A Nice Day on the Ocean

We headed out with Capt. Steve to fish the wrecks and rocks on a beautiful mid-winter day. Other then a little swell in the morning, the ocean was calm, with light winds and moderate temperatures. The bite was sporadic, as the fish would come in little spurts, and then stop biting. We picked at the blackfish, grabbed a handful of ling and only a few cod. One interesting observation was the ocean pout. What we call "conger eels", the pout are protected in Federal waters and you can not keep them, but you can catch more of them then the more desired target species. It makes you wonder about fisheries management. The best part of the day was the wild life show. A seal came around to check us out, a pod of Atlantic dolphins played around and at times were only thirty feet from the boat, and two fin back whales frolicked less then a half mile off the bow for about half an hour. Thanks to Capt. Steve for a nice day and the crew hopes he still may try one more time before the water gets too cold and the bite shuts down for good.