Depth Charge

Deep — really deep – light-tackle jigging can result in a mixed bag of tasty bottom dwellers.

By Lenny Rudow

Mid-Atlantic Deep Dwellers

The prize of the deep in this region is the golden tilefish. These unique fish have a stocky body, a fleshy knob on the head, and a jaw of impressive teeth—keep your fingers clear of ‘em. Most golden tiles weigh between five and 15 pounds, but larger fish are common. They live in colonies so most of your catch will often be of similar size. Catch a 40-pound fish, for example, and most of the fish you catch in the same spot will be in the 30- to 50-pound range. Catch a five-pounder, and you’re not likely to break the 10-pound mark in the same spot.

Tilefish are excellent eating, and their chunky white meat carries the distinct flavor of lobster, one of their favorite foods. Use care when filleting these fish because they have a row of bones along the midsection similar to those found in trout and salmon, running perpendicular to the backbone. Bonus fish in this depth range include blackbelly rosefish (orange snapper-like fish in the one-pound range which are excellent eating,) red hake (also small but tasty; note to self—yellowfin tuna will chow one of these without hesitation when it’s struggling on the surface), and sharks of all types. From Washington Canyon south, grouper are also a possibility.

In shallower (300 to 600 feet) water on the edge of the shelf you’ll encounter grey tilefish but none of the big golden tilefish. Greys are similar in appearance to goldens except for coloration and size, and a 10-pounder is a whopper. You’ll catch more diversity if you fish this depth range, however, including such fish as four-spot flounder, hake, and black sea bass. Again, if you’re fishing from Washington Canyon south, add grouper to the list.

Of course, one of the most interesting aspects of deep-dropping is that you never know exactly what will end up on the line. Anything is possible, when you’re probing the depths at the Continental Shelf. – Lenny Rudow

For weeks at a time during last year’s Mid Atlantic/Delmarva region offshore season, tuna fishing stunk—and some of us are still thanking our lucky stars. Sound a little off-kilter? If so, then you may not have heard about the previously untapped fishery that a handful of anglers shifted to, and were delighted to discover: continental shelf deep-drops.

Deep drops aren’t anything new to Caribbean and Florida anglers who routinely probe the depths in search of snappers and grouper, or to some New Englanders who target monster cod and haddock in 400-foot-plus depths, but few non-tropical anglers have experienced this type of fishing. That’s a darn shame, too, because there are some incredible fish down there—some running upwards of 50 pounds—that can turn a tedious day of droning outboards and waterlogged ballyhoo into a deck-load of bent rods and high-fives.

Yeah, yeah, I know — deep-dropping is a pain in the butt. Who really wants to rig up with six-pound lead weights or worse yet, crank for 15 or 20 minutes to winch up a half-dead bottom dweller with an advanced case of the bends? A fair question.

Light is Right

Forget everything you’ve ever heard about deep dropping, because it doesn’t have to be that way. Instead, picture a 6’6” rod with a limber tip, delicate enough that a few ounces of lead on your line creates an arc in the first foot; the midsection stiffens up nicely, and the back section of the rod has enough oomph to power through 35 pounds of drag. Yet with all this strength, it’s the weight and diameter of a common 15- to 20-pound-class casting rod. Match it up with a lever-drag reel that can crank up that much pressure, yet has an immense 5.8:1 gear ratio which brings in 45” of line with every revolution of the crank. It has a narrow enough spool that level winding isn’t necessary since the line lays down evenly as you retrieve. In your hands, this combination has the heft of a moderate-size casting rig you might use for stripers or blues, but the power of 50-class stand-up gear. Now spool it up with 800 yards of 50-pound braid, and you have the angling equivalent of a suitcase bomb — deceivingly small, astonishingly potent.

Not possible, you say? There simply isn’t any tackle like this on the market? Guess again—and pick up a Shimano Trevalla rod matched up to a Torsa 20 reel. This rig was the first of the style, bred for jigging with the Butterfly system. Since its inception, other companies have rolled out competing gear, and today you can choose from the likes of Penn (Torque reels) and Chaos (jigging rods,) to find the gear of this type that best fits your style.

CC/DD ADVANTAGE

For most modern twin-engine center consoles, getting to deep drop territory will be well within range. You can reach these depths within 50 to 60 miles of the inlet, depending on where you’re fishing from. And luckily, since deep-dropping is done on the drift, center console anglers get a deep drop advantage over other types of boats: you can take advantage of your wide-open bow and fish a line or two from up there, as well as the stern ‘pit. Unfortunately, most outboard boats drift with their stern into the seas; to get your boat drifting beam-to, cleat off a small drift anchor on the bow. On smaller boats, a five-gallon bucket may be enough to do the job.

Now take all those six-pound sash weights and pack them back up in your dredge bags and rigging lockers. You don’t need ‘em with this gear. Instead, top off the braid with a 25’ length of mono wind-on leader, and a nine- to 14-ounce jig. Diamonds, butterflies, and the like will do the trick. In the deep water pinks, chartreuses, and golds with glow-in-the-dark paint work best. You can reach out and touch bottom using these large, fast-sinking jigs with the braid, in water to 800 feet or more. Naturally it’s best if there’s little wind and current, but you can hold bottom using this gear in a 10 to 15-knot breeze by backing the boat to regain some line now and again.

It seems amazing that fish strike jigs without any bait or scent in water this deep, where one would think there’s zero light penetration. But they do. Will they eat the jigs as often as bait? Not quite: to establish a baseline for jigging effectiveness my boat fished traditional multi-hook deep-drop rigs baited with squid and cut bonito side-by-side with the jigs, on three deep drop excursions, and found that we caught more fish on the baited rigs (or when a jig was tipped with squid strips) about two to one over bare jigs. So if you’re purely a meat-hunter, do it like they do down south—but if you want to feel the strike and fight unencumbered by a sash weight, jigs give you that ability. Just how strong is that ability? On an established hotspot using both jigs and bait, five of us took our self-imposed limit of one golden tilefish over 30-pounds per person in about two hours of fishing. Using jigs only, it took about four hours.

Drop It

Okay: you’re rigged and ready, you’ve been dropping that jig for five to seven minutes (yup, it takes that long to hit bottom in 800 feet of water!) and you want to hook up a denizen of the deep. What’s next? Give the jig long, single sweeps up, then allow it to free-fall back to bottom. If you don’t feel contact on the drop, let out some additional line. Just as is true in most other forms of jigging, the fish will usually strike the jig as it falls. If it seems to have hit bottom a little too soon, bring the tip of your rod up smartly and set the hook. When you have solid contact, steadily apply pressure. Unlike wreck or reef fishing, there aren’t any abrasions or snags for the fish to tangle on, so over-pressuring it to get it away from obstructions isn’t necessary.

Without all the added lead, you’ll be amazed at how well Mid-Atlantic deep-drop fish like golden tilefish will fight. Hook a 40- to 50-pounder—which isn’t unusual if you’re in the right location—and it’ll take you some work to bring it up off the bottom. When you’ve fought the fish about one third of the way, its air bladder will blow and the fish’s fighting level will drop noticeably. Pay attention during the fight and try to note when this occurs, because from this point on, that fish is yours. If the hook pulls or your line breaks, the fish’s bloated air bladder will float it to the surface. Simply drift for five to 10 minutes, and closely scan the surrounding water. Sooner or later you should spot a basketball bobbing around on the surface, within 100 feet or so of your boat. That’s your fish.

When the fish breaks the surface take your time about landing it. Yes, it will often make a desperation run when it sees the boat, but there’s no sense in ruining meat with a gaff shot at this point. If the fish thrashes and throws the hooks at the surface, it won’t be able to dive back down again. You may have to motor after it a time or two as it scuttles away from the boat, but it won’t get away. Take your time and insert the gaff hook into the fish’s mouth, to bring it aboard. One exception: if there are a lot of sharks around, you may want to minimize the struggle at the surface for obvious reasons.

Blind Ambition

The toughest part of deep dropping in the Mid-Atlantic is, without a doubt, figuring out where to do it. Blind drops can result in long, boring drifts without any bites. So, how are you going to go from hoping to happening? The first way is to cheat—get a set of numbers from someone who’s already located a colony of the depths. Unless someone owes you big-time, however, the chances are slim to none that anyone other than a close relative or indentured servant is going share a good set of golden tilefish numbers with you.

Fortunately, there are a couple of ways you can limit the search area. First off, identify plateaus in 650 to 850 feet of water, right along the edge of the shelf. Then, prospect the area with a home-made bottom sampler. Attach a 6” piece of copper or lead pipe to a sash weight, drop it on a line, and drag it across the bottom. If you discover sand, silt, or grey mud, eliminate the area from consideration. If you locate the firm green mud tilefish prefer, however, the spot could be a winner. Fish the area until you hook a single fish, and immediately note your position. Mark it on the GPS, pull up-wind, and do another drift on a parallel track about an eighth of a mile away from the original one. Again, plot any bites. Now do a third drift an eighth of a mile off in the other direction from the original drift. Eventually, you’ll be able to identify where the fish are clustered. This is a lot more important than many people think, especially when it comes to golden tilefish, because their colonies are tightly clustered. In fact, 80 percent of the fish in a colony will be within 100 to 200 feet of each other—a tiny target in a big ocean.

The good news is that once you locate a colony, it doesn’t go anywhere. You can return to the spot over and over again, so long as you don’t fish it out, a distinct possibility with golden tilefish, as they are very slow-growing fish. Smart anglers will limit themselves to 30 or 40 pounds of fish or, in the case of large tilefish, a single fish per person. That’s plenty of meat—and plenty of excitement, since you’re deep-dropping with what feels like ultra-light gear in comparison to the norm. Instead of pressing a button or mindlessly turning a crank, you’ll have a real fight on your hands. After dropping a 50-pound slob of a tile onto the deck you’ll wonder why you didn’t try a Mid-Atlantic deep drop sooner. And dollars to doughnuts says you’ll want to do it again—even when the tuna bite’s hot.

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