A Very Special Charter with Down Deep

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Capt. Mario posted a report, but I'll add my own: our charter with Down Deep today (6/12) was a home run. Everything came together: weather, fishing, and the excellent crew & service by Capt. Rob/Mario, and mate Anthony.

When booking the charter, I explained to Capt. Mario that this is a special trip for my uncle, who will be undergoing a major operation next week and won't be able to fish for a long time. My uncle used to make marathon trips up to Cape Cod/NH for giant seabass and cod, and he was absolutely shocked at the quality of bottom fishing here in Jersey today: limit+ of seabass, fat ocean flounder, even fatter ling and a half dozen football-shaped local bacalao.

Conditions allowed us to fish on the drift, and Capt Rob kept us over productive pieces throughout the day. It was great fishing, but not automatic; Capt Rob definitely put in the work, controlling the boat to help us catch our limit. All keepers were promptly bled, and promptly put on ice once bled out. Clams were fresh and kept fresh on ice in small batches, replenished as needed. Boat was clean and kept clean throughout the day. Everything was done correctly, and it's obvious that the crew are pros who care about the details.

My uncle is a tough customer: he wanted a few fish filleted, but most scaled/gutted. Mate Anthony (after busting chop all day) spent the ride back and dock time cleaning our catch, and repeatedly assured us that it's no problem to gut/scale 70+ seabass. A special thanks to Anthony: a solid, professional mate with excellent attitude and work ethic.

The only problem we encountered all day was figuring out cooler space to lug all that fish home. As I told my uncle...that's a great problem to have!