After the success of the previous days trip, I was excited to see what day two would bring. This trip was book by East Coast Hall of Famers Danny and Ed Chin. Two all business anglers and brother that have been with us since season number 1! They have re-booked with us a consecutive 5 years running, so the heat is on for me when ever I hit the water with them. The morning was foggy and it was still dark out so we had zero visibility as we steamed for my numbers.
After a wet but warm ride, We made a quick run to the bait and got busy snagging, the bait was a plenty so it didn't take us long to have the live well brimming with snacks! I started to check out the locations from the previous day and wasn't seeing much. (Whoa is the life of a sportfishing guide lol) So determined to put these guys on fish I pushed on further to search more areas. After about 30mins of uneventful searching I get a call from East Coast Mate Brandon Lake, who was out on the water scouting for me. He said and I quote " If you have bait, Get to me now! I'm covered in Bass!" then he sent me a picture of his sonar screen with was completely loaded with nice fish and then a shot of his lat and long. I had the boys reel'm in and pegged it for Brandon. I was stoked to see the outline of his boat appear through the fog and him standing on the bow with a rod doubled over. He looked over his shoulder at me and nodded yes.
So I jockeyed the boat around and marked some nice fish. We had livies on board so I had Dan and Ed each rig one up and send them out. The baits might have each made it a total of 10ft from the boat and it looked like someone just heaved two cinder blocks into the water. BOOOM followed quickly by two bent rods ands screaming drags. Instant Captain's euphoria! Both anglers managed to land their fish and we were on the board with two nice fish pushing 30lbs.
For the next 5 hours yes I said 5 hours we enjoyed an absolute bonanza of bass fury. We even had surface feeding schools of fish launching pogies right into my boat. In the midst of the battles we also managed to land some Giant bluefish into the teens and had to make 2 more runs to get livies when we ran out.
At the end of the day it was a well deserved great trip for some of my most loyal customers. I owe Brandon some serious love for that Intel! Its good to have friends!
In addition to the photos here, I have some video of today's action that I will put up on youtube and post on this thread later. Also Dan and Ed were field testing some head mount cams that also recorded some of the action from first person. I'll try to get that footage from them too.
After hammering fish on our scouting trips, we started off the Memorial day trips with Rob Perez, Amanda Waldman and there friend Rolo. This was the second Season in a row for Rob and Amanda making them part of our valued East Coast Repeat Clientele. On their first trip Rob and Amanda did very well so I had some big shoes to fill already. Their friend Rolo had never caught a striped bass before and this was his first time out with us.
After a short ride the sun began to rise and we began to snag some pogies to use for bait. Rob an Rolo had so much fun snagging one fish after another that I literally had to drive away from the school, so that we could get focused on landing the big stuff. After poking around a few of my early morning locations, I marked a few nice fish near structure in 20ft of water. We began to get strikes right away, Once we overcame the learning curve Rob set up on a nice fish! Immediately the fished dumped line off the real and ran strait into a huge pile of pilings and timber. NOOOOOO!
Frustrated, I put the boat in gear and carefully began to maneuver the boat into the structure. Carefully I could feel the fish pulling on the line even though he had Rob wrapped around all sorts of structure. With a delicate game of boat handling and threading the needle with the rod. We amazingly were able to free the fish from the structure and Rob was able to continue the battle. After a few short minutes Rob had the crafty fish beat and into the net, and just like that we were on the board.
An hour or more into the action, and thanks to some crafty and a lot of nasty structure we where Fish 7 Boat 1. At this point the tide had begun to change and was now flooding in. I had the crew reel in their lines and decided to check out a few more spots I like to the south. I pulled up to the new location and instantly began to mark fish. "Deploy the probes" I instructed the crew. I jocked us into position and "WHAM" instantly we end up doubled up. This put another fish into the boat and Rolo was no longer Bass Virgin. Excited by the quick action, we re-rigged and got back at it. For the next 2 hours we ran a clinic on them landing fish after fish until we had completely limited out I nice fish between 15 and 32lbs. Rapping things up with a last minute 27inch fish by Amanda that we gave a quick pat on the head and released.
With the time limit up for the trip we snapped some nice photos for the blog and heading back to port. ( Keep in mind that ROB and ROLO are Giant dudes both of them make 6ft guys look tiny LOL) The fish still look great!
Thanks again for the repeat business guys, I look forward to taking you out again soon.
The coveted last week of may trips are the first trips to fill up for us every year. This is due inpart to the exciting topwater and live lining action. This year was no exception to the rule. The next two posts are from this weekends exciting action. If you plan on visting or are from the area and really want to see what World Class Light Tackle Striped Bass fishing is all about make sure you save your spot for this exciting action.
No trips were booked for the week of the 19th and 20th so, Capt Jack headed out on a solo mission to see what he could find. Landing over 23 bass on both Live Menhaden and Verticle Jigging the new Point Jude Deep Force Jigs the scout trip was a total success. We finally got into fish over 30lbs this week. We're looking forward to taking out the many trips we have scheduled for this weekend.
On a side note Capt Jacks Friends, Capt Lou of Hot Reels Sport Fishing is bailing the squid in Rhode Island sound and Capt Dom of Coastal Charters Sport Fishing is Hot on the Trail of Tuna on Cape Cod and will likely land the first Jig and Pop Tuna in less than a week. We work close with these two great Captains to stay on top of the best action. As things heat up in the other fisheries well begin to run our prebooked trips for these species. Stay tuned for more info.
Although the bass showed up in late march, the last two weeks of April really turned on here in Narragansett Bay. Lots of Bass showed up eating smaller bait fish and we have been able to score fish upwards of twenty pounds. On the Maiden launch of the Kristina Marie this season we landed multiple fish up to 20lbs and took home one nice one for the table.
Long time East Coast Client and friend Chip Drayton grabbed us for the first half day trip of the season with his Mother Diane Johnson, and Gina West. Diane and Gina had never caught anything larger than 12inches so our goal was to be able to put them on their first keeper sized bass. Its usually a game of timing this early in the season, but we decided to try the upper bay. After snagging some nice live baits, and a quick overview of the techniques we'd be implementing, We looked into several early season holds and found some nice fish in 20ft of water. It didn't take long for these quick studies to dial in because, In less than 1hr of fishing,(Mission Accomplished) both ladies had officially landed several nice fish between 28 and 34inches. It was a great day on the water with some great people. I look forward to fishing with them again soon.
***On a side note, This season marks our 5 year anniversary I'd like to personally thank all of our great clients that have booked us yet again this season and repeatedly over the years. Your continued support has greatly contributed to the success of our operation. While we will continue to work hard for you every time we hit the water, I consider you all personal friends and cant wait to get on the water with you again. ~Capt Jack***
