Yesterday out by the Avalon shoal the Trigger fish were so thick you could walk on them. Tim Hand and Capt. Frank Breakel from Brynnie B Charters (609-425-9401) ran across a massive school of Trigger fish that were breaking the surface and the guys couldn't resist the action. They started fishing with chunks of clam on semi small hooks and soon realized just how tricky these fish can be. The guys kept downsizing hooks until they stopped losing bait and started hooking up. They were chumming lightly with handfuls of chopped clams to get the fish active and pitching a small piece of clam on a number 6 or 8 hook into the thrashing school.
They ended the day with 8 Triggers in the box and almost 20 lost before they keyed in on the hook size. In the middle of the action, the guys hooked about a 3 foot brown shark and brought it to the boat to be released. Most of the time a 3 foot shark is nothing to write about, but this shark had dozens of triggers following it to the boat. They were fighting over what was coming out of the shark's belly and eating the clam covered hooks.
As one angler brought a trigger to the boat, the other would pitch a bait close to the hooked fish because there were at least 5 following him to the surface. This gave Tim an idea on how to keep the triggers coming to the boat. You'll have to check in to watch the video as Tim will reveal his sneaky tactic to keep the school close to the boat.
The fishing was fast paced and the smell from the kitchen right now is making me hungry.
Stay tuned for a video on how to keep the school within reach and on how to clean and prepare Trigger fish. I'm going to eat!
Tight lines.
Chris@Tates
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