After taking 2 days off to spend with the family it felt good to get back out on the grounds. Today I had the guys from Bobbies Boat rentals in Barnegat Light out for a capt combo of bay and ocean fishing. The plan was to go grab 30 or so seabass then harass the bays fluke population with light trout rods. When I picked up John,Vince Jr and Danny it looked like they had a great 4th of July.....note to self, for some people a great 4th of July may mean a rough start to the 5th of July
. We made it out to the seabass ground and found nice conditions but a slow bite. I am not sure how slow the bite really was as "most" of the crew were holding rods with one hand and there heads with the other. I also believe we may have left a fourth friend at the dock as some of them called for some guy named "Ralph". The guys grinded through adding some nice size stuff to the box with a mix of ling and seabass. After a few hours the crew rallied nicely and started putting up some good numbers. With 25 seabass to 2.5lbs and 20 nice ling in the box we set our sight on the bay for some light tackle fluking. Now with the guys tummys all better and on the calm protected waters of the bay everybody had a chance to get in on the B busting. Pretty sure I had the monoply for the first half of the trip. With drags screaming and light rods bent over the guys hammered the short fluke with a good number up to 17.5". Once the the guys made the $5 a man bet for the first keeper it got serious. A few close calls with 17.5" fish until a nice 19" fish found its way to the "extra" rod I had in my hand.
The guys released over 30 short fluke and some jumbo birds to finish up strong. Tons of laughs,a few big bags of fillets and a great time today.
