Quote:
Originally Posted by fishingmortgageman
That was the best day of tog fishing that I have ever seen. It was a non stop bite from 7:30 to 11:30. I was not able to drop my bait to the bottom one time in those 4 hours without a bite. They were not all tog bites, as we caught sea bass, triggers, and bergals also. The blackfish were biting like you dream about though. There was none of that famous scratch or pick. Sometimes you got a hit as soon as you got to the bottom, sometimes they hit while you were moving your bait, and sometimes they were just there when you went to move. Usually there is someone on the trip that has a bad day. Not yesterday. Everyone caught like crazy. Jimmy Mac was counting and had 30+ fish and you know that it is good when David Mann has 29 blackfish. I said blackfish and not ling for David. The size was outstanding also. I think that 75% of the fish that we caught were keepers with most being 3-4 pounders and a lot between 5-7. Jimmy conservatively estimated that we had 175+ keeper fish. It was a very good feeling to release all those fish except for our legal limit. All the big ones went back as we just kept the perfect 3-4 pounder eating size. My only regret for the day is that no one had a scale. The very conservative Chad estimated my fish at 12+. As I look at the pictures now I think that it might have been between 13-14. It was a big fat beautiful fish that I hope someone else gets to enjoy and set free again. A big thanks to Jimmy Mac for setting up the charter and to Chad for giving us all a day that we will long remember.
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Eric / Chad,
Congratulations on a absolutely beautiful fish! Even better job on the release, it's great to see big fish like that swim away, a true trophy!
Chad. Tagged Fish is a serious bottom fishing force to be reckoned with, never had an opportunity to sail with you yet but your reports are outstanding and I'm not sure I ever recall a trip where guys didn't have a great time. My hat is off to you sir, in a service business it's good to see captains who put in the extra mile and are as good at what they do as you guys are? We're fortunate to have many such captains as sponsors on NJF, it's one of the great benefits of the site!
Again Eric congratulations on your fish, it certainly does look bigger than 12 lbs as you said. Either way, there's guys who black fish their entire life and never catch a fish close to that size. Not knowing the exact weight might gnaw at you a bit but no matter how you slice it she's a beaut!
Dakota