Had to do my last trip of 09 and last day of 6 bag on the tog.
Got up @ 2:45 and was pulling out of the driveway by 3:30 putting me in Belmar by 4:45...I figured that the boat would fill up fast and early but that was not the case, only 3 guys loaded up on the bow and could have picked any spot I wanted....I opted for the stern thinking I would stay out of the wind, a decision I would regret all day...
Busted out of the inlet with the boat about 2/3 full to find that the weather man nailed it...a nice calm 5 knts out of the SE and a flat ride. We made our first drop about 14 miles out to the NE, had an ok bite on some nice sized fish, one was a nice 10 to 11 pounder which took the money.. couple of guys nailed a few ling right off the bat with one being a tog ling double header. Made a couple of adjustments there to try to get a better bite going, guys caught pretty much around the boat...one here and there ( except on the stern ) not a scratch for me or the other 6 guys next to me.
Probably around 11:30 we pulled out of there and headed south back inshore off Long Branch and set up again, about 30 mins into that set we had nothing ( still no fish in my box ) Then the action started up on the bow hot and heavy...went up to take a look and there was little room because a lot of guys made the move there hearing the cries for the net...I decided that I would stay on the stern...
Now I'm getting worried knowing that the cooler is still empty and starting to get that skunk smell plus it's just past 1 pm.
All the sudden down the starboard side a bite started to develop and worked it's way back towards the stern, I watched a bunch of nice fish come over the side and decided it was time to move in...found some room and tossed out about 20 feet to were the guys had found a little hole or edge in the rocks and hooked up right away with a nice 16 incher... got em in the box...got some fresh crab right back out there fast ( now it's 1:50 )
Tap...tap...tap...nothing.....waited...waited....then a bigger...tap..tap so I gave it a good swing and picked up a sweet 6..7 pounder to keep the first fish in the cooler company for the ride home
All in all I had a great time, fishing in the snow was cool, we had about 1/2 mile visibility and when you looked around it was like fishing in a snow globe.
