On 8/20 it was boat regulars Bill ,Nikki and 2nd timer Dan(Bills young son). Bill and Dan were looking for a large seabass to enter in the Berkley Tourney so not only were we looking for limits of seabass we were after quality fish. I opted to run out of Manasquan Inlet as I ran 2 trips up that way early last week and had some real nice size fish. A stop on the Axel found good quality with fish up to 2 lbs but not the bigger fish we had hoped for. A little poking to the south found more great numbers with nice size fish but not the large stuff over 3 lbs I had hoped for. With over 60 keepers boxed up before 11am I asked the guys if they wanted a shot at some codfish. They smiled so we headed off to the "deep water" of 90 feet. Since the farthest I run my charters is 10 or less miles from shore I consider 90 feet deep. No wind and no current made for perfect conditions and the cod sure were hungry. The guys put the hammer to them landing 17 cod with 7 keepers up to 26" and also mixed in some ling,seabass and a legal blackfish for a very productive hour of fishing. After a real good time on the cod it was back to the big seabass hunt. An inshore stop gave the guys hope for a big knuckle head with a half dozen fish over 2lbs(Dan 2.5 and his Dad 2.3 Nikki 3lbs) but no real big fish. Plenty of quality seabass over 14" helped to really load up the 150 qt cooler for the 3 anglers. Another fun day on the water with a real fun crew. Trip total for the 3 anglers was 75 keeper seabass to 3lbs, 7 keeper codfish(17 total landed), 7 ling, one 15" blackfish and a couple hundred short fish released. Young Dan (Boo) really shined today landing the a 2.5 lb seabass,legal blackfish,2 lb ling,26' codfish in additon to his seabass limit.
