We were out yesterday and overall I was disappointed in the results of Sunday’s trip. We boated around 40 sea bass on the trip but we were hounded by doggies all day long. I was also really surprised on how many undersized sea bass we caught on the trip as I expected a much larger class of fish at 59 miles out. We had trouble holding bottom even with 20 ounces of lead due to the ripping current. Because of the extremely strong full moon currents, back trolling may have helped to some degree or even anchoring up. This is similar to tile fishing in 400-700 feet of water when sometimes it is just impossible unless to catch unless you back troll your boat but even then, the fish need to be in a feeding mode. It seemed most boats struggled compared to earlier in the week. Although Dan Harley from Cape May Tackle called me on the radio, and the boat he was on was doing well using heavy artificial jigs which helped avoid the doggies. It was a little sporty in the morning and nothing like the light and variable wind forecast we all expected but overall not a bad day considering Christmas is only a few days away.
My personal belief is the bite should pick up again this coming weekend with the slower tides plus there will not be much fishing pressure during the next few days with the weather and Christmas so hopefully we will see more of the larger sea bass move in again by next weekend. We are ready to go back out to the offshore sea bass ground starting next Friday (Dec 26) which looks like the a perfect weather day at this time. We will be running open boat or regular 6 person charters right through Dec 31 when the season closes when we get decent weather to run a trip. For what it is worth yesterday’s group slept in 70 degree comfort on both the way out in the dark and on the way home so for those looking for a little creature comfort the Hooked Up II certainly can offer this plus it took us just over 2 ½ hours travel time back to Cape May.
Contact Capt John to reserve a spot on one of our upcoming trips or to charter the whole boat. (609) 425-1970!
Happy Holidays from Captains John and Diana and the crew of the Hooked Up II
PS: One of our good friends fought an estimated 300 lb. Mako for 2 ½ hours yesterday after it took a sea bass on a jig. Unfortunately, the fish was lost but definitely something for the memory banks. There is lots of life offshore now possibly including decent size tuna so you just never know what you will encounter offshore this time of year. We are going to bring some heavier tackle on our next offshore sea bass trip just in case such an opportunity presents itself.
