While I am sure that many Fleming 55’s have a rod holder or two installed for occasional fishing from the spacious cockpit, there probably aren’t too many that have 5 rod holders and outriggers for more serious fishing.  One of Kairos’s previous owners was a fisherman in his 80’s who used the 55 as a fishing platform in The Bahamas and South Florida.  This left us with a boat partially outfitted for fishing.

During our cruise north from Burr Yacht Sales this Spring our crew noted how Kairos may be a good platform to try some tuna fishing.  Ray Rondeau, a long time friend and avid fisherman (with all the necessary gear) eagerly accepted my proposal to try our hand at fishing with my three sons, Ryan, Jesse and Mike. We tried to make plans throughout late September into October but poor weather with a series of hurricanes hampered our plans.  Finally this past weekend we had a perfect weather window to head out towards The Canyons, about 100 miles off shore where the Gulf Stream creates eddies of warm water in the northern cooler water along the continental shelf.

Ray had done the necessary research and mapped out an area known as Fish Tails, just north of Block Canyon as a potential spot to try our luck.  He arrived early Friday afternoon to begin outfitting Kairos with all the necessary tuna fishing gear.  Jesse took care of picking up the bait and after loading 300 lbs of ice into the chest coolers on the foredeck Kairos was ready to go.

We began the trip after a predeparture dinner of teriyaki wings and sous vide BBQ baby-back ribs with a briefing of the planned trip.  After mapping out our route and entering the course in the chart-plotting software we departed Wickford in a night shrouded in total darkness except for the navigation lighting and the few lights along the western shore of Narragansett Bay

Along the way, with Jesse first on the foredeck lookout then Ryan to follow, we were accompanied by numerous dolphins illuminated as ghosts by the bioluminescence created with the disruption in the water by their swimming just below the surface. We also picked up a hitch-hiker…a finch which we named Travis…who traveled with us as a constant companion from somewhere East of Block Island until we passed Point Judith on our return trip.

Below are some pics from this great adventure.

As daylight approached Saturday morning, Ray prepared the gear for trolling for
Tuna.

We slowed our trolling a few times for opportunities for Mahi fishing using spin-casting near “high fliers”, the radar-visible buoys for strings of deep lobster pots scattered as we approached the continental shelf where the water depth drops from around 500 ft to up to several thousand feet.  For the rest of the day we had no further hits trolling.

With the arrival of night fall we set up for drift chunking.  Mike expertly cut up the butterfish into small chunks that were then tossed overboard, one chunk at a time to create a continuous trail for the bigger fish to follow as we drifted 15 miles during the night.  Overnight we had no success however there was a big strike on one of the lines shortly after sunrise Sunday morning.  Jesse was able to reel in a 5 ft Blue Shark which we released from the swim platform.   After that excitement we found that the water temperature had continued to drop necessitating that we abort the chunk trail and begin trolling again, looking for warmer water.

Jesse did have the opportunity Saturday evening to free up some tackle which he had inadvertently wrapped around the starboard stabilizer fin during a reversing maneuver while trying to position for some Mahi fishing…swimming atop the continental shelf in 63F water. Fortunately the seas were flat and we had a well-fitting 5mm wetsuit.

Later in the morning we had another big strike on one of the squid lines.  This was a big fish, taking much of the line off the spool.  The crew was able to land this catch, a magnificent 46″ Yellow Fin tuna.  We continued to troll along the shelf for a couple of more hours but then needed to head north to get back home to the real world.

Will there be more?

The trip home was uneventful, trolling for a good part of it then cruising at 12 knots for the last couple of hours before darkness fell upon us mandating that we slow our cruise for safety.

After taking a few pictures with our catch the crew cleaned up Kairos back to her pre-fishing state and dismantled the added fishing gear to get her back to her usual cruising configuration.  The crew is hoping that their cleanup will meet The Admiral’s approval so that another trip may be planned in the future.

Kairos Tracking with Delorme

Special thanks to Ray for bringing all the gear and sharing his fishing expertise, and to Ryan, Jesse, and Mike…the best sons a father could ask for.

Peter