Yankee Capts Mutton Marathon 02/28/19

Xaf · March 2019

Didn't take any pics and don't have time to go into too much detail but wanted to post a quick report on the trip. The weather was perfect. Seas were 2 foot or less the whole trip. The first stop was just after dawn and it didn't take long for a few mutton to come over the rail. But as the sun started to rise a little higher the bite shut down. The rest of the day there was a slow pick of mutton and yellow tails. I didn't see a lot of grouper this trip but there were a few. There were also quite a few king fish. Most of the king fish were on the small side with a couple smokers thrown in. In fact, a king fish won the rather sizable jackpot.

Greg moved to 180' for sundown and the mutton bite was on. There were even some flag yellow tails coming up but as the sun went down the bite tapered off . The rest of the night there was a slow but steady pick of mutton. Around 10 -11 pm bait started showing up around the boat. At one time there were hundreds, if not thousands, of flying fish circling the boat. Shortly after the bait showed up a school of dolphin started feeding. It was interesting to watch the dolphin crash in to the bait and send them flying. There was also bait on the bottom. Several of us were catching goggle eyes on sabiki rigs. While using the sabiki rig I had a couple of my most interesting catches of the trip. First, I caught a flag yellow tail. Although its not unusual to catch a yellow tail on a sabiki it was fun trying to get it to the boat without breaking it off. A little while later I had what I thought was another flag yellow tail on the sabiki. Everyone was surprised when I finally got it to the boat and it was a legal keeper mutton.

The 2nd morning was pretty much a repeat of the first morning. There was a flurry of mutton at dawn that soon turned into a slow pick as the sun rose. The second night looked like it would be a repeat of the night before as a few mutton started coming over the rail but then there were a few cut offs and a few sharks caught. Before long it was almost impossible to get fish from the bottom to the boat without being attacked by a shark. I was fighting a big mutton when it became a dead weight . There was no question what had happened as I pulled the huge head and shoulders of a mutton on board with a big circular cut where the rest of the body should have been. After several more cutoffs and 3 throw-backs in a row, I headed for my bunk hoping to catch something in the morning. I fished for a few hours the next morning but did not manage to catch anything before it was time to head back to the dock.

Once at the dock it was the usual free-for-all of unloading the boat and handing out the fish. (Guys help the mates out by listening for your number and responding when it is called. It is maddening when the mates have to call your number two and three times and it slows down the process for everyone.) I think there were 16 or 18 totes. Mostly mutton, yellow tail, and king fish with a few grouper thrown in. I ended up with 8 or 9 mutton and a nice sting of yellow tails. As usual, guys who spent more time at the rail were rewarded with more fish.

The boat looks great. It's oblivious that Greg and crew have been working hard scraping, painting and making improvements to the boat. Greg and crew did their usual fantastic job making for an enjoyable trip. Chad's meals just seem to get better and better every trip.