Had a combo Tuna/Groundfish charter on Friday. Unfortunately charlie decided to take a day off and was no where to be found on the entire bank from Cape Cod to GLoucester. So it was time for plan B.
Headed offshore for some ground fishing on some numbers a good friend had provided. We fished the area for 3 hours and only put a few keepers in the box. With five more hours left in the trip I had to decide whether to keep fishing the area or make a 20 mile run to where I had fished a few days earlier. It was not a hard decision as I have promised my customers that I will take them to where the fish are...not where I wish they were. So hammer down and off to the northern we flew.
We arrived at dead low tide..slack water. Moving water is when ground fish bite best so I figured we had an hour or so before we would start hitting them. To my surprise ( and relief) the first jig that hit the bottom was taken by a nice market cod of 10 lbs. Although not a slam bite we started putting nice keeper cod to 18lbs and haddock in the box. About 10 minutes before we were scheduled to head for the barn we put a nice 10 lb pollack in the box. Manny, who had chartered the boat, hooks up immediately so I expected to see another racer come aboard. Looking into the water the initial color confirmed my suspicion but when the fish surfaced I was amazed to see a trophy haddock that had inhaled the jigs 10/0 treble awaiting a gaff.
Manny's fish measured 29" and weighed 10lbs on the nose. A real trophy fish considering haddock in the 5 lb class are considered real nice fish.
With the threat of impending T Storms we ran for the barn pushing 30 knts across the Gulf...(I love that big 250 Zuke). A great day on the water with a great group of fisherman and a trophy fish to put in the memory banks.
