Black Friday Gambler

[Ol Pedro]

Went out on my annual Black Friday Striper trip on the Gambler. There was a good crowd of eager people ready to go. We shoved off at 7:30 to beautiful but cold conditions. Capt. Mike turned South as we broke the inlet. There were tons of birds stretched for miles and we were fishing in what seemed like minutes. We picked away with a fish or two on every drift. The boat traffic wasn't too bad for a while. I got my slot on a silver Croc and missed some fish on the sink. Capt. Mike came down and put on a clinic with an old Harnell rod and a gold croc spoon. The bite improved as the day progressed. Ray broke his rod at the forgrip
and with Katos help still caught the fish. We drifted a few good readings by our selves with good results. We had a Whale breach a couple of times heading North as a bonus. The birds were starting to concentrate more just outside the surf line and we could see a blitze with Bass blowing up in the surf. There were a lot of surf fishermen taking advantage of the situation along with the small boats. After having a skiff cut us off and five others pass in a line some 20 yards off out stern going way too fast Capt. Mike had enough and we headed North . We found life above the inlet with Bass blowing up on the surface and only a few boats around. What a way to end the trip with 2 to 5 fish on at a time. We were in catch and release mode when three horns sounded. Everyone caught fish and all went home with fillets. I ended up with 12 Stripers to 35" keeping my slot and bonus fish. Many others caught twice that. The fish were mixed from shorts to jumbos.
I caught on a large silver croc, blue/white tady, and a ava 27 naked. Capt. Mike and his gold croc was the destroyer today out catching me 2 to 1. We also caught on poppers, shad tails, green/white tailed ava's, and resin jigs. I was surprised that I missed so many fish on the sink/farmed them out. I was most successful with the naked 27 and a quick retrieve having many fish hit close to the boat. I forgot how much fun Striper fishing is with friends. Thank you Capt. Mike, Ian, Ray, Stevo, Kato, John, and all you new guys/gals on the port side for making this trip so memorable and laughing so much.