Another offshore trip 8-22-06

[Trayder]

I went out with a very good friend on his new Southport..

WOW what a boat.


Met at the boat at 0330 in Mystic Ct. loaded boat and were en route by 0345, seas were calm but by no means flat probably 1-2 with a random 3 thrown in for good measure. I passed out for an hour or so in the bow of the boat on the fish box extension from the console. When I woke up I was amazed that we were flying along at 37kts and made it to the edge an hour later. I have been onboard many different high end center consoles Regulators, Contenders, Ventures etc etc, none but the Venture could of held this course at the speeds we were going, while burning less than 40 gal an hour. We made it to the edge in just over 2 hours....


Lines in at 0600, not one other boat in sight, fist visitor(s) at 0630 Yellows start banging the spread one on, we keep trolling but none other hooked up. First fish in the box a nice 40 lb yellow. 0700 double header of 35 lb Longfins. 0745 another Longfin 40 lbs 0815 another nice Longfin, 0930 Blue Marlin in the spread whacking skirted Ballyhoo whack…. whack….. BAM!! down goes out smallest outfit ( a Penn 15 LD single speed on a 30-60 lb all roller rod) with an est. 250-300lb Blue Marlin just as fast as it hit it was gone, then back for a quick whack at a green machine and then bye…. bye, 1000 double of Longfin (released), 1045 passed a pallet and hooked up with an unknown (to us) jack (released). 1100 the long one goes off for a while and it is a 65 lb yellow. Troll for another hour and then lines in to go bang some Mahi. Find some one high -flyers pick up 3 8lbers or so then hit another flyer 3 more and then find a broken highflier with a Mola and a turtle. The turtle was hooked in the mouth with some long-lining gear and then tangled in the high-flyer. He was in very good shape (except for the hook and line) We untangle and free him from the pot and off he goes. We then get rewarded buy a HUGE school of mahi and bang another 10 or so until one of our crew breaks out the flyrod on the bow and hammers 4 more. Pretty cool!!! The Mola just stayed around flopping about. Once we are about done something catches out attention from the stern and it is a 40-50 ft finback about 2 ft below the surface headed straight for us at 10 or so kts. I about shat myself as it slowly rolled over…..eyeballed us…. Veered 15 degrees to the south and swam off all the while NEVER breaking the surface or making a sound. If the water was not so clear he would of gone by un noticed.

That’s it were were done at 1400 back at full steam 40Kts to arrive back in Mystic by 1600. 2 hours from the edge in a 28 CC.


The trip was great but the Southport was an eye-opener. It was my first time on this boat and I was amazed at the fish-ability of it and mesmerized at the speed it would go in the seas conditions we saw. We trolled a 10-12 rod spread with zero tangles and no lost fish. Double hook ups no issues and although we trolled 10-12 rods we had 22 aboard ranging from bent butt 80's to spin gear.

The aft kill box was great to throw fish and then we could move them to the fwd fish hold. We had in total 20 8 lb mahi, 4 35-40 lb Lft, 1 40 lb Yft, and one 65 lb Yft, yet the fish hold was maybe 1/2 full. and the aft box was empty.

Total fuel burn was 160 gals total distance was over 200 miles.


Here are some pictures:

[CHANCE1234]

Very cool Trayder!!!! I need friends like yours.

[RUSTYNTABATHA]

Awsome trip we fished a 35 triton tues. Boat does not perform like a 35 should. Your jack is a bar jack better tasting than greater amberjack.

[ScottM]

Nice trip dude. Ross' new rig is pretty sweet. Did he ever sell the Contender?