7/8/2008 Great Jigging Trip on the 55 Hooked Up II with almost all in the 80-100 lb. range

2008-07-08

It flat out could not have been much better than yesterday’s trip. (Monday July 7). We had a couple of experienced anglers with their own top of the line jigging gear along with some first timers on board one of our make-up charters. Our day started out by breaking the inlet in Cape May at 3:30 am and I pointed the boat towards the Hambone 50 plus miles to the SE. We ran very slowly in the dark at 17-18 knots maximum until we got some light and then I kicked the Hooked UP II to a moderate 27 knots. We put the trim tabs down as we had honest 3-5 foot waves out around the 20 fathom line that were almost directly on our bow so it was not the best sea conditions but the group never really knew it as most were sleeping in the salon or down in one of our bunks. We got to the Hambone just after daybreak and sat on the anchor. We started out fishing a high spot in about 116 feet of water on the hook as we decided with the excellent chunking reports we would give this a try, but it was a disaster as every line ran straight forward towards the anchor. The first location on the Hambone where we set the hook is one of my favorites spots that has produced over 20-25 tuna a trip with many over 100 lbs using live squid, butterfish and jigs. We never got one bite at this location on the Bone anchored fishing with jigs or butterfish so we moved all the way across the Hambone to a another location about 3 miles away where in past years we slammed Yellowfin on diamond jigs and is on a line that friends that day scallop boats often work. With over 20 years fishing many of the 20-30 fathom lumps I know many many spots with sharp drop-offs that held both Yellowfin and Bluefin in years gone by. At about 9 am we decided to try drifting and move off the high part of the hill and into the deep water on the edge and planned our drift to take us from deep (145 feet) up the hill. We thought why not give it a shot since we had not had one pull and I was kind of feeling that collar getting tighter around my neck when as a charter captain your group has not caught one fish. We moved to the SE side of the Hambone and started our drifts in the deep at about 140 feet and drifted due north from the deep up to the top of the hill around 114 feet of water. By 10:00 am the seas had laid down to next to perfect conditions for drifting and once we moved locations and started drifting, it did not take long for my fishfinder to light up with tuna and it was game on for the next 3-4 hours as we had pretty much non-stop action with all but one fish caught on jigs. We did catch two 30 lb tuna but other than these two everything, was over 55 inches and in the 80-100 lb range. It was just plain awesome jig fishing. No special jig out preformed any others to the best of my knowledge as there were a bunch of different jigs put out and most worked great. We tried jigging the Japanese style and American style (as I call it) and they both caught tuna and pretty good size ones at that. For some reason the tuna wanted jigs today and not butterfish so that is what we fed them all morning. We left the tuna ground about 1:30 pm and cruised home at around 30 knots and back at the Cape May Inlet at about 3:00 pm. I might add that we talked on the radio to another boat from a Maryland port that was trolling by us that did extremely well also with a real good catch of nice size tuna that may have been just a little bigger than the ones we were catching on jigs. We heard of a real good chunk bite at Massey’s with a smaller tuna and some much bigger ones mixed together. It sounded like it was early am bite and then died by 9:30 am or so but again these were radio reports. It sounded like it was good fishing around Massey’s and sardines were mentioned more than once as the bait of choice. I could not keep count on how many we released yesterday but it was a real nice day of fishing. The most important thing was we exposed 3 new comers plus a 13 year boy to jigging and I would not be surprised that this just might become a lifelong passion now for at least some of our customers after yesterday’s trip. Back at the dock the conversation was about how great if felt when a 80-100 lb tuna eats a jig literally right out of your hand and how much raw power these tuna have. They tested all our anglers and everyone used high quality braided line and top end composite rod and reels. Today's trip was in my opinion world class and one for the memory banks by all of us onboard the Hooked Up II yesterday and I am still smiling even as I write this report.

Capt. John