Saturday, January 12, 2013

Sea Bass & Gray Tilefish Trip - January 11, 2013

Before departure from the docks, we were struck with an unusually low tide. As a result, the boat was not able to leave the inlet, and it delayed our departure by approximately 2 hours. Despite this delay, the captain moved out at a faster speed and we were able to begin fishing at the normal time.

We tried for Sea Bass during the morning hours. Within the first hour of fishing, they were biting the Lucanus Jigs hard. Many people had a dozen or more of nice sized Sea Bass within this hour. On the contrary, the dogfish were biting anything with bait, including baited diamond jigs. The dogfish were plentiful here and the captain made numerous moves to try to stray away from them with little luck. The dogfish would hound us for the remainder of the trip.

During the PM hours, we moved to a Tilefish ground anticipating good fishing action. The first few drops managed to catch... dogfish. What a surprise! Even though we moved about an hour away from the Sea Bass area, the dogfish were here as well. The start of Tilefishing was slow but towards the last hour or so, the fishing significantly picked up. The pool winning Tile was caught during this last hour. Many others caught nice sized Tilefish with some double headers as well.
Nice sized Sea Bass caught early on using a Lucanus Jig

Friday, January 4, 2013

Sea Bass & Gray Tilefish Trip - January 3, 2013

 We welcomed the New Year 2013 with a successful Sea Bass and Gray Tilefish Trip!!!



Mike rigged a Monster Skirt on this Lucanus Jig, and it worked extremely will with the Sea Bass.




The first trip of the year yielded minimal wave height, but steady and extremely cold winds persisted. These winds lasted the entirety of the trip. Anglers were bundled up with gloves, hats, and multiple sweaters, jackets, thermals, etc.

The first stop was a well known Tilefishing ground. Despite the popularity and past success at this spot, the Tilefish were unusually slow to bite. Anglers caught few Golden and Gray Tilefish. The next spot was a rocky bottom Sea Bass ground. There were many large Sea Bass with Bluefish as well. Anglers caught many nice sized Sea Bass on both jigs and bait. The Lucanus Jigs were very successful. Mike reports that the Lucanus Jig with a Monster Skirt instead of the standard Lucanus skirt did wonders with the Sea Bass. There were many coolers full of Sea Bass and some Tilefish as well.