First time out

[tomfrmnh]

Well, today was it. We splashed the boat for the first time. We launched out of Hampton, NH around 9:30am and headed east. Our first thought was the flats 5 miles east of Hampton. There was nothing there, no boats naddah. A little early I guess. Then we decided to head a little further east to see what we could see. Picked up a couple of boats just south and east of the IOS on the "new" radar Looked like they were in the Old Scantum area. We searched the south east corner of Old Scantum and marked a ton of fish! At 250 ft, there they were. We dropped the lines and we were on! Most were too small but, a few keepers in the 30" range. There were some big fish down there, we just couldn't entice them with our Norwegians with teasers, squid jigs or the butterflies (had to try out the new jig rig). A couple showed us what they were dinning on. One tossed up a squid and the other an 8" alewife. I didn't know what it was, however, the "friendly" Conservation Officer that met us at the ramp on the way out identified it for us. Anyway, all in all a descent 1.5hrs on the water with six keeper cod and the boat checked out fine. Sorry no pics. I left the camera at home. Chowdah anyone?

[shoefish]

Excellent report! You can't beat that for a short first run! Did you mark any bait out there?

[tomfrmnh]

Excellent report! You can't beat that for a short first run! Did you mark any bait out there?

Shoe,

We did mark some bait in the 150ft range, I believe. We also saw some surface bait just before we pulled up the lines to head in. I should have glanced at the temp but did not; I'm not exactly sure what it was. I had heard there were some whales in the area earlier this week. All in all a great day for a quick test run.

Tom

[cold waters]

last monday i was out there and no ground fish (except reds) but there was tons of herring, lots of whales and krill. i might run out right now

[doccmree]

Sounds like a great day. I just thought I would add almost the same report. We went out Sat just southeast of the shoals and saw NO boats in the usual cod locales. I thought I saw some boats in the distance (east) so we kept going. We ended up just east of the southeast corner of Old Scantum and there were 5 or six head boats out there. We boated about 20 cod with most just under 24" and one about 35". It was a great shakedown cruise and the cod were a pleasant surprise. I was most surprised at how few boats there were out there.

Oh yeah, all fish were caught on butterfly jigs and they were regurgitating herring like crazy.

[MarkP]

Nice Tom! Now, how much are you 'n Rick betting on the first tuna???

MarkP

[tomfrmnh]

Nice Tom! Now, how much are you 'n Rick betting on the first tuna???

MarkP

Hey Mark,
I can't get him to put any money on it. He calls it a gentleman’s bet for a beer. HA ha. I can't tell you how many beers I have bought that guy. He went with me on this first trip. He seemed to have the upper hand when it came to the cod. We will see if he can carry that over for the tuna