March Eastman's Redfish

Deep sea fishing fleets around here start allday trip from the beginning of April. This year, Eastman’s announced they would start the first trip at the end of March, Friday and Saturday before Easter. As long as I knew from the report of the past years, season starts with red fishing. Actually I was interested in red because I heard it tastes excellent. Weather was the only concern but the forecast for Saturday was clear with very light wind. So I made a reservation for two spots. A family with teenage boys I came to know at school also joined.

Eastman’s is really a popular fleet and the boat Lady Merrilie Ann3 was almost full although it was March. We got into the boat before 7 but found rods in 70% of the rod holders. I kept rail positions for 5 at port and the father and boys came soon.

I used UglyStik 6’6’’ and Okuma Classic Pro XP-452L with 300YD of 65 lb PowerPro. My daughter used SturdyStik 6’6’’ and Okuma Classic CLX-450L with 150 YD of 65 lb PowerPro. As for rigs, I used 2-hook high-low rig with Gamakatsu Octopus #4/0 and 30 lb mono line. I made rigs with live bait #5/0 and 40 lb mono as well. This hook is not so skinny as Octopus #4/0 so I thought it would work better to keep haddock, making hook size small enough to catch red fish. I hooked Gulp on my daughter’s rig not to miss bites in case clam bait was gone.

Although it was still cold and temperature was low, weather couldn’t be better, clear, sunny  and no wind. The boat went out for two hours and started fishing for haddock. Soon a few haddock came into the boat but it didn’t last. The boat moved in 30 minutes. The bottom seemed rocky at new spot. I caught a 10’’ red fish shortly. The bite happened at the bottom. Typically fish hit when I slowly took up the rig from the bottom.

After a few resets, red fish bit actively. We enjoyed drop and hit with occasional double for a while. Some nice ones of 14’’ mixed in. Boys caught small cod as well as red. The father of boys got nice one, too. At the time of tangle, I cut our rig to keep fishing time. Sometimes my daughter got fish on gulp only. We stocked fish to cover the bottom of the cooler box by noon. It seemed that the modification of her reel worked because she could easily reel in double. All I had to do was put bait and drop the rig in the water. She fished by herself and could take care of a rod when the other had a trouble. It was really helpful.

Although the captain went back and forth between the haddock spot and the red spot a few times, red were the only active species that day. The fishing ended around 2:30. We caught 23 in total. The family of boys also kept similar number. Although we lost a few sinkers with snag, the boat offered substitutes for free, that was really helpful. We used all 8 rigs I prepared because of snags and tangles.

I made sashimi using the largest one. It was firm, similar to blackseabass and striper. I could not find any worms even on gut. I filleted or cleaned rest of fish and frozen except for a few I cooked fresh. My family loved them and the stock were consumed very soon.

It was very good trip for us. Weather was excellent and we could catch some tasty super-fresh fish we wanted. Hook size was good. For just above 9’ fish, #4/0 was the best. Considering snags and tangles, it would work best to prepare 4 rigs per rod or so. A spinning tackle might work although the captain always tried to catch haddock.