Florida & New York Reports 04/11/05

[VikingFleet]

Tarpon Springs, FL Report


44 Hr Florida Gulf of Mexico Middle Grounds Trip

The Starship trip departed on Friday night at the tail end of a cold front passing through; the weatherman predicted good weather for Saturday and Sunday. We went to the north end of the Middle Grounds and had a steady pick of large Mangrove Snapper and Gag Grouper until sun up. As the seas flattened we moved further west to a deep water wreck and had a good charge of gag grouper up to 37lbs and some small amberjacks. During Saturday almost every stop produced a steady pick of Mangrove Snapper & Gag Grouper, with some Red Grouper mixed in. At sun down we made a drop in 130’ of water which produced many American Red Snapper, up to approx. 25lbs and large Mangrove Snapper and Gag Grouper and a Cobia weighing approx. 35lbs.

Lee Tinter won the Grouper pool with a 37lb. Black Grouper; Greg Kurpita, of Jensen Beach, FL, took the Snapper pool with an 8.75lb. Mangrove Snapper and Tony Muia took the AJ pool with a 29lb’er.

Overall we had a fantastic weekend, great fishing and great weather!



Montauk, NY Report
Sunday April 11
Local Cod - Captain Steven had a FANTASTIC day fishing! We had over 70 keepers for the day and hundreds of throwbacks! First place in the pool was Peter Dunne with a 12.5 pound cod, second place went to Chris Rutherford of Merick. Peter Chris and Jeff had 2 dozen keepers and 20 throwbacks between them. Bobby Rojas had 4 keepers and 18 throwbacks. Joe Sctotto had 5 keepers and 15 throwbacks. A super day on the Viking Star!

Saturday April 9, 2005
Local Cod -Final Recount: A good day of cod fishing, tons of throwbacks. Fred "Motor" Shea got a nice 30 pounder, and Anthony Darrigo took the pool with a 22.7lb Cod. The total for the day was around 50 keepers with non-stop action, the average being 25 throwbacks per angler. The boat spent a few hours looking for some flounder. The water temperature is still cold, but did find one big, fat snowshoe flounder- about 3 lbs.
Local Cod April 9 12noon update.
Captain Steven reports very good action in the morning. There are 40 keeper cod on the boat for a small crowd. Tons and tons of throwbacks. There was one fish in the 20lb range and another in the 30lb range! Weather turned out to be absolutely gorgeous today!