Date: August 8-9, 2014
Time: 1:00 pm
Weather: winds NW 10-15kts
Location: The Dip, 70 miles offshore
Bait/Lure: Spreader bars/Joe Shutes/Ballyhoo
Fish: 11 mahi/2 yft/ est. 400lb blue marlin/
Largest:: 35" 25lbs
This was a trip that none of us would ever forget. We (me, Capt. Tony Gatto, John, Sal, Henry, Adam and Rand) hopped aboard the "Fox Sea Lady" for an overnight fishing trip to an area 70 miles south of Moriches Inlet known as The Dip. Fishing before sunset was very slow. We were able to pick up one mahi on the troll. Before we started to set up our gear for the night bite Sal (bottom 2 pictures) headed off to the galley to make the crew some delicious chicken parmesan heros. With our bellies full we began to chunk. It didn't take long for a school of mahi to enter the waters below the boat. We were able to put 10 of these tasty fish into the box. The only other action that we had on this windy choppy night would be a 5' dusky shark that we safely released. As I was sleeping on one of the couches I was awakened by a screaming reel. My brother-in-law John was quick to grab the rod and the fight was on. This was the right time for bigeye tuna to start feeding at the surface, however as soon as the fish jumped we knew it wasn't a bigeye. It was the largest fish that I have ever seen. It was a huge blue marlin! We had the perfect man on the rod. Among some of us portly guys, John actually looks like he is in good shape. It took every ounce of muscle for John to fight this fish for over an hour. With his knees buckling John was able to get this fish to within 10' of the boat before the it made one last run and snapped the line. John did a great job. I was able to get a little bit of some under water footage of the beast (Click on videos). After the marlin, we landed 2 small yellows and another mahi. As we decided to head for home the boat hit something that was submerged. Capt. Tony put on his mask and went under to take a look. Now, I'm no mechanic but I do realize we are in some trouble when the Captain tells you that one of the props are gone along with the shaft. Let me do some math for you..70 miles to the inlet plus another 15 miles to the marina equals a very long trip home on one engine going 8kts (9.2mph). Thank God we had enough food (6 different types of cookies, 3 types of donuts, Jimmy dean breakfest sandwiches, homemade turkey sandwiches with stuffing, 74 small bags of chips, apple strudel, a box of canolis, various candy bars, bag of pretzels, a box of cupcakes, a bag of twizzlers, chicken parm heros, and two bags of sun chips) on board to last us about a week. Scratch that - after looking at pictures of the crew we would have turn to cannibalism in about 24 hours. I think Henry (top left) sums up the voyage home. Tony did a great job getting his crew home safely. 11 hours after starting our journey home we pulled into port at 10:30pm. Gilligan got off the island quicker then we got home. I'm sure it's a day that none of us will forget.
