Capt. Rich reported a very good day of very local cod and sea bass fishing despite twice the amount of wind that was forecast. Well down here we all know how that goes as sometimes you just have to add the forecast wind speeds together. Hi hook iced six nice fish to nearly 20lbs on the cod front and that angler also had nearly a half dozen nice sea bass to go along with the cod. Mike T from Narragansett iced four nice cod to ten pounds and a near limit of nice sea bass and so on. The majority of the anglers aboard had a good amount of sea bass and a couple cod apiece. Biggest fish of the day was Eric from NY who had a fine steaker in the low 30s. There were a few other nice green fish in the teens and quite a few market size cod. Once again lots and lots of shorts to keep anglers busy. A few handfuls of platter size porgies to over 2lbs, a fair number of blue fish that were so fat they looked like shad and ranged up to nearly ten pounds plus a few good size ocean perch. Last but certainly not least was the appearance of several good size conger eels or as I like to call them Christmas Eels. These eels are a true delicacy but need to be handled with care as they often have a rather sour temperament and nasty teeth. It was a very busy day with lots of bent rods all day long and a wide array of sea creatures gracing the decks of the Gail Frances. A bunch of winter flounder up to 22.5 inches and nearly 5lbs came aboard and went right back in today too since they are out of season. Today saw the biggest winter flounder I have ever seen in my nearly 30 years of deep sea fishing! We are seeing more and more of them all the time and maybe someday we will be able to keep them again. One hook down low with just bait was the way to go today for both size and numbers in general. The weather looks good for Wednesday and Capt. Rich looks forward to another good day of cod/sea bass fishing with the Gail Frances set to sail at 7am. Pics of today’s angler hi lights on the Gail Frances are once again courtesy of Roger. We would also like to wish Capt. Rich a most happy Birthday today and to thank him for the all the hard work he does in seeking out the ground fish day in and day out over each season to keep his anglers happy and deckhands busy.
Capt. Mike also reported plenty of wind today and also reported that the tog bite was a bit off from the past seven days. Well there had to be a let up at some point after the almost blindingly good fishing of the past week. Nevertheless the anglers aboard chipped away at nice tog to nearly 9lbs. Quite a few shorts as well to keep things rolling right along but unfortunately no cod today as I guess they were all swimming around the Gail Frances today. Just a couple sea bass in the mix. Chris Konkol was one of the very few anglers who had a full limit of tog today while deckhand Troy and Mr. Kim and a few other customers were dangerously close to their limit. All in all still a respectable day. Capt. Mike looks forward to less wind and another nice day on the tog grounds tomorrow with the Lady Frances set to sail at 6am.