Today was a tale of two fishing days--the morning bite did not happen--it was tough, tough fishing to start the day. We had a few hours of zippo, but I wasn't too, too worried--in the spring there is so much bait around that the fish get full---if they're full, fishing is tough. But, then they work it off and the bite really kicks in.
Well, that's what happened as we fished the eastern edge of Stellwagen, in about 150' of water. We had a few drifts when the jig wasn't even able to get to the bottom without a fish attacking it. We used light rods today, as we were fishing in shallow water. It makes the fishing so much more fun. Also, I recommend taking the treble hooks off of the jigs and going with a single swinging hook or assist hook. It really cuts down on foul-hooked fish and makes releasing the small fish a lot safer to the fish.
We got a lot of small cod a few haddock, but we made the decision to get into deeper water and go for more haddock instead of weeding through lots of small cod for keepers. This was a good decision as we then hit haddock after haddock until it was time to go home. We ended up with one wolf fish as well, a smaller 6 pound fish, but still great eating. Let's just hope for great weather for the rest of the month!
My thanks again to my sponsors, Okuma Fishing Tackle, Sea Striker Sunglasses, and now Navionics. Keep having fun out there and more later!
Capt. Rich Antonino, Black Rose Fishing Charters