Escaping

[Scout63]

Here on Cape Cod, Fourth of July means crowds and everyone showing up. Yesterday I was feeling hemmed in so headed out of Chatham fishing with my wife and one of our girls.  The cut out to the Atlantic is brutally shallow this year, and with heavy fog and incoming rollers was not much fun.  Then the diesel clogged a fuel filter, necessitating a quick replacement and bleeding the injectors. Rolling seas had Sara feeling queasy.  It felt more and more like the wrong day to be out there.

But once off Monomoy the seas laid down and the fish were there. We had a couple of hours of nice stripers chasing topwater plugs. We got our limit and had a great few hours together away from the crowds. It was flat calm coming home at sunset.

[chuck peterson]

 

[Texas Turnip]

Here in East Texas when I want fish I just put tarter sauce on a baked armadillo. Thanks for the post.

[Guzzistajohn]

Nice fish! 

[cliffrod]

Looks like a great day, Ben.  I could do good things with a fish like that…. Nice catch.

[FarmallA]

A small steadying sail, or mizzen may have helped your bobbing and rolling while you fixed that filter.  Wouldn't look out of place on Daisy either.





Sure sounds like a fun day.

FarmallA
Steve

[kballowe]

WooHoo !

That's a lot of fish sticks right there !

 

[larrys]

Nice bass! Even a bad day of fishing is still better than any day at work. What size(s) can you keep in MA? CT just changed their slot limit from 28"-35" to 28"-31" one fish/angler.
Larry

[Scout63]

Same here Larry. 1 fish per angler greater than 28” and less than 31”. Last year it was 28-35.  I feel bad for the charter boats.

That is a nice looking work boat Farmall.  A mizzen would have been handy.  So would better fuel. I think the waves stirred up the  tanks.  I think I’m going to run one down then polish the remaining fuel back and forth between the tanks. I carry about ten Racor filters and a half dozen engine fuel filters on board just in case.

[bigbikerrick]

Thats a nice striper! Tex, you crack me up!  
Rick.

[s1120]

Sounds like it was quite a day out on the water!! I gotta say I love those nice dead calm evenings. Just something about ghosting along the water as its getting dark.

[Kev m]

NICE!!!!

I miss Chatham.

We had a place there growing up.

I used to fish up and down the shore between the lighthouse and North Beach Island in a little boat w/ an outboard. Mostly pulling in Flounder and Porgies with the more than occasional Sea Robin.

But a few weeks a year my Uncle would take me on a deep sea/bottom fishing party boat (the Golden Eagle) out of Wychmere Harbor, slowly easing out to sea past Thompson's Clam Bar. We knew Captain Sam well and he counted on us just haul in tons of Porgies, Sea Bass and Tautog and maybe once in a blue moon the occasional Weakfish. We'd fill buckets and empty em into a big bin near the mate's cleaning station over and over each trip. Then at the end of the morning we'd pick what keepers we wanted and he'd sell the rest to the market.

We knew those waters so well there would be days everyone would be scupped but we'd still be pulling em in and filling the tub.

Some of the best times of my life but I'm not sure I knew it then.

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

That sounds aweson Ben. Haven't been out sea fishing since my grandad fell ill many years ago.  I don't miss washing the boat when we docked up at home, but I still remember my first year in culinary school when I was finally 'promoted' to fish cleaning duties instead of deck swabbing and livewell scrubbing.

Wife is terrified of the ocean, won't wade over knee deep, but some day soon I'm going to take an shore vaycay and charter a boat. I could really go for some nice king mackerel, mahi, or cobia in the cooler

[Tom]

 

[Moparnut72]

My dad and I would troll for mackerel just around the corner on the eastern end of Fishers Island just off the coast of Connecticut. Of all the species of fish I have eaten nothing beats a mackerel grilled on a charcoal BBQ. I would like to do that again, but dad is long gone and I live on the West Coast. If the mackerel weren't hitting we would jig for fluke. Those guys would put up a helluva battle.
kk

[Scout63]

My dad and I would troll for mackerel just around the corner on the eastern end of Fishers Island just off the coast of Connecticut. Of all the species of fish I have eaten nothing beats a mackerel grilled on a charcoal BBQ. I would like to do that again, but dad is long gone and I live on the West Coast. If the mackerel weren't hitting we would jig for fluke. Those guys would put up a helluva battle.
kk

Mackerel are everywhere here kk.  It’s hard to get a jig down without hooking them. Birds working them hard look like they are working over bass or blues.  If you are lucky they are. Livelining mackerel is a great way to get big bass.

The waters are getting dangerous again.  I was out on Saturday and a twin engined center console flipped in the Bearse’s Shoal rips.  We listened to it on the radio and the people got picked up by a charter boat.  We saw the tow boat looking around at the coordinates where it flipped but it was gone.  Later in the day a boat rolled over in the North cut out of Chatham. Coast Guard, towboat and the Harbormaster were all out there.  I think it’s a combination of poor conditions and people not being sufficiently experienced and wary.

[s1120]

NICE!!!!

I miss Chatham.

We had a place there growing up.

I used to fish up and down the shore between the lighthouse and North Beach Island in a little boat w/ an outboard. Mostly pulling in Flounder and Porgies with the more than occasional Sea Robin.

But a few weeks a year my Uncle would take me on a deep sea/bottom fishing party boat (the Golden Eagle) out of Wychmere Harbor, slowly easing out to sea past Thompson's Clam Bar. We knew Captain Sam well and he counted on us just haul in tons of Porgies, Sea Bass and Tautog and maybe once in a blue moon the occasional Weakfish. We'd fill buckets and empty em into a big bin near the mate's cleaning station over and over each trip. Then at the end of the morning we'd pick what keepers we wanted and he'd sell the rest to the market.

We knew those waters so well there would be days everyone would be scupped but we'd still be pulling em in and filling the tub.

Some of the best times of my life but I'm not sure I knew it then.

I remember when we got our place in West Yarmouth, and for the first time went out fishing. Growing up in upstate NY, my friends and I were all river, stream, and lake fishers. First time out and first thing we hauled out was a sea robin. None of us had seen one, and it and were not sure what to make of it. That day we hauled up MANY more of them, and quickly learned that the bottom must have been carpeted with the things!! 

[larrys]

Mackerel are everywhere here kk.  It’s hard to get a jig down without hooking them. Birds working them hard look like they are working over bass or blues.  If you are lucky they are. Livelining mackerel is a great way to get big bass.

The waters are getting dangerous again.  I was out on Saturday and a twin engined center console flipped in the Bearse’s Shoal rips.  We listened to it on the radio and the people got picked up by a charter boat.  We saw the tow boat looking around at the coordinates where it flipped but it was gone.  Later in the day a boat rolled over in the North cut out of Chatham. Coast Guard, towboat and the Harbormaster were all out there.  I think it’s a combination of poor conditions and people not being sufficiently experienced and wary.

Went out on my buddy's 21' Steiger yesterday to troll some wire line. Hatchett's reef was thick with bass and blues. Caught 2 keeper stripers and some bluefish for the smoker. Bass were working the surface, blues were deeper. A bit bumpy but doable.
I always monitor 16. Every trip hear about a vessel in distress... 9 is bs conversations and radio checks.
Larry

[Scout63]

Steiger are great boats Larry. I had a 23 Miami that was a great platform. I escaped the parades today and went solo fishing off Monomoy. After a lot of trolling in the fog I hauled in a nice 31. Fishing in the fog is exhausting. I spend the whole time watching the radar and the fog for boats.