For The Love of Cod

This Thursday marked Save The Harbor's annual Fan Pier Fishing Tournament, and it was an eventful one to say the least. I along with four others were placed on the Dive Inn, with its captain Steve Sacco at the helm.

With no bait on board, we had to stick to trolling and jigging to pull in our fish. To me this was a nonissue, as I often prefer the challenge and work of lure fishing to the waiting game involved with bait. Additionally it gave me the opportunity to better explain the finer points of fishing to the other members of my boat. One of the kids, joining us from The Boys and Girls Club, really took to the instruction and wanted to know everything he could about fishing; which lures to use, how to use different types of reels, what types of fish we might catch, and so on.

While learning the basics of fishing is great, it can become quite tedious if there is no catching involved. Fortunately after only a few minutes of trolling we were able to get him on a rod with a small striper on the other end. I was happy to hear that this was his first.

Not too big, but still a fun fight.

After a little more trolling with no luck, Captain Steve decided to make a location change, and had us reel up and lock down for the run out to Graves Light. Rumor had it that, despite the relatively early date, some bluefish had been spotted out that way, and I was excited to get my first of the season.

Once there, we got right back to trolling, hoping pick up a bite. With no luck and the clock running down on the tournament I suggested a change in tactics, so Captain Steve cut the engines, and I outfitted our rods with a selection of jigs. After giving everyone some instruction on what to do, we had our jigs deep, hoping for some cod, or anything for that matter, to put our boat in contention for the win. Jazeel was first, as he hooked into a nice 24in cod, caught on a pink and chartreuse butterfly jig. I was next with a much smaller, but at least in my opinion, better looking fish.

Jazeel with his.

And me with mine.

Capt. Steve managed to hook a nice bivalve

Unfortunately, the long run back in meant that we had to pack up before we had the chance to hook into another fish. On the bright side, we were able to get a nice fish in the boat and I had the excitement of nice fight. All in all, a great day out on the water. Many thanks to Steve for his time and the use of his beautiful boat.

- Happy to be catching,
                Tom Rebula