first trip report - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

niko · 04-11-2009, 08:26 AM

so we launch the boat @ 6:30 and i pull up to the comm dock and pick up the guys and as soon as they are on and we push off the dock the motor dies when i put it in gear. with the big minus tides and a dead boat we drift into the mooring area in some skinny water. the boat will start and run but keeps crapping out when in forward gear. we get it to go into reverse and limp over to the dock and call freebie for any ideas. we screw around w/ a few things and trim up the motor and theres a piece of buoy line wrapped around the prop. as the prop is coming out of the water rick says " now there's your problem" and we get a good laugh. we are good to go and make it to our first drop. lots of whales, dolphins, gannets, but no groundfish. next stop - all shorts. we make a move and start pulling market cod w/ a 5 to 1 keeper ratio of cod. we keep bouncing out towards deeper water and get into a nice mix of cod/haddock for the rest of the day. all in all a solid first day. a couple of coolers of fish, a bad sunburn, some good company.