Early morning cancellation of a Striper charter thanks to the thunder boomers yesterday morning. So plan B was an improviso wreck trip with mate Gus. I had found a good body of fish on Saturday, but tough conditions kept down the bite. I knew on the way out we were going to knock them dead... and we did. Told Gus I expected him to have his first fish on in less than 30 seconds. Well as soon as I stopped the engines, Gus laughed and said I was wrong. He was ALREADY hooked up... Literally, as soon as he hit the bottom for the first time. First keeper in the box in less than 1 minute!
Ended up the day keeping 44 Seabass and 2 nice Cod to boot.
The fish are currently gorging on Sand Eels. So, let me just give you some advice. Given the right conditions, you should jig for these fish. Jigging producers on average much nicer fish than fishing clam (any bait). Also, do not anchor. Drift fish the structure. If necessary it may mean continually re-drifting a very small area. The bottom line is this. You can anchor up on structure and put together a nice catch of Seabass while dropping clam but you will have to throw back many shorts and put up with numerous Dog Fish as well. Or, you can drop large diamond jigs targeting the larger fish, load the cooler, and stay away from most of the Doggies... take your pick.
