Morning Star Results 5/21/04

[Anthony]

Me and my dad met up with Talapia and his wife for a day on the Morning Star. The fishing was not quite what was expected but still a good day to be out on the water. The captain made quite a few drops and most of them produced for the first 10-15 minutes or so. After that it slowed to a pick. There were quite a few throwbacks but also a good number of keepers. There was one tog caught that was 4-5 lbs. All the other fish caught were sea bass. The keepers were good sized, usually in the 14-18 inch range. Me and my dad ended up with 37 nice keepers and Talapia and his wife ended up with 38 nice keepers. We did about average on the boat. There were a couple limits. My biggest was around 4 lbs and the pool winner was over 5 lbs. Here is a pic of some of the nicer fish.

http://pierandsurf.com/photopost/data/500/11537nice_ones.jpg

Here is the carnage.

http://home.earthlink.net/~ablouie/carcasses.jpg

Here is a few nice dinners.

http://home.earthlink.net/~ablouie/fillets.jpg

Overall a good trip and some nice dinners for a while. Will be back out in two weeks.

[catman]

That's some good eating, probably the best around. See you in a few weeks, can't wait. BTW what size sinker were you using?

Catman.

[Anthony]

I was using 10s. The last two drops we drifted for the sea bass and did quite well. I probably could have caught a few more if I wasn't trying to catch some tog early on.

[catman]

Doing it backwards weren't you? Limit out on the bass first then the tog. I'll have to pick up some 10's, only got a couple. Got plenty of 8's. Thanks.

Catman.

[FL FISHERMAN]

You guys are killing me! Only have to wait two more weeks. Can't wait. I hope it is as productive then. :)

[Talapia]

Just got back from OC last night. Had a great time.

Went clamming on Wed with my mom and aunt
in OC on the bay side. Most fun I have had in years!
Clammed for about 2 hrs and caught all the clams
we could want. Filled a 120 qt cooler!
The sizes ranged from quarter size all the
way up to chowder (hand-sized).

Drove mom back home on Wed and then went
back down to OC on Thur to hit the outlets with
the wife.

Met up with anthony and his dad on Friday
on the MS. Great Great time. As usual my
wife caught a ton of fish, she even baits
and removes her own now. Even though
we did not get our limit, the size of the fish
more than made up for it. We actually got more
fillets out of the 38 NICE ones we caught then
the limit catch on our last trip.

Saturday the wife opted for the outlets and I
had a charter trip. Well turns out that the
charter got cancelled (still am not sure why,
but I will be finding out shortly) so I called the
Morning Star...booked, I knew... but had to call
anyways :rolleyes: So I broke down and went
on the ocean princess.

My take on the Ocean Princess:
Spent about 80 percent of the time drifting. We
would drop down for about 5 min and then
reel them back up and set up the drift again.
This gets REAL old VERY quick! If you have
gone out on the MS you will recognize some of
the mates on the OCP. I saw Tim and Joey hanging
around. And Joey's brother was also there. There
was another mate that I had never met before.
The mates were ok, saw some strange stuff though,
for example, one mate did not have enough rulers
to hand out so he took a black marker and made
marks on the metal hand rail. Who wants to measure
their fish on the metal hand rail so that it can slip
and fall back in the water? I told the mate he should
mark the coolers instead. I also saw a mate filleting
a 10" sea bass on the way back in for a patron! Me
and another customer could not believe it! There is
no way that fish should have been kept, much less
cleaned by the mates.

The Capt (Vic) knows how to find fish. No doubt about that,
just wish he would anchor at least half the time .

The price was 45 dollars and most patrons averaged
about mid to high teens fish wise.

So bottom line: boat was not crowded (only had 25 folks
on board...would not want to go on a day when they
had more than 30) they will put you on fish, how many?
It will take more than one trip to judge that. The price is right,
and you do not need a reservation (that is good and bad)
because there is also no assigned seating, and we have all
played that game before.

[Anthony]

Hey Talapia, did you ever find out why your charter was cancelled? I'm glad that you had a chance to try out the Ocean Princess. I would think that the Ocean Princess would be a good boat for weekday trips. It seems like it is being run like the OC Princess was. The price seems decent and they even have a $5 off coupon on their website.

[Talapia]

Anthony, it was not my charter, some people
that I know had put it together. I am getting
two stories, one is the Capt had to cancell,
the other is the party cancelelled. ????

Oh well, last time I plan on going out with that
group. The OCP is OK if the crowds are light.
And since Capt Monty is booked up tight most
days now, I should be happy that there is
another choice for an all day bottom trip when
I cannot get on his boat. Since the OCP
was fairly empty, I deadsticked my second rod
with green crabs, I did not get any tog but I
did score on some very large sea bass.