Kids Go "Fishin"
This last Thursday Dave Smith booked me for the half day trip. He brought a slue of kids with him. Five to be exact, three guys and two young ladies. The two young girls had never been fishing before and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Well. they did.
The trip started out with us trolling hootchies on the north edge of Billingsgate Shoals in about 23 to 25 feet of water. We hooked up on something good size that took out better than 100 feet of backing on one of the outrigger rods and then got off. After that we took a few bluefish on the hootches while working to the southwest. The folks were really looking for stripers so we put out the jigs and the kids went to work. For a while we didn't find much in the way of stripers and then one of the girls said something was pulling on her rod. We had a fish on.
Jigging is a unique way to fish. It consists of a fairly stout rod and a reel that will handle wire. We use 300 feet of 50 to 60 lb. test wire with 130 lb. test dacron backing. The boat moves at around 2.5 to 3 knots as you pull the 3 oz. jig across the bottom in a rhythmic motion. This imitates a crab moving over the bottom. It takes some work to fish this way and the two young girls were up to the task.
By the time the tip was up these two young women had caught most of the six keepers we had on the boat. Kimberly Godfrey and Julia Crane were responsible for a well supplied cookout that they had later on that day.
