About Face Finds the Fish- Again

The About Face crew left the dock at 1700 Friday for the fishing grounds 100nm offshore in hopes of repeating their earlier success this year. Arriving at the tip of the Hudson Canyon at 0530 the rods were set in the dark hoping to catch the early bite. The first fish did not come until 0900 which was a 50lb albacore tuna. We continued working our way down the east wall of the canyon towards an area known as the 1002. Arriving there around 1100 we found a large pocket of warm water and worked this area for the afternoon boating 1 yellowfin and 6 more albacore, 3 of which were released. The rest of the evening was slow and at 1800 we pulled the lines and cooked a fresh yellowfin dinner as the rest of the crew prepared for the night chunking. Fortunately the seas were flat and we were able to drift off the edge of the continental shelf for the night and within 5 minutes of setting lines we had our first swordfish on. The fish was fought for nearly 20 minutes before the hook pulled and we lost the fish. The same happened to another sword hooked an hour later. Finally at 0100 Sunday morning we hooked up on a sword and boated a 75lber which was then released. Still hoping for a bigger fish the crew worked the rods all night long and finally at 0630 one of the sword rods took off and the fish was heading for the deep. The crew did all they could to try and stop the fish and after taking nearly 300yds of line in a matter of seconds the fish broke off. The crew re-set the lines hoping to get in on the morning bite and were able to land a 65lb Wahoo before heading back to Kings Point. The 350nm round trip was a great way for the 2nd, and 3rd classmen to review their seamanship skills before leaving for sea in November and for the two plebes onboard, it was a great introduction to small vessel safety, route planning, watch standing, and terrestrial and electronic navigation. The 7 person crew consisted of M/N Jordan Musselman 10’, M/N Scott McCormick 10’, M/N Nick Alexander 10’, M/N Pat Lowe 09’, Plebe Sean Brown 12’, Plebe Jeff Musselman 12’, and Graduate Nick Sullivan 08’.