Bloodline Sportfishing

Sorry for the long period of silence folks. Had quite the hectic August fishing schedule between charters and commercial trips while home in Montauk...And I've been back in New Bedford for about a week now on a series of turn and burns. As a matter of fact, I'm outbound on another trip right now. I'll do my best to get August pics and reports up asap, as well as answer all outstanding messages and charter inquiries. Thanks so much for everyone's patience thus far and continue to bear in mind I'm only a one man show. Tough living a dual life between two boats and two ports but everyone's business and support is always appreciated. Get those fall run-and-gun, bottom fishing and blackfish dates in mind and I'll see you all soon. -Capt. Joe

Outbound for one last August trip in New Bedford. Get those dates in mind now because I'll be back in Montauk soon. And for those who left me messages in the last few days, I'll do my best to respond to all of them as we steam before service cuts out. - Capt. Joe

Wrapping up July's reports, we come to Thursday the 30th...And what a day it was! That morning I took out Jim's crew and started things off with a once in a lifetime experience for most fishermen. While jigging sea bass, a school of halfbeaks came streaming out of the water next to us. Then a split second later the screen lit up with a sizeable Wolfpack of voracious stripers. In that exact moment Jim's son Bailey and his buddy dropped jigs and doubled up on linesiders of true... trophy magnitude. Battling bruisers on 10lb test line and spinning rods intended for biscuits, the boys showed off some genuine applause worthy angling. Patience and faith in the gear prevailed when both fish came boatside. One landed in the low 40lb range, but Bailey's was certainly a jaw dropper and no question 50+ by her proportions. Being very battle worn, we gave the two bass extra tlc and revived them with the boat in gear to drive more oxygen over their gills. After a few minutes both kicked off strong. Needless to say, nothing we caught going forward could outdo that incredible experience...but the fun definitely didn't end either. Continued light tackle jigging drummed up a boat limit of chunky biscuits, and six beautiful keeper cod. Later on in the afternoon MJ's group joined me for another exceptionally productive half day. As expected, jigs drilled out another respectable limit of jumbo sea bass while waiting for the prime striper tide. Surprisingly, only two other boats were on the grounds and the bass bit their heads off. Multi fish drifts ensued off the bat and we actually left them chewing hard a couple hours later. The majority wound up being behemoth specimens up into the low 40lb class but we did manage one slot which taped out at 35 inches on the nose. -Capt. Joe

On Wednesday, July 29th I sailed a marathon trip for Marco and his crew. We started off on the fluke grounds but an extremely weak tide minimized our efforts. Even so, we managed to pick up a few keepers and some nice sea bass as bycatch. Next on our to do list was sharking. Knowing we would have to contend with continued poor drift conditions, I opted to fish hard structure. The decision wound up paying off handsomely with excellent action. Our first hookup took a while but ...wound up being a sizeable mako which went berserk after eating the outside bait. Unfortunately, the fish jumped and managed to land the single strand wire above the 8ft 400lb mono leash and part off our 80lb mainline. Even though it would have been nice to get it to the boat, it didn't take too long for two other makos to roll into the slick and get duped. Those specimens the guys got to battle and see up close and personal before being released. Shortly thereafter we sighted yet another mako and two hammerheads and hoped they'd decide to play but it wasn't meant to be given other species on our agenda. A steam back inshore to the striper grounds brought us to phase three of the day and absolutely phenomenal fishing on live bait. After enjoying numerous releases on bass into the high 30s, the tide ultimately died and freed us up to synch one last loose end. Still short on our sea bass limit from morning fluking, I had the guys deploy jigs and polish off our remaining biscuits in short order. As I side note, I also sailed a shark trip the day prior with Bloodline regular Eddie. Though he's still waiting on his trophy thresher, he did manage releases on two very spirited makos. -Capt. Joe

Monday, July 27th saw Andy come back for his second trip of the season with his son and daughter. In typical fashion we went on a dedicated bottom fishing mission and got right on the meat. Jigs and ultralight gear accounted for awesome action with the sea bass and a quality boat limit. Next clams and chum were deployed for a customer limit of jumbo scup which bit with the ferocity of piranhas. Not too shabby by any stretch! Capt. Joe

Saturday the 25th saw a solid, mainly jigging oriented, trip for AJ and the boys. The day began with exploring some virgin fluke bottom but the virtual nonexistent drift resulted in disappointing results. However, what was anything but disappointing were the monstrous sea bass annihilating jigs on light spinning gear. Mixed in with our cherry picked boat limit of biscuits were 5 perfect market sized bonus cod. Finishing out our day in a different area, we gave the fluke another shot and culled out four keepers along with a pile of surprisingly husky baseball bat ling. Needless to say everyone went home with a fat sack of delectable meat. -Capt. Joe