MARCH 31, 2005
Atlantic Ocean Fishing ReportBy Capt. Jim BrincefieldOn another perfect weather and sea condition day on the wrecks of the Atlantic ocean, 4 anglers joined us for a Tautog seek and find mission. Unfortunately, we had to deal with more seeking than finding. We worked 4 wrecks and the story was the same at all of them. No bite at all or maybe an undersized Tog if we were lucky. We struggled all day long. We managed only 2 keeper Togs of 14.5" - and 17". The rest were undersized and released. The water temperatures are still very cold on the
wrecks.
This angler caught his first Tog today (13" and released)
Our 1st keeper of 14.5"
Our 2nd keeper of 17"MARCH 19, 2005
Atlantic Ocean Fishing ReportBy Capt. Jim BrincefieldOn a perfect weather and sea condition Saturday on the deep drop wrecks of the Atlantic 14 eager anglers (many from TF)
joined us for a Black Sea Bass extravaganza. Unfortunately, they had to deal with several choruses of "Who Let The DAWGS Out"!!!! We worked 3 wrecks today and fought through an army of DAWGS, undersized Black Sea Bass, and managed to boat 184 keeper Black Sea Bas, 4 Chopper Bluefiehs up to 25 inches, and the aforementioned UNWANTED!!
MARCH 16, 2005
Atlantic Ocean Fishing
by Capt. Jim BrincefieldToday, we welcomed The Fredericksburg, VA Fishing and Hops Advocates Club led by Club President "Ace" Laserna. Their meetings are held at The Hard Times Cafe in Fredericksburg, VA. The weather and sea conditions today started out good,
deteriorated, and then the sea and wind conditions went slick calm ("pronounced "slick cam") again in the afternoon just ahead of a wicked front coming in from the south. Due to this front coming through, we will not be able to go out tomorrow (Thursday, March 17th). The predicted high winds and heavy seas in the Atlantic Ocean have, unfortunately, cancelled our trip for Thursday.But it was nice to get out again today with six intrepid anglers who were eager to try Long Range Atlantic Ocean Deep Drop Wreck Fishing for the first time. Normally, I don't recommend this kind of trip for "newbies" but today turned out absolutely fantastic! "Ralph", "Earl", and "The Car Salesman" were out in full force during the choppy period, including a quite impressive arched power thrust hurl that is definitely our 2005 Spew of the Year so far. The 1st two wrecks we stopped on were deep drop wrecks and after the crew got the hang of it, they did very well catching 98 huge Black Sea Bass, releasing 2 hideously uglyConger Eels, countless DAWG Sharks, released 2 "Carpet" Sharks (if that's what they really are), and quite a few undersized Black Sea Bass. The crew caught two VA weight Citations (a 5 pound 4 ouncer and one 5 pound 11 ouncer) and had several "near misses" that were just shy of 5 pounds. The 5 pound 11 ouncer is headed for a wall mount for Ace and his brother! The water out there near the edge of the canyons is so blue and clear, it's quite a beauty! the Ocean Porpoise (or are theyDolphin?) play in the wake of the boat and swim up as if to see who is visiting their uncharted and undisturbed domain. The crew wanted to see what TOG fishing was like, so I pulled off of the deep drop wrecks with an excellent catch already and headed back ashore to try two of my favorite TOG wrecks with no success. All that we caught at these inshore wrecks were DAWG Sharks (released). Unfortunately, the only TOG that the crew got to see today was the beautiful TOG mount of Dr. Julie Ball's 22 pound 9 oz. BEAST that proudly hangs in the Long Bay Pointe Bait & Tackle Shop. The water temp. on the inshore wrecks is a frigid 41 degrees, so we need some warming before the TOGGIES get hungry. But the big news is that on the way in, we spotted a school of Atlantic Mackeral, jigged on them, caught a few and also some Ocean Herring! This is the first time I have ever encountered these fish personally, as I have heard many stories of them. Just another example of the wonders of theAtlantic Ocean.
MARCH 10, 2005
Atlantic Ocean Fishing
by Capt. Jim BrincefieldOh man, what a day - we are really on a roll now! I was back and forth with the party on whether we were going to try it or not today as the howling NE winds were pretty knarly. But, we decided to "pull the trigger" and, yowzah, yowzah, I'm so glad we did!!! We paid for our bold decision as "Ralph", "Earl", and the "Buick Salesman" were out in full force in the heavy Atlantic Ocean seas in the morning. But the afternoon conditions changed dramatically, and it was a completely different day out there. It was as if Moses had waved his arms when the Atlantic Ocean the seas went slick calm (pronounced "slick cam"). Today, we did another long range deep drop Atlantic Ocean Black Sea Bass wreck fishing extravaganza for 7 intrepid Virginia anglers. It was supposed to be 8 guys who had signed up to go, but one guy decided not to go because he thought "we wouldn't catch anything". Man, I would have hated being that dude Friday morning with the realization he had just made a HUGE mistake when his buds called him and told him of their great fortunes. Oh yeah, I'm sure these fellas didn't rub it in a bit....NOT! These 7 anglers stood in there and fished HARD like nobody's business and turbo whacked an astounding 162 keeper Black Sea Bass, 4 VA Release Citations were released, 5 Virginia Weight Citations of 5 pounds or better were weighed, countless Dawg Sharks were released, numerous undersized Black Sea Bass were released, a surprising 25 inch/6 pound Summer Flounder was released (out of season - DRAT!), several hideous Conger eeels released, and 6 Snapper Bluefish landed and stripped for bait. Whew, did I get them all? I'll tell you that these 7 fellas fished some of the toughest conditions I've seen out there after a pounding ride out to the wreck. Even after calling for "Ralph" these comitted anglers continued to fish as hard as they possibly
could. They are all members of the Virginia Beach Anglers Club , The Portsmouth Anglers Club, and The Peninsula Saltwater Fishing Association. Man, what a ride!
MARCH 7, 2005
Atlantic Ocean Fishing ReportBy Capt. Jim Brincefield
Monday was THE DAY for us. It was one of those days where everything just worked out perfect (well, except for the ride home, but that was a different story). It was the best day of fishing for huge, VA Citation Sea Bass I have ever witnessed, bar none. We worked 3 Atlantic Ocean offshore wrecks and 2 out of 3 produced big time. We caught our limit of 200 enormous Black Sea Bass including an amazing 7 weight citations (8 anglers aboard), 1 Blueline Tilefish, 8 Snapper Bluefish, released several VA Release Citations, released 2 Bazillion DAWG Sharks, and released 1 Bazillion hideously grotesque Conger Eels. "Ralph" and "Earl" made their appearance on the ride home thanks to a stiff 25 - 30 knot breeze and some building whitecapped swells. We will not be able to go tomorrow (Tuesday, 3/8/05) due to high winds and seas and Wednesday looks bleak, as well.
MARCH 5, 2005
Atlantic Ocean Fishing ReportBy Capt. Jim BrincefieldToday started out as a beautiful late Winter/early Spring day and deteriorated into a 25 - 30 knot NE "washing machine" on the way back to the wharf! We had 5 customers aboard today- 3 new customers plus 2 of our regulars - the "Boland Clan" form Middle Virginia and Home Depoot Fame. We Atlantic Ocean deep sea wreck fished today and had an good day of catching and keeping 104 Black Sea Bass, numerous Dog Sharks (all released), and we also released a few undersized Sea Bass, and released 2 VA Release Citations (24.25" and 24.5") and a whole lot of big, ugly Conger Eels. 3 of the anglers aboard received VA weight Citations, the largest of which was 6 pounds and 2 anglers received VA Release Citations. We will not fish tomorrow (Sunday) but will wait for the seas to settle for our Monday trip.
MARCH 4, 2005
Atlantic Ocean Fishing ReportBy Capt. Jim BrincefieldWhat started out as a bumpy, breezy morning quickly mellowed into a picture perfect late Winter/early Spring day and afternoon. It was nice to have a day in the 50's for air temperatures and light breezes to let us know Spring will soon be here! We deep sea wreck fished today and had an excellent day of catching and keeping our limit of 125 Black Sea Bass (5 anglers aboard), 7 Snapper Bluefish, numerous Dog Sharks (all released), and we also released a few undersized Sea Bass and some big, ugly Conger Eels. All anglers aboard received multiple VA weight Citations, the largest of which was an all time Jil Carrie high weight for Black Sea Bass - a whopping 6 pounds 11 ounces. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving angler - Mr.
Charles Randolph who is a volunteer for the VA Citation Program Board, volunteer serving on the VACCA Board, and an avid angler member of the Peninsula Saltwater Fishing Association. Mr. Randolph also had a VA release Citiation of 22 inches. 2nd place honors went to a 6 pound specimen caught by TF Virginia Board regular Craige Stallings.
