After last weekend trip on Walsh's, American Classic and reading the weeks reports of the cod slaughter off of Block I decided to give it a go on the local boat the Hel-Cat II.
The lower cost of the trip in addition to the travel time of 45 minutes compared to 2 1/4 travel time was a big factor in my decision as well.
The full boat of hopeful anglers sailed at 6:00 sharp, weather was a crisp 20 degrees when we left the dock. On the way out after about 2 hours the Capt. wanted to try a certain spot, we gave it a go for about 20 minutes and I did not see anything caught on this stop.
The journey continued until we joined a group of boat's one of the FF boats, Miss Montauk and the Niceday Too. Fishing was slow but steady for the more experienced fisherman.
The catch was on both jigs and bait (clam), if you could switch over quickly to one or the other when needed I think that helped.
We did some drifting but for the most part we anchored. Considering the crowd on the boat, tangles were not bad at all, unless it was the boats crew doing keeping it under control.
It appeared the boat was prepared for the large crowd.
As I said most people had fish, just not a lot of them.
I ended up with 2 fish one of which should of been the pool winner, it was so close to being the possible winner I think is should of been done back at the dock under calm conditions not when the boat was being bounced around
I will do anything to win the pool..haha
All and all it was a great day to be out on a local boat on the ocean catching some cod in February. I was happy with both the Capt. and crew on the Hel-Cat II.
If you have that itch to get out to do some fishing in Feb or March, keep the Hel-Cat in mind especially if you are in CT and don't want to do a lot of driving.
The lower cost of the trip in addition to the travel time of 45 minutes compared to 2 1/4 travel time was a big factor in my decision as well.
The full boat of hopeful anglers sailed at 6:00 sharp, weather was a crisp 20 degrees when we left the dock. On the way out after about 2 hours the Capt. wanted to try a certain spot, we gave it a go for about 20 minutes and I did not see anything caught on this stop.
The journey continued until we joined a group of boat's one of the FF boats, Miss Montauk and the Niceday Too. Fishing was slow but steady for the more experienced fisherman.
The catch was on both jigs and bait (clam), if you could switch over quickly to one or the other when needed I think that helped.
We did some drifting but for the most part we anchored. Considering the crowd on the boat, tangles were not bad at all, unless it was the boats crew doing keeping it under control.
It appeared the boat was prepared for the large crowd.
As I said most people had fish, just not a lot of them.
I ended up with 2 fish one of which should of been the pool winner, it was so close to being the possible winner I think is should of been done back at the dock under calm conditions not when the boat was being bounced around
I will do anything to win the pool..haha
All and all it was a great day to be out on a local boat on the ocean catching some cod in February. I was happy with both the Capt. and crew on the Hel-Cat II.
If you have that itch to get out to do some fishing in Feb or March, keep the Hel-Cat in mind especially if you are in CT and don't want to do a lot of driving.
