Report out of Chincoteague 9/28

[Jim Hensley]

Left Chinco at O dark thirty Wednesday morning and slowly made my way out of the inlet. Seas were nice with a small swell for the first 15 miles or so but gradually grew the further E we went. Slogged my way through the last 10 to 15 miles to the NSSS. Decided to try the morning chunk and troll thereafter. Total of about 12 boats fishing with everyone chunking. Scattered weeds would have made it difficult to troll at least in this area. Moved around on the drift for two hours with no bites and not much chatter on the radio from the others. Didn't mark many fish either so we decided to pull up and head further E to the tip of the Washington Canyon. Trolled the normal spread of GM's, Spreader Bars, Squid Chains with hoos and a deep Wahoo rig and a Cedar Plug chain off of the flat line. Picked up scattered dolphin when passing the lobster balls but not much else. Went deep to shallow and trolled the wall but not much life seen. Decided to bail some dolphin so we'd have some additonal meat in the box. After working over the lobster balls we picked up and ran back to the NSSS for a try on an afternoon bite. Good decision. Marked some fish on the bottom on some structure. Marked the spot and drifted over it. Immediately first fish on. Good fight and on board comes a 60lb YFT. Made a swing back around and down goes another line but this time he pulls my knot....Dough[sad]. Guess I was in a hurry to rig up. Oh well I re-rig and start putting back out and as I get the weight in the water and a couple of pulls...something grabs the bait and runs like he)). Of course the reel is in free spool and just about bird nests but I got a thumb on it and threw it in strike. What I failed to mention is he takes a fast trip around the engines at the same time but luckily cleared them. I fight it for about 2 minutes before he pulls the hook. All the hits were 75 to 100ft down. Nothing on the rig on the bottom. It was getting late so we packed up and headed in for ride back which was much nicer with a following sea. Tally for the day was 15-20 dolphin and one YFT. Could have been better but could have been worse.

[TerpHeels]

Sounds much better than sitting at work. Glad you got out and into them and thxs for the recon.

[Mako22]

Way to go on the Tuna - as I have had to say a few times - - One is alot more than none!

What depth were you hitting the tuna in?

[David]

Jim,
Great story buddy done the drill and miss it. You Probably had the best Wx day this week even w/nasty stuff. Gonna try to get One or two in somehow in this forecast.BTW I had a ball wearing the crew out whenever Dolphin are that plentiful...[excited]Thanks

[VanN]

Jim - with plenty of mahi and a good-sized tuna, too, sounds like a great day to me. I was hoping to get down there Fri, Sat & Sun, and already it looks like Fri will be too rough. Still hoping for Sat & Sun. What weight flurocarbon were you using? I've been staying with 50lb, but I keep hearing that the tuna are getting leader-shy.

Van "Classic Hooker"

[hd232]

Jim glad to hear you made it out and found some meat. If you going to try OI or HI this fall and need someone let me know. Howard

[Jim Hensley]

Terp: You're welcome
Mako: We were in about 149 to 152 ft of water surrounded by 180ft[grin]
Dave, Saturday didn't look that bad when I looked at it this afternoon. Got to get them while the gettin is good.
Vann: I was using 50lb fluro and heard from a couple of Charter Captains that were using the same. Didn't seem to be a problem but maybe we would have gotten more bites in the morning. Who knows.
Howard: You're on if we go and I'm planning on a couple of trips.

[sbieshelt]

Jim,
Sounds like you had a good trip. Hopefully the bite will be consistant for a while longer.

Steve

[goldman]

Nice going Jim. I wish I could have made it on Wed, but it just wasn't possible.