My dad and I had a great day-trip to the canyons this past Wednesday July 22nd. We left the Nantucket Boat Basin at 4:30 am and headed straight for the tip of Veatch Canyon.
We chose Veatch due to some fresh intel we gathered a day or two prior to the trip. The ride out was very calm, with little to no wind, but we did run into 10 miles of fog which slowed us down a bit.
At 7:30 am we arrived at the tip of Veatch, and started setting out the spread into the 78 degree blue water; deploying 4 bars from the outriggers, 1 bullet down the center, a braid bigeye rocket chain on the flat, and a Nomad DTX Minnow (pictured below) on the other flat.
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After getting the 7 rod spread out, we began searching for signs of life on the surface and the bait sounder. After 20 minutes of no bites, we tried making our way over to the west wall of Veatch canyon and immediately the sounder lit up, marking lots of fish.
Two of our spreader bars went down with a couple small yellowfin. After releasing the rats and redeploying the spread, much larger yellowfin jumped on the squid bars. We doubled up and fought two big yellowfin tunas for about 15 minutes. Finally, we got both of the 60lb yellows on ice and the trip was off to a great start.
Not wanting to keep any more yellowfin as we had limited space in the fish box, we switched up the trolling spread a bit; taking out all the spreader bars and replacing them with larger 9-14 inch marlin plugs and a wahoo lure down the center.
Another 15 minutes passed when another 60lb yellowfin took down the 14 inch black bart on the short rigger. We ended up getting this guy to the boat and released him to fight another day.
Our search for a wahoo or blue marlin continued and around 9:30 am the center rigger with a wire wahoo rig went down hard. Thinking this fish was a wahoo, we expected the initial run to be very big, but after 40 seconds the fish was still not slowing down.
The Talica 25 reel was getting low on line and I had no choice but to push the drag up to full strike which was around 45lbs. Unfortunately, the wind on leader popped and a second later we saw a huge splash 400-500 yards behind the boat. No doubt it was a massive blue marlin. I could not believe the blue marlin took a wahoo set up with wire!
After regrouping and resetting the spread, we got another big bite on the Nomad DTX minnow. This fish took a bunch of line and it was clear this was either a very large yellowfin or bigeye. 20 minutes later, the fish was only about 100 feet from the boat, but wouldn’t budge an inch.
It took another 15 minutes to winch this fish up, until we finally got it to the leader. I looked down and saw an estimated 150-170lb bigeye tuna doing circles right under the boat.
Finally, we got the fish close enough in order to get a harpoon shot off, and ultimately get a couple gaffs into the awesome fish.
It's always difficult to close the deal on big tuna, but it is especially difficult when there are only two guys on the boat! This made the catch just a little sweeter, and made for a perfect father-son fishing trip.
That was it for us, and we left the canyons with the fish still biting.
By the sounds of things, all the other boats had great days as well, with all the yellowfin you could want, and a few bigeye and marlin mixed in.
Overall, it was a great day on the water and I can’t wait to get back out.
Tight lines! 
Kurt
what did you guys burn for fuel? headed out Friday from Duxbury, thinking about fuel in MV on way out and way back…also in a CC with twins.
We left from nantucket and burned about 210 gallons over the course of the trip.
What a day! Strong work, hope I can do this w my son someday.
Thanks John!
Beautiful pictures, good job, going out with dad.
Thank Fernando!
Hey Kurt,
I’m glad you guys had a good trip! Thanks again for the report. I’m sure you’ll get the big wahoo sooner or later.
Tight lines! ?
Great father and son fishing trip. I’ve teamed up with my son, Bob Jr this spring fishing the Connecticut River in Cromwell, CT for Stripers.
Bob, Sr.
Thanks Ryan, one of these days hopefully we’ll get one!
Great day and great report. If you ever need a third mate, to help with the big tuna, I’m available….Loved the pictures!
Sounds good Ron, I’ll keep that in mind if we are in need. Glad you enjoyed the report!