1st serious boat trip of the season. (not as expected!)

[STRIPER LOU]

Finally managed to get out yesterday for the first serious boat trip of the season. Up at 3am, some light rain and a bit of fog in some areas.

On my way to the reef's at 4:15. Water temps super cold for this time of year, 53 to 55. According to my log book it has been trending this way for the past 6 to 7 years. Charges of big fish use to start showing mid-may, last several years its more like mid-june.

Tide was terrible but just had to get out.

Quite a few passes with the old reliable produced a few dink's. They'll get bigger plus its always good to see things with stripes!

Moved to a different area near the mouth of the Ct. River. Unfortunately this area fishes best on the outgoing tide as the bait washes out of the river and into the sound. Not even a tap.

Decided to hit the Sluiceway as many 40/45 lbers  come from this spot at the beginning of the season. Parachutes work best here as do the plugs. About an 8 to 10 mi trip across to NY waters and man, 3/4 of the way across it was like a washing machine. Had to throttle back to 3200 rpm, about 20 mph because of the nastiness!

There's a good area near COLREGS that's all marked out on my GPS. No hits on the Parachutes and switched to the plugs. Finally a hit on ole reliable but quickly dropped. Several more passes and nothing. Moved a few hundred yards to a shallower area and noticed some decent marks and lots of small bait. Put the frames out as these always seem to work well when small bait is around. Made a swing into the elbow and the rod doubled over. I'm thinking lots of power and big bass, little did I know I had 4 blues on. Getting near the boat I can see some bass too picking up the scraps the blues were spitting up.

Dropped one as I was swinging them over the transom and it ended up being a 3 bagger. Couldn't' seem to get down to the bass no matter what I tried. Very frustrating. A few of the blues were 6 to 8 lbs but most were 10 to 15lb alligators. Decided to stick it out for a while to see if I could nail a bass but NOT. Started to save some fish for the food pantry and hit another spot. Race Rock light was pretty barren but managed to see one of the Nuclear Subs from Groton Sub base heading out. Man that's a long machine!

On one occasion I was fighting a fish and was kind of engrossed and didn't notice the Sub approaching. I was told from the loud hailer to move to Port immediately and I did so rather quickly!

Hit the food pantry with a bunch of fillets and the lady remembered me. She referred to me as the silver haired gentleman. The place was somewhat quiet and it looked to have gotten a facelift. She said funding had gotten better recently.

Wasn't the trip I was looking for but it was great to get out and see some fin's!
All have a great day,  ..  Lou

[thorhammer]

Nice work Lou!

[Dominick]

Wow!  Homeland security is going to be knocking on your door for taking photos of our subs.    I one time had and inflatable boat with a machine gun mounted on it come from the mother ship docked at a SF pier and while aiming at my boat with the machine told me over the loudspeaker to give a wider berth to the naval ship.  Not a comfortable feeling to have a machine gun pointed at you.  Dominick

[Cor]

Your water temp is similar to what we've experienced here the past 3 months on and off and it should be around 60 degr.    We've had the craziest weather here which has caused this!

Nice that you got some fish for your effort!

[sdlehr]

Nice, Lou! But, I want to know what those bluefish are smoking..... this is a different type of smoked fish....

Sid

[Shark Hunter]

At least you got out Lou.

[coastal_dan]

Nice!  You seriously know your fishing area; I admire that tremendously. Thats the difference between a good and great day.  I mostly go out on head-boats so tracking down all that info isn't always possible in my fishing log, but just writing down dates and fish caught has made a difference for me.  I can imagine water temp and tides would take it that much further.

Thanks for sharing.

[Shark Hunter]

Bluefish Doobies.
I have only caught a few sharks, but I really think Bluefish are their favorite food.
I have caught one every time I used them.