful and healthy fish.
The bite was still good and this time Captain Josh hooked up another one but lost it by the boat side again, in the meantime John's reel was screaming big time, the line peeled out from the new Stella 20000SWB with high drag and we knew right away that it was a giant, Captain Josh started to chase after the fish and tried to gain some line but no matter what we did, we just couldn't stop the beast, SORRY John! too bad the leader got shaved and the fish swam away freely.
The area was beginning to filled up with boats and we tried to stay  clear from other boats, after making a couple move, we marked them again, John hooked up again and finally landed his first tuna in the Cape, well done buddy! Followed by Fee as well with his very first Cape Cod tuna, big congratulation and credits to both John and Fee.
To summarize the trip, we all had a blast out there, had tons of fun and laughter and strained back for me!

P.S Saltywater Tackle Outer Banks 400 Jigging Rod accounted for all the fish caught! A total of 7 hook ups and 4 landed.

Tackle used,
Rod : Saltywater Tackle Outer Banks 400, Valley Hill Mogi Special and Maori Spirits
Reel : Shimano Stella 20000SW and SWB, Shimano Trinadad 40
Jig : Lamble BCait Half Pitch, Lamble Bait Flashing Haoli, Hot's Drift Tune, Shout Width, Stay and Shab Shab

Cheers,
Raymond

Prince Edward Island, Canada 2013 (1st Group)

Day 1,
Brendan and his group from Australia were not disappointed to get a taste of giant Bluefin tuna on their stand up rod,
After 30 second from our first stop we marked tuna on the bottom and second after that Brendan was tight to a demon fish that he had to put all what he got to get it close to boat 
side, we get the fish 4 times to leader but did not had a chance to raise the tail and get a good pictures of it.
Beautiful clean fight with over 60lb of drag for the whole fight!! Thumbs UP to you Brendan and well done!

Day 2,
At the early AM and for the whole night the wind was pounding like no tomorrow,
The boys woke up at 6:00AM and first thing they ask me, do you think we are going to go? I said no way.
I Called Tony to check and confirm and he give it a go, we packed quickly and rushed to the harbor,
The weather actually looked Ok till we were out 1 miles but we had no problem finding the mackerel, the bait was plenty and the ocean was showing up his power and anger.
Get to the net and found some mark under it, it literally took a minutes and we were tight.
It was Kim’s turn and he choose to fight it from the rail, after 30 minutes he gave it to Brendan that choose to go stand up till he land the beast, I had the pleasure to harpoon the fish and it was a clean beautiful shoot, the Aussie guys were fascinated with the fishery in PEI, they came in to film it from a commercial point of view and they got it done!
The Shimano Tiagara 80 did a fantastic job with 60lb of drag at all time!
We killed the fish that measured 111 inches and weighted 761lb, beautiful result to end of the day but my only wish was to have a sunny day for the photo shots whoever that did happen, I guess you can’t wish for sunny day in PEI 

Day 3,
The excitement was on everybody’s face as we all knew the weather is going to be descent and the wind is calm,
We went with Tony’s today and as soon as we stopped we marked fish on the Herring net, Tony’s lifted the net to find them filled with herrings,
The bait arrived in big number and the commercial fleet set up their net at night, some big fish came up to the net and my heart start pumping as I never fished before,
I finally going to feel the pain and it is been exactly close to 1 year since I fought a giant on stand up, I didn’t want to experiment any equipment so I end up going with the same tackle as last year, a Shimano Talica 50 II spooled with 130lb Power Pro Hollow Ace and matched with a Shimano Tallus rod,
The fish took the bait 20 seconds after we dropped it and game on, I gave all what I can and I pushed the Talica 50 to the max, at the end of the fight we checked the drag and it was at 56lb, I believe the reels is more than enough for PEI and again no failure to report,
We had the fish at boat side with the leader in the hand when the fish broke loose it broke right at the hook, unfortunately we couldn’t take a picture at the boat side but all is good and it was a great fight.
It took 54 minutes to land the fish and according to Tony the fish was around the 750lb mark, at 9:15 we were back at the dock We took a 2 hours break and went back at it again for an afternoon session.
It was Kim’s turn,
Kim was nervous but full of excitement from day one, wanted to do it stand up but the weather did not help him to do it on the second day,
The condition was right and the support was there for him, he is been watching and observing for the past 2 days and trying to learn as much as he could,
Kim’s is biggest fish on rod and reel was 30lb but today all this is going to change and the man is about to experience the fight of his life time,
We put him on the rod and he performed beyond imagination , the 150lb man took it seriously and focused on putting the heat on the fish with 65lb for the whole fight, I was speechless!
Amazing what kind of power get out of us when we are on this transition to accomplish our task.
We had the fish to leader when the same scenario happen early morning, the leader broke 3 feet before raising that fish close to boat side for the photo,
All in all Kim was a happy man and he is going back home with a big smile on his face, I was very happy to be part of this trip and to see that kind of accomplishment!
Congratulations Kim and well done, You earned my respect!

Rod: Shimano Tallus & Ian Miller 60KG MM60 (Mad Miller)
Reel: Shimano Talica 50 II, Shimano Tiagara 80
Line: Power Pro Ace Hollow 130lb
Shot Leader: Jinkai 200lb
Leader: Seaguar Fluorocarbon 180lb
Belt: Black Magic Harness

Tight lines 

 Sami

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