Numbing P--- out of em (My Typical Sat. Adventure)

[oddfish]

So it goes.................Friday apperently a bare treble hook was all that was required to catch a bluefish south of the MM. Saturday (the day I go) party boats are only landing 6-8 total.
Anyway it was a beautiful day, probably the best day I have been out in 2 months.
Again no birds in Ipswich Bay. I'm going to change tactics. I think I'm going to put some miles on the sit on top kayak in very shallow water with some eels, poppers,gummie fish, needles, and cast masters, maybe even in the dark.

Ended up on Hampton shoals in the afternoon, NO DOG FISH, Bears repeating NO DOGFISH.
Numbed the piss out of the cunner population. I offer some photo evidence of this. Note the Massive size of this beast (for reference the jig is 3 oz.).
The day was not a total loss the lobster traps did well. Bacon, onion, lobster quichie tonight.

Oddfish

[blackducks]

I responded in your other thread about Ipswitch. The Blues were hitting HARD on Friday, and they were BIG, but they were deep = 20-25'.

[oddfish]

Originally Posted by blackducks

I responded in your other thread about Ipswitch. The Blues were hitting HARD on Friday, and they were BIG, but they were deep = 20-25'.

Alas, I went every where bu the mouth of the A, They might not heve been there either, but I came up on the Glouchester chunk of land and went left beacuse there seemed to be many boats that way. There were there and they werent dooing Poo. I partally went that way because I wanted to run some big deep lures on the way home, but again ALAS I left them at my front door step at 0430. I tried near shore I tried off shore I even tried jigging for them,(there were some small balls of stuff out over sand Im guessing dogs but what do I know) I tried from 15-115' of water, just not my day.

Oddfish

[blackducks]

Originally Posted by oddfish

Alas, I went every where bu the mouth of the A, They might not heve been there either, but I came up on the Glouchester chunk of land and went left beacuse there seemed to be many boats that way. There were there and they werent dooing Poo. I partally went that way because I wanted to run some big deep lures on the way home, but again ALAS I left them at my front door step at 0430. I tried near shore I tried off shore I even tried jigging for them,(there were some small balls of stuff out over sand Im guessing dogs but what do I know) I tried from 15-115' of water, just not my day.

Oddfish

I must have caught them all Friday afternoon then because every troll run I was nailed in less than 5 minutes. I didn't see anyone else having much luck myself, nor any bird activity, and that is why I tried going deep with the big Mackerel lure which is an almost never miss tactic for me on Blue's. The Striper's seem to like the lure as well. I have caught some good sized Striper's trolling these lures in the Merrimack Mouth and just out of it in the Ocean. It is a real Bluefish killer though.

I was using a Rapala Magnum CDMAG18 in Green Mackerel. It is a 9" lure( 7" body + 2" metal lip - I said 10" sorry ). One of the best saltwater trolling minnow type lures I have ever used. Generally I am a Yozuri man but when I want a big deep diver I go for the Rapala Magnum. The Silver Mackerel( Blue pattern )is also very good for both Striper's & Blue's. Seems to work better than the Green Mackerel pattern when the real Mackerel are gone whereas the Green pattern slays them when the real Mackerel are around( never seen a real Mackerel with a yellow/orange belly but what do I know ).

NOTE - if you have a GPS/FF on board that shows your boat speed I have found 3-5 MPH trolling speed works best for Blue's. They seem to like the lure a little faster than other species. We were running about 3.5 MPH on Friday and it was exactly what they wanted.

Grab yourself at least one each in Green Mackerel and Silver Mackerel. If the Blue's & Striper's won't hit this lure they won't hit anything 99.9% of the time. I will post a photo of both lures, with a ruler so you can see how big they really are, and a shot of the damage caused Friday. That was a virgin lure( fished but never caught anything )and just 4-5 fish. I grabbed it after the hook on the beat up one I was using broke. I try to use 1 lure as long as possible on Blue's as they destroy them so fast. These lures are not cheap!

[oddfish]

Black Ducks, we need to go fishing.

About the only two things that differed from out tacktics were you fished on friday, I fished on saturday, two; I skipped the mouth of the A which I almost never do.

If I'm not using the exact same rapala ( the Blue one) it is damn close. My troll speed starts at 3.3- 3.8 kn if nothing is happening I pick it up to low to medium 4's. I like and agree with deep running for blues. I usually start near shore and work off. I usually have one lure out at around 200' and the other at about 100 yds.

Saturday was just one of those days you do all the right things and what you have to show for it is worth less than the proverbial crap in the hand.

All of the radio chatter was saying the same thing just not bitting that day. Even some of the real old time party boat captains were being dumped in the toilet.

One thing of note the water temp was 4 degrees colder than the day before. this was a few miles of shore, but it may well have had something to do with the vanishing blue.

We would have all done well to hit up the steaker pollock, but that is the nature of fishing. At least it is cheaper than gambling.

Thanks for the input, Odd Fish

[blackducks]

Originally Posted by oddfish

Black Ducks, we need to go fishing.

About the only two things that differed from out tacktics were you fished on friday, I fished on saturday, two; I skipped the mouth of the A which I almost never do.

If I'm not using the exact same rapala ( the Blue one) it is damn close. My troll speed starts at 3.3- 3.8 kn if nothing is happening I pick it up to low to medium 4's. I like and agree with deep running for blues. I usually start near shore and work off. I usually have one lure out at around 200' and the other at about 100 yds.

Saturday was just one of those days you do all the right things and what you have to show for it is worth less than the proverbial crap in the hand.

All of the radio chatter was saying the same thing just not bitting that day. Even some of the real old time party boat captains were being dumped in the toilet.

One thing of note the water temp was 4 degrees colder than the day before. this was a few miles of shore, but it may well have had something to do with the vanishing blue.

We would have all done well to hit up the steaker pollock, but that is the nature of fishing. At least it is cheaper than gambling.

Thanks for the input, Odd Fish

Anytime you want to go if I can it sounds good. My boat is down right now for repair( transom )however. Also, I only run a 17' deep v utility/duck boat( Lowe 1677WT w/ 40HP Merc EFI 4-stroke ). No real off shore for me in my boat. I will go out into the ocean on calm days a bit off shore( like Breaking Rock, 2KR, etc... )but that is it. It is a really nice boat for it's size but I never push it so I live to fish/hunt another day. Glad to head out in my boat when I get it back but we will have to stick closer in.

Temp definitely could have played into it. The water was very warm Friday. When I fished the mouth of the Piscat last weekend it was very cold and not a bite all day. Also, was there an East wind on Saturday? I know it swung to the East late Friday afternoon and that is what made us leave( comes out over Gloucester and kicks up Ipswich Bay near the mouth of the A ). No idea if it killed the bite Friday PM as we left shortly after it kicked up and started Ipswich Bay white capping.