7/02/12 by Corey Pietraszek
Well today was nothing short of “sporty” for sure. When you get the dock at 3:30 and the wind is already blowing 20 mph that’s never good. I thought about bagging it but figured why not at least try right? Mark and Chip showed up on time for a 4:30am start and they already saw I had the flaps up on the Contender so right away the indications was ROUGH and we were about to embark on a rugged journey. With the forecast I probably should have said no but these guys are salty and figured lets do it. We made the 45 minutes run across in some rugged conditions only to pull up the area which has been holding some solid fish to a town dump of birds and chaos. Screen is solid craziness and its GAME ON. Both Mark and Chip on the first cast are tight to the first fish of the day and smiles all around after the wild ride we just had getting here All the fish for the last 3 days have been in the middle range of 18”-25” but this one group of fish seemed larger. Both Mark and Chip the first light action which for the last week has been awesome but EARLY. We worked these schools for a good 2 hours before the sun got higher and the tide slowed some and everything died off completely in the deeper water. I mean we watched the screen go from absolutely wildness to nothing in the time span of 10 minutes. Well it’s now about 7am and the wind is cranking at15-20 mph WEST with some gust over 25 mph and we are the only boat around. Sea conditions are solid 3-5ft in open water due to the tide being outgoing and pushing right into the breeze. We milled around and got a few more fish but it just never came back together again.
We then decided to get in close and start working whatever we had for structure in the lee which might be holding fish. Mark and Chip worked hard in rugged conditions but managed a few decent sized bass to about 15lbs+ and a few BIG Bluefish in the mix. Overall these guys had a wonderful day of fishing and still can’t get over the “Deadliest Catch” kind of ride over earlier in the day and how well the boat handled it overall. You have to love the 23T Contender and how she treats the ocean while running in rougher conditions as a fishing guide…Awesome day overall considering what we had for wind and tide to fish in. Thanks guys and looking fwd to seeing you in the fall for the Albies!
