Monday "sea bass"/snakes

[bulletbob]

Went bottom fishing on a NS... It was easily the WORST day of sea bass fishing I have ever witnessed. Something kept the sea bass from hitting big time.. We fished right along side several other bottom fishing boats, so they must have experienced something similar.. or not..
Upon dropping anchor, it started.. Swarm after swarm of rubber lip snakes started coming over the rail.. you know,,, banana cod..
Just incredible, NEVER in my 60 years have I seen them so thick and fierce.. They outnumbered any other fish species caught by probably a 5 to 1 margin.. one of the mates was circling the boat with a disgorging hook to help folks that could not get them off...He was super busy at it the entire trip.. The boat was packed to the max.. Every single rod holder was taken..

I think a grand total of about 6 keeper sea bass was taken on the entire boat for the huge crowd aboard.. Ling were the mainstay, but most folks boated 5 pout for each ling.. Some HUGE flounder were caught as well. a flattie also won the pool. I was lucky to get 2 big flounder, and 1 13 1/2 sea bass.. My son and I also brought home 16 ling, mostly small to mid sized.. The pout ruined the trip for me.. It was just too crazy catching sometimes 10 in a row and having to take them off, breaking your damn hooks etc.. They were taken in numbers I have just never seen before on a head boat.. Every person caught probably a couple dozen.. Captain told me the sea bass were there, but the water had turned cold and they wouldn't hit... It was nice getting down to the shore, but it was more like work than a fishing trip... Aren't pout suppossed to be endangered or something???.. On this trip the only thing endangered was our sanity..
I hope to never again see one of those ugly things...
Hopefully next trip down to NJ will see the pout hordes far away from the near shore bottom fishing grounds...bob