Francis Fleet Trip 11/28
 

Weather pending the trip is a go for me. Looking for advise on gear. I have a Tica 7 ft 20-40 line class rod and wondering if I should go buy a back up? What weights to bring and any advise will be appreciated.

Is that a tog or cod trip?

I'm gonna follow this. I have 2 rods paired with Penn 310 GTI levelwinds, each with 30 pound braid. I'm thinking these would be fine on a tog trip, maybe not on a cod trip? When I had a boat, I used these to troll tibe-n-worm over shallow reefs, vcaught plenty of 15 pound stripers on them. Not sure I'd want to put a 10 ounce sinker on there though.

For cod you'll prob be using 10-16 oz sinkers where you'll be fishing. For tog prob 10-12 oz. don't be the guy who uses too light a weight and drifts up off the bottom and tangles everyone. And don't use 2 6oz weights for 12 oz - use a 12 oz sinker. Don't be afraid to ask a mate questions - they r out there everyday and know what works
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This is for a Cod trip.

For cod I bring two rods: one for jigging and one for bait. Reports are that jigging has been ok lately as there are herring on the grounds but bait is by far more productive. My jigging rod is a Shimano Trevala that handles jigs from about 6 to 10 ounces and I have a Shimano Torium 14 spooled with 30# braid on it. It's on the light side overall but more than adequate for what you'll hook off Block most days. The bait rod is a bit heavier and is a custom 8' Lami tri-flex with Avet MXL spooled with 50# braid. Usually end up with lead of 10 - 18 or even 20 ounces on the bait rigs out there but expect most of the time to be around 14 ounces.

one thing I like to do on partyboats is to put a 10' leader on the braid as that is where most of the tangles will be. keep your bait right on the bottom and the dogfish will be less of an issue if they are around. try and keep terminal tackle to a minimum - helps w/ tangles

Awesome thanks. I'll try and find a rod between now and then.

I'm not sure if they will let you fish with braid on any of the party boats . I would call the boat . That's due to the braid slicing through the tangle and everyone losing out on their terminal tackle with sliced lines . I know for sure the Blackhawk and Hel-Cat don't let you use braid

Frances Fleet is fine with the braid. Like Niko said use a top shot of mono. When i have been out with them for cod in the past i bring some smaller hooks also for scup if you want a little variety for your fish fry. I'm sure you will catch some of the Frances fleets infamous ocean perch, aka big ass cunner.

Now that's a great point. My son and I are going soon, and would like to bring a few scup home. Can I buy scup-specific hooks on board? Or do I need to bring my own?

How about sea bass, they get sea bass too on the cod trips, right? Need to bring specific tackle for them?

Sea bass will be incidental catches. If you get into them try a little further off the bottom, change things up a bit. They love the 3" gulp swimming mullet if you have any around, wouldn't buy a pack just for them though. Bring your own scup hooks, i would go with 2/0 or 3/0 gami octopus. Strong enough for anything you will hook into. I think i am going to have to take a trip, the reports look pretty good they update them almost daily.

I'm ready to get out and go fishing again. Lets see if the fish want to play.

Does the boat provide bait that would be able to catch the occasional sea bass and scup?

Which trip would you do? The tog trip (which seems to get a lot of sea bass, and occasionally, tons of scup), or the blackfish trip, which seems to have a bit less of a chance of getting scup or cod?

Blackfish will start winding down; we've had 1 seabass and 1 cod mixed in the last few trips, down considerably on the seabass since early Nov. I would go for the cod/mixed bag trip. Where I have been seeing the head boats, they are both a decent steam from PJ, so the length of the ride isn't a big factor.

Going to give blackfish a go tomorrow on the Newport grounds. See if they cooperate.

Good luck, let us know how you make out.

Trip was fun with a limit of seabass and a few cod. Bait seemed to do best and circle hooks had a higher hook up ratio. The trick was to feel the bite give some slack and pullup. Jigging wasn't an option today, as it was too much burden when fighting seasickness for most of the day. If your looking for a trip this was alot of fun.
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Sounds like you are eating good tonight. What is the limit on sea bass?

7 seabass is the limit. I go for the experience of fishing late season and am just happy to have some fish for the annual Christmas Time sea food chowda. :) Plus if I tell my wife I'm fishing for the contents it make it easier for her to say yes. (jk'ing shes great about letting me get some fishing in. )

No scup? Seems like that's boom or bust lately.

Enjoy the chowdah!!

Go cod fishing if you go; slow blackfishing today, lots of small fish
fished deep water; two experienced guys, 5 hours, maybe 6 or 8 small keepers (kept 3) 3 legal sea bass and 1 stray cod. not a great late Nov bite.