Jason and I made our first trip aboard the Lucky Carm with Capt. Carmine at the helm. We were joined by 4 others on this open boat trip.
Was a bit on the nippy side the first hour or so. Started off fishing east of the railroad bridge in 43 degree water. Absolutely no action, not even a tap. Pulled anchor and ran over to the Keyport flats. On the run over we passed over a big pod of bunker and we even saw a nice sized striper bust on them. Once back on the hook, the wind had laid down some and it became more comfortable to fish.
Action was far from fast & furious but we did manage to box 9 flounder while releasing 1 short. Jason was up to his usual antics by getting the first bite of the day and turning that into the first flounder in the box. On top of that, this fish turned out to be the pool winner of the day as a true Raritan Bay jumbo that taped out at 18.25" and weighed slightly over #2.5. I was able to take high hook honors putting 3 in the box. All mine fell for a sandworm/clam ribbon combo (2 with a yellow twister & 1 with a chartreuse). Jason's big gal sucked down both hooks one baited with a mussel & the other with a clam strip.