Sunday night 6/5/05 report

[CaptainEd]

Left out of PE in the rain sometime near 6:00 with 2 friends looking to bag their first swordfish. Just as I leave the port my P/S lights stop working. About 15 minutes in the pouring rain and we're back on our way with some lights. We head South along the shore to allow a nasty storm to push further out. I figured why let it follow us out? I'm glad I did because it was raining heavy and lightning was coming down to the waters surface more than I'd have like to have seen. :shock: We get a little past Tennaco and do some trolling. Put a few fish in the boat but nothing worth mentioning. It's now about an hour before sunset so I decide to head out to the Grounds. It's a decent ride out in 2-3'. We set up in the pouring rain and just as we finished the storm was through. That was nice.

I put out a 4 rod spread. Three jugs and one tip. I fished the baits between 75' and 150'. I put the tip at 100', 200', 300', and 350', throughout the night. Our first set was a long one and started at the 49. A very slow inside drift (no sea anchor). A very good drift and I am optimistic. But as the clock ticks away and not a bait is touched I'm concerned. At 11:30 I pull the spread in disbelief. I say to myself, time to go to work. As we're pulling in the spread we hear some things on the radio like, "nothing all night", "the dead sea tonight"... Not good. I didn't see but a handful of boats out all night. So we move South to a favorite area of mine, make a few ajustments, reset and wait.

My one friend is pretty disgusted with the night so far tells us he thinks sworfishing sucks and heads into the cabin for some shuteye. I tell him it aint over yet. You've gotta make things happen when it's slow. My other friend is asking me questions on rigging, weights jugs, depths, etc. and thinks it's great just to be out on the ocean fishing. At 1:00 the middle jug gets slammed and the buzzing clicker wakes up the sleeper. I let him run a bit, push the drag forward and we're tight! They do a great job clearing the rods and we had out some yardage! I ran the jugs way out and it turned out to be good to have the fish so far away from the boat. On account of the slow night I put only light pressure on the fish to make sure nothing bad happened. I wanted these guys to see what this is really all about. About an hour and thirty minutes later we have a 48 & 1/2 inch fish in the boat. Not my first choice but it was a good fish for some greenies, it saved the night and more importantly kept my streak alive The only other fish I heard caught this night was Frik & Fraqs. They beat me in and caught a bigger fish. =D> I caught mine @100ft on squid, blue light.

Was greeted in the port by a plethora of Law Enforcement boats. At least three and even at 4:00am these guys were sharp and on it! A quick boarding, review of paperwork, HMS permit check and fish measurement and we were on our way. They seem to have a great team and I'm glad to see it.

[jerry]

Way to go Ed, dam your making me green with envy. Tomorrow night for sure.

[Mike]

Good job on putting one in the boat!

I hate fishing with Pessimistic People!

Nothing worse than having people on the boat, who think its one big ass ocean and the odds of getting a bite are slim to none.

I wake up every morning before fishing knowing that the fishing is going to be out of control. Never once woud I think the opposite!

MIKE

[Anonymous]

I would have told your friend it is called fishing, now shut up and get to work let's catch a fish. Hand the tip rod to him and tell him to do a Captken/ProfessorO and drop it down 500'-600' and reel it in. Let him work for the fish, I have seen that method catch plenty of fish, but it is hard work. that would let him know how hard we sometimes have to work to put one in the boat.

Now congradulations on the fish you caught. It may not be a monster, but a fish is a fish MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.