Yankee @ the Oak 8/27

[Yankee Troller]

August 27th - We left the dock about 6:15ish and figured we’d give the inside water a try. We set down in 70’ of water and headed E/NE. Screen was bleak with the occasional hook or pod of bait. We gave it about two hours and finally said enough is enough with just a jack, and a steelbow to show for. Not to mention we didn’t talk to anybody who was moving rods in there consistently. The jack took a meat rig on the 400 copper, and the steelbow took a Dreamweaver Moon Cricket off the wire back 225’.

When we slid out we stopped on the 27N line and set lines heading North. The picture was pretty good with plenty of bait and fish out there. Three downriggers, 2 wires, a 300 copper, and a 10 color got deployed. The 300 copper quickly became our MVP pulling a Stinger Stingray Copper glow green alewife. We ended up pulling the 10 color and putting out the other 300 copper with the same spoon and our junk lines just kept firing. We lost a brute of a steelbow on the 300 copper early into the offshore gig. A phone call early afternoon from Olcott gave us a tip on an A-TOM-MIK T190 behind a black Spin Doctor combo. We put it out on the wire and it quickly became another hot set-up for us. Once we saw the wires were going we figured it had been way too long since we ran a four diver set-up, and after seeing pics of Vinny running them in Olcott earlier in the week we felt we needed to make sure we still knew how to run them. Out went another pair of wires with Stinger Stingray Wonderbreads, and with just a quick soak they started to take fish. We now had everything going consistently except the downriggers. With an hour or two to go in the trip we got another phone call that helped us dial in our downriggers. A Northern King green Monkey Puke went down to 80’, and fired almost instantly.

By 1pm we were cleaning fish, mostly steelbows, and looking for our last fish. Well, as always, when your cleaning fish and the deck is slippery fish are going to hit. Three quick fish came, and we landed our last fish for the limit catch. There was a great class of Steelbows out between the 27-30N lines. One of the last three steelbows we hooked up with was no doubt close to 15lbs, and he found his way back to the depths within about 20yards of the net. He hit a Dreamweaver Shiznit SS, a spoon that has been quiet this year, on an 80 rigger. Always heartbreaking when you lose such a nice fish, but that’s fishing!

[Pike Hunter]

Awesome steelbows! I really liked that nickname of that hard jumping, flying and diving sea monster!

[Yankee Troller]

I do too Anthony!