Early Blackfish Report

[Gerry Zagorski]

Could not pass up the gorgeous weather yesterday and was chomping at the bit to get in some early season Blackfishing. Me Kenny, and Joey Dah Fish switched out to the wreck anchor and headed off to the sticky stuff. Started later then we would have liked to but our timing was good.

When we first set up winds were light and variable which made staying on structure almost impossible. We flopped around on the anchor for about a hour before a nice steady but fairly light south wind came up which was just enough to keep us tight on the wreck anchor.

After a little searching and wiggling around, Joe finally found some good bottom and we settled in to see who was home. It was a little slow at first but we knew we were in the right place since it was pretty snaggy.

Joe started us off with a nice Seabass and I had a huge Winter Flounder and a Seabass, all released. Got a few Porgies, we started to build some steady life and the Blackfish started cooperating. Nothing big but it was nice to feel the tap-tap-tug.

Kenny doesn't fish much and never Blackfished before so once we got them going, I got him set up and the first drop he hooked up. The next drop he also hooked up while Joe stood Black fishless in disbelief Needless to say we rode Joe like a broken bike and Kenny topped it off by telling Joe what he was doing wrong the rest of the afternoon.... It was priceless!!

I think we ended up with 8 or 10 keeping our 3 fish limit before we ran out of daylight. Once the sun dropped we scooted to the Knoll and drifted eels for Stripers for an hour or so without a touch.

It's different every day but yesterday they seemed to prefer whole crabs, legs off and the shell cracked with a sinker. And just like most days, it wasn't until we were on the piece for a hour or so and built some life before a consistent bite developed.

All in all a great first day of September Blackfishing in tee shirts. Doesn't get any better than that.