[fishingmortgageman]

After not fishing for 2 1/2 weeks I was going thru fishing withdrawal. I seized the weather opportunity and headed out with Chad to cure the winter blues. I was joined by fellow NJFishing members Eel Killer, John, Cuz, Capt Lou, and Eric. There was also a special guest appearance for mate by the Captain of Long Shot, Chris. We were talking on the way out about how no one knew what to expect, since no one had fished in so long. Chad was worried about catching the first fish while most of us were optimistic and just happy to be out on a nice day.
We got to the first drop and the tone of the day was set by my getting a good bite almost immediately. Of course I missed it but the fish was nice enough to give me a second chance and the first keeper was in the boat. We made 4 drops and had good life on all. They were biting greenies, whites,gulp and clams. I had over 15 keepers with the biggest one being almost 11. There were very few bergals and the dogs were not bad unless you were fishing for them. On the next trip some one is going to have to tell Cuz that the targeted species is blackfish and not dogs. He was on them all day. Dave took big fish honors with a beauty of almost 12 for his personal best. I was fishing next to him and was laughing as he tried to reel this one in. He kept saying " he is pulling drag" and giving him a very tuff time. I think that everyone had their limit with a bunch of other nice 5-9# fish caught.

I was surprised that at 1:30, after beating on them all day that Chad was heading for another drop. I asked him about this drop and he told me to keep doing what I was doing. I should have been more suspicious and did not pay much attention to him putting on some big clam stringers. As soon as he hit bottom he was hooked up. Up came a beautiful cod. Chad was grinning like a kid at Christmas and announced that he was having cod for dinner. He quickly put 4 more cod in the boat. We ended up with a boat limit of tog, a bunch of ling and a bunch of cod. Chad and Chris did a tremendous job all day. With a great crew, beautiful weather, and fantastic fishing it ended up being one of the best days of the year.