Southern Jeffries w/ Spinning Gear

[Dads Dream]

We took advantage of the light seas report last Monday, Sept 21st and assembled our 3 man team (Seth- Lines In) and (Chris- Cappy D)~

Ran out of Eliot at 0600 as I saw no need to risk a dark AM run with another big hit to the hull as experienced in 3-4 ft chop on the previous Monday 'hookie day'

Caught some bait at the Shoals and set a course for somewhere on So Jeffries

We were a mile or so from the Shoals aiming just south of Old Scantum~ and immediately ran into busting fish....looked like a huge school and they were staying up.....and they weren't spooked by the boat......Chris & Seth grabbed their 6500 Baitrunners and stood ready in the bow as I positioned the boat perfectly.....closing in.....150 yds....

WTF? Splash- splash...spray- blow??? Huge pod of porpoise.....beautiful fish, but not what we're looking for....

Onward.....more surfacing fish....now we're much smarter....overcast skies gave way to more sunshine....now we're over the deep side of Scantum and the the ocean is churning with larger dolphin (look like bottlenose dolphin~) some of the fish ran with our boat as we throttled down to maneuver through these impressive and friendly mammals.

We approach the Cove only to find a few boats chunking and live-lining for the big boys~ we exit and head E-NE off the New Scantum edge toward Jeffries and the ocean lights up with TUNA....well, at least Seth was certain while Chris was tired of his bow-mate crying wolf (err, tuna)

Tuna we had found, spinning gear we deployed, Seth & Chris went to work casting into the busting fish (often 3-5 fish but sometimes a dozen or so) Throwing our smallest metal jigs like the 2-3 oz crippled herring and Megabait 2-4oz.....matching the hatch was telling us to go smaller

Most of the bait was juvenile herring and small silversides~ the fish had the bait busted up into small schools. During our 4 hours of jumping around from fish pile to fish pile...we noticed the bait was seeking refuge in our shadows

We hooked up 6x throughout the morning, parting only one leader due to knot failure and others were a combination of events (something always goes wrong....LOL)

Our 2nd hookup was one that lasted more than 2 minutes...and quickly became 5 mins....and more. Chris was into his first BFT ~ about 15 min into the fight we noticed a double looping knot hanging down on the 65 lb braid~ we decided to coach Chris to baby the fight and get that line on the reel~ Chris did a great job and brought the fish to the boat several times and with a final approach we got the gaff on fish

This was our crews shot at redemption after the Epic Battle in '08 and I was happy to see our team get on fish! A perfect day as you can see~ any day is a great day when you're not at work. Its even better when its a Monday, you're 35 miles o/s, and you're on fish.
Capt Rich

[AlloyToy]

Well written, glad to see that class fish crusing the grounds....
Great report DD

[chumtini]

The little guys finally made the run up north. Nice! They were all over S of cape cod during the summer. The crippled herring. Shoe's probably digging thru the tackle boxes now Thanks for the report Rich

[amarshall]

Perfect grill fish

[shoefish]

Glad to hear you got on them Rich- it looks like a beautiful day out there!

[CindyLou]

I was hoping you were going to say it was just a mile off IOS...you picked a great day to run to Jeffreys though, looks like a lake! Congrats on putting your buddy on his first BFT, and thanks for the report.

[Tuna Meltdown]

Nice fish Rich. Glad to see some different size classes in the mix aswell.

[fish4stripers]

Nice job Rich!

[Dads Dream]

Well written, glad to see that class fish crusing the grounds....
Great report DD

A-T: Yes, agreed, that's 3-4 wks in a row these 30-40 something class fish have been dominating the waters on the ledge (north to south) Good to see the little guys....maybe our fishery will sustain many more years of 'enjoyment' for all.

The little guys finally made the run up north. Nice! They were all over S of cape cod during the summer. The crippled herring. Shoe's probably digging thru the tackle boxes now Thanks for the report Rich~ Chumtini

Chum- its been a long summer~ and have finally made time to get out there. With my kids in travel soccer and cross country running....and somewhere in between Dad needs some mental health time! Cheers to that!

Glad to hear you got on them Rich- it looks like a beautiful day out there! Shoefish

Shoe~ yah baby! Finally the fish are in our backyard....only saw a few larger fish mixed in....but mostly grillin' beauties

I was hoping you were going to say it was just a mile off IOS...you picked a great day to run to Jeffreys though, looks like a lake! Congrats on putting your buddy on his first BFT, and thanks for the report. Cindylou

CindyLou- I hear ya, I think it was 2 yrs ago there were a bunch of July/Aug fish hanging out by the UNH fish pens....that went on for quite awhile

Nice fish Rich. Glad to see some different size classes in the mix aswell. Tuna Meltdown

Dan- Nothing wrong with the little guys~ especially when I'm seeing more this year than in the past 4 yrs combined!!?? Would like to have fish for my kids to catch when they're in HS and can handle a bigger rod!

Anyone going out this week/ weekend~ I am watching Friday for good seas reports!

[FXRScotty]

Good going Rich! Looks like you had a nice day out there. Scotty.