Trip to the Atlantic

Flounder was the species of the day

A family trip to Philadelphia was in order this summer, so naturally I just had to find a way to go fishing.  My brother-in-law who has lived his entire life only 60 miles from the Atlantic made all the arrangements.  The bite hadn't been good, as the ocean temperature was at 62 degrees, typically this time of year it is much closer to the the 70 degree mark.  Either way, we headed as far east the the continent could take us and we arrived on the charter boat for the day looking to catch some Flounder.
Cape May was the docking area, which offered numerous different fishing trips on the day.  Tuna, Sea Bass, and Shark to name a few.  The large boat could hold up to 50 fishermen, but today only about 20 boarded for the the day of fishing.  The trip out to the fishing grounds lasted about 80 minutes, a long cruise on the ocean was really relaxing, but I really wanted to feel that tug on the end of the line.

8-oz Drop Shot Rig

When we got there we dropped our drop-shots (8 ounce sinkers) down with chunks of squid or 6 inch Gulp baits.  The very first drop for me, and that tug was there, I couldn't believe it!  This was easy, the first drop and I already had a bite, and landed the first fish of the day for the boat.  It was a Flounder, but ended up 17.5 inches and the limit on this species was 18 inches, so back to the blue waters it went.  It wasn't that easy all day, but there was enough bites and others catching fish to make it interesting.  Both Mike and I had a great time, even though I may have offered some of my breakfast to the ocean.  Several Flounders and a couple Spotted Ling filled our day.  It was quite an interesting trip, especially the rod/reels we were using.  Needless to say, they were no Quantum PTs, which is what I really missed about this trip, who knows how many fish we would have felt with some better equipment!  A great trip, and hope to try it again sometime!

My Brother-in-law with another Flounder