Capt. Mike reported the most recent Tuna trip was vastly improved over the last one that came back last Sunday. A nice handful of Albacore and Yellows and quite a few lost Yellows plus a handful of Mahi. But as we stated things were definitely looking up. The Long Range Tuna trip departs tonight at 10pm and will return sometime Monday afternoon so look for a fresh Tuna trip report early this coming week.
Capt. Ray reported an awesome day of scup and sea bass fishing today with many full limits of scup and plenty of nice size sea bass and a couple blue fish thrown in for good measure. Sizes on the scup to at least two pounds and sea bass to at least three pounds today. Capt. Ray looks forward to more great fishing and great weather tomorrow with the Admiral Frances set to sail at 8am.
Capt. Rich reported a good day of local cod fishing with a great turnout of cod enthusiasts today to enjoy the picture perfect weather day. The hard bottom which these big green cod thrive on did give the anglers a run for their money today but the anglers aboard fought back and managed to boat quite a few big green cod throughout the course of the day. Hi hook today was Leon Skolink who had a half dozen beautiful cod to at least 25lbs with none under ten pounds. Dan King took the pool with a fine fat green cod in the upper 20’s today, one of 4 nice cod he put in his cooler. Anthony from Providence, who like Dan, is a longtime regular here at the Frances Fleet put three nice cod to 20lbs in his cooler and so on. A lot of big green fish in the teens to low twenties today around the boat and a fair amount of smaller market size keepers plus lots of short cod to be tossed back. A fair amount of decent size sea bass and a few handfuls of big scup to 3lbs along with a couple nice blue fish and some truly supersize ocean perch up to 2.5lbs plus one keeper fluke, and last but certainly not least, one slammer pollock just under 20lbs to round out a nice catch of cod. A few fish did fall to the iron clam today but by far most of the cod were taken on bait today with one hook down low the way to go. Capt. Rich looks forward to more beautiful weather and good fishing tomorrow with the Gail Frances set to sail at 7am.
IMPORTANT NOTICE PER OWNERS AND DECKHANDS OF THE FRANCES FLEET IN REGARDS TO FALL COD FISHING:
THE NUMBER OF LIGHT FLUKE STYLE RODS BEING BROUGHT ON THE DAY COD TRIPS OVER THE PAST SEVERAL FALL SEASONS IS STAGGERING. THE NUMBER OF THESE RODS THAT WE HAVE SEEN BUSTED, LOST OVERBOARD OR DESTROYED BY THE NATURAL ELEMENTS THAT OCCUR ON THESE FALL COD TRIPS IS ALSO RATHER DISTURBING! THIS KIND OF COD FISHING THIS TIME OF YEAR WITH NATURAL ELEMENTS SUCH AS BIG COD TO 40LBS, BLUE FISH TO 15LBS PLUS, DOGFISH OVER 10LBS, HARD BOTTOM FISHED AND THE LIKE ARE FREQENTLY NO MATCH FOR THESE LIGHT RODS. MORE STOUT GEAR MAKES THE JOB OF THE CREW EASIER AND THEREFORE ALLOWS MORE ANGLER FISHING TIME AND COMFORT AS WELL. SO IF ONE MUST USE THE LIGHT GEAR, PLEASE DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK! WE STRONG RECCOMEND MEDIUM/HEAVY ACTION RODS WITH 30-40LB MONO CAPABLE OF EASILY HANDLING SINKERS OF 10 TO 16Z DEPENDING ON THE TIDE AND CAPABLE OF SWINING IN SMALL COD AND OTHER FISH UNDER 6-7LBS. FOR ANGLERS THAT INSIST ON BRAID PRODUCTS, THEY ARE CERTAINLY ALLOWED BUT THE CREW STRONGLY SUGGEST SUFFICIETLY LONG TOP SHOT MONO LEADERS OF 70 TO 100 FEET! THANKS IN ADVANCE TO ALL FALL COD FISHING CUSTOMERS TO THEIR ATTENTION REGARDING THIS VERY IMPORTANT MATTER.