Three old guys get on a boat ...

On Tuesday, the weather report called for light and variable winds, which is what three old guys need to go fishing in the ocean. Therefore, at 7:15 a.m., Larry Weldin, Mike Pizzolato and yours truly boarded Larry’s boat at Mariner’s Cove on Long Neck and headed for the Del-Jersey-Land Reef. For once, the NOAA weather report and the conditions were in agreement, and we ran the 26 miles from the bell off Indian River Inlet to the reef in less than an hour.

The first piece of structure we encountered was covered by a swarm of what we believed were black sea bass. If that was the case, those fish had lockjaw. We dropped nice, fresh squid strips right on their heads and yet none of us got so much as a nibble.

This went on for at least two different locations when I decided to implement a plan I had thought of the night before the trip. Back in the day, when I didn’t think I was fishing if we stopped inside the 30-Fathom Line, some captains took along a bunch of minnows to tempt dolphin out from their hiding places under whatever structure they were under. I wondered what would happen if I took a minnow and hooked it through the lips and cast it out unweighted with my spinning outfit. Having picked up two dozen minnows at Rick’s on my way over to Larry’s, I put my plan into operation.

The minnow did not live long once it was in the water. The spinning rod bent over and line started coming off the reel as Larry began to do battle with a bailer dolphin. The next minnow had an equal life expectancy as I put the second bailer in the box.  

By this time, Larry had rigged up one of his spinning outfits and almost as soon as the minnow hit the water he had the third dolphin. There was a bit of a lull before Larry’s rod bent over and line began screaming off the reel. At this point, Larry informed us we were going to need the gaff. Once I saw the dolphin leap out of the water, I concurred.

Now let me say there are gaffs, and there are gaffs. The only one I saw on the boat was some sort of homemade contraption with a very small hook and a hook guard that got in the way when you tried to sink the gaff. After a couple of swings and misses, Larry handed me a real gaff that was out of my sight taped to the support for the hard top. That one worked much better and we soon had his prize flopping on the deck.

For those who have never caught a dolphin, they tend to bleed more than most fish after they are in the boat. They also shake all over, spreading blood to places on the boat you didn’t know you had. The three smaller fish had done a pretty good job of getting blood all over the stern and on both Larry and me. The gaffer took this to a whole new level. Larry finally got the fish into the box and then set about cleaning down the boat with the saltwater washdown.

That was the end of our dolphin action, but we were more than happy with the results. Meanwhile, Mike kept on fishing and finally caught a 13-inch sea bass over an absolutely flat bottom nowhere near any of the structure.

Since we are slow learners, we kept fishing for sea bass despite their reluctance to bite. Finally, Larry decided to try trolling, and we set out five lines. After a half hour with no takers, we pulled them in and headed home. The ride back was even smoother than the ride out and we were soon at Hook ‘em and Cook ‘em, where Chris cleaned our catch.

I told Burt about the reluctant sea bass and he said they are spawning and won’t eat until the spawn is over. Now Burt may not be a trained biologist, but he has seen and caught more fish than most people I know, so I will take that as an explanation. Chet Townsend was also in on the conversation and said the sea bass swim into his pots, spawning or not.

At any rate, it was a great day for the three old men. The way the weekend weather is shaping up, it will be awhile before we get back out again. Then again, Chet said we need a big blow to set the fishing right, so he should be happy and I hope he is correct.