Early season canyon fishing
By Capts. Cody and R.J. Melton
(Originally published Jan/Feb 2017)
The first eddy of the year, and it’s time to go! Time to go do what you have been dreaming of, preparing for, and thinking of the past five months. It’s that time of year to be the first boat back to the dock with some tuna, signaling the start of a new year on the edge. Maybe it’s late April, mid-May, or early June, but you know that eddy is going to come, and chances are the start of the 2017 offshore season will be coming with it.
Canyon fishing during the early part of the season can be some of the most exciting time you spend on the water all year, and in all honesty, it is our crew’s favorite time of the year to be out there. During the early season, pockets of Gulf Stream water will push into our local canyons, often carrying concentrated schools of gamefish and predators. The tuna that are generally caught in these pockets or eddies of water are school-sized yellowfins 30 to 50 pounds. Five or six fish hooked up at a time is the norm, not the exception, during this time of year.
Starting in mid-April, we will keep a close eye on the movements of the Gulf waters. As they start pushing up and in from offshore, certain areas of the stream will
