Just one cast of the net is all you need. Pnutz, get your Pnutz. Donnie's got this thing down. We had bait. Don sr. (aka Miaggi) was like a kid on the beach with buckets flyin. He had stuff seperated into manageable numbers looking for the right ratio of peanuts to gallonage to keep those puppies alive. The ride out to the promised land took its toll on these little guys with a survival rate of about 15 percent but that really didn't matter. It don't get any fresher! The bait is awesome. Seas were a little rolly getting out from keyport in the bay but we did just fine. Our first stop was in the ambrose were reports of the bigger fish have been taken. Three other boats in the vicinity. Tide was incoming with a SSE causing a slide condition the majority of the day. We started with a slow pick all shorts.
Fished the Marty Feldman Eyeball tipped with squid and a teaser combo of gulp and Pnutz. Donnie and Don Sr worked traditional fluke rig dragging 5oz lead with a bait belly soaked in shrimp oil with either Pnuts or left over frozen spearing. The spearing Don Sr seemed to outproduce both Donnie and I. The channel edges were more productive than anywhere else. Still no keeps for the cooler.
About three hours into our morning, the sun started to bake us pretty good and the air was stagnate. Felt like we were at a local Gold's gym and some meat head turned the sauna on full blown cook em. The McGuivers used to fish with a big heavyweight guy from NY that called it a two bucket day. He knew before they got out there into the heat of the day, that he'd be calling for the boys to douse him with two buckets of water to take the heat out him. This one qualified.
We continued to land shorts waiting for some magic to happen. Fish were a beautiful light sand color with tons of spots but none big enough to keep the regulators happy, so they were returned to feed another day and take someone elses bait. While we were at it, I've got my shoulder to Don sr. and through the corner of my eye I see him almost throw his ugly stick in the air like a juggler catching the lit end of a fire baton while entertaining a crowd at a Las Vegas variety show. I'll be damned if he doesn't catch this thing just prior to it being swallowed by Atlantic. Puzzled to say the least. What the F is that all about??
We both start laughing hysterically. He's got a Doggie on that had to be every bit of 48" and damn near stole his rod from him. He gained composure and managed to wrangle this brut in. It was released with a couple of battle scars and we continued to laugh about the gymnastics he just pulled off.
We moved around a bit looking to find the elusive ones. Don sr. put a decent 21" in the box so he could have something for the table. Worked the TC and part of the reach with similar results.... more shorties. Called it a day around 2:30 headed back to the barn in Keyport. Count about 35 fish. One in the box UGH!!
. Saw Eddie (Hunter II) on the way in. He had a huge grin said he banged a nice 5.5lber earlier in the day. Looked like he was ready to go get another
The Mcguivers always make for a fun and interesting outing.... Good guys, Tastee subs and the hats are the tops! Thanks fellas.
Till next time.
