Gr8ful Fish
11-09-2008, 08:55 PM
Fished aboard my "Bertha" with Byte Me, Mike P. and Al on Sunday, 11/9.
Started out trying to jig under minimal birdplay just at the end of the Sandy Hook Channel. Mike landed one short bass along with a bluefish while I was "munched off" by a couple of bluefish. Despite relatively good marks, we just couldn't get the fish to bite.
After the birdplay dropped out completely, we headed to the reef to try some bottom fishing. Unfortunately, my crab supply was low, and the clams were only attracting ravenous bergalls. :( Ended at the reef with only a few toy togs for Johhny and I along with a medium-sized keeper for Mike that he released. I also managed to box two keeper porgies on my top clam baits.
After using the few crabs we had and losing the wreck anchor that I had for the last 5 years :(, we picked up and decided to head North looking for bass.
Trolled up a handful of 9-12 lbs. blues on a pair of stretch plugs from the reef to the highlands bridge. Around the highlands bridge, Mike caught a huge 12+ lbs. bluefish that I left the wheel to help land. Unfortunately, while I was away from the wheel Johhnny allowed the boat to blow back over the other plug line. The prop immediately wrapped up 100+ yds. of braid before he could shut her down. :eek: Fortunately, I was able to unwrap all the braid without any of it getting into the lower unit seals. After that fiasco, I had enough of the trolling, so we pulled the trolling gear and decided to go on the hunt for birds. :thumbsup:
Ran through some brutally rough conditions till we finally spottted some birds just off the shoreline of Rockaway Beach. Once we got on the birds/fish, we had a brief flurry of action before some inconsiderate trollers joined us and started putting down the fish by running through the middle of them every time they would assemble. :mad:
Fortunately, we were able to catch a few fish from each school before the trolling idiots in the area would ruin the action. :huh:We were nailing both blues and bass from under the birds. Mike even managed to catch and release a bird from among the melee. :rolleyes:
As the day got later, the majority of the fish switched from blues to bass, and we had really good shots at the bass as the sun was setting all the way from Rockaway to Romer Shoal. :cool:
Ended the day with 17 bass total and other 2 dozen blues. I had 9 bass, Johnny and Al each had 3 while Mike had 2. other than the blues we trolled, all of our fish came on AVA 47's and spoons.
Brutal winds and bright clear skies, but we still managed to put a decent catch together.
- Gr8ful
Started out trying to jig under minimal birdplay just at the end of the Sandy Hook Channel. Mike landed one short bass along with a bluefish while I was "munched off" by a couple of bluefish. Despite relatively good marks, we just couldn't get the fish to bite.
After the birdplay dropped out completely, we headed to the reef to try some bottom fishing. Unfortunately, my crab supply was low, and the clams were only attracting ravenous bergalls. :( Ended at the reef with only a few toy togs for Johhny and I along with a medium-sized keeper for Mike that he released. I also managed to box two keeper porgies on my top clam baits.
After using the few crabs we had and losing the wreck anchor that I had for the last 5 years :(, we picked up and decided to head North looking for bass.
Trolled up a handful of 9-12 lbs. blues on a pair of stretch plugs from the reef to the highlands bridge. Around the highlands bridge, Mike caught a huge 12+ lbs. bluefish that I left the wheel to help land. Unfortunately, while I was away from the wheel Johhnny allowed the boat to blow back over the other plug line. The prop immediately wrapped up 100+ yds. of braid before he could shut her down. :eek: Fortunately, I was able to unwrap all the braid without any of it getting into the lower unit seals. After that fiasco, I had enough of the trolling, so we pulled the trolling gear and decided to go on the hunt for birds. :thumbsup:
Ran through some brutally rough conditions till we finally spottted some birds just off the shoreline of Rockaway Beach. Once we got on the birds/fish, we had a brief flurry of action before some inconsiderate trollers joined us and started putting down the fish by running through the middle of them every time they would assemble. :mad:
Fortunately, we were able to catch a few fish from each school before the trolling idiots in the area would ruin the action. :huh:We were nailing both blues and bass from under the birds. Mike even managed to catch and release a bird from among the melee. :rolleyes:
As the day got later, the majority of the fish switched from blues to bass, and we had really good shots at the bass as the sun was setting all the way from Rockaway to Romer Shoal. :cool:
Ended the day with 17 bass total and other 2 dozen blues. I had 9 bass, Johnny and Al each had 3 while Mike had 2. other than the blues we trolled, all of our fish came on AVA 47's and spoons.
Brutal winds and bright clear skies, but we still managed to put a decent catch together.
- Gr8ful