Fish long enough and one gets to see just about everything, especially this time of year when multiple species of fin fish are using the local cod grounds as a highway and rest area before moving on to their winter homes. More about that later. First and foremost it was a very good day of fishing and catching. The weather was slightly spirited but it was very comfortable on the anchor. We did have the best showing of cod since one of the first trips of the season and it was NOT on Cox’s Ledge. The cod were a bit more spread out as well with a decent number of anglers having one or two to take home in addition to all the other stuff. There was however one angler who put on a memorable cod clinic in the starboard corner of the stern today, none other than longtime regular Mike Kwok who had 8 keepers including two fish in the low teens!! Mike also had 7 shorts and dropped a couple good ones. Mike was using smaller hooks baited with fresh squid and clam combination. On the last stop alone Mike put 5 keepers in the boat casting out and working the baited hooks back to the boat. This is an old school cod trick that does not work every day but when the stars align it can pay HUGE dividends. Anglers on either side had no keeper cod today. Everyday is different to some degree out there. Roger was casting and working the bait back all day and had no keeper cod either. Of the rest of the cod that were taken about fifty fifty split between being caught on high hooks a few feet above the sinker and lower hooks near the sinker indicating to this writer that the cod were moving around quite a bit and actively pursuing prey. Mike had the biggest cod in the low teens but there were a handful of other gadids around ten pounds on board with the rest nice keepers. A nice mix of dark and green fish today but definitely more greener fish today than in quite some time. A jig may not have been a bad idea but no one tried, mostly due to the presence of slammer size blue fish that made cameos throughout the trip. Quite a few short cod today as well including some really small “cigar” fish. A good number of good size sea bass today with a decent number of the anglers aboard limiting and others who only had a couple. A few handfuls of big biscuits over 4lbs with the best approaching the 5 lb mark. Quite a few nice size porgies today but no real monsters. plenty of nice keepers to 1.5 lbs and those with small hooks racked up some impressive numbers with hi hook Mike Kwok boxing a full limit (45 keepers) of nice scup. A couple of other anglers had fifteen to 20 nice scup apiece. A handful of beautiful sea flounders to 3 lbs, some very good size ocean perch, one ling and three fluke. For the fluke one angler had all three on a store bought cod rig baited with clams!! Maurice from Rockland NY was the fortunate fisher who boxed all three summer flatfish but what makes this feat all the more extraordinary was that Maurice got two of the fluke as a double header!! The combined weight of this double header was close to 20 lbs!! One fluke was easily 10 lbs or more with the other fish just behind around 8 lbs. Witnessing this on the boat was a FIRST for ALL OF US!! Both doormat fluke were gaffed by Chris L and Chris P. Great job gentlemen! A bunch of pictures including the double header Maurice caught are provided courtesy of Roger. Unfortunately due to the weather there is no cod fishing tomorrow however we are hopeful for Monday.
JUST ONE BOAT FOR SUNDAY OCTOBER 25TH DUE TO THE WEATHER…THE BOAT IS THE LADY FRANCES FOR TATOUG LEAVING AT APPROX 630 AM.
The report from Capt. Mike from the Lady Frances was of a respectable day of togging. There was one limit catch and the pool fish was easily ten pounds. A fair amount of other nice size tog in the 5 to 8 lb range today as well. A handful of other anglers had several tog apiece to take home. Quite a few short tog as well. One or two keeper cod and a couple throwback cod today along with a lot of throwback and a decent number of keeper sea bass. Some pictures today showcasing angler hi lights provided by longtime regular customer Ginny Reed. As stated earlier next tog trip will set sail tomorrow morning at 6:30 am aboard the Lady Frances with Capt. Mike.
Roger