fdemt26
11-02-2006, 02:30 PM
this is out of the gloucester county times, dont know if anyone knew about it but here ya go....... and trying to find the picture online or pick up todays paper its in there - BIG MOMMA!!
Local duo lands the big one
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Last Friday, Billy Mills of Barnsboro and Phil Juhring of Mullica Hill decided to give striper fishing one more chance before the predicted wind that went on to ruin the weekend. They decided on Cape May and on the way down picked up some fresh bunker at the Girl's Place in Port Elizabeth. They arrived at the Public Ramp in Cape May about 10 a.m. and proceeded to launch Mills' 21-foot, Walkaround Century craft, fully unaware of the exciting day they would experience.
After the boat slid into the water, they proceeded to head down the Cape May Canal until it opened up into the Delaware Bay. At that point they headed west until they were approximately four miles west of the Ferry Slip. Still on the Jersey side of the bay the depth finder recorded 35 feet of water, in a location referred to on some charts by a name hardly fit for use in a family publication. At this point they anchored up.
"There were quite a few boats there, as there was a striper contest out of Cape May going on," noted Mills.
They baited up with bunker, with Mills using a whole fish.
"It was a whole bunker with a little cut off its tail, but for all purposes a whole bunker," explained Mills.
At that time they had four rods overboard. The outfit that was to be the fortunate one was Mills, and consisted of a Penn Long Beach conventional rod outfitted with a Penn 320 GTi reel spooled with a 30-pound monofilament with a Gamataksu Octopus 9/0 hook on the business end.
They waited for about one hour, at which time things were extremely quiet as there were no skates or spiney dogfish to attack the bait.
Finally, the much hoped for run-off began. Mills' line tore off his reel but he was able to slow down and stop the bass before it spooled him.
"After that it was just a matter of some short runs and fighting the fish against the current," Mills said.
Actually it was only 10 minutes before he had the bass to the side of the boat and in the net, which was handled expertly by Juhring.
"I was really surprised how short a time it took to lick this monster," Mills said. "The next trip I had a bass of 36 pounds put up a much better fight.
"Some years ago down in Virginia I had a big cobia about the same weight give me a fight that lasted over one hour, plus the fact that it spooled me and we had to chase it in the boat."
When they got the fish in the boat it became obvious that it was a real monster. They fished for another hour or so, but failed to connect with another fish despite a couple of run-offs. They decided to take the fish to Jim's Bait and Tackle in Cape May, where Matt weighed it in at a whopping 61 1/2 pounds. It's length was 54 3/4 inches and it's girth was 31 inches.
The amazing part of this striper was its girth. It appeared to have eaten at least a bushel of bunker before having dessert with Mills' offering. This fish more closely resembled those big cows that arrive in the spring, filled out with pounds of eggs in their bellies.
Currently the bass is back in the freezer waiting for the word from Mills as to which taxidermist will be doing the restoration. Mills is undecided as to whether it will be a "skin" job or a fiberglass reproduction. Both have their plusses and minuses. Regardless, it is going to cost a pretty penny, with Mills telling me that it will cost from $770 to even more.
"I did get the OK from the wife to go ahead and spend the money," said Mills. "I know this is the biggest striper I will ever get so I'm going to have this fish to look at for years to come."
You can bet that Mills will be out on Delaware Bay other times this season.
"I will be out as many more times as the weather and finances permit," noted Mills.
Elsewhere on Delaware Bay the party and charter boats are finding that the results are almost the same as they were prior to the weekend's blowout. Capt. Joe Ronketty of the Bonanza II out of Fortescue tells me that they are still boating a lot of throwbacks, but only a keeper once in a while. Hopefully some of the larger fish will be making their way up the bay and make the month of November a profitable one.
Ralph Knisell is the outdoors writer for Today's Sunbeam. His column appears on Thursday.
Local duo lands the big one
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Last Friday, Billy Mills of Barnsboro and Phil Juhring of Mullica Hill decided to give striper fishing one more chance before the predicted wind that went on to ruin the weekend. They decided on Cape May and on the way down picked up some fresh bunker at the Girl's Place in Port Elizabeth. They arrived at the Public Ramp in Cape May about 10 a.m. and proceeded to launch Mills' 21-foot, Walkaround Century craft, fully unaware of the exciting day they would experience.
After the boat slid into the water, they proceeded to head down the Cape May Canal until it opened up into the Delaware Bay. At that point they headed west until they were approximately four miles west of the Ferry Slip. Still on the Jersey side of the bay the depth finder recorded 35 feet of water, in a location referred to on some charts by a name hardly fit for use in a family publication. At this point they anchored up.
"There were quite a few boats there, as there was a striper contest out of Cape May going on," noted Mills.
They baited up with bunker, with Mills using a whole fish.
"It was a whole bunker with a little cut off its tail, but for all purposes a whole bunker," explained Mills.
At that time they had four rods overboard. The outfit that was to be the fortunate one was Mills, and consisted of a Penn Long Beach conventional rod outfitted with a Penn 320 GTi reel spooled with a 30-pound monofilament with a Gamataksu Octopus 9/0 hook on the business end.
They waited for about one hour, at which time things were extremely quiet as there were no skates or spiney dogfish to attack the bait.
Finally, the much hoped for run-off began. Mills' line tore off his reel but he was able to slow down and stop the bass before it spooled him.
"After that it was just a matter of some short runs and fighting the fish against the current," Mills said.
Actually it was only 10 minutes before he had the bass to the side of the boat and in the net, which was handled expertly by Juhring.
"I was really surprised how short a time it took to lick this monster," Mills said. "The next trip I had a bass of 36 pounds put up a much better fight.
"Some years ago down in Virginia I had a big cobia about the same weight give me a fight that lasted over one hour, plus the fact that it spooled me and we had to chase it in the boat."
When they got the fish in the boat it became obvious that it was a real monster. They fished for another hour or so, but failed to connect with another fish despite a couple of run-offs. They decided to take the fish to Jim's Bait and Tackle in Cape May, where Matt weighed it in at a whopping 61 1/2 pounds. It's length was 54 3/4 inches and it's girth was 31 inches.
The amazing part of this striper was its girth. It appeared to have eaten at least a bushel of bunker before having dessert with Mills' offering. This fish more closely resembled those big cows that arrive in the spring, filled out with pounds of eggs in their bellies.
Currently the bass is back in the freezer waiting for the word from Mills as to which taxidermist will be doing the restoration. Mills is undecided as to whether it will be a "skin" job or a fiberglass reproduction. Both have their plusses and minuses. Regardless, it is going to cost a pretty penny, with Mills telling me that it will cost from $770 to even more.
"I did get the OK from the wife to go ahead and spend the money," said Mills. "I know this is the biggest striper I will ever get so I'm going to have this fish to look at for years to come."
You can bet that Mills will be out on Delaware Bay other times this season.
"I will be out as many more times as the weather and finances permit," noted Mills.
Elsewhere on Delaware Bay the party and charter boats are finding that the results are almost the same as they were prior to the weekend's blowout. Capt. Joe Ronketty of the Bonanza II out of Fortescue tells me that they are still boating a lot of throwbacks, but only a keeper once in a while. Hopefully some of the larger fish will be making their way up the bay and make the month of November a profitable one.
Ralph Knisell is the outdoors writer for Today's Sunbeam. His column appears on Thursday.