LBI Charters
Long Beach Island's Finest Fishing Adventure
on the Terminator 2 ("T 2")
Captain George Gottiaux
PO Box 473
Barnegat Light, NJ 08006
(609) 494-0500

Trip

We left Barnegat Light at 2:30 PM and the sea was very rough with swells up to seven feet. It took us close to seven hours to get to our destination - the Canyon. It is where the ocean floor goes from a depth of 200 ft.to a depth of 700 ft. The captain managed to get us right on the edge of the 200/700 ft barrier but that did not last long since the anchor did not hold due to the rough weather. The Captain said at one point there was 60 ft of tuna below the boat ...not 60 fish, but 60 feet worth of tuna. If we had managed to stay at that point, we could of easily landed seven or eight tuna. Though it would of been a major task with how rough the water was. Just standing without falling was hard enough that first night, and to fight a fish in those conditions is not the easiest thing to do.

I managed to catch the first tuna of the night by dropping the line in ever so slowly. I was advised to pull out a foot of line, drop it and repeat 97 times to make sure that 100 feet of line is under the boat. After 67 pulls, the line just took off and the rod was ready for the first tuna fight. After around 20 minutes of fighting, I was delighted to see my first tuna ever - which was a nice a yellow-fin tuna that weighed approximately 30-35 lbs. My left arm felt pretty weak after bringing that fish in but the effort was worth the rewards.

The boat was a 52' Custom Sportfisherman that catered to our needs very well. The only small complaint was that the generator was not working during the night fishing, but problems like that are not uncommon and it was not a big deal at all. Having a moonlit night was a plus and it made it that much more exciting. The Captain and Mate were very knowledgeable since they made sure we got some fish. 99% of the fish came during the following morning of the trip. That morning we trolled with no luck - except for the huge mahi-mahi that Emily's father almost landed. He fought the fish really well but it managed to break free of the line just 20 feet from the boat. I guess it happens a lot with that species of fish since their jaw is very soft. I still would of liked to see how big it was since we got a nice glimpse of it in the water - which was pretty clear this day.

After that happened, we drove to another spot and just anchored near a lobster trap. We dropped in three tuna lines at various depths of  20-150 feet below. The Captain brought out some lighter weight spinning rods to help us catch the mahi-mahi. The mahi-mahi were biting and fighting like crazy and they managed to keep all of us busy for a long time. Now we should be eating them for a long time: Mahi-Mahi Recipes .

Then tuna lines both went off within 10 minutes of each other. Around 45 minutes later, we had two nice long-fins added to the boat. After we rapped up at that area, the Captain decided to troll for a little more before heading home. That shows how nice and experienced the Captain was since he was willing to go the extra mile to add more fish to our trip.

The last fish of the day was the biggest of the whole trip - and it was the most exciting fish to see. We were trolling the waters with 12 lines in and just waiting to hear the drag to go off on any real. Once we heard the drag ripping line out on the one real, we figured a nice fish was on. Little did anyone know how big or significant the fish was.

Before we even had time to guess what the fish was, we saw the huge marlin ripping across the surface and jumping out of the water. It looked like something you would see on a sports show since it was so amazing - I am still amazed on the when it took its first major run. The power of that fish was incredible since it ripped out close to 250 yd's. of line in about 30 seconds. Now that we knew what was on the line, the major rush of getting the rest of the lines out of the water was the big concern. We managed to reel in all the other rods and basically throw them on the side of the boat to make sure that the marlin would not get caught up in any lines during the fight.

Jerry was the one that jumped into the chair and he took on the fish. He got some help from the Captain moving the boat to aid in the fight since it would be nearly impossible to land without the precision maneuvering. Without that type of driving skill, the marlin would of most likely ripped out all 300 yd's of the 50lb test line. Jerry was very patient and fought the fish very well since you need a lot of stamina in your arms due to the amount of reeling invloved. The marlin managed to jump out of the water some more and that just made everyone get more excited. Luckily the water was pretty calm and the weather was nice - so sitting down for a long fight would not be a concern. 45 minutes later, the marlin was at the side of the boat and I managed to get some shots below. As you can see, it is a monster of a fish and close to 600 lbs.

Pictures

Click on images to enlarge

Here are some various pictures of scenery that I took throughout our 30 hour journey. The scenes could not of been better - the sunsets, the sunrises and the moonlight night in the middle of the ocean was pretty neat to see.

Here are the pics of the tuna - we managed to land three of them. Two of them were long fin tuna and the other was a yellow tail. I landed the yellow tail the first night and landed another long fin tuna the next morning.

Last but not least, the incredible marlin

* If anyone reading this is interested in doing a trip like this, I would highly recommend the Captain above at the top of the page.

All in all it was the best fishing trip that I have ever been on. I have to thank everyone involved for the invitation to join the trip, the accomodations, and the overall experience. Now I look forward to trying out some new tuna recipes ...