THE NORTHEAST CANYON DEEP DROP
- Nick Honachefsky
- 22 hours ago
- 6 min read
By Nick Honachefsky
Dialing in a prolific canyon edge bottomfishery of tilefish, rosefish and wreckfish
In the vast, electric bluewaters 70 to 90 miles far offshore of New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Virginia lie The Canyons where an immediate drop into 500 to 800 fathoms and greater along the Northeast continental shelf elicit grand pelagic images of blue and white marlin smoking ballyhoo baits, yellowfin and bluefin tuna streaking jigs and poppers, mako and thresher sharks gobbling up live bluefish baits. But before the drop, a steadily sloping ground of 50 to 100 fathoms lead into the canyons and way down below along that edge reside the true denizens of the deep along the submerged shipwrecks and clay, muddy bottom – massive bottomfish in the form of golden tilefish, gray tilefish, rosefish, barrelfish and wreckfish. Deep Dropping sorties to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic canyon flats offer unbounded opportunity for big game bottomfishing aficionados.
THE GROUNDS
World War II was a turbulent time along the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Coasts, with German Nazi Wolfpack submarines torpedoing unsuspecting tankers, cargo vessels and military ships, sinking the vessels in ill-fated circumstances, but ultimately creating structure for offshore bottomfish to colonize. Nasty storm fronts and hurricanes have also added hundreds of unfortunate vessels to the submarine graveyard. Wind back the clock to the Ice Ages, and the terrestrial continental shelf extended 80 miles offshore to the canyon walls, with ground comprised of thick clay, mud bottom and glacial rock formations now in 400 to 800 feet of water that jut up off the seafloor also providing structure for oddities such as barrelfish, wreckfish and rosefish as well as permeable ground for golden and gray tilefish upwards of 50 pounds to burrow into. Die hard bottom brawlers run to the grounds from spring through winter to target the grounds, outfitted properly to winch in the beasts off the near bottomless depths.
BOTTOM JIGGING
“Golden and blueline tilefish will hang anywhere from 200 to 800 feet of water in the clay muddy grounds along the slopes,” says Captain Freddy Gamboa of the 39 Contender Andrea’s Toy. “When we want to put boxers in the cooler of 5 to 20 pounds we target the more gentle slopes and break out the jigs rods and go shallow in 200 to 400 feet of water,” said Gamboa. “You want to be vertical when jigging so we can only do it shallow when the winds are light and variable with minimal current, dropping a jig to the bottom and bouncing it right off tapping the bottom or bringing it 1 to 3 feet up.” Tilefish burrow into the clay grounds, only poking their heads up out to inspect any passing prey and they lay in colonies, so when you get one hit, there’s bound to be more in the area, and when Gamboa finds that, he short drifts the colonies. Captain Tom Daffin of the Fishin Fever adds to the behaviour of tilefish. “When we jig the shallows of 310 to 360 feet, I find the tiles mill around more and we drift patch to patch, dropping jigs down and working them from about 1 to 5 feet off the bottom. Those fish are moving around in little schools and can get aggressive one they leave the sanctuary of their burrows.” Daffin goes super light in respect to the deep arena when jigging, employing a Nexus heavy spinning rod matched with a Pen Battle 3000 with only 20-pound braided line to which he ties on a 4 to 6-ounce white bucktail tipped with a piece of meat strip of anything from mahi belly to bluefish. “On calm days, I throw the jig upcurrent and drift back to it, bounce-twitching it until we come vertical. Once it passes the boat, reel it up and recast.”
Big, numerous baits are stacked on the hook for ultimate scent and success
MEAT STICKING
If trophy caliber golden tiles of 30 to 50 pounds are on the menu, Gamboa’s strategy changes and he goes deeper and switches to bait rods. “The larger model tilefish are on the steep sloping ledges in 400 to 800 feet. Tilefish feed with three senses – first, they feel vibration, then they pick up a scent, then they see the bait. That’s why we bounce the sinkers hard on the bottom to awaken them. Many times anglers get hit on the bounce and miss the first hookset, but under any circumstance do not give up the bite. They will come out of the burrow after the initial vibration inspection hit, then will aggressively smell where the bait is then see it and chase it down, until they commit on the hook.” The Hudson Canyon clay and muddy flats are prime turf for tilefish.
Deep dropping means 750 to 1000 feet and even down to 1400 feet for Daffin. “Once we get close to the canyon edge in the deep, we look for mini landslides on the screen,” says Daffin. “The mini submarine landslides slides expose the clays and the mud tiles burrow into and you can read the slides on the finder by looking for contour lines that are really tight, then become long. Then you can see the faint blue fuzz laying on the bottom of the screen in 0 to 5 feet. Those are the tilefish. If you drop down a rig and feel the weight get stuck in the mud, you’re in the right place.”
Gamboa’s baits are set on a heavy duty hi-lo two hook rig, comprised of 100-pound leader material and a size 10/0 Mustad circle hook, baited with slender strip baits of mahimahi, false albacore, bluefish or salmon belly, and even dogfish. He stays away from using squid as they are too easily plucked off the hook. Daffin’s bait rig is a three-hook chicken rig made of 150-pound mono leader, crimped with three 8-inch droppers fixed with 10/0 Octopus circle hooks or 9/0 J-hooks fixed with tubing, glo beads and glo-skirts. Whole 9 to 11-inch squids are top baits, but strips of salted bluefish or mackerel and fresh salmon belly are also productive.
WRECKING CREW
While tilefish hang and burrow in the muddy flats, the shipwrecks and offshore glacial rockpiles hold some surprise down deep denizens including smaller rosefish of 1 to 3 pounds, barrelfish of 10 to 30 pounds, wreckfish that can top out at 80 pounds and even the errant snowy grouper. “We find that the rosefish and barrelfish are caught always south of the Lindenkohl Canyon to the Baltimore Canyon,” said Gamboa “About every third trip we find an exotic like a snowy grouper to surprise the crew.” When targeting the wreck type species, Gamboa will use the same tilefish rigs on the bottom. Whereas tilefish will pop their air bladders out about ¾ of the way up, wreckfish will fight until the surface, so be prepared for a dogfight.” Daffin notes he finds rosefish in deep 700 to 1000 feet and drops down sabiki type rigs fitted with 5/0 circle hooks and squid as bait. “Barrelfish and rosies seem to like the real deepwaters on the east sides of the canyons,” said Daffin. “If we do find any snowy groupers, they are a bit shallower in 300 to 400 feet of water.”
DEEP BLUE
Time and effort to access the offshore ground 60 to 80 miles offshore is a commitment most anglers only dedicate to when targeting tuna and marlin. The deep drop fishery is worth a look for the same level of commitment. Even better, pros in the know start out the mornings targeting pelagics, then drift over the mud and clay bottoms for tiles and wreckfish to patch a productive day together.
SIDEBAR: CAPTAINS
Captain Freddy Gamboa, Andrea’s Toy, Point Pleasant, NJ - IG/FB - @andreastoychartersnj, 732-672-1561
Captain Tom Daffin, Fishin’ Fever, Cape May NJ - FB @Fishing Fever Sportfishing, fishingfevernj.com, 609-868-6014
SIDEBAR – GEAR TACKLE BOX
RODS: Jigging: Shimano Terez 6-6, Jigging World Deep Monster 7-6, Bait fishing: Shimano Terez Bent Butt 50-100 pound
REELS: Ocea Jigger 400, Ocea Jigger 250, Penn Battle 3000, Shimano Beastmaster Electric reel, Daiwa Electric Reel, Shimano Speedmaster 20
LINE: 50 to 80-pound Power Pro Braid, 50 to 150-pound Seaguar or Yozuri Fluorocarbon Leader on rigs, 5 foot shot of 40 to 50-pound leader on jig rods.
LURES: UVT 320g, 400g, 500g, double hook with assist hook, in sardine, yellow/pink, pink/glo, 4 to 6-ounce Spro Bucktails
TERMINAL TACKLE: 2-hook hi-lo Tilefish rig on 100-pound mono, size 8/0 to 10/0 Heavy duty Mustad Octopus circle hooks, Crimps, 1 to 4-pound lead weights, pink glo skirts, glo-beads, tubing,
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