For those of you who didn't catch my (drop and go report, Matt <Avid> hooks me up again with another killer report...
08/26/2007 - Fluking Angela Rose II, Another Day of Personal Bests
Alright, after last Sunday's insane trip aboard the Angela Rose II, we decided to head on back out for some more fluking this past Sunday!
There were two cancellations...so we cruised on out with Craig, Steve, Rob, Captain Anthony, Captain Wayne, mate Kevin, and myself.
With last week's weather...pretty much since our trip last Sunday, the ocean has been heaving and fishing has been very slow. A few guys we know fished Saturday and the heave was still present, but seas were calming. We were greeted with Westerly winds in the morning, a very promising sign, and as we broke the inlet, the ocean was very clam with a slight heave...which left the current below questionable.
We headed to a new area Captain Anthony had on his mind and set up for a few drifts. The drifts were pretty slow, as was the fishing. We did manage to catch a few fish, and put a couple keeper fluke in the box and a couple seabass as well. We fished the area for a couple hours, working the bottom on various lines, but the fish just weren't cooperating...other than the fierce juvenile seabass which were ripping the tails off our Gulp mullets constantly!
After a short while, we headed up to fish the reef and see if the action was any better. A super slow drift seemed perfect to bucktail those deep, rough bottoms but the fluke just weren't in feed mode. Seabass were pretty active though with weight and bait being the ticket, as Wayne was beating on them while Rob picked at a few as well. In the meantime, Craig, Steve, and I continued to bucktail for fluke and picked up an occasional seabass with only a handful of shorts. We started thinking maybe the outgoing tide, opposite of what we fished last Sunday, was the reason. So, we did the only thing we could...headed back up to the area we fished last week in time to catch the change in tide.
We arrive to the same area with renewed anticipation of better fishing. It's about 1:30PM when we drop down and are on fish right away. We land a few shorts, and then a keeper or two. Then Craig hooks into a good fish and lands a nice 5lb 8oz fluke. Some more shorts as we go on subsequent drifts with a few seabass mixed in. Then Wayne starts bailing some nicer seabass, one after another with two back to back 2lb 4oz and 2lb 2oz seabass...which we find out are his two best ever! Sweet!
Things are finally looking up when the most classic of events occurs! Craig...the SCRUB...hooks into a nice fish and then DROPS it...on any other day, this is completely typical...except he goes into this complete devastation act and nearly collapses on the stern gunnel...hunched over on the rail, he's climb into fetal position if he could haha...rod dropped to the water in total disgust with his head hanging low. Well, dipping the rod from vertically fighting to in the water naturally put a lot of slack in the line...the bucktail dropped back down and WHAM...he hooks back up halfway off the bottom! Same fish? Different fish? Who knows...but it was meant to be to catch a fish that way! Craig fought the fish for awhile, knew it was a good one, and eventually worked him into the net...finally landing his personal best fish scaling out at exactly 7lb 0oz!!! Nice buddy!
Well we continued to comb the area for another hour or two...but the bite slowed and we couldn't seem to locate another patch of fish. So, we made the decision to head further north on the reef and hit our second spot from last Sunday, again with high hopes of big fish. We arrive and it's already late and beyond our planned fishing time...but Captain Anthony is determined to find the fish! We get to the spot and are in our first or second drift picking up at a keeper or two with some shorts mixed in...when we hear all kinds of hooting and hollering about 80 yards off our starboard stern. I look over to catch a glimpse of a really big fluke in a net being hauled over the side of a private boat. The guys are high fiving, going crazy...and eventually Boga it up and we shout for a weight...they yell back 11# and change. Nice fish! We know they are there, and shortly after I hook into a pretty nice 3lb 11oz fluke. As we swing by the guys with the big fluke, we asked if they have any other big ones and they said that was their only fish. So the fishing is slow, all around and still no major bite up at this final stop...so we eventually call it a day.
Although the fishing was slow, all around from what we heard from friends on the water, we still had a great time. Captain Anthony busted his butt running us all around trying to find em, and we managed 9 keeper fluke to 7#, 15 keeper seabass, and 1 keeper porgy! Definitely a tough day on the water, one of the toughest I've had all summer...conditions were beautiful above the water but it seemed like things weren't quite so below. No lack of effort on our part, everyone fished hard...the fish just didn't want to cooperate. Alas, we did have two people with personal bests: Craig with his 7lb 0oz fluke, and Captain Wayne with his 2lb 2oz and 2lb 4oz seabass! Nice job guys!
