After three blowouts I was able to finally take Greg Yolpert and his children Jessica and Ben out for a day of fishing on the Lady Diane.  We left the harbor at 0500 and headed for the tuna grounds as our plan was to split the day between tuna and ground fishing.

As we approached the grounds we immediately saw a pod of 3 to 4 footballs jumping so hopes were high for the morning tide.  Unfortunately these were the last tuna we saw in 4 hours of trolling.  Other boats in the area were having similar luck so we decided to pull the plug and go ground ground fishing.  Just as we were about to reel in the baits both 50's went off and the guys boated a couple feisty bluefish which destroyed the tuna rigs we had deployed...it was definitely time to go cod fishing.

We ran out east to the cod grounds and found slow fishing on cod as well.  Jessica had the hot stick and managed to put the first days keepers in the boat.  The weather gods meanwhile decided to add to our frustrations and large black clouds heralding an approaching cold front  approached from the west.  The radar showed a large area of rain  was about to hit us so everyone put on their rain suits and I steered a course to avoid the heaviest area. 

The front passed quickly and the wind started to blow from the northwest with greater intensity every minute. With slow fishing and worsening conditions we made one more stop to see if we could find a few more fish for the box before we headed in.  Greg dropped his jig to the bottom and immediately hooked into a very good fish.  After a short battle I sank the gaff into a beautiful 25lb silver hake.  After a tough day both Dad, the kids and the Captain  were pretty happy to see this fish on the deck!

We headed for the barn around 1400 and the normal ninety minute run turned into 2.5 hours and we battled 25knot northwest winds all the way to the harbor.  Once inside the lee of the land I was able to fillet the days catch and when we arrived at the dock the tired anglers were able to put 40 lbs of fillet into their coolers.  Dad caught the biggest fish of the day but Jessica was high hook by far having worked the jig hard all day long.  A tough day on the water  for even the most experienced anglers, I was pleased on how well these folks did facing these tough weather conditions.  We said our good byes and I promised that next year the wind WILL NOT BLOW!