11/09/2008 Gambler Report

[Skolmann]

Jason and I hopped aboard the Gambler today.

Once we cleared the inlet we made left and started fishing off of Sea Girt. The first drift was the best of the day with lots of action, albeit mostly bluefish. Jason and 5 bites & boated 4 of them (all bluefish) before I had my first strike. My first fish was a barely legal sized bass.

When the first drift ended, we had to return to the dock to drop off a mate who had a deeply impaled hook into his finger/knuckle area. Went back out & went to the same location but the bite was much slower.

Sailed south & ended up off Brick Beach. Had sporadic action with all bluefish.

Jason outfished me 11 to 7. He also lost a very nice fish that took him from the stern to past midships. He lost it when some #$^%*@ that was fishing an eel (WTF  ) stood there and didn't let him continue to follow the fish. The fish dove under the boat and the hook pulled. The mate said it was a big bass as he got a quick glimpse of it. I did boat the only bass between us. So I do have some measure of bragging rights .

Pool winner was a very nice #27.5 bass taken on a Storm Shad. 1 of only 4 keeper bass all day.

By far the most productive jig was a 5 or 7 ounce Krocodile that was dropped to the bottom and given a moderate retrieve back to the boat.

[Fishonw/Ron]

  Very nice report ,That kills the momentum when you have to take someone in like that.Hope he is OK. I think we all have a story like that.

[Pfishingruven]

Great report and nice catch!

 

[Luna Sea 5]

nice catch,.. your son is going to be a pro before you know it.

[Capt -Jerry P]

Nice trip doc and jason!!!

Good times

wow nice size pool fish

[kezsr]

good report and catch,nice day of fishing

[wb]

nice report

too bad i know the jo w the eel he is quite the jo

count that fish as a c & r again quite the jo

[IrishAyes]

Nice report and catch. 

It is tuff fishing on party boats because of guys like that. Thankfully, most cooperate when some one has a fish on.

[Hunter 2]

Sounds like Jason is getting very good. Sorry to hear about the missed fish. I bet he outfished the JackA$$ who would not make room for him.  Thanks for the Krocodile info too

[Bucktail]

Nice report!  I'll probably be out there tomorrow, probably throwing a Kroc!

[Skolmann]

Sounds like Jason is getting very good. Sorry to hear about the missed fish. I bet he outfished the JackA$$ who would not make room for him. 

All the guy caught on the eel was a dogfish. He did lose a bluefish that his buddy hooked up and passed off to him. Otherwise I don't think he caught anything except perhaps bad karma.

[Skolmann]

Nice report!  I'll probably be out there tomorrow, probably throwing a Kroc!

5 and 7 ounce Krocs in the prism pattern. If you can't find a prism Kroc, Luhr-Jensen makes prism tape that is easily applied to a regular chrome Kroc. I know my local tackle shop carries this tape.

You also might want to have an AVA047 with a green tail as that was a very hot jig last week.

Make sure to drop the jig until it hits bottom. At most make 2 bounces off the bottom & then beging a fast to moderate retrieve back to the boat. Retrieve all the way to the surface as I had several fish take the jig just under the surface. Pretty cool to see them take the jig like that. Also did have some fish take the jig right off the bottom and others about half way up. Vary your retrieve speed until you find what they like.

Looking foward to reading your report.

[Bucktail]

Thanks for the tips Skolmann! 

[Skolmann]

Did forgot to mention what was probably the highlight of the day. A young boy, maybe about 6ish was out on his first ocean fishing trip with his dad, grandfather and uncle. Early on, one of his relatives would hook up and pass the rod off to this boy but he wasn't catching anything on his 'own' rod.

Anyway about noonish we had just started another drift and all the sudden this boy yells out, "I GOT ONE !!" All of us near him quickly brought our jigs over the rail and welll took a step back from the rail giving encouragement to this young angler. The fish took him from the middle of the stern up the starboard side past midship. The big bluefish was netted with great joy. Everyone was giving this young man high fives and patting him on the back. This kid was overcome with happiness. It was truely great watching his excitement.

 

[IrishAyes]

Nice story on the kid's catch Skol. Nothing better than a big smile on a kid's face. 

As far as the Krocodile. It is actually 7 ounces or is the 7 a size number? I had (lost to a blue fish today) a #6 Kroc and it was no where near 6 ounces. I think a 7 oz Kroc would be huge. 

Oh, and I can vouch for the drop, jig and retrieve method. I have been getting them like that all last week.  I think I read that on one of your previous reports. 

[Bucktail]

Great story about the kid!

Krocs were always made not only in different sizes, but in different weights of the same sizes.  I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but (for example) you might have a 4" Kroc that weighs 1 oz., another that's 2, and another that's 3 oz.  They are stamped as different "die" numbers.  I hope that makes sense.

[Skolmann]

I just compared a 3.25 ounce, 5 ounce and 7 ounce Krocodile.

Both the 3.25 & 5 ounce Kroc are the same length with the 5 ounce obviously feeling heavier and thicker. Both have the #7 stamped on the back as well as Luhr-Jensen Krocodile Spoon

The 7 ounce is longer than than both the 3.25 and 5 ounce models and doesn't have anything stamped on the back except saying Luhr-Jensen Krocodile Spoon.

[Hunter 2]

Thanks Skolmann