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I was scheduled for this Deep Drop trip out of Rudee Inlet five times since January, and all were cancelled due to weather. So, I finally got to go yesterday.
We departed after 3 am Saturday on the Rudee Angler with over 30 anglers onboard. There was also a second boat with about the same number of anglers. Target fish for most anglers was big tilefish.
It turned out to be a nice day. Mostly sunny with winds about 10-15 knots. Seas were not rough at all, maybe two feet. Air temp was about 50 deg, not cold at all.
We rode over 5 hours to get to our first fishing spot. With squid on our double and triple hook rigs, we fished in about 300 feet of water with 24 ounce sinkers. We caught and released lots of dogfish (shark) and black sea bass. After about half an hour, we pulled up and went to another spot. Depending on the catch at a spot, we'd fish, go to another spot, fish and go to another spot. We did this at least a half dozen times. We fished a spot anywhere from about 20 min up to an hour or so.
Turned out the fish-and-move strategy worked well. Everybody caught fish. We caught golden tilefish, dogfish, black sea bass and bluefish. Everyone had pretty much full coolers at the end of the day.
At the second fishing spot, I was pulling up a pretty heavy load. I could feel the head jerks as I cranked hard on my new Penn Fathom reel and boat rod. I was thinking it was a pesky dogfish. When it finally surfaced, wow, it was a blueline tilefish double. The mate used a gaff to it. I was so excited to catch my first big tilefish, and on a double too. The tiles measured 30" and 23". The larger one turned out to be a citation at 11.1 lbs (citation min is 10 lbs).
When we started to cruise out of the inlet I walked around the deck. Wow, I saw a lot of impressive gear. I'd say about 40% of the combos along the rails were electrics. This one guy explained his digital display and computer reel unit that monitors tension and adjusts torque. One group of anglers (3) all brought new electrics. Another fellow talked about his recent conversion to electrics. I can see the popularity. Cranking up fish (or your rig for even a bait check) on a manual conventional unit can be done fairly easily, but try doing it a hundred times in deep water. My arms were really tired toward the later half of the day. Another fellow and I commented to each other, "I hope the Captain doesn't take us to deeper water," "I dread doing all that work only to find a dogfish at the end of the line," and "Do I really want to drop the rig at this spot with the prospects of hooking up a shark?" We fished 300 to nearly 500 feet.
It almost seemed like a long day. At one point, I had a fleeting thought that I had enough of fishing/catching (Am I nuts to think like that?). Anyway, we were back at the dock about 9 pm. A lot of guys went to the scale for weigh in. The fellow on my boat (pic with fish on his lap) won the fish pool with a blueline tilefish over 18 lbs! Another fellow on the other boat also had an eighteen pounder. Some guys took their catches to the cleaning station. Most anglers took their fish straight home.
Overall, a great trip for my first time on a deep drop out of Rudee Inlet. Weather was great and everybody took home full coolers of fish.
We departed after 3 am Saturday on the Rudee Angler with over 30 anglers onboard. There was also a second boat with about the same number of anglers. Target fish for most anglers was big tilefish.
It turned out to be a nice day. Mostly sunny with winds about 10-15 knots. Seas were not rough at all, maybe two feet. Air temp was about 50 deg, not cold at all.
We rode over 5 hours to get to our first fishing spot. With squid on our double and triple hook rigs, we fished in about 300 feet of water with 24 ounce sinkers. We caught and released lots of dogfish (shark) and black sea bass. After about half an hour, we pulled up and went to another spot. Depending on the catch at a spot, we'd fish, go to another spot, fish and go to another spot. We did this at least a half dozen times. We fished a spot anywhere from about 20 min up to an hour or so.
Turned out the fish-and-move strategy worked well. Everybody caught fish. We caught golden tilefish, dogfish, black sea bass and bluefish. Everyone had pretty much full coolers at the end of the day.
At the second fishing spot, I was pulling up a pretty heavy load. I could feel the head jerks as I cranked hard on my new Penn Fathom reel and boat rod. I was thinking it was a pesky dogfish. When it finally surfaced, wow, it was a blueline tilefish double. The mate used a gaff to it. I was so excited to catch my first big tilefish, and on a double too. The tiles measured 30" and 23". The larger one turned out to be a citation at 11.1 lbs (citation min is 10 lbs).
When we started to cruise out of the inlet I walked around the deck. Wow, I saw a lot of impressive gear. I'd say about 40% of the combos along the rails were electrics. This one guy explained his digital display and computer reel unit that monitors tension and adjusts torque. One group of anglers (3) all brought new electrics. Another fellow talked about his recent conversion to electrics. I can see the popularity. Cranking up fish (or your rig for even a bait check) on a manual conventional unit can be done fairly easily, but try doing it a hundred times in deep water. My arms were really tired toward the later half of the day. Another fellow and I commented to each other, "I hope the Captain doesn't take us to deeper water," "I dread doing all that work only to find a dogfish at the end of the line," and "Do I really want to drop the rig at this spot with the prospects of hooking up a shark?" We fished 300 to nearly 500 feet.
It almost seemed like a long day. At one point, I had a fleeting thought that I had enough of fishing/catching (Am I nuts to think like that?). Anyway, we were back at the dock about 9 pm. A lot of guys went to the scale for weigh in. The fellow on my boat (pic with fish on his lap) won the fish pool with a blueline tilefish over 18 lbs! Another fellow on the other boat also had an eighteen pounder. Some guys took their catches to the cleaning station. Most anglers took their fish straight home.
Overall, a great trip for my first time on a deep drop out of Rudee Inlet. Weather was great and everybody took home full coolers of fish.
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