captmike28
Well-Known Angler
“Black(fish) Friday” lived up to my expectations as my charter season came to a close today with a charter for the Frank party. Overall, I have to consider myself extremely fortunate with both the weather and steady, solid Tog bite throughout the fall of 2020. While most seasons find us losing about a third, or more, of our Tog charters due to bad weather this year we were blessed with generally great conditions and only 2 cancellations and one rescheduled date.
Today’s weather and sea conditions were amazingly pleasant for late November. We began on the last 2 hours of flood at some deeper drops of the west side of Fishers I. As has been the case this season the bite was very consistent although the size range of the fish seemed to be falling off the past few weeks. Still plenty of keepers, to be sure, but it seemed we had to do more sorting the deeper we got into the fall. We made 2 drops in the 70-85’ depths and had very fast action the entire time but only boxed 2 keepers to 4# among countless shorts.
As the tide shifted to ebb and picked up steam, we were happy to make a shift towards one of my favorite jig fishing shallow water drops in 30’ of water nearby. The action here was red hot and while we still did a lot of sorting some of the nicer 17-18” fish began to make their presence known. During the last 3 hours of the trip we boxed our 3-man limit of Tog with 4 fish falling in the 5-6.5# class. However, the real highlight of the day came with less than an hour to go as Frank’s lightweight spinning rod gets hit and immediately, we all knew this was a serious, quality fish. After a spirited battle with at least 4 major runs in an attempt to gain its freedom and the drag on his reel singing loudly, I slipped the net under a gorgeous 9.6# Tog. This wound up being our largest Blackfish of the season on the Captain Table, and a new “Personal Best” for Frank! Extra kudos to Frank as once we took a few photos he quickly released this fish to fight another day!
So, the 2020 season is now history for me but it finished on a real high note with a perfect 16 trip streak of boat limits, regardless of crew size, and our largest fish finding the deck in the waning moments of our trip. Sometimes the plans really do come together.
I want to thank all of the great customers who sailed with me this past season for their determination, strong angling skills, and generosity. Now it’s time to begin the annual maintenance projects on all of my tackle, maybe add a few new toys for next year, and begin counting the days until the opening of the 2021 season.
My sincere wishes to everyone for the safest and Happiest Holidays ever!
Capt. Mike
Captain’s Table Charters
Today’s weather and sea conditions were amazingly pleasant for late November. We began on the last 2 hours of flood at some deeper drops of the west side of Fishers I. As has been the case this season the bite was very consistent although the size range of the fish seemed to be falling off the past few weeks. Still plenty of keepers, to be sure, but it seemed we had to do more sorting the deeper we got into the fall. We made 2 drops in the 70-85’ depths and had very fast action the entire time but only boxed 2 keepers to 4# among countless shorts.
As the tide shifted to ebb and picked up steam, we were happy to make a shift towards one of my favorite jig fishing shallow water drops in 30’ of water nearby. The action here was red hot and while we still did a lot of sorting some of the nicer 17-18” fish began to make their presence known. During the last 3 hours of the trip we boxed our 3-man limit of Tog with 4 fish falling in the 5-6.5# class. However, the real highlight of the day came with less than an hour to go as Frank’s lightweight spinning rod gets hit and immediately, we all knew this was a serious, quality fish. After a spirited battle with at least 4 major runs in an attempt to gain its freedom and the drag on his reel singing loudly, I slipped the net under a gorgeous 9.6# Tog. This wound up being our largest Blackfish of the season on the Captain Table, and a new “Personal Best” for Frank! Extra kudos to Frank as once we took a few photos he quickly released this fish to fight another day!
So, the 2020 season is now history for me but it finished on a real high note with a perfect 16 trip streak of boat limits, regardless of crew size, and our largest fish finding the deck in the waning moments of our trip. Sometimes the plans really do come together.
I want to thank all of the great customers who sailed with me this past season for their determination, strong angling skills, and generosity. Now it’s time to begin the annual maintenance projects on all of my tackle, maybe add a few new toys for next year, and begin counting the days until the opening of the 2021 season.
My sincere wishes to everyone for the safest and Happiest Holidays ever!
Capt. Mike
Captain’s Table Charters
.,,, love to read all your reports,,, thanks for posting all of them,, before i clicked on your reports i said i bet another boat limit on the tog
,,, thanks for posting all your reports with all the pics,,, again 3 
? your whole tog season,,,, happy holidays to you capt ,,,,,,,,,,be safe,,,,
