East Coast Fishing
Jim Carlisle and I departed Long Beach around noon on October 3rd aboard a Jet Blue flight bound for New York. Basil Pappas picked us up at Kennedy Airport when our flight arrived. It was a short drive to Harrington Park, a beautiful rural community with wild turkey’s roaming the streets and houses nestled in tall trees already dressed in fall colors. We were Basil’s house guests.
Wild Turkeys
Basil knew Jim and I would be hungry after a 5 hour flight that no longer serves food so he had fresh white and red king salmon and bluefin tuna sashimi plus sushi rolls ready for us. What a feast and great beginning to our trip.
Sunday we spent the day in the shop at BHP Tackle making top shots for the Thanksgiving 16-day trip. I brought my 130 lb. Big Game and Berkley 180 lb. spectra to make top shots for Bob Hoose and me. I spooled off the line (and retained my nickname of “Spool Girl”) and cut the spectra, Jim pulled the spectra loops and fed the mono into the spectra and Basil served the mono to spectra connections. We finished 50 Top Shots then helped Basil with some of his orders.
Weather off shore was changing every few hours vacillating between a go or no-go for the BHP Charter on the Canyon Runner (http://www.canyonrunner.com/). At 8 am Monday morning we got the call that the trip was a go. We quickly packed up and left for Point Pleasant, about an hour drive south. We picked up our order from Joe Leone’s Italian Deli and Catering located a few blocks from Clark’s Landing where the Canyon Runner is docked. The Two day’s food order was enough food to feed a dozen instead of the three anglers plus Captain and mate. The food smelled fabulous and turned out to be better than it smelled.
When we arrived, Captain Mark and mate Pete were preparing the 60 foot Ritchie Howell for our trip – chopping butter fish for chum, thawing the bait (bunker fish, squid and sardines) filling the hold with ice, setting up rods and reels, etc.
Basil knew Jim and I would be hungry after a 5 hour flight that no longer serves food so he had fresh white and red king salmon and bluefin tuna sashimi plus sushi rolls ready for us. What a feast and great beginning to our trip.
Sashimi and Sushi Dinner
Sunday we spent the day in the shop at BHP Tackle making top shots for the Thanksgiving 16-day trip. I brought my 130 lb. Big Game and Berkley 180 lb. spectra to make top shots for Bob Hoose and me. I spooled off the line (and retained my nickname of “Spool Girl”) and cut the spectra, Jim pulled the spectra loops and fed the mono into the spectra and Basil served the mono to spectra connections. We finished 50 Top Shots then helped Basil with some of his orders.
Weather off shore was changing every few hours vacillating between a go or no-go for the BHP Charter on the Canyon Runner (http://www.canyonrunner.com/). At 8 am Monday morning we got the call that the trip was a go. We quickly packed up and left for Point Pleasant, about an hour drive south. We picked up our order from Joe Leone’s Italian Deli and Catering located a few blocks from Clark’s Landing where the Canyon Runner is docked. The Two day’s food order was enough food to feed a dozen instead of the three anglers plus Captain and mate. The food smelled fabulous and turned out to be better than it smelled.
When we arrived, Captain Mark and mate Pete were preparing the 60 foot Ritchie Howell for our trip – chopping butter fish for chum, thawing the bait (bunker fish, squid and sardines) filling the hold with ice, setting up rods and reels, etc.
The 60' Ritchie Howell - Canyon Runner
We loaded our gear and food and settled in for the 90 mile trip to the Lindenkohl Canyon where we would be fishing. Basil introduced Jim and me to Captain Mark and his mate, Pete. A quick safety speech and we were off.
Basil and Jim loading gear
We settled into the deep, soft sofas in the salon. When we reached the harbor entrance, the Captain kicked up the engines to 29 knots and made the 90 mile trip in 3 short hours. Captain Mark spent plenty of time looking around the area charting the temperature breaks that ran 68 to 71 degrees. Once he selected the best spot, we anchored up then the work began.
Jim, Captain Mark and Basil
Two rods were set up for swordfish, one on each stern corner. The rods were Penn 70’s with 20 foot 400 lb. leaders with a large circle hook to the bait and a weight and strobe light at the top of the leader. One rod was baited with a bunker fish and dropped down 220 feet and the other had squid for bait and was dropped down to 160 feet. A couple rods were set up on the out riggers with a variety of set ups – weights, balloons, sardines, squid, ling and flylined on a balloon – all dead baits. Just after the rods were set up, we had a sword come through and bat at a couple of our baits but swam off without taking a bait.
The weather conditions deteriorated with the wind coming up to 28 knots. The anchor started to drag and had to be reset. Although the conditions were less than ideal, there were fish around. The flat panel TV in the salon faced the cockpit and displayed the screen of the fish finder. Periodically through the night the meter showed fish coming through at 60 feet or deeper. We quickly grabbed one of the rods set up with a large silver slammer jig and dropped it down to the fish. We picked off 5 yellowfin this way in the 20 to 30 lb. range on the jigs and caught a 65 to 70 lb. yellowfin on one of the outriggers baited with a dead sardine. We fished all night taking little cat naps when the meter was blank.
Mark and Pete worked constantly all night checking and changing baits. I have never seen crew work harder. At daybreak, I think the Captain was much more disappointed than Jim and I that we hadn’t caught a swordfish. The weather was coming down and smoothed out to flat calm conditions for the morning.
Mark moved the boat to a soft bottom area to fish for Tilefish. Our setups were Penn Torque 300’s on a Penn Rod rigged with 65 lb. spectra and a two hook gagnion baited with squid and 24 ounces of lead to reach down 650 feet to the bottom.
On one of my first drops, I got bit by a heavy fish. I just got the fish off the bottom when the spectra parted. Jim and Basil put a couple fish on the boat then I got bit again. This fish was not as big as the first but definitely a good fish. It took a while to bring the fish up and when it reached the surface both Mark and Pete exclaimed “Holy S#!t.” My first tilefish weighed in at 26 lbs. They are a beautiful fish that apparently burrow in the mud and ambush lobsters for food.
Captain Mark with my first tilefish
Area Fished
Captain Mark kept us out fishing until 1 pm before heading back to dock. We managed to catch 6 tilefish before heading in. We had some lunch (deli salads, frittatas, etc.) then settled into those sofas to get some sleep.
Mark and Pete filleted and bagged our tunas and tilefish for us on the dock then we thanked them and said “goodbye.”
Pete
We decided to have some of our deli food to go with our fresh tilefish for dinner. I sautéed the fish in clarified butter and I swear it tasted like the lobsters they feed on only sweeter and more tender. Delicious!!
Sauteed Tilefish
Jim and I flew home the next morning. We agreed that we are both grateful to have been invited to participate on the BHP Charter and that we had a fun trip. To show my appreciation, I made a quilt for Basil and embroidered a couple T-shirts for his girls. Thanks again Basil.
Basil's girls - Alexa and Maya
It’s a short trip from landing to open water with beautiful homes lining the route.
We settled into the deep, soft sofas in the salon. When we reached the harbor entrance, the Captain kicked up the engines to 29 knots and made the 90 mile trip in 3 short hours. Captain Mark spent plenty of time looking around the area charting the temperature breaks that ran 68 to 71 degrees. Once he selected the best spot, we anchored up then the work began.
Jim, Captain Mark and Basil
Two rods were set up for swordfish, one on each stern corner. The rods were Penn 70’s with 20 foot 400 lb. leaders with a large circle hook to the bait and a weight and strobe light at the top of the leader. One rod was baited with a bunker fish and dropped down 220 feet and the other had squid for bait and was dropped down to 160 feet. A couple rods were set up on the out riggers with a variety of set ups – weights, balloons, sardines, squid, ling and flylined on a balloon – all dead baits. Just after the rods were set up, we had a sword come through and bat at a couple of our baits but swam off without taking a bait.
The weather conditions deteriorated with the wind coming up to 28 knots. The anchor started to drag and had to be reset. Although the conditions were less than ideal, there were fish around. The flat panel TV in the salon faced the cockpit and displayed the screen of the fish finder. Periodically through the night the meter showed fish coming through at 60 feet or deeper. We quickly grabbed one of the rods set up with a large silver slammer jig and dropped it down to the fish. We picked off 5 yellowfin this way in the 20 to 30 lb. range on the jigs and caught a 65 to 70 lb. yellowfin on one of the outriggers baited with a dead sardine. We fished all night taking little cat naps when the meter was blank.
Mark and Pete worked constantly all night checking and changing baits. I have never seen crew work harder. At daybreak, I think the Captain was much more disappointed than Jim and I that we hadn’t caught a swordfish. The weather was coming down and smoothed out to flat calm conditions for the morning.
Mark moved the boat to a soft bottom area to fish for Tilefish. Our setups were Penn Torque 300’s on a Penn Rod rigged with 65 lb. spectra and a two hook gagnion baited with squid and 24 ounces of lead to reach down 650 feet to the bottom.
On one of my first drops, I got bit by a heavy fish. I just got the fish off the bottom when the spectra parted. Jim and Basil put a couple fish on the boat then I got bit again. This fish was not as big as the first but definitely a good fish. It took a while to bring the fish up and when it reached the surface both Mark and Pete exclaimed “Holy S#!t.” My first tilefish weighed in at 26 lbs. They are a beautiful fish that apparently burrow in the mud and ambush lobsters for food.
Captain Mark with my first tilefish
Area Fished
Captain Mark kept us out fishing until 1 pm before heading back to dock. We managed to catch 6 tilefish before heading in. We had some lunch (deli salads, frittatas, etc.) then settled into those sofas to get some sleep.
Mark and Pete filleted and bagged our tunas and tilefish for us on the dock then we thanked them and said “goodbye.”
Pete
We decided to have some of our deli food to go with our fresh tilefish for dinner. I sautéed the fish in clarified butter and I swear it tasted like the lobsters they feed on only sweeter and more tender. Delicious!!
Sauteed Tilefish
Jim and I flew home the next morning. We agreed that we are both grateful to have been invited to participate on the BHP Charter and that we had a fun trip. To show my appreciation, I made a quilt for Basil and embroidered a couple T-shirts for his girls. Thanks again Basil.
Basil's girls - Alexa and Maya
posted by Pêcheuse at 3:49 PM
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