So, having forgotten my boat keys, and finding my kicker gas tank near empty this morning, Marty Antrim and I got a late start to the fishing day. By the time we got out, Rockwell and Shaughnessy already had one in the boat. You read Colin’s report…so you know that as we got to visiting with them boat to boat Marty let them know they had fish number two on Paul’s rod!!! Those young guys are not only good fisherman, but lucky as well. They were done.
Shortly thereafter, Marty tied into a beauty, THE FIGHT WAS FANTASTIC! Marty literally handed me the rod mid fight to take his jacket off! I reluctantly gave him the rod back. Fun! We got it to the boat and in the net, but you guessed it, too big! Measuring in at 40 inches it got released, and happily swam away to chase more dabs.
Then Marty hooked another! a keeper at 26”.
Meanwhile, the tide started ripping and I did absolutely nothing! For 3 hours, I did absolutely nothing! I could not even hook the bottom….Marty did though, twice! Eventually the tide got so ridiculous that a sailboat that had headed West gave up, and headed back to the East. You get the picture.
Normally I would have called it a day, but Marty is one of these optimistic guys that points out THERE IS NO WIND OR RAIN, THIS IS GREAT!!! (I wanted to point out there were no fish either, but I kept it to myself). And on we fished…….
But, with so much tide, it became obvious we needed to change up location and technique, so we went prospecting a bit. Running the boat in forward, I found I could counter the tide, but the dabs where still spinning against the current. Not a good look! Last year Paul Rockwell had talked me into purchasing some lancer jigs, so I figured I could not do any worse and put one on. In about 100 ft of water, running against the tide, I found I could find bottom. Better than that, a 36” ling found my jig!! I could not believe it!! First ling I’ve ever caught NOT on bait! Old guys can learn new stuff!! And it was only FOUR SHORT HOURS after we saw Colin and Paul limit!!!
Many thanks to Marty, who convinced me to keep on trying, in spite of the tide and my lack of success. I’m crazy pleased that I’ve caught one on a jig now. So if you get a chance, try some jigging!! And take Marty with you, the guy is just plain good luck!
Bob Dean
