LOOKING TOCATCH ANYTHING!!!

[CRAZY CUZIN KEN]

HEY GUYS AND GALS,
WANT TO THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR PREVIOUS HELP.LIKE I MENTIONED IN THE PAST. I AM A BEGINNER.BUT I AM FULL OF VISS AND PINNAGER. I AM A SKILLED SCUBA DIVER AND TAKE ON EVERTHING I DO WITH A FULL HEAD OF STEAM. I HAVE MY FIRST BOAT IN THE WATER. A 24' CUDDY OUT OF WARWICK COVE.I DO REALIZE THAT YOU HAVE TO WALK BEFORE YOU CAN RUN.
I DON'T HAVE ANY SPECIAL REELS OR RODS.
BUT I DO HAVE TWO YOUNG SONS THAT WOULD LIKE TO EXPERIENCE THE THRILL OF CATCHING FISH BIG OR SMALL AND WOULD LOVE TO SHARE THE EXPERIENCE WITH THEM SO IF ANYONE COULD POINT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION IT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.AND ON A SAME NOTE I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHAT TO DO TO CATCH THE BIG BOYS WITH MY BUDDYS.
AND LAST, DOES ANTBODY NO A GOOD SPOT TO SPEARFISH FOR TOUTOG. THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE LOOKING TO GO THIS WEEKEND.
KEN

[LINESIDES]

KEN,
NO DISRESPEC MENT BY ME, YOU NEED TO
SLOW DOWN HERE BEFORE YOU GET YOUR SELF IN TROUBLE.
YOU CAME TO THE RIGHT PLACE FOR YOUR FISHING INFO. FOURTUNATLY THERE IS SOME EXPERIANCED BOATERS HERE TOO.
IT' ABOUT THE "KIDS", LEARN YOUR TERRTORY WELL IN THE DAY LIGHT ON 11 1/2 FOOT RUN OFF'S. BEFORE DOING ANY RUNNING AROUND AT NIGHT WITH "ANY BODY", IN YOUR BOAT AT NIGHT. I HAVE READ ALL OF YOUR POST,
AND YOU NEED THIS FROM ME.
YOU "DO" KNOW ALL OF THE EQUIPMENT YOU MENTIONED WOULD NOT SHOW YOU ROCKS, AND SANDBARS AT NIGHT, NORE WILL "CHARTS".
PLEASE TAKE THIS AS A FREINDLY RESPONCE.
MY CONCERNE IS ONLY FOR "YOUR" SAFETY,
"YOU’RE FAMELY", AND "FREINDS".
LATER, LINESIDES

[JohnR]

Hey CRAZY,
How old are you kids? They may be just as impressed with decent sized school bass... You can find them all over the cove but just use light tackle and small plastics like sluggos, Zoom Fluke albinos, and queen cocahoes... That will get things started for you... Then you are looking at pogies and eels for big stuff but that's a little deep for a paragraph or page :P

[Got Stripers]

Can't speak to the fishing, but I will add some comments as a boater.

1. Make sure your boat is equipment with every piece of required safety equipment and then some. Make sure you can access it quickly and know how to use it.

2. Make sure you get the most current detailed
charts of your area and study them at length and then go out during the day, preferrably at low tide and confirm what the charts are telling you.

3. Be prepared for the worst, meaning spare warm clothing on board, even in the middle of the summer. Rain gear is always on board. Working bildge pump and manual means of bailing water. Quality anchor and sufficient length/size line and you might want to consider a good drift sock.

4. Have 1 or 2 ways of communicating with the coast guard, SeaTow or nearby boats. I have VHF and a cell phone on the boat, because getting help is hard to do if you can't contact others. You should have both, plus the required flares and signal devices (horn-whistle-orange blanket).

5. I would highly recommend a GPS, permanant or portable, because they are extremely accurate. I went out 2 weeks ago in pea soup and each waypoint was reached without problems. I still watch my nautical mile log on the depth finder and my compass, but the GPS was dead nuts on.

6. I'm a mechanical morron, so I joined SeaTow for $99 per year. I'm not looking at any $800 towing charges if something goes wrong and I'd say anyone boating today would be smart to do the same.

7. My backup power is a 107lb thrust trolling motor and I use it almost 100% of the time I'm fishing. I'm hoping to put a 10 HP kicker on board for next year. If you can afford one, a kicker is a good backup and can save you gas if your trolling a lot.

For the fishing, I'd recommend getting out with a friend (boater a must, different than surf gear) and try out some of his gear. My gear is light compared to what 95% of boaters use, but then again I have a very powerful trolling motor to run down a big fish. Unless your on a mission, take it slow and enjoy the learning process.

[Patrick]

Got Stripers makes some excellant advice. I would follow it to a T!

When it comes to safety, you can never be too safe. Most states require you to carry 3 distress signals for day and night. Why not four? What's the harm? This can be as much as just adding a large bright blanket and a flashlight to your boat.

Now a word about lifejackets. If you have the kind with airpockets in them, check each one of them for leaks. If one leaks, write all over it with a marker, "NO GOOD" and toss them in the dumpster.

Another idea, attach whistles to each one of them and reflective tape if they come with on them allready. Not knowing how old your kids are, if they are young, get them a Type 1 Offshore. These are bulkier than most of the other types but it will face them right ways up incase they don't know how to right themselves.

Another thing you gotta get is a first aid kit. They should be required on every boat.

The two most important things you can have though, is A, a float plan which tells the law enforcement officers where you are going to be, when you are to return. And a plan on the boat. People panic, it's in our nature to panic. Screaming commands at them is useless in a real emergency. Go over what people need to do in case of a emergency.

Safety to you and your boat.