(Originally published January/February 2017)
By Capt. Larry Backman
Twenty-one years ago I was introduced to the fantastic offshore world a few hours off our Southern New England shores. Since then I have made hundreds of trips to the exciting open ocean world beyond the sight of land.
Whales by the dozens rolling and blowing, porpoises by the hundreds cavorting in your boat wake, shark fins slicing the water like a knife — these all are sights and experiences of the offshore waters. On my first trip, back in 1996, I was shocked to see so much life just out of sight of land. That day we targeted white marlin, successfully pitching live bait at four and releasing two boat side.
A year later a friend and I ventured south on our own in a 26-foot center console. We were 30 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard in the area known as the Dump when we came across a line of draggers working an east-to-west line. We fell in behind them, zig-zagging their wake, and proceeded to catch dozens of small bluefin tuna and had a mako shark eat one at boatside. We also caught a couple colorful and acrobatic mahi-mahi. What a day, I was hooked!
Fast forward 20 years: While I love and dream of canyon fishing, my second passion is making an easy day trip exploring the 25-fathom line 30 to 40 miles off the dock and
