Offshore trip - W. Atlantis to E. Atlantis

[RIROCKHOUND]

Quiet trip over all. We don't have a range to reach Welker for the bite there, so settled on the Atlantis' rather than fight the crowd at the tails.

worked some warm but stale looking water from West Atlantis to Atlantis. trolled over 80 miles over Fri afternoon and Sat AM.

started well. hit 12 small mahi around a high-flyer (pot) south of the dump. got on the troll in W. Atlantis and had a knock down w/in 30min that turned out to be a 35lb Longfin (Albacore) tuna. Nothing else.
trolled off the edge from there to East Atlantis where found some whales. another boat said Sperm whales in the area, we only saw the back which can look much like a finback, so who knows.

Worked some 75 deg water for a while and had a good knockdown on a bird/chewy hoo (plastic ballyhoo) on a jet head. Let it dump 400yds while looking for a second tuna. no love. single hook-up. seeing a long color profile deep, we were thinking nice tuna, but when in came closer I saw a small tail. Wahoo, and a big one. after an epic battle boatside (w/o a wire leader) we got her up and I sunk the long gaff as she dove again (a foot back into the meat, oh well). A second gaff into the head and she was aboard. Total length 74", fork length probably closer to 70" and 27" around. well larger than 65lb 'Hoo we had two years ago. Chased some splashes that look like a marlin chasing a skippy for a while on the troll, but no hook-ups. With the skippies around we were hoping for a big-eye in the area. Nothing the rest of the night except a couple of light (skippy?) knock downs. chunked/drifted squid all night for nada. Trolled the AM off the edge for Bigeye and found no love. worked on the flats for nothing. trolled the edge in 550ft to the tip of Atlantis and up to 60 fathoms. pulled the plug and steamed home.

not a banner trip, but added another trophy tail to the dock piling.

for the Wahoo David Oakley (single-man pic, no relation) was the angler, I was on the wire/gaff George (Tautog) ran the boat and sunk the second gaff. great team work. hook fell out when she hit the deck.

Bryan

[PRBuzz]

Nice report and really nice HOO! Congrats

[teezer]

Nice wahoo, they are a tasty fish

[thefishingfreak]

Nice job you picked a good weekend
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[luds]

Looks like fun!

[Mr. Sandman]

Wahoo are awesome..they can really bolt can't they??? The line rips across the water!

I hear the Welker BE bite is pretty damn good. Have not been myself but heard of some second hand reports of some good fish.

Nice trip. Always fun even if you don't smoke 'em.

[MakoMike]

Nice Ono!

[Sea Dangles]

Took my annual trip to Va.Beach last week and went offshore to cigar canyon. Usually get white marlin,wahoo or yellowfin on the spread,not this year. We had one yf miss and that was it.We always troll close to the high fliers to poke around for mahi as they will tear up the ballyhoo.As usual we found plenty of customers in the 5-15 lb. range.Ended up with around 30 pounds of filets and many fish tacos on the beach.Yum.