Roger reported a nice day of fishing once again aboard the Gail Frances today. A respectable showing of cod with a few slightly bigger fish today plus a bunch of short cod and an easy full boat limit of sea bass up to nearly 5 lbs along with some big porgies to 2lbs, a handful of large sea flounders to 4lbs, plenty of ocean perch of varying sizes, a mess of small to mid size blue fish and a scant handful of the unmentionables. The cod were not quite as spread out as we would have liked to see but at the end of the day that is one of the caveats of party boat fishing. Hi hook did box six good keepers with next hi hook being longtime regular and exceptional rod handler Elliot Dennis of Niantic CT who had four nice cod for the day including three teen size fish which all feel to the iron clam while on the anchor! Elliot was using a smaller Norwegian style jig today and his biggest fish was right around the 15 lb mark. A handful of other cod in the 10 lb range among the keepers. Fishers were also treated to a porpoise show while on anchor late in the day as a school of at least 50 or more porpoises frolicked all around the Gail Frances for a short time. We are seeing a lot of bait birds starting to show as well signs that herring are starting to move on to the local grounds. A fair number of cod and many big sea bass have been jigged up over the past two weeks and while there are times bait cannot be beat, it is a good idea to have a few jigs on hand especially on those nice drifting days. More than just a few fishers have reported hooking sea bass and even a few cod way up off the bottom. A few pictures today will eventually appear courtesy of Roger. Tomorrow looks like more great fishing weather and the Gail Frances will be set to sail at 6am for cod and sea bass with Capt. Rich at the helm. We would also like to wish our Captain Rich a very Happy Birthday today here at the Frances Fleet!!
Capt. Mike reported another very strong day aboard the Lady Frances with plenty of nice black fish hitting the deck. Pool fish was a big chinner that was estimated to be nearly 11 lbs by the crew and there were quite a few quality tog overall. A decent amount of limit catches around the Lady as well. One keeper cod but little in the way of sea bass today. Again the short black fish provided plenty of amusement as they readily devoured crab and clam offerings and kept anglers busy at the rails. Looks like great togging weather tomorrow and Capt. Mike will be set to sail aboard the Lady Frances at 6 am. Picture today showcasing a great catch from longtime regular Mark from NY and his buddy was provided courtesy deckhand Zach E.
Roger
