Wow! Started out early this AM second quessing the forecast. Winds were expected to be 10-15 but you wouldn't know it in the Shrews.. Flat as lake. Outside was a different story and wind/weather was spot on. Tbone and his brother-in-law Donnie a.k.a. Michael Jackson (more on that later) had the greenies in tow. When they arrived, I just finished schucking about three dozen clams. Set for bait, we loaded the balance of gear, pulled the lines and off to SHR for a day of TOGAMANIA!
Rounding the tip, Donnie spots birds working off the Knoll. Can't say we weren't tempted but decided to stay with the game plan. Good thing we did. Coincidently, T-bones wife called later that morning and put in a order of striper. I guess he'll have to give her the bad news and then the good news
Arrived at our destination honing right in on the wreck as marked about a month back while bottom fishing. Sure as there are wild fires in California the place is lit up. Anchor is secured and there's a mad scramble to get lines over the side. Clams are cut into 1/4" julien strips, crabs are busted in half, quartered, legs on, legs off, male/female, hi/lo's, singles, etc. Looking for the right combination. Fish tapping on each of our rods.....
First fish on.... a disappointment. A porgie that I foul hooked being a little over anxious thinking it was blackie. damn
Next one another swing and a miss by Tbone, then we all took turns getting frustrated. We finally settled down getting the rythmn and began tuggin away and flippin meat over the rails. The action was hot and heavy through the tide and only slowed for about 45 mins after slack and proceeded to crank right back up after the change. We made two minor adjustments with the anchor all day long. No stopping for lunch but did indulge in a couple of cool ones to level out the over swings
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Around 2 o'clock we had about a dozen keep fish with the largest around 5 lb. about two handfuls of throw backs just short and 1/2 dozen short seabass. Asking the guys what they want to do.... Tbone did not hesistate. FISH!!! So, we keep at it. We lost about 4 rigs at this point by those denizens of the rocks. Everyone is in the water a MJ starts screaming "oh no you don't!! Get outathere! and his Tsunami bent like a pretzel. He's got a nice fish on! This thing heads for the caves and peels drag, rod is pointed to the heavens and the tip is going to hell!
MJ (aka Donnie) finally manages to surface this fish and calls for the net..... Sweet jesus he's got a bute! Now, I know this is no record but 8+ lbs on the digi made our day. So (here's where the MJ comes in) he's unhooking this slob, the fish hits the deck and he's silently sitting on the gunwale with the hook imbeded in his mit. Right in web of the hand betweeen the thumb and index. Son-of-a-bitch never said a word!! I'm watchin him and he's doin what your supposed to do.... He pushes a 2/0 bait holder through the other side so the barb is pertruding and says hey, you got a pair of pliers? He busted his expensive pair tryin to snip. Needless to say, we do the required surgery and the hook is pulled through. Not a friggin complaint, moan, no nothin. A few minutes later, I look over and his back fishin but I see this white glove looking thing on his paw.. He's got latex gloves coverering everything up. So I figure he's got a new nickname... MJ.
Would'nt you guess he hooks up again. This time with a nice 7 lber. We ended up leaving the fish biting today and boxed our limit for three. Big Donnie, MJ's dad, was supposed to be with us but took a skip at the last minute. We could have used the extra hands.... he'll be eatin good though. Fillets got his name on them!
During the mad bite, we watched a tug pulling a barge loaded with reef material. Throughout the day, jersey barriers, concrete rubble etc were craned over the side and strewn to the ocean floor seeding what will eventually be productive new cover for all types of bottom dwellers. Cool operation to watch if you get the opportunity.
Another adventure... to bad the boating season is coming to a close. Hope to get out there a couple of more times before end of month assuming the marina is good with that.
Till next time
