Roger reported a very good day aboard the Summer cod trip today with Capt. Mike at the helm. Cod fish were found at each and every stop with one stop being excellent providing customers with a two hour pick of good size green cod and a tremendous amount of ling. A decent amount of short cod as well as a handful of big sea flounder, a handful of nice size sea bass, and a good amount of big ocean perch. Capt. Matt, Cote and Kyle filleted all the way back to the dock and for an hour afterwards! A few real surprises too today in the form of a just short blue fin tuna which after a quick photo op was gently released and a beautiful 23 inch haddock taken by Kyle Blount. The biggest news of the day was of a true hanger cod fish taken on the last drift of the day by “Doughboy” from Fairfield CT who brought a beautiful big green white bellied 36 lb slob to the gaff. Easily the fleet’s biggest cod in a couple of years. What a fish!! The cod were of mixed sizes today but a lot of fish in the 8 to 12 lb range with a few bigger ones into the upper teens to 20 lb range. Both anchor and drifting produced by anchoring was the best today. Hi hooks had upwards to 8-9 nice cod apiece but many fishers had 3 to 6 cod apiece with a few having less but everyone getting a nice bunch of red hake with sizes to over 3 lbs. Longtime regulars Don Delibar and Emily combined for 10 cod into the teens and a huge sea flounder plus a mess of ling while Ginny and Cole combined for 8 beautiful cod into the low teens and Joe Gagne had a half dozen nice cod himself and so on. Red hake or ling make outstanding table fare. A couple of fish on jigs but fresh shucked sea clams were the way to go. Some outstanding pictures today showcasing some angler hi lights provided by both Christine and Roger.
The report from the Gail Frances was of just okay fishing today. A fair amount of fluke to six pounds along with a bunch of nice sea bass and a scattering of big scup. Conditions for drifting around Block Island were slightly less than ideal but they made a day of it nonetheless. Capt. Matt is at the helm tomorrow morning and the Gail Frances will set sail at 7 am.
Capt. George found some hungry fluke to six pounds this morning aboard the Admiral Frances. Biggest fish was just over six pounds. Some nice size sea bass to go along with as well. Picture of the pool winning fluke appears courtesy the Frances Fleet.
Sounds like the sea bass and porgies were more active on the afternoon trip.
Two half days on tap tomorrow with the first set to sail at 8 am aboard the Lady Frances and the second at 1pm aboard the Lady Frances.
Roger
