posted by John on Jun 16
In an UDL, I fought wind, current and waves. I have busted lures, and I have almost broken line (it was making ting,ting ting noises), but today was another banner day. I cannot believe that I was only there with one other boat. At high slack tide, birds were working a patch of the ocean that every one knows. Stripers were jumping out of the water chasing confused bait. Another day of every cast on the fish resulted on a hook up.
Here is the set up. The brown birds were waiting on the surface or flying a foot or two above the water, and the large school of big striped bass were pushing bait up. The birds went nuts, and the fish were biting what I was throwing.
The fishing I have been experiencing takes a toll on the equipment. The mambo minnow lost it today. I removed the front treble, but the strain of boating about 20 fish Monday and a few today produced this. A nice fish was caught and boated, but during the hook removal the rear treble came out.
Today I decided to try the Sebile Magic swimmer. It is a slow sinker, but about 15 fish today broke one of the treble hooks and bent the other two.
Here is the last fish before I retired the sebile for the day and started taking pics. The fish was flopping on deck, I had to set a timer, and I could not get the lure secured and the fish in hand before it went off.
So after playing surface with the mambo minnow until it broke, and the sebile until it broke, I was about to head in. I decided to try one more cast with a bullethead jig and a 9″ sluggo. I tossed it out, let it sink to the bottom of the school, and started retrieving. The lure felt like it was getting pounded, I must have had 3-4 hits before the good hook set. As I use light tackle, the fight was intense. Many good runs later, and the fish was boated. The lure was pounded by blues before the base took it. Here is the jig, followed by the bass.
posted by John on Jun 14
After the morning chores, and cleaning the boat, I decided to test the new knots I tied. Fish caught, knots adjusted, hate what I tried.
The tide was moving fast. I slowed down to adjust my equipment and started marking fish. Threw a jig with a sluggo, and came up blue on the first cast. The first fish over the gunnel was a 30″, 8lb blue, mean as can be. I almost wanted to keep his butt just to make sure he did not destroy any more baits, but I was feeling merciful and he went back to the deep.
I was heading for ‘Damiens Pride’, but I spied a whole lot of Striped Bass pushing water and jumping for bait. I stopped and set up a drift right past them. I tried a green needlefish, and the bass just scattered. I tried a mackerel popper, same effect. The fish were moving slower than the drift, so I had to reset. I tried a mambo minnow, shallow dive, and blam! Every cast, a beefy bass. The two I measured were 40″ and 38″, one was really heavy. I caught 20-25 fish on the mambo minnow, I had to retie the leader twice, because the bass’s sandpaper lips where shredding the 50lb leader. Here are the best pics.
I had not planned to take a fish, but this one became dinner due to excessive bleeding. After this fish, I removed the center treble hook from the mambo minnow.
Nice Bass!
But wait! They get better.
And just when I thought I was catching the biggest bass out there. Look at this!
Wow!
posted by John on Jun 7
The 3rd Annual Vets Fish Ptown was a lot of fun. All participants know the value and sacrifice suffered that our service members have given to this country. We cannot thank them enough.
We almost left with no one aboard, but Joy Reis found JR and Pat, who wanted to do another trip, as the morning trip had the squall. The bay had laid down, and we were treated to a great trip. We went out to a lobster pot that I will call ‘Damien’s Pride and Mike’s Shame’, and another that I call “Last Night’s Starfish”. It is always tough fishing near pots, but that’s where the bigger fish hang. We got 3 keepers, one at 35″, 14.5 lbs., and a big blue. JR caught the big striper on 20 lb test line and 50 lb leader on LT and experience the excitement of a couple good runs. Pat caught a +30″ blue fish that kicked his butt, but he got in and we boated it. The bluefish almost got through the leader, another 30 seconds and it would have been gone. It was a great time for us and we had plenty of fish stories to tell at the party.
