Had the Fred Monaco charter on today for what was supposed to be a bass trip. Got an early start breaking our inlet prior to 630 and went on the search for birds, bait and bass, but found nothing, so off we went to the east to get back on the codfish.
Set up on the same numbers we finished up last week. Drift was around .5 with the S wind blowing a steady 10 kts or so (it was this way all morning). First rig down was rocked by a keeper cod, and in the first drift we boxed roughly a half dozen. After the second drift, we had about a dozen in the box. We pretty much did the same drift all morning just slightly changing our line and we continued to pick away. I was able to sneak up to the bow a few times and was able to land 4 nice cod on a green tailed 47. The guys in the cockpit were busy with 2-3 fish on at a time, and sometimes we had 4 on at a time.
Early on the cod were bigger fish, mostly over 25", but as the morning wore on the fish got smaller and the pick slowed down. By noon time, we had 37 keepers in the box with maybe a dozen throwbacks. We made a few shifts but couldn't get them going again. So, we ran back inshore to look for the bass.
After making some phone calls, we got the word that there was a bit of a troll bite going on down towards IBSP so we went there. Put the spoons and stretches in, and had about 5 knockdowns; we landed 2 of the bass, one @ 33#/45", and the other 28#/42".
We finished the day with 37 keeper cod to ~12#, 1 ling, and 2 nice big stripers. The cod bite overall was a bit "slower" today, however this was as great trip GREAT by NJ standards, but they are still around in good numbers! This was a terrific day with an great crew and they will be back in the near future! Thanks again for coming down today guys, great job today!
