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Well everyone told me what a great charter boat the Morning Star is...and fortunately, it lived up to its name and hype for me yesterday!
I prepared the night before by making myself a huge SAMwich to last me the entire trip....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../fish003-1.jpg
Salami, bologna, pepperoni & cheese...yumm yumm! I cut that bad boy into 5 pieces and was good to go.
I hit the road at 2am after not getting to bed till around 11pm thanks to my daughter. But I was excited to be doing some boat fishing, so the adrenaline made the drive doable. I set the cruise control at 8 over, and eased on down the road. I got there early, as did another guy. We chatted at the dock for a bit.
The boat was scheduled to depart at 6am. We were all there early (instructed to arrive at 5:30am), so Monty headed out 15 minutes early to get a jump on the trip to the wreck sites. The ride to the location was about 3 hrs. I hate that part...it feels like an ETERNITY getting there. Good thing I stopped for dramamine in Easton. Around 9am, Capt Monty was getting the boat anchored up atop location #1. Bombs away!
People immediately began catching fish. Good sign. Small black sea bass began coming over the rail. Along with the sea bass were a bunch of bait-stealing cunner fish (aka strawberry bergall). I was getting hits, but I missed my first few. After a few minutes, I began catching. I can't remember how long it was, but it wasn't before long till I had a keeper in the cooler. This first spot was a great location for me, as I was pulling out some decent sized sea bass. Unfortunately we had to move, because there was a lobster boat working the area right where we were. The big ass ocean, and it wasn't enough room for two boats. Monty took us to another spot not far from there. People were catching, but the rate was much slower.
A big spark of excitement came when a dolphin fish swam by on the prowl. This thing was BEAUTIFUL!! One of the mates threw an artificial at it, and the fight was on! This was exciting to see. The mahi jumped numerous times, and did a couple of tail walks. And this was just a baby, at around 26". I can't imagine what a big one would be like. Monty tagged the fish, and returned him to the water. After a while, we went back to our first wreck location. And again, the bite was on!
After a while, my left forearm cramped up severely from reeling in fish. I've never experienced this. The cramp was so severe that my middle finger was pinned to my palm....all while trying to reel in a fish. I had the mate help me land the keeper bass, while I stretched out my finger and forearm. I think I was getting dehydrated. Its so much excitement out there, I never really felt thirsty. I was sipping gatorade every now and then, but maybe it wasnt enough.
The other side of the boat was catching quite a few cod as well. The short ones were tagged & released. There were a few keepers. I was hoping to catch one. I was consistently outcatching the guys on my side of the boat when it came to keeper bass. I was watching them fish, and I came to a few conclusions. First was the bait..we were all using clams. On the ride out in my conversations with one of the mates, they stressed to me how important fresh bait was. The clam has two parts...the foot, then the soft gut-like part. The soft part is what the fish want. I used the foot to hold the clam on the hook, and I positioned the gut part near the point of the hook. If the gut part was stolen by small fish, the entire clam was tossed and rebaited with fresh bait. I saw some guys sending hooks down with just the clam foot. Not gonna cut it. I also noticed some guys using one clam at a time. Thats great...for the smaller boys. I loaded the hooks with 3 and sometimes 4 clams. A meal fit for the hog bass.
Speaking of hooks, one guy next to me was using circle hooks. At first tap, he would try to set the hook. He missed a LOT of fish. What worked for me was after feeling the initial tap, I'd slowly raise my rod tip. THUNK!! This often resulted with my rod tip pointing straight down to the ocean. SAMwich on! I'm not sure if I would've been trying to set the hook so hard with circle hooks. It took a few misses for me to get adjusted to how the sea bass were biting. After while, I was missing less and less. There was definitely some strategy involved with this bottom fishing. Luckily I was able to kinda figure things out. I offered my advice about ignoring the first tap and slowly coaxing the bite before setting the hook, my advice was rejected with "nah that don't work!" One guy next to me ended with 3 or 4 black sea bass, the other guy ended with 2 bass, a keeper tog, and a couple of strawberry bergall.
After the bite slowed down at this spot, we went to yet another spot. Monty worked to keep us on the fish. After a couple of drops and re-baits, I got a MONSTER hit. I thought it was a double header. Turned out to be on HOG of a sea bass. This fish looked like a damn dinosaur! Huge fins, pretty blue coloration...man oh man. As I boated the fish, he spit out two little crabs. The expanding swim bladder pushed them out. Guess what I baited one of my hooks with? yep. As SOON as my bait reached bottom...WHAM!! My bottom rig was absoltuely SLAMMED! I knew this wasnt a sea bass. It turned out to be a keeper cod!! That thing hit like a damn freight train. It hit the clam though...I thought something would hit the crabs. I was so happy to get a keeper cod. It was just under 24"! Before headed back Monty stopped ant another location to try to get us more fish...this was depite it being time for us to head back. We left the dock early, and returned to the dock late. That speaks volumes for this operation. Oh yeah, it was only like 14 of us on the boat fishing!
I ended the day with 11 black sea bass, 1 cod, 3 cunners, and 1 ling.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...te/fish012.jpg
Look at this HOG!
The sponge is there for frame of reference. This is next to a 24" cod.
I totally forgot that when the boat launched, I entered the pool for the biggest fish. My HOG won the pool, a nice purse of $75!!! My cod was not the biggest though...would've been cool if I won both pools. Biggest cod was 26". (biggest fish pools are done by weight, but I remember the cod's being measured when caught to ensure legality) On the return trip, I watch the mates fillet everyone's catch. I took note of their technique, and replicated it later that night when I got home. Here are some pics, since mytmouse always likes to give me $hit for my knife skills...lol
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...te/fish007.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...te/fish004.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...te/fish006.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...te/fish013.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...te/fish009.jpg
Tonight we're having beer battered cod for fish & chips. I vacuum sealed the sea bass fillets.
When we got back to the dock, the guy from "Coastal Fisherman" magazine was there to take my picture. I'll be on the lookout for that.
I prepared the night before by making myself a huge SAMwich to last me the entire trip....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../fish003-1.jpg
Salami, bologna, pepperoni & cheese...yumm yumm! I cut that bad boy into 5 pieces and was good to go.
I hit the road at 2am after not getting to bed till around 11pm thanks to my daughter. But I was excited to be doing some boat fishing, so the adrenaline made the drive doable. I set the cruise control at 8 over, and eased on down the road. I got there early, as did another guy. We chatted at the dock for a bit.
The boat was scheduled to depart at 6am. We were all there early (instructed to arrive at 5:30am), so Monty headed out 15 minutes early to get a jump on the trip to the wreck sites. The ride to the location was about 3 hrs. I hate that part...it feels like an ETERNITY getting there. Good thing I stopped for dramamine in Easton. Around 9am, Capt Monty was getting the boat anchored up atop location #1. Bombs away!
People immediately began catching fish. Good sign. Small black sea bass began coming over the rail. Along with the sea bass were a bunch of bait-stealing cunner fish (aka strawberry bergall). I was getting hits, but I missed my first few. After a few minutes, I began catching. I can't remember how long it was, but it wasn't before long till I had a keeper in the cooler. This first spot was a great location for me, as I was pulling out some decent sized sea bass. Unfortunately we had to move, because there was a lobster boat working the area right where we were. The big ass ocean, and it wasn't enough room for two boats. Monty took us to another spot not far from there. People were catching, but the rate was much slower.
A big spark of excitement came when a dolphin fish swam by on the prowl. This thing was BEAUTIFUL!! One of the mates threw an artificial at it, and the fight was on! This was exciting to see. The mahi jumped numerous times, and did a couple of tail walks. And this was just a baby, at around 26". I can't imagine what a big one would be like. Monty tagged the fish, and returned him to the water. After a while, we went back to our first wreck location. And again, the bite was on!
After a while, my left forearm cramped up severely from reeling in fish. I've never experienced this. The cramp was so severe that my middle finger was pinned to my palm....all while trying to reel in a fish. I had the mate help me land the keeper bass, while I stretched out my finger and forearm. I think I was getting dehydrated. Its so much excitement out there, I never really felt thirsty. I was sipping gatorade every now and then, but maybe it wasnt enough.
The other side of the boat was catching quite a few cod as well. The short ones were tagged & released. There were a few keepers. I was hoping to catch one. I was consistently outcatching the guys on my side of the boat when it came to keeper bass. I was watching them fish, and I came to a few conclusions. First was the bait..we were all using clams. On the ride out in my conversations with one of the mates, they stressed to me how important fresh bait was. The clam has two parts...the foot, then the soft gut-like part. The soft part is what the fish want. I used the foot to hold the clam on the hook, and I positioned the gut part near the point of the hook. If the gut part was stolen by small fish, the entire clam was tossed and rebaited with fresh bait. I saw some guys sending hooks down with just the clam foot. Not gonna cut it. I also noticed some guys using one clam at a time. Thats great...for the smaller boys. I loaded the hooks with 3 and sometimes 4 clams. A meal fit for the hog bass.
Speaking of hooks, one guy next to me was using circle hooks. At first tap, he would try to set the hook. He missed a LOT of fish. What worked for me was after feeling the initial tap, I'd slowly raise my rod tip. THUNK!! This often resulted with my rod tip pointing straight down to the ocean. SAMwich on! I'm not sure if I would've been trying to set the hook so hard with circle hooks. It took a few misses for me to get adjusted to how the sea bass were biting. After while, I was missing less and less. There was definitely some strategy involved with this bottom fishing. Luckily I was able to kinda figure things out. I offered my advice about ignoring the first tap and slowly coaxing the bite before setting the hook, my advice was rejected with "nah that don't work!" One guy next to me ended with 3 or 4 black sea bass, the other guy ended with 2 bass, a keeper tog, and a couple of strawberry bergall.
After the bite slowed down at this spot, we went to yet another spot. Monty worked to keep us on the fish. After a couple of drops and re-baits, I got a MONSTER hit. I thought it was a double header. Turned out to be on HOG of a sea bass. This fish looked like a damn dinosaur! Huge fins, pretty blue coloration...man oh man. As I boated the fish, he spit out two little crabs. The expanding swim bladder pushed them out. Guess what I baited one of my hooks with? yep. As SOON as my bait reached bottom...WHAM!! My bottom rig was absoltuely SLAMMED! I knew this wasnt a sea bass. It turned out to be a keeper cod!! That thing hit like a damn freight train. It hit the clam though...I thought something would hit the crabs. I was so happy to get a keeper cod. It was just under 24"! Before headed back Monty stopped ant another location to try to get us more fish...this was depite it being time for us to head back. We left the dock early, and returned to the dock late. That speaks volumes for this operation. Oh yeah, it was only like 14 of us on the boat fishing!
I ended the day with 11 black sea bass, 1 cod, 3 cunners, and 1 ling.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...te/fish012.jpg
Look at this HOG!
The sponge is there for frame of reference. This is next to a 24" cod.
I totally forgot that when the boat launched, I entered the pool for the biggest fish. My HOG won the pool, a nice purse of $75!!! My cod was not the biggest though...would've been cool if I won both pools. Biggest cod was 26". (biggest fish pools are done by weight, but I remember the cod's being measured when caught to ensure legality) On the return trip, I watch the mates fillet everyone's catch. I took note of their technique, and replicated it later that night when I got home. Here are some pics, since mytmouse always likes to give me $hit for my knife skills...lol
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...te/fish007.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...te/fish004.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...te/fish006.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...te/fish013.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...te/fish009.jpg
Tonight we're having beer battered cod for fish & chips. I vacuum sealed the sea bass fillets.
When we got back to the dock, the guy from "Coastal Fisherman" magazine was there to take my picture. I'll be on the lookout for that.
moc told me he wet on a 12 hour trip last friday on one of the HB in OC and it was real slow and the current was running hard had to use 16oz and still hard to hold bottom. been there
good eating!
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