Water to table: Fishing has stunk - had to go to beef.

Sea2Ski · July 2016

I can not remember a worse year for fishing. Last week we went 118 miles one way on a 32 hr trip. 465 gallons of fuel and got nothing. Had a 20-25 lb tuna on but it got taken by a blue marlin 20 seconds after hookup. Uggg.. So I stayed home this weekend out of frustration.

No fresh seafood? Went with ribeye cap, but cooked it a bit cooler and slower on the MiniMax. I am really liking this little cooler for fast cooks. Comes up to speed quickly and uses just a few handfuls of lump.

Anyway... usually I do them black and blue. This time I went a bit lower in grate temp and longer. Went more medium on purpose. This is how I will do it from now on. More fat melts throughout and we all know that means more flavor. I also take them apart for more crust if I can not get them to cut me a new one and leave it whole. Here is the proof..... (@YukonRon it was paired with a 2011 Sobon estate old vines cab after breathing for 5 hrs - great oak in that one!!)

Desert was was some somores.

Now it is time for dessert of dessert. Wine is from our France trip that was smuggled back in our suitcases.

blasting · July 2016

Wow that looks good @sea2ski.

I've never been fishing in the open ocean. How do you know you had a tuna, and how do you know a blue marlin is what took it?

johnnyp · July 2016

Sorry for the bad luck, but the steak looks killer!

GATraveller · July 2016

Looks phenomenal. Well played dude.

Sea2Ski · July 2016

@blasting. I saw the tuna come into the trolling spread from the bridge. Not only that, but after you are out on the water and catch a bunch of fish over the years you know how different fish hit and react. This one was textbook tuna. It hit, ran for a bit, went a little deep then came shallow. At that point, we take the boat out of gear, clear the other lines then back down on the fish a bit. Usually tuna then go deep; however this one was different. It stayed shallow. Then we saw why. A blue Marlin came from the left and hit the tuna. It came 3/4 out of the water, took about 75 yards of line and it snapped. Saw it clear as day. Seeing the Marlin come down on the fish, it was 500-600 lbs. not a monster, but having hooked several of different sizes, that is what we would put that one at.

That is frustrating because we lost the one food fish we would have had, and also it did not hit the Marlin rod. That is a 80 lb setup, bent butt with 800 yards of 80 lb line with 300 lb shock tippit. If it hit that, we would have had a chance.
Oh well. We are planning 2 trips this week. We will see what happens. In the meantime, beef was on the menu.

blasting · July 2016

Thanks for the explanation - very interesting.

northGAcock · July 2016

Sorry to hear of your fishing ills........love the cap and s'mores. Thanks for the fishing details. Would loved to have seen it.

YEMTrey · July 2016

Way to recover with an awesome meal.

pescadorzih · July 2016

No Gopro on the bridge filming the cockpit and behind the boat?

Foghorn · July 2016

Sorry about the fishing, but man that steak and the rest of the meal look amazing.

Seems like the North Atlantic is changing fairly rapidly. Stripers are down, sea lions are way up, great whites are up - and an orca was spotted off of Cape Cod last week...

NPHuskerFL · July 2016

118 out and Nada. That's gotta suck. Awesome recovery with the beef

Sea2Ski · July 2016

pescadorzih said:

No Gopro on the bridge filming the cockpit and behind the boat?

You spying on us? Ha ha. The GoPro was there, but we only start it after lines are cleared and things organized. This all happened in 30 seconds total, so it was not on yet. Besides, when the tuna was taken, it would have been to far for the GoPro to get with any good footage. You would have seen a splash and commotion, but no detail. That thing is perfect for the pit and about 25-30 feet out, but beyond that things are too far to make out.

Abter · July 2016

I feel your pain! Fishing is bad in the Chesapeake this year...the fish decided to all hang out a 2 hour ride away from where we dock. Thank goodness my Egg has kept us from starving with a steady stream of ribs, steaks and other tasties. Not quite the same as our usual summertime fare in Maryland, but at least we aren't starving

pescadorzih · July 2016

Just teasing. Yeah, they do well for the cockpit.
I sucks to go all that distance and get skunked.

That's why I stopped doing charters out of Delaware. So much fuel to burn just to get out to the fish.
If I go east coast anymore it'll be out of Hatteras.

I just save my money and go out in Mexico, mucho cheaper and 500' of water a couple of miles offshore.

Sea2Ski · July 2016

Yea this year has been a totally wacky one for us. Seems like all the fishing is messed up across the board. Drum count was up, although forecasted to be down, bluefins are apparently in abundance, but we have not been able to get the weather window to get them, flounder are just really kicking in - which is late..... Few Marlin caught at our marina... Everything is wacky this year and I can not figure out why.

Ma nature taking the reigns again I guess.

Foghorn · July 2016

Yeah, report I heard in Mass was that bluefins are being spotted in abundance but not really getting caught. I saw a school that included some giants rolling about 1/2 mile off Coast Guard Beach last week. Was very weird.

northGAcock · July 2016

Sea2Ski said:

pescadorzih said:

No Gopro on the bridge filming the cockpit and behind the boat?

You spying on us? Ha ha. The GoPro was there, but we only start it after lines are cleared and things organized. This all happened in 30 seconds total, so it was not on yet. Besides, when the tuna was taken, it would have been to far for the GoPro to get with any good footage. You would have seen a splash and commotion, but no detail. That thing is perfect for the pit and about 25-30 feet out, but beyond that things are too far to make out.

Going to PM you regarding GoPro.....

nolaegghead · July 2016

Last two times I took out the boat were for non-fishing excursions. But the time before that, we only picked up one black drum, two reds, couple of undersized specs and a skate. Plus a few obligatory (throw 'em back in) catfish and a croaker or two (throw back).

Time before that we strangely only caught red fish, but they were right in the sweet spot as far as size goes and we would have maxed out on them had I not forgotten the net. (just finished getting the hull buffed and inside detailed).

nolaegghead · July 2016

In conclusion - yeah, fishing has been weird here in the gulf too. They're out there, but it can be hit or miss, or really work at the few you catch.

fishlessman · July 2016

this is why i now troll for landlock salmon, 32 hours at 2.2 mph is about 6 gallons

catching is down in the fresh for me this year, maybe that mild winter wasnt that good.

nolaegghead · July 2016

fishlessman said:

this is why i now troll for landlock salmon, 32 hours at 2.2 mph is about 6 gallons catching is down in the fresh for me this year, maybe that mild winter wasnt that good.

You troll with artificial smelts? I didn't realize you guys had such a mercury problem up there.

fishlessman · July 2016

nolaegghead said:

fishlessman said:

this is why i now troll for landlock salmon, 32 hours at 2.2 mph is about 6 gallons catching is down in the fresh for me this year, maybe that mild winter wasnt that good.

You troll with artificial smelts? I didn't realize you guys had such a mercury problem up there.

theres actually tons of smelts, with the salmon we are in a down cycle on the lake. size went from 5 to 6 pounds on average down to 2 pounds in just a few years. also dumb bios put alewives in a lake upstream as well that will take its toll on the salmon spawn, alewives have a chemical that interfers with salmon spawn but they dont know if its a problem in our acidic waters. had two good spawning cycles and there is just too many small fish. this is all smelt on the screen

Water to table: Fishing has stunk - had to go to beef.

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