Shakedown Bassin

[giantfan]

Ruthless is finally in the water.

Left the dock around 1:30 this afternoon for the first trip of the season.

We rounded Sandy Hook and started looking for birds working. It didn't take long before we saw some gannets working the surface and that's when all hell broke loose.

I lost count but we must have had over 50 fish in 4.5 hours of fishing. They were everywhere. Jigging was the ticket. We stayed inside the 3 mile limit, but the birds were much thicker a little further off.

The water was only 46 deg but to my suprise the fish were very aggressive. When we brought up a hooked fish there were a bunch following him up to the surface.

What a fantastic day with some great friends. The boat ran like a champ and we got some meat for the table.

Some pictures of the day.

[SportFishStaff]

Sweet report, Glad you got into them. I love the look of them ocean running fish that have been in the cold water. They look so clean and shiny. It seems they get dark and dingy looking when they are in the bays and river water. Way to start the new season. Tim

[clt_capt]

Congrats on a fine start. Some nice stripers

[Agitated88]

Looks like a successful "shakedown" Ted...congrats on a successful trip!!!

[giantfan]

Sweet report, Glad you got into them. I love the look of them ocean running fish that have been in the cold water. They look so clean and shiny. It seems they get dark and dingy looking when they are in the bays and river water. Way to start the new season. Tim

They were nice and clean. It didn't come out in the pictures but some of them had a really cool purple hue. Most of them had sea lice too.

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

[LuckyLady]

Ok now I am really jealous!! Looks like a great day on the water!! Great pics!

Ruthless is finally in the water.

Left the dock around 1:30 this afternoon for the first trip of the season.

We rounded Sandy Hook and started looking for birds working. It didn't take long before we saw some gannets working the surface and that's when all hell broke loose.

I lost count but we must have had over 50 fish in 4.5 hours of fishing. They were everywhere. Jigging was the ticket. We stayed inside the 3 mile limit, but the birds were much thicker a little further off.

The water was only 46 deg but to my suprise the fish were very aggressive. When we brought up a hooked fish there were a bunch following him up to the surface.

What a fantastic day with some great friends. The boat ran like a champ and we got some meat for the table.

Some pictures of the day.

[Troubleshooter]

Nice job on the bass I just got in this weekend gonna hit'em this week

[erg153]

Awesome guys! I don't see another boat in site either.

[giantfan]

Awesome guys! I don't see another boat in site either.

It was pretty quiet. There were a couple of party boats in the area but they were fishing a little east of us

One of them came down all the way from City Island NY (LI Sound)

[Basspond]

Nice pictures giantfan! I hammered them down that way Sunday morning on jigs and stretch plugs.

Heading out for another go this afternoon.