"Grand-slam" Cod Fishing Continues...

At 4 AM skies were overcast with a steady 15 kt breeze out of the SW, the barometer was falling and humidity was on the high side...uncomfortable...just like the updated forecast. NOAA forecasted 2-4' seas on Sunday afternoon shifting now to a straight 4' building sea state with SCA's (small craft advisories) up for RI Sound, BI Sound up to 25 NM offshore...gulp. Not the way I wanted to start my day for sure, but taking all this into consideration, one element of the forecast that didn't make sense to me was the wind speed. NOAA was calling for 10-15kts, WSW in the AM increasing to 25+, turning SSW in the afternoon...with this being said I decided to gamble, or at least try to salvage something in the AM then take my proper punishment on the ride in...mother nature has little mercy for mariners who don't respect her awesome power. Anytime you sail with SCA's posted your risking it...especially if you have a slow, "small craft"....like FV Codzilla.

As we steamed out of the gap at 6 AM the sea state was a bit shy of what was forecast with steady 3' chop on top of a 4' lazy ground swell from hurricane "Gaston" far to our south. As we approached our first drop it was only "moderately" unpleasant but nothing out of the ordinary. Thankfully I had Bruce Tarro (Ct), grandson Tyler (Ct), Woody (Ct) and the infamous "Fish Counter Bob" (Bay Of Fundy, ME, or basically anywhere fish are biting) aboard...all very seasoned, veteran rod handlers who could manage a rolling deck and not even break a sweat. Since I was anticipating a real increase in the sea state by noon, the goal was to simply box a "few" and high-tail it in for some Sea Bass and Fluke inside....but this would not be the case for this trip. From the first drop to the last it was solid fishing with some drops ranging from "Epic" to just "So-So"...the important thing was there were fish on just about every drop - a good sign that we are going to have a very strong fall Cod run. By 2 PM both coolers were full and we had fish all over the deck to the point that it was getting ridiculous. Pool fish was around 15 lbs but certainly no steakers on this outing....all nice markets, the perfect size for table fare. By 3 PM the wind shifted to the north and flattened out the ocean very nicely for the ride in...mother nature giving us a hall pass on this trip, no doubt. Overall, a 10/10 day, the tides were perfect and the fish were on the chew. I wish it could be like this for every outing but that is why its called "fishing", not "Catching"....no doubt today was the latter of the two.

Might look to do another trip this Friday, Sept 2nd....if anyone has interest let me know sooner than later. Saturday is booked for a private charter and Sunday "might" be possible depending on the forecast....

Capt