captmike28
Well-Known Angler
On Tuesday afternoon my loyal customer and friend, Mitch (Chinacat) helped me to get the last few items put aboard the boat, set up my freshly cleaned ground tackle, and take her out for a shakedown. Boat ran beautifully and since we had a little time on the ebb tide and a decent breeze, we took a short shot at the Bass by Jessups. The fish were really stacked but despite a good 45 minute effort with both Flutter Spoons and Diamond Jigs we came up empty. Next moved a bit east and found some strong marks of Weakfish in their normal haunts but the tide/drift was just about over and all we could muster were some Porgies for Mitch's dinner table!
So, with Wednesday's good forecast I was determined to put some scales in the box. I was on the Bass scene at 6:15 with only 3 other boats and began working the flood tide. Again, marking well at about 20 minutes in I get a huge hit on the spoon that nearly yanked the rod from my hands. The fish is stripping drag like crazy and I'm sure it's a good one. Then out of nowhere, halfway through the battle it gains its freedom. A little disappointed but undeterred, I resume working the rip again. Action now seems a bit slow as more boats show up so I switched to a diamond. No dice regardless of size of jig or tube or tubeless. So back to the Flutter spoon and in a few drifts, I have a second Bass on. Sadly, the same story as the first time. During the remaining 2 hours I spent working for Bass I hooked up two more times, seemingly solid each time. Yet all the Bass that snapped at my lure today are still swimming along merrily! Despite the impressive marks on the sonar it seemed to be a slow morning for most as I only saw 3 other Bass actually landed on the other boats in the vicinity. So, the fact that I actually hooked 4 let me know I was working this new technique properly. This will require some further investigation, but I already have a few clues.
At this point there wasn't enough tide left for a decent Weakfish bite and a quick scan of the areas did not show the nice sized fish I marked the day before. So, I turned my focus to the reliable Scup action and had a great time working out my light tackle on some great Peconic Bay Porgies. The action was solid, and the fish are spread out in many areas. Both drifting and anchoring produced some nice sized Scup to 17". I know bigger ones and even hotter action is just around the corner. So, I took a dozen of the largest specimens to the filet table and had a nice dinner plus shared a few with my favorite neighbor.
Back at it next 2 weeks with a string of Porgy charters. Plus, I will exact my revenge on the Striped ones!!!
Capt. Mike
So, with Wednesday's good forecast I was determined to put some scales in the box. I was on the Bass scene at 6:15 with only 3 other boats and began working the flood tide. Again, marking well at about 20 minutes in I get a huge hit on the spoon that nearly yanked the rod from my hands. The fish is stripping drag like crazy and I'm sure it's a good one. Then out of nowhere, halfway through the battle it gains its freedom. A little disappointed but undeterred, I resume working the rip again. Action now seems a bit slow as more boats show up so I switched to a diamond. No dice regardless of size of jig or tube or tubeless. So back to the Flutter spoon and in a few drifts, I have a second Bass on. Sadly, the same story as the first time. During the remaining 2 hours I spent working for Bass I hooked up two more times, seemingly solid each time. Yet all the Bass that snapped at my lure today are still swimming along merrily! Despite the impressive marks on the sonar it seemed to be a slow morning for most as I only saw 3 other Bass actually landed on the other boats in the vicinity. So, the fact that I actually hooked 4 let me know I was working this new technique properly. This will require some further investigation, but I already have a few clues.
At this point there wasn't enough tide left for a decent Weakfish bite and a quick scan of the areas did not show the nice sized fish I marked the day before. So, I turned my focus to the reliable Scup action and had a great time working out my light tackle on some great Peconic Bay Porgies. The action was solid, and the fish are spread out in many areas. Both drifting and anchoring produced some nice sized Scup to 17". I know bigger ones and even hotter action is just around the corner. So, I took a dozen of the largest specimens to the filet table and had a nice dinner plus shared a few with my favorite neighbor.
Back at it next 2 weeks with a string of Porgy charters. Plus, I will exact my revenge on the Striped ones!!!
Capt. Mike
