Meccachusetts Massacre - return trip to Nanfluket and Cape Codfish - NJFishing.com Your Best Online Source for Fishing Information in New Jersey

hartattack · #1 08-06-2017, 06:41 PM

Was joined by Duffman Dan and his crew, BigfishBob and his, and MVP Alex. Fished 2-day Captain's Special and crushed the Codfish & Pollack; SeaBass and Fluke were merely limits

Boat (non-sponsor) left Sat morning out of Hyannis, Ma. First stop was in-shore drop & reel Sea Bassing - all Knuckleheads - double headers of 4 and 5 pound Sea Bass. It's a shame the limit is only 5 @ 15", we only made a few drops here but what a fishery. Clams or diamond jigs or squid were chomped on. I was baited with squid, reeling in a double-header when the bigger fish dropped; I was pleasantly surprised that the one that stuck was a 22" fluke

A good sign - catching Fluke in-shore of the Nantucket shoals - nice. We steamed off in search of fluke. Didn't take long to put some impressive doormats in the box. Pool winning fluke was 12.2 lbs with, I think, 2 or 3 others over 10 lbs. I've fished the Shoals before with conditions that forced you to drag bait and 16 oz sinkers - this time we were able to Bucktail

and it was on. Since Mass limit is 4 and since nearly everyone had at least that, Captain announced we would be heading off to Georges Bank to fish the deep stuff.

Codfishing was drop and reel. Since we fished here both Sat. and Sunday we were able to double-up our daily limits of 10 @ 22"

Pool winning Cod would not be determined until end-of-trip, so BigfishBob went into the Bunkhouse as our Leader with an 18.5 lb fatty. With all the Cod we caught on Sunday Bob was not optimistic it would take the significant pool - but it did !!

SAturday night we anchored in calm seas while the mates filleted fish until 2am. During this time we were treated to a National Geographic Wild Kingdom adventure as all life in the Sea was drawn to our lights and chum slick from cleaning 100s of fish. Folks who weren't too sore to rest, were treated to lights out Pollack fishing at anchor, while the Birds, Sharks, even stray Mahi-Mahi were observed. When engines started up again at 5:30am I saw there were several Anglers who pulled all-nighters bailing the Pollack.

Sunday Codfishing conditions were quite different but fishing was insane.. Stiff 15-20 knot winds didn't seem to bother us because as soon as you dropped 300' to the bottom you were rewarded. Conditions thru the day actually improved - something this NJ guy is not used to. I can't post pix now but wait til u see the piles of 8-10 lb. Cod we caught. Jigging 20 oz jigs was tuff work and stiff muscles - but oh the joy.

Highlight of the Trip for me was watching a pair of Blue Sharks attack my Codfish 5' from the boat. Duffman has the Video of me cursing like a sailor and fishing like a Nancy when I handed my rod off to a Mate and said - you fight it, not me.

A truly epic adventure, I will be returning to be on the CAptain's Special every year. It was great to fish again with Duff and Alex, and was happy to finally fish with Bob, even though it wasn't in NJ. Duff's buddies Mark & Ray were die-hards but I think we'd all agree that Bob's buddy Steve was puller-of-the-year.

And to all the NJFers who couldn't make this trip . . .

Topeka Boy · #2 08-06-2017, 09:26 PM

Sounds like an Epic trip happy for you guys.

GDubya07 · #3 08-06-2017, 09:54 PM

Congrats on a fantastic trip Larry and crew , Larry shoot me an email tomorrow I have a question about the N.S

Congrats guys

Gdubs-

Duffman · #4 08-06-2017, 11:24 PM

Just in the door and all I can say is Larry isn't overstating this trip a bit!!! Really really good stuff!

My buds and I did the suicide run. Went up fri nite and shot home right after the boat docked. P.S. I95 sucks!!!!

Will post up some pics tomorrow. Got an s-load of vac packing to do!! Totally spent and sore......and my crew put me in charge of emptying the cooler of beer so the fillet bags would fit....

.....and I performed admirably!

More to come...