We had been hearing reports of big black sea bass turning up on the fillet tables recently and it’s always nice to get out for a good ground fishing session.
The crew headed out of Edgartown Harbor on Martha’s Vineyard this past Sunday, May 25. 36 Yellowfin center console; 3 Ladies and 2 Gent anglers. Conditions were sunny with a mild breeze outside the harbor, small chop probably around 1-2 ft. We ran up on probably 10-15 boats working the wrecks off East/West chop and Oak Bluffs. Heavy current and the boats are stacked pretty tight so it’s best to sit back and watch a minute when you first show up. Once we got a sense for the drift and checked the bottom for structure we set up in about 70 ft of water, lines in.
We dropped double and single hook rigs baited with fresh squid from a few nights before. First drop the three girls immediately hooked up once on the bottom. Triple hookups aren’t rare sea bass fishing but when one of the rods started peeling drag it had everyone’s attention. Two decent sized sea bass and one big guy with a huge bulged head. We quickly reset and repeated until everyone’s arms were tired. Caught a few black sea bass as big as I’ve ever seen, biggest were falling for metal jigs worked on the bottom which is always satisfying. Lots of fish caught, threw back quite a few keepers which is also a nice feeling. Other species caught were a good sized scup, a juvenile tautog and a sea robin.
Tight lines and be safe,
D. Berwind