4/10/08 Atlantic Ocean Fishing Report

[Capt. Jim Brincefield]

4/10/08 Atlantic Ocean Fishing Report
By Capt. Jim Brincefield d/b/a “Jil Carrie” Charter Fishing
Fishing daily from the wharf at Long Bay Pointe Bait & Tackle, Lynnhaven, VA Beach, VA

Today was our 8th extreme long range deep drop voyage of the season. Today's trip was a walk on (a/k/a "put together") trip for a total of 15 anglers. Mr. T.J. Reiber of NOVA served as 1st Mate today. World famous extreme deep diver and unparalelled monster shark fisherman extraordinaire Capt. JT Barker served as Co-captain today. We also had a "ride along" Captain - Tim Cannon - who is deciding if he wants to fish for a living.

Winds have been a huge factor this year so far and we had a one day weather window today and we took advantage of it. After a Jil Carrie record of 37 consecutive days blown out it felt great to get back out there today. Man, we were chompin' at the bit to go! We did the "grand tour" as it was my bright idea that the fish should be really snappin' since nobody has picked 'em over for a while. Oh well, guess you can chalk another great "hunch" up to Capt. Croakerhead madness (not to be confused with reefer madness). We had a decent day, but nothin' like I thought it would be. There were certain "extenuating circumstances" which we will delve into later in this Report.

We visited a a total of 7 wrecks and worked 'em all over real good. What was really strange was that although there was a pretty good roll left over from 37 consecutive days of heavy winds, there was almost no wind at all. In fact the fog was so thick, heavy, and still - at times, you couldn't even see the bow of the Jil Carrie from the wheelhouse! Well, on the way out it was slick calm (pronounced "cam") except for the roll - which I will take ANY DAY. We had an unbelievable 5 horkers which in and of itself was entertaining, but was a harbinger of the hideous misfortune to come.

On the first wreck we were getting more hung up than usual, more tangles than usual, losing fish, breaking lines, horkers akimbo, clearly something was wrong. So, we motored to wreck #2 and our bad luck continued. Wreck after wreck - same bad luck. Of course we were catching a ton of Dawg Sharks, hideous Conger Eels, undersized Black Sea Bass, locusts, etc... So, as we motored to our last wreck, one of our horkers decides that he's sold enough cars for the day and is going to try and eat some lunch. Do I need to tell you what was in his lunch box? That's right - the forbidden fruit - the BANANAS. You can imagine my mood at this precise moment. I was as mad as Hillary Clinton when she found out that Monica Lewinsky was the nomination deciding super delegate. ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!

We jettisoned the forbidden fruit (should have jettisoned the angler) and our luck immediately changed. No tangles, no break offs, everybody stopped horking, the fog lifted, the fish started biting, the clouds parted, the sun came out, angelic, singing cherubs from heaven circled our boat... well maybe I'm exaggerating a leeetle bit...

At any rate we worked hard, managed to land 191 corpulent keeper Black Sea Bass including 5 weight Citations. The largest Black Sea Bass that won the big fish pool of $70.00 was 6 pounds 3 ounces caught by Mr. Leroy Armes of Washington, D.C. We also landed a respectable 42 portly Blueline Tilefish and 1 Winter Runner Bluefish.

What was really cool was we saw some el bino whales of some sort in a pod that hung around the boat for hours. They were the strangest creatures I have ever seen in The Atlantic Ocean. For you Harry Potter fans, they had the hollow creepiness of the Dementors combined with the beauty of a mermaid. Truly, a very strange sight and singularly perplexing. Why were they circling the boat? Was it the curse of the banana? Also, we had a huge school of Tuna bust water leaping over the surface for about 30 seconds all around the "Jil Carrie". As we returned to the wharf I was reminded of the Grateful Dead - "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been"...

[ pictures to follow ]