Saturday Morning Mega- Mixed Bag Beat Down

[Capt. JJ]

Had the morning trip booked on a local NS boat out of Neptune with Captains Steve and Jimmy, and was very pleased to assemble an All-Star team willing to brave such adverse conditions as a 5 knot West wind, and bright blue sunshine.

Joining the fray were Doctor Hook and Doctor Daughter, the Klemster, The Mad Italian Stallion, and of course, back from the safety of his peaceful existence off any charter boat, GDUBS.

Leaving the boat just minutes after our anticipated launch time thanks to Klemsters inability to comprehend the words "Dont be late", we were setting up on a drift within a few miles of the inlet, and it took seconds for every rod to bend in unison with bisquits galore, as well as : keeper cod, keeper fluke, porgies, blues, ling-a-dings, and an endless stream of toggies....on the drift, on clams.

An. Endless. Stream.

Like, Ive caught half this amount with crabs and two anchors, and they were the healthiest mamas on the planet today, all safely released for future action during the right seasons. I mean, I have pulled and come up empty thousands of times in my life after Thanksgiving, and today? Just drop and reel togs, on the drift, on clams.

Quality and quantity were superb, with yours truly catching the $1.3 million pool fish with a monster seabass that tipped the scales at "quite-a-few" pounds. A larger cod was caught, but since I chartered the boat, I set the rules and since cod were not the prime target species, the imaginary $1.3 million ended up in my pocket.

Doctor Daughter put on a seminar early, asking Captain Jimmy if she could catch a double limit to make up for GDUBS and I pulling a dozen tog over the side. Chris, the Mad Italian Stallion, caught the first cod but threw it back because "Ayyyye....no bodys hurts da Baccala as long as Im in da boat!" Klemster surprised everyone by actually hooking a few knotheads, and the Dubster and I continued to lift one Toggie after another over the side in a contest to see who could catch and release the most blackfish in a 2 hour period. We stopped counting at 20+. It was THAT kind of day!

Great crew and boat...cant wait till fluke season with these guys.

As usual, no baby sea lions, elephants, beluga whales, NY Jets quarterbacks, or pasta dishes made with carbonara sauce were harmed in the making of this trip!

Tight Lines,

Capt. JJ