My New PB Tog! - NJFishing.com Your Best Online Source for Fishing Information in New Jersey

Reelron · #1 04-22-2018, 06:56 AM

Sorry for the delay on the report but me and posting pics just don't work well together. Anyway, I was invited by Bill Krug to ride down to DE with him, stay at his townhouse, and fish on Captain Kane's Fishbound, out of OCMD, on 4/18 & 4/19. Also in the group were Kurtis B, Will H, and Bill P.

Loaded our gear on the boat Wednesday AM and headed out. First Drop we had a very lite bite going, I manage 1 Keeper and I believe Will had two? Enuff shorts to keep things interesting. Capt. Decided on a few more moves, bite seemed to be getting worse, So Capt. Kane decided it was time to go further offshore.

Took a ride, settled on the anchors and dropped down. Again we had bites but no keepers. I believe Will got Keeper number 3, I was fishing next to him , in the stern port side corner, paying attention to every little tap, and giving them plenty of time to chew. Had a good bit, then it just seemed to stop. Bite came back I set the hook and it was an "UH-OH moment as I realized there was a lot of weight on the end of my line.

I managed to get the fish up probably 10-20 feet as the fish took off in a more sideways than back down direction at first. I honestly started to think my reel was broken as I was cranking the drag up, turning the handle, and nothing was happening! After a few minutes that seemed like an hour I started to lift and reel and the fish started coming up again. As I got to my top shot I still couldn't see much color but started to back up so Kevin could get in there with the net. I saw the head break the surface like a submarine! Saw Kevin struggle to get the fish in the net, heard Will say Oh My God, and thump there it was. Then I said Oh My God! Knew for sure it was bigger than my 20.

Kane got out the scale and it weighed in at an even 24 pounds! After a few pictures we put it in a tote with water running over it to let it rest for release. We made a few attempts but, sadly, it was not to be. The fish is now at Jersey shore Taxidermy, so Gary Collins can do his magic and make me something to go one my wall. Wife is not sure if we want a 20 & a 24 on the same wall, so deose anyone want to buy a 20# mount?

The fish was weighed, on a different scale, at the dock and came up at 23.9 pounds. So I'm gonna wright off the difference to water loss? It will always be my 24!

I just want to once again give a big Thank You to Bill Krug for the invite and to Captain Kane and Mate Kevin Twilley for doing what they do so well.