Fishing report 8/4-5

[TunaTeaser1]

Finished off my two jobs for the summer this past friday and headed down to Manteo to get ready for the overnighter starting Monday.

I think I had adjusted the depth sounder. And also rigged up a double pulley system to pull our dredges from the riggers, so I was also excited to see how that performed as well. Game plan was to start at the 102 tower. Caught 10 AJ's in about 20 minutes with several double headers, and everyone was happy to get some quick pullage...

Trolled north and inside from there looking for sails. Found several bait balls and one with some cutters, but they weren't interested. Snagged a couple nice bonitas, then picked up and ran north, closer to our resting point for the night- around the 100 line. Picked up 20 or so mahi here on the troll with mostly bailers, some better slingers, and a gaffer. Had a billfish come into the spread at around 7pm, not sure if it was a white or a sail. Popped the clip and that was it.

Settled in for the night drift (all our first times) and I spent a good little while getting everything ready. We decided to start with 2 lines, then upped to 3 right after. We did have two substantial bites through the night...one at 600 feet, and the other dropped to 300. With all but me and another asleep, I sat in the pit and watched the tip shake for a good minute, then it bent over and took some line for several seconds before coming unglued- damn! The other one was far less intense. Overall, I was happy with our efforts for the first time.

With all these overnight reports coming back with tons of rags, we were hoping to catch some whites this morning. Lines in at 5:30, 100 fathoms. Had a mystery bite on the flat line 5 mins later. Nothing else for a while- Saw two whites on the surface but nothing. Picked up 8 more mahi(could have had all we wanted) off a weed/sulfur line. There were several oifc boats up with us and even well north of us- I didn't hear of anyone that caught one there. A couple were seen and that was it. In that regard, it was a little disappointing not to release some bills on this trip. Other than that it was a fun time! I'll post a couple pictures later.
-Alex

[Capt. Fred]

Sounds like fun. I'm real curious what those deep bites were at night. As far as I know it's only big eye, swords, and a few types of sharks that feed that deep. How deep was the water you were in?

[TunaTeaser1]

I believe that bite was in about 260 fathoms. I'd love to know what it was too. I was expecting nothing so it was nice to have a little action.