By 10:00, a crowd of fishermen had assembled on the dock behind Fishermen’s Supply Co. in Point Pleasant, NJ. They brought coolers, bibs, sleeping bags and stout conventional outfit. At 10:30 when it was time to board, I stepped onto the Voyager for my first winter sea bass trip in a decade.
I remembered a few things about that first trip aboard the Jamaica back in the early 2000’s. First, I got there late and didn’t get a bunk, meaning that I if I wanted to sleep, and I did, I’d be doing so on the hard floor of the cabin. I brought the heaviest outfit I owned, which was a Penn Long Beach rod matched with a Penn GTI Reel. On the final drop of the trip, the reel seized, clearly not designed to handle 220-foot drops with 16- and 20-ounce sinkers. Lastly, I remembered the feeling that you never knew what might find your clam when you dropped it onto the offshore wreck.
OTW Sales Rep Rich Dunn and I got to the Voyager in plenty of time to secure a bunk, although I later learned that Captain Jeff Gutman limits the fishermen on these long-range trips to the number of bunks. I found an open bunk and in what seemed like seconds after I closed my eyes, Rich was shaking me telling me it was time to fish. I’d slept away the long ride and 60 mile run to one of the many large wrecks scattered off the New Jersey coast.
I arrived at the rail just as both anchors set. Captain Jeff sent out the call to “Drop ‘em” and three dozen anglers sent clam-baited high-low rigs to the bottom. As the rigs hit bottom, every other rod bowed toward the water as a mix of porgies and sea bass took the bait. Before those first hooked fish reached the surface, the rest of the fishermen hooked-up, or lost their bait.
I’d upgraded my rig considerably since my last sea bass trip, and was dropping with a high-speed Fin-Nor Marquesa rigged on a stout but surprisingly lightweight Lamiglas Tri-Flex BL7640C. The rod easily picked up the bites 180 feet down, and the reel got the rig and fish to the surface in a hurry. My first fish was a porgy, followed by a sea bass double-header on the next drop.
The action remained steady throughout the entire trip. When it began to wane, Captain Jeff would readjust the boat to get the lines over a different part of the wreck, and the fast fishing would return. Full coolers were the norm, and porgies were by far the most common catch. Sea bass were plentiful, and ran big, the pool winner checking in at more than 6 pounds. In addition to the sea bass and scup, spiny dogfish, bluefish, pollock and a 22-pound cod added to the winter wreck trip mix.
After doffing my clam and fish-slime coated bibs and jacket, I made my way down to the bunk to snooze away the 5 hour ride back to the dock. It’s trips like that one that help the winter slowdown not seem so bad. Plus, the fillets gathered on the trip will keep the Fee house flush in seafood until I can convince someone to join me for a Montauk cod trip.