Bottom fishing - Pics and stories

[storminsteve]

Who fishes alot for seabass or blackfish here?

[VSdreams]

My uncle has a boat and we have done well at sea girt reef. Best for tog in november.

[gjb1969]

I WANT TO GO I HOPE THINGS DONT COME UP:fishing:

[bababooey]

Best tasting fish in the sea.

[DarkSkies]

Island Current cod trip 2/24/11

Mick posted the report in this thread. We had a great trip up there.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?7526-Cod-Round-Up-2-24-2011-Island-Current-Report


I thought I would post some of the highlights and stories here as well.



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Railed boats and crowds - the tightest I've ever seen


I wish some of you guys could have seen this. The pics do not do it justice. The 3rd drop, as Mick said, we fished an area the size of a football field. A shoal. Might have been Cox's ledge, I'm not sure.13230


What I am sure of is we were so close to the other boats drifting this piece you could smell what anti-perspirant the guys on the other boats were wearing. :laugh: That's a little too close for me. 13229


At times we were no more than 25 feet from another boat, and then the Capts had to re-adjust so they didn't collide. I think last year, one boat crunched into another up there. At the time I read that, I didn't know any better and thought that was a pretty stupid thing. But after being up there and seeing how they work together, you get an appreciation of the skillfullness of each Captain. :thumbsup: We were so close it's amazing we didn't collide on every drift.

And imagine, if you will, a football-field sized piece of water, with 12 big boats drifting the same piece, all keeping their place within that piece.

The video shows it a lot better. I'll post that when I get a chance.

[DarkSkies]

Pool winning fish - around 13#

This is Greg. 13235


He got the pool winner early in the night, around 13#. He gave me the head and rack, which I used to make codfishhead soup. More on that in another thread.
Nice to meet ya, Greg, and thanks! :HappyWave:

[DarkSkies]

Fast Eddie the Miracle Man!

He's been in and out of hospitals 60 times since 1996! He got discharged from his latest hospital visit 3 weeks before he came out with us that night.

He's been to death's door and back again many times, and he always manages to pull through. He was an inspiration to us and others on board. We became fast friends as he told me stories of growing up fishing and his daily commutes from the Bronx to Two Guys in NJ, one of the places he worked.

He's a regular on the IC and Celtic Quest trips. He and his buddies had IC hats and hoodies. Hardcore rail yams, they are, with some great stories to tell of last year's fishin for all species.

Great meetin ya, Eddie, and God bless. :HappyWave:

Here he is with one of the cod that were caught earlier in the night. WTG. :thumbsup:





http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=13246&d=1299130869&thumb=1 (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=13246&d=1299130869)


http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=13247&d=1299130872&thumb=1 (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=13247&d=1299130872)

[DarkSkies]

This is what they were feeding on, herring about 4-6".


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[DarkSkies]

13252Cod in the cooler...


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[DarkSkies]

We heard some sad stories of guys from other countries who come on there regularly, have the mates cut up a couple dozen fish for them, and can't be bothered to throw a few dollars their way. We found the IC crew to be all hard-working guys, and they deserved every dollar they made on that trip.... Capt James, Mike, Tommy, Chris, Shaun, and another guy, they all worked their azzes off to make sure we had a great trip.

:clapping::clapping: to them all, here Mike fillets one of hundreds of cod that trip.

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[dogfish]

Good stories. Liked the one about fasteddie. Fish on, brother.:thumbsup: :clapping:

[DarkSkies]

Fast Eddie is a character, Dogfish. full of great stories. :fishing:





Some pics of the Voyager (Point pleasant) trip last week of Feb. Sent in by Finchaser, thanks!


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[DarkSkies]

Some pics of the Gambler (NJ) trip, Feb 26. Sent in by Finchaser, thanks!


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[mick2360]

Wouldn't mind a Voyager cod trip before the season winds down. What did the pollack in the pics above hit....a spoon, I'm hoping! Nice cod.^^^^

[finchaser]

Wouldn't mind a Voyager cod trip before the season winds down. What did the pollack in the pics above hit....a spoon, I'm hoping! Nice cod.^^^^


the 2 big fish in bottom pictures were on hammered diamond jig and teaser rig pollock was 32 and cod was 28#

[DarkSkies]

That place is beautiful....:drool:


http://www.vimeo.com/21027112



http://vimeo.com/21027198

[DarkSkies]

Drifting within 20' of the boat next to you....Insane stuff, unless you have been in the middle of it.


http://vimeo.com/21027554

[mick2360]

Great time that night, Dark.....cold as it could get but a great bunch of guys. Your video almost does it justice; those boats were close!!!

[DarkSkies]

Closest I've ever been on a party boat to another boat, Mick. I now understand how those boats crunched into each other last year.


Some pics of the NJ bite, the Ocean Explorer.
Sent in by Finchaser, I think some guys he knows went on that trip. .

[mick2360]

Keep posting those pics, Dark. I think I feel a sick day coming on......

[skinner]

Yeah this cod bite seems like it will never end, with even the NJ boats jumping in. On one hand you want the water to get warmer so the bass action will heat up. OTOH, as that does happen the cod will more further north. I have some buddies who have been out and said this is the best action in years, even though there are a lot of market sized cod.

[surferman]

Togzilla!

This guy got one yesterday in Ocean City, MD
Boat: Morning Star
Capt: Capt Monty
Weight:
18.64lbs, what a slob!!!:clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

And get this, it wasn't even the pool winner! A 19lb was caught as well!:bigeyes:

[williehookem]

big ling and porgies
I found these pics on the boat's website
ling was 8lbs, I think the guy applied to igfa for a record


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the porgy was huge, from riptide western sound

[porgy75]

Holy molly those are some nice fish!

[baitstealer]

:eek:That is the biggest porgy I have ever seen, it must weigh 5lbs.

[skinner]

Nice cod.

[gjb1969]

THE BOTTOM FISH ARE CALLING ME:viking::bigeyes:

[surfstix1963]

That must be like pulling a volkswagon out of a wreck
Togzilla!

This guy got one yesterday in Ocean City, MD
Boat: Morning Star
Capt: Capt Monty
Weight:
18.64lbs, what a slob!!!:clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

And get this, it wasn't even the pool winner! A 19lb was caught as well!:bigeyes:

[DarkSkies]

Mr friend Andy has been out with a friend crushing the blackfish lately....WTG, bro! :clapping:


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11.5 lbs



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Around 7lbs.

[DarkSkies]

Met this guy while scouting LBI. He just nailed this nice keeper on a whole green crab. Forgot his name, but he drives 90 miles from North Jersey just to get a shot at these fish, nice meetin ya!

[DarkSkies]

12-10 crushed the blackfish....

Andy and Joe were out again yesterday, not too far off, they hammered em again...Joe is 65. Something about the way he fishes, he's got that special touch of an old timer,,,yesterday he nailed one 26" and 12.2 lbs. WTG, nice fish! :clapping: :thumbsup:

[ledhead36]

Wow that's a bulldog! Got to get out there on a blackfish trip while it's hot.

[DarkSkies]

Some more pics, Andy has been tearing it up on the blackfish scene, great job!

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[DarkSkies]

I know the opening day of blackfish wasn't that great for most...and some of ya's were really trying hard out there....
Since then, I hear it's improved......

A nice one caught by a friend, a little ways off Sandy Hook.....
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