captmike28
Well-Known Angler
After several weeks of very warm weather, Tuesday morning’s NW breeze made it feel just a bit like early fall, a welcome change. One thing is certain; it lit quite a spark under the local Porgy population on the east side of Gardiners.
I had Russell and his NJ Porgy fanatics join me for their 3rd time this season looking to refill their freezers. Although most of us experienced a very slow start to the Scup bite this spring, by the time we reached late June it seemed like the schools had filled in all the gaps. That was clearly evident on Tuesday’s trip as double headers of medium to large sized Porgy began flying over the rail even before the chum pot hit the bottom for the first time!
The crew of four anglers literally enjoyed true “drop and stick” fishing for the next 90 minutes as the flood tide began to slow up. The bite never tapered off even on the tidal change but at that point the coolers were already approaching the 30 fish pp maximum. So, we cleaned up the deck, changed rigs to some slightly larger hooks and moved out to slightly deeper and rock-strewn bottom looking to top off the catch with some Sea Bass.
The first few drifts came up empty but a move just a little further north started to produce a few Sea Bass. Several shorts at first were then followed by a shot of 5 nice keepers along with a few more real jumbo Scup creeping up near the 3# mark. We finished the day with productive drifts in this area putting 6 more keeper Sea Bass in the coolers before heading back to port under beautiful sunny skies. Needless to say, the guys have already booked another trip for these tasty bottom dwellers for September.
That touch of fall feeling had me recheck my calendar for the months of October and November as Tog season is right over the horizon. I only have 2 weekend dates left in both months for Tog along with some weekday openings So, if Blackfish are one of your personal favorite targets it might be a good idea to make your plans soon before all my dates are filled. The shallow water Tog jigging on the north fork is something special and not to be missed.
Capt. Mike
516-317-5423
I had Russell and his NJ Porgy fanatics join me for their 3rd time this season looking to refill their freezers. Although most of us experienced a very slow start to the Scup bite this spring, by the time we reached late June it seemed like the schools had filled in all the gaps. That was clearly evident on Tuesday’s trip as double headers of medium to large sized Porgy began flying over the rail even before the chum pot hit the bottom for the first time!
The crew of four anglers literally enjoyed true “drop and stick” fishing for the next 90 minutes as the flood tide began to slow up. The bite never tapered off even on the tidal change but at that point the coolers were already approaching the 30 fish pp maximum. So, we cleaned up the deck, changed rigs to some slightly larger hooks and moved out to slightly deeper and rock-strewn bottom looking to top off the catch with some Sea Bass.
The first few drifts came up empty but a move just a little further north started to produce a few Sea Bass. Several shorts at first were then followed by a shot of 5 nice keepers along with a few more real jumbo Scup creeping up near the 3# mark. We finished the day with productive drifts in this area putting 6 more keeper Sea Bass in the coolers before heading back to port under beautiful sunny skies. Needless to say, the guys have already booked another trip for these tasty bottom dwellers for September.
That touch of fall feeling had me recheck my calendar for the months of October and November as Tog season is right over the horizon. I only have 2 weekend dates left in both months for Tog along with some weekday openings So, if Blackfish are one of your personal favorite targets it might be a good idea to make your plans soon before all my dates are filled. The shallow water Tog jigging on the north fork is something special and not to be missed.
Capt. Mike
516-317-5423
