The Canyons, NJ

 
Location: The Canyons, 85 miles offshore 
Date: 28th July 2012 
Weather: Spotted showers, but mainly fine 
Crew: Gary, Toon, Ben, Ian, Jason 
Target Fish: Marlin, Tuna, Mahi Mahi 
Bait: Trolling ballyhoo and various albacore and tuna lures 
Berley: None 
Catch: 1x Tuna 40-50lbs and 1x small mahi mahi 
Report: Headed out from Manasquan Inlet around 4am, and took the 2.5 hour journey out to 600-1000ft+ of water and into the canyons. Got there about 6:30 am and immediately set up the rods, hooked up the outriggers and chucked out teasers. 
Within 5 minutes of pulling up the boat and setting up rigs the first rod went zzzzzzzzzzzz. We were at about the 600-700ft mark. One of the green lures was smashed by a smallish tuna, and after 10 minutes or so he was landed. We were just a little too pumped!!! As soon as it was landed, we cut its neck, tied its tail and threw it overboard to bleed it. Once completed it was gutted and chucked on ice. Since then it was a pretty quiet day. 
Heaps of boats out in the canyons but few were landing much. We bypassed floating debris a few times, and chucked out some lures to see if any mahi mahi were chilling underneath. As we passed a decent sized piece of board, one was chilling out, and we hooked up to it. We dragged him on board pretty quickly as he was only about 50-60cm long.
We did get another big smash on one of the rods about 5 hours into the trolling session, but unfortunately the crimp failed and we didn't even get to fight it. The fish took the lure away and unfortunately we didn't catch him. Could have been a monster tuna...who knows?? 
At times we saw some mahi mahi chasing the lures, but they werent too interested to really strike, so we didn't hook them unfortunately. One of the highlights was that there were heaps of whales out in the ocean, a bunch of minke whales and a couple of sperm whales which was friggin' cool to see. Shit loads of dolphins too. Overall we trolled for about 9 hours along the drop off of the canyon, and burnt a crazy 220 gallons of boat fuel! 
At 4pm we headed back to the inlet, and that was yet another long 2.5 hour cruise, but the twin 300hp engines certainly helped cut time! At the dock we cleaned up, and cut up the tuna and mahi mahi. There was so much meat from the fish it was incredible, and the following day some sesame encrusted tuna steaks were on the pan as well as some fantastic sashimi as a side. Heaps still sitting in the fridge/freezer for another meal (or 10). 
Rating: 9/10 - doesnt get a full 10 as we didnt land a heap of tuna, lost 1 from the bad crimp, but overall it was one of the best fishing trips had!