Puosu 4

[Life's A Beach]

Stellie, Jigamafish Joe and I started the day at the OB Diner for breakfast. Joe went to Fish Monger and Stellie and I to Mimi.

Left the dock @ 6:30 and headed north. We set up outside a group of boats off Elberon and picked some keepers. Chad caught and Ray and I skated to keep him warm (yeah, brisk to say the least). Chad pulled another and Ray BOATED his big fish of the day (his ONLY fish) while I missed a bite. THEN Ray got waffled.......set the hook and started reeling. He got the fish off the bottom but this fish was MAD. After just seeing how his GRUMPY'S CUSTOM ROD (shameless plug) handled the 7+#er just a few minutes early, I KNEW this was a PIG. Boston Pete on one side and Chad on the other with me peeking around Chad as the fish thumped and thumped. Got a couple more turns on it and then BINK and the line goes slack. Pete's jaw dropped and Ray's face went BLANK. We now have a New Momoi Slicer. It may be great for tuna but this is the third fisherman I've seen (me and Boston Pete being the others) destroyed by this line. It nicks fast and fails under pressure.

We made a move north and inshore to an area Captain Kenny calls the Meat Market because it's yields so many nice fish.

Rob B pulled a nice 5#er and DMac one around 6# plus some others around the boat. A few dinks came over to my left as I tossed a full white crab on a single Gami 4/0 and it got pecked 2x. Then I got the right bite to swing on and it had very little resistance. I thought I had another dink. THEN it got mad when she released she was hooked and my GRUMPY'S CUSTOM ROD (shameless plug) starting pounding. I gained line on my Newell 220 (Thank You Lefty Reeler) and the fish head up to the bow. To cat-calls from my FRIEND Stellio "Woof Woof - Doggie", I got the fish to the surface just as it wrapped around another line (KurtisB?). Mate Chris scooped the net underneath and plopped my P.B. on the deck. 11 pounds 7oz. Put her in water right away and waited through the day for someone to beat it.

D Mac, D Rod, Stellie, Scooter among others caught other NICE fish (or rolled them) but my fish held up to take the title and pool.