FISH TANK - 7/4 Sea Bass Report

[Fish Tank]

Hey gang. I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July!

Yesterday, we hosted the Mr. Hahn charter for a day of sea bass fishing. We broke the inlet around 6:15am with Capt. Tommy at the helm and were greeted to a flat ocean, light winds and a decent southerly heave. That didn't stop the fish from biting, though.

We boxed about 30 fish on the first drop before the shorts took over. The next couple of spots produced an avg of 15-20 keepers each along with some jumbo silver eels. It wasn't until noon when the S wind started to kick up and the bite completely shut down. It's a good thing we already had plenty of fish in the box for the guys.

Overall, it was a decent day of fishing, but more importatnly, it was great to get out there again after having been tied to the dock for the past week!

One of the highlights of the trip was a tagged sea bass that one of Mr. Hahn's friends caught (pic). The fish measured 10 3/4" and because it was a short, we released it. I have never caught or even seen a tagged fish before and wasn't sure if we should keep it (even though it was not legal size), remove the tag and take measurements, or just release it with the tag intact. Now that I think about it, I probably should've opted for option #2, but in the heat of the moment I decided releasing the fish as quickly as possible was the safest way to go and hopefully someone will catch him again and share the data. If anyone can confirm the correct procedure, I would greatly apprecaite it so we know what to do from now on.

Friday 7/5 "Reel" Time Report- I just got off the phone with Capt. Tommy and he and Capt. Ed are out with the Bill Frompton charter. He and his crew are bailing the sea bass once again. I heard in the background probably 4 or 5 keepers coming over the rail during my 5 minute convo with Tommy. I'll share the full report once I hear back from him later this afternoon.

Tight Lines!

~Capt. Kevin Hutnik

[jigemup]

Hope they saved some for us for tomorrow.