Twilight Zone Trip Today...August 4th, 2019...

Today was one for the books in terms of weird, in fact, I can't remember another trip I could even compare to this in 30 years. To start the day we were treated to a couple of brand new 8D batteries that were dead as dead could be....wouldn't even click the solenoid! Last night they were firing over each engine with ease...so we put the new charger on that problem and left a half hour late...which is ok...just add the time to the backside of the trip....but weird. First drops were inshore just to sneak a peak and we immediately boxed 5 nice fish...great start I thought. After that first drift the bite shut down like someone turned out the lights....it was over that fast. Then we hooked the big one...what we thought might have been a record fish, perhaps a Cod that would break every record in the RI books....it was a bitch to move off the bottom and even though it didn't fight, it was coming in very slowly under steady pressure thanks to our new client Brad...who did a great job BTW. And when it finally came boatside for the gaff...it was a Cod of sorts...a "Cod End" of a trawl net...at least 50' worth which we pulled aboard and stowed in the bow for the day rather than send back for someone to run over and land up in their gear....ODD!!!! Never seen anything like this!!! Had enough of this and took off in search of some real Cod...which we did find...but not in the size or quantity we were hoping for. All market fish....2-3 every drift...nothing great but we were able to put a catch together and at the end of the day we had 20 for the table and released another 20+ too short for the fillet table. Seabass were literally non-existent today on the offshore grounds and even inside we saw very few...ODD!!! Thankfully the forecast was perfect and we had flat seas, bright sunshine and zero rain...perfect weather wise. We are hoping to put this Alfred Hitchcock trip behind us and go for some real meat this upcoming weekend. Bob and I will have the boat ready by the end of the week and hopefully get a decent trip in next weekend. More midweek....

Capt.