Hudson Canyon #2

Date: 7th August 2016

Location: Hudson Canyon, Atlantic Ocean NYC

Weather: Sunny, moderate seas trending calm. 

Crew: Toon, Yac, Steve, Mike, Liz
Target Fish: Tuna, Marlin, Mahi Mahi
Bait: - Trolling lures and live Peanut Bunker
Catch: 9x Mahi

Report: A trip out to the canyon is always a memorable expedition, however this one came with its highs and its lows. 

Headed out to sea at 6am, to what was a 4 hour journey out to the 65nm mark at the tip of the canyon. We put the lines out and began trolling. Immediately dolphin swarmed the boat and the depth sounder went from 300ft to 2000ft! We continued to troll the waters for 4 hours, but failed to get onto any tuna. We were hit twice, however no hook ups which was slightly disappointing. Despite that, it was absolutely unreal to be out there in the middle of nowhere chasing such fish. Dolphin, pilot whales, bird life, skipjack etc all around us. Unreal. 

At about 1-2pm we headed to the lobster pots which are scattered throughout the canyon. We cast baits around them in search of mahi mahi. This was where the fishing success began, and it was very difficult to pull up stumps as they were everywhere. We ended catching 9, some monsters, others quite small. We even saw a sunfish that came up to the boat and mahi were under that which was wicked. 

As it came to 4pm, we had to reluctantly pull up stumps and began to head back to port, where after 15 minutes the portside engine broke down and we were left with 1 functioning engoing and another 10% functioning engine. We couldnt strain the other engine too much, so we went from 28 knots on the way to the canyon and 7 knots on the way home from the canyon. A 4 hour trip turned to 12 hours! It was certainly frustrating, but there was not much we could do - just thankfuil that we could chug our way back in without being stranded in the middle of the ocean. We ended up getting back to the dock at 4am. 

Pretty epic journey. 

Rating: 6/10 - 2 points lost for no tuna, 2 points lost for engine dramas. 

Special thanks goes out to Mike and Steve!