Mad Gaffer on Sunday - NJFishing.com Your Best Online Source for Fishing Information in New Jersey

IrishAngler · #1 08-04-2014, 11:00 AM

Had all day to myself as family is away - and, being my birthday, treated myself to an all day trip w Capt Ray on the Mad Gaffer. There were only three other fares (re: new friends) - Joe, Rick and Carl. Great guys and hardcore fishermen.

The seas were angry that day my friends. Took off into the remains of Saturday's rough stuff and took a steam up north - to what looked like a few miles off of Sea Bright area. It was pretty rough out there and we were drifting at about 1.6 knots. A few seabass and ling came up but it was time to anchor. Once we did the fishing improved and some really nice sea bass were landed. Made a few shifts and wiggles to keep the lines tight.

As the day went on the winds and waves slowly subsided so that by the afternoon the conditions were really nice and we had a perfect drift speed. We continued to pick at the fluke, sea biscuits and ling...and Rick put a nice cod in the boat too. At the end of the day we all went home with some tasty treats. Kudos to Ray for staying out an extra 90 minutes to let us enjoy the calmer seas. And I really enjoyed the mate, Alex - a young gun who never skipped a beat....solid help.

The only downside was that I was on three hours of sleep and I think that, and the seas, messed with me. I was seasick for the first 6 of the 9 hours....it was tough sledding for sure. I kept it quiet and did my best to just "take care of business" when riding from spot to spot while the guys were inside. I figured if they were a bit quesy then they wouldn't want to watch anyone else get sick. but i stayed at the rail and didn't miss any fishing time...and I was rewarded with a bag of sweet fillets.

Great time overall...nice day on the water with good guys. And a big thanks to Capt Ray for burning a lot fuel with only 4 fares on board in order to put us on a number of pieces around the northern grounds. It was a hell of an effort for a light crew.

FISHFORLIFE · #2 08-04-2014, 04:40 PM

Great to fish with you and way to hang in there... Ray always gives us the every opportunity to catch and never stops trying to get us on the fish !!!!!
Hopefully you can get some time off and fish again soon with better weather conditions. I agree.. It's always fun to fish with a good group of fisherman.