AllyKat
Angler
Had plans with my son and neighbor for saturday morning opening day, when my son asks if his GF Charlotte can join us. I was hesitant because of the looming forecast with building east winds sometime in the early afternoon, but I said sure. Soon after my daughters BF who is a mate at captree asks if he can join us as he had the day off. I figured I wont have to worry about him also so we went from 3 to 5 pretty quickly.
Broke the inlet at 7:30 am, and headed across the Sound to the Sheffield area where the fleet was building. Nice smooth ride across. Set the spot lock and drowned some crabs for an hour with a picky sporadic bite of small fish. The newbie was getting frustrated with missed hits and empty hooks. We moved around a little and found better bottom, but still the closest we got was 15 inches. Finally after some more coaching, Charlotte reels up her first tog, a feisty 14 incher. Photos and high fives and sent back to get bigger.
The bite was getting better, but still couldn't break the 16 inch mark until beginners luck kicked in. Charlotte hade a fighter fish on and in a frenzy of give and take, she did a good job we had the first keeper of the year at 16 1/2 inches. Suddenly the newbie who couldn't hook a fish for 2 hours had bragging rights and she proceeded to hook anything that moved. We stayed their until @ 11 am with the current ripping and the winds starting to build, so I made the call to head back to the LI side so we didn't get caught trying to cross in rough conditions.
Set up east of Eatons in 35 feet and had a pick again, except the rookie pro Charlotte had our next fish to make the ride home, a very nice 20 inch Weekfish. We soon moved in close at Eatons Neck at 15 feet and had a better bite, but couldn't break the 16 inch mark. We stayed there for another hour with the newbie hooking anything that was under the boat until the tide reached high slack with the waves building along the reef as we finished up the crabs. Called it a day at 2pm. Back at the house we took photos for bragging rights of her memorable trip.
Broke the inlet at 7:30 am, and headed across the Sound to the Sheffield area where the fleet was building. Nice smooth ride across. Set the spot lock and drowned some crabs for an hour with a picky sporadic bite of small fish. The newbie was getting frustrated with missed hits and empty hooks. We moved around a little and found better bottom, but still the closest we got was 15 inches. Finally after some more coaching, Charlotte reels up her first tog, a feisty 14 incher. Photos and high fives and sent back to get bigger.
The bite was getting better, but still couldn't break the 16 inch mark until beginners luck kicked in. Charlotte hade a fighter fish on and in a frenzy of give and take, she did a good job we had the first keeper of the year at 16 1/2 inches. Suddenly the newbie who couldn't hook a fish for 2 hours had bragging rights and she proceeded to hook anything that moved. We stayed their until @ 11 am with the current ripping and the winds starting to build, so I made the call to head back to the LI side so we didn't get caught trying to cross in rough conditions.
Set up east of Eatons in 35 feet and had a pick again, except the rookie pro Charlotte had our next fish to make the ride home, a very nice 20 inch Weekfish. We soon moved in close at Eatons Neck at 15 feet and had a better bite, but couldn't break the 16 inch mark. We stayed there for another hour with the newbie hooking anything that was under the boat until the tide reached high slack with the waves building along the reef as we finished up the crabs. Called it a day at 2pm. Back at the house we took photos for bragging rights of her memorable trip.
