Gr8ful One
05-22-2006, 03:41 PM
Took Johnny and Vic aboard my "Bertha" for a late afternoon/evening clamming mission on 5-21.
Left the dock around 2:00 PM keeping our eyes on the somewhat threatening skies. Once around the hook, the skies got a little darker and the winds started to get stronger. :(
Anchored up for the outgoing, and we each missed a couple of fish right from the start. Made a slight wiggle and re-set the anchor, and it was Bedlam with all 3 of us hooking up to bass as soon as our baits hit bottom. :eek: :D
Shortly after catching and releasing the triple, the skies opened up and started dropping rain with winds that were gusting to 25 knots. However, we could see that the front was moving quickly with clearer skies behind it, so we decided to stick it out with the tide just starting to run a little heavier and the bass biting.
Once the front moved through, we had a brief period of about an hour when the sun came out, the winds layed down, and it was absolutely gorgeous without another boat in sight (what a difference from Saturday.) However, we all knew that this weather was going to be the brief "calm before the storm."
During the calm period, the bass really started biting well, and we were all hooking, landing, losing and missing fish on just about every drop to the bottom. It didn't matter whether we used fresh, one day old frozen, or week old brined clams, the fish ate them all. :D
Once our brief calm period was over, someone switched on the fan and the winds started blowing steady at 20 knots with gusts that felt like 25 - 30.
Fished through the slop, and we continued hooking and releasing bass with numerous doubles.
At the end of the day, I had 10 bass up to 17 pounds, Johnny had 8 bass up to 15 pounds, and Vic had 7 bass to 10 pounds. We also had a few blues including one bruiser I landed that was probably 10-11 pounds. All of the bass were clean and bright with no sores or marks. A few bass were still carrying sea lice on them, and a few appeared to still be gravid.
There were plenty of misses and popped hooks around the boat, and even a couple of snapped lines. (I snapped off one on 30 pound braid that felt like I had hooked onto an express train.)
We should have had a lot more fish, but Vic experienced some technical difficulties when he broke his rod early in the game, and he also took Johnny and I out of the game a few times when he tangled us up and we had to re-tie our rigs. We'll cut him some slack and blame it on the rough seas and high winds ... THIS TIME !!! ;) :rolleyes:
Headed back in through the slop as it was getting dark.
- Gr8ful
http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/17_Pound_Striper_5-21-06.jpg
http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/17_pounder_5-21-06_reduced_file.jpg
Left the dock around 2:00 PM keeping our eyes on the somewhat threatening skies. Once around the hook, the skies got a little darker and the winds started to get stronger. :(
Anchored up for the outgoing, and we each missed a couple of fish right from the start. Made a slight wiggle and re-set the anchor, and it was Bedlam with all 3 of us hooking up to bass as soon as our baits hit bottom. :eek: :D
Shortly after catching and releasing the triple, the skies opened up and started dropping rain with winds that were gusting to 25 knots. However, we could see that the front was moving quickly with clearer skies behind it, so we decided to stick it out with the tide just starting to run a little heavier and the bass biting.
Once the front moved through, we had a brief period of about an hour when the sun came out, the winds layed down, and it was absolutely gorgeous without another boat in sight (what a difference from Saturday.) However, we all knew that this weather was going to be the brief "calm before the storm."
During the calm period, the bass really started biting well, and we were all hooking, landing, losing and missing fish on just about every drop to the bottom. It didn't matter whether we used fresh, one day old frozen, or week old brined clams, the fish ate them all. :D
Once our brief calm period was over, someone switched on the fan and the winds started blowing steady at 20 knots with gusts that felt like 25 - 30.
Fished through the slop, and we continued hooking and releasing bass with numerous doubles.
At the end of the day, I had 10 bass up to 17 pounds, Johnny had 8 bass up to 15 pounds, and Vic had 7 bass to 10 pounds. We also had a few blues including one bruiser I landed that was probably 10-11 pounds. All of the bass were clean and bright with no sores or marks. A few bass were still carrying sea lice on them, and a few appeared to still be gravid.
There were plenty of misses and popped hooks around the boat, and even a couple of snapped lines. (I snapped off one on 30 pound braid that felt like I had hooked onto an express train.)
We should have had a lot more fish, but Vic experienced some technical difficulties when he broke his rod early in the game, and he also took Johnny and I out of the game a few times when he tangled us up and we had to re-tie our rigs. We'll cut him some slack and blame it on the rough seas and high winds ... THIS TIME !!! ;) :rolleyes:
Headed back in through the slop as it was getting dark.
- Gr8ful
http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/17_Pound_Striper_5-21-06.jpg
http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/17_pounder_5-21-06_reduced_file.jpg