Roger reported a very good day of cod fishing today with a good amount of sea bass and big porgies mixed in as well but the cod fish once again stole the show and today saw a further increase in “gaffers” and some true “steakers”. Guy Hesketh from Granby CT and Pedro Darosa from Taunton MA had the two biggest cod of the day with Pedro’s fish edging out Guy’s by just a few ounces and both fish being just south of 25 lbs. There were several other cod in the mid teens and a bunch of other fish in the 8-12 lb range along with the smaller keepers and again a lot of throwbacks. Hi hooks had at least six cod apiece today, longtime regular Mike Tilelli from Narragansett RI boxed five nice cod into the low teens today along with an easy limit of sea bass and some big porgies. Mike also had a fine doulbe header that included cod fish of over 10 and 7 lbs! Best double header so far of the fall! A decent number of other fishers today had 4 and or 5 cod apiece to take home and then others with 2 or 3 and so on but the majority of fishers took home fresh cod for a fine fish dinner in the near future. The weather was picture perfect all day long with ideal drifting conditions. There were almost no unmentionables today further adding to the pleasantries of the trip. Both fresh shucked clams and jigs produced well today although most fish were caught on bait because most fishers were using bait. Most of the cod taken today were gorgeous green white bellied fish and many of them had sea lice on them indicating newer fish moving in from offshore. The cod fish are chasing both herring and butter fish and numerous fishers reported being hit by hungry cod while reeling in their clam baited hooks!! In fact one fisher caught three cod today that hit his baited hook on the way up and he estimated the cod fish were 30-40 feet off the bottom!! Bottom line is the cod fish are actively chasing prey through the column. Interestingly enough however for the cod caught traditionally (sinker on the bottom) the bite was remarkably soft. It cannot be stressed enough about swinging at anything which feels a little strange when bottom fishing with bait. Pedro’s fish was taken on a 17.5z Viking jig and Pedro had another cod in the mid teens on the jig and a few smaller cod and some sea bass on his jig/teaser combo. Some good size ocean perch in the mix as well today and some of the scup today were back in the 2 lb range and a few fishers had upwards to a dozen to fifteen of the feisty saltwater pan fish apiece. A couple of sea bass in the 3 to 4 lb range but by far most were nice keeper size to small jumbo (2lbs). Things continue to look better and better on the cod grounds. A pile of pictures today to showcase a respectable amount of angler hi lights provided courtesy Roger, longtime regular customer Ginny Reed, and Mike T from Narragansett. Great weather again tomorrow and Capt. Rich will set sail aboard the Gail Frances at 6 am.
Capt. Mike reported a very solid day of early December togging. About a third of the boat was limited out and there were others not far behind. Longtime regular customer Anthony Ludano from Manchester CT easily limited out on good size tog to over 8 lbs and so on. A few keeper cod today as well and while there were plenty of short tog the shorty action was a little less insane than previous trips. All in all things are still looking great and Capt. Mike will be ready to set sail tomorrow morning at 6 am aboard the Lady Frances.
Roger
