Bottom Charter Ling Bonanza by Ed Valitutto

Posted on June 12, 2019 by VHFC

Bob Dodds, Phil Simon, Gene Geld and I signed up for the IFISSH bottom trip on the Voyager out of Point Pleasant for Sunday June 9th. This trip was run by Rutgers Doug Zemeckis who spoke at our April meeting. Despite a bad forecast of strong easterly winds and 4 – 6 ft. seas, the trip remained on schedule. For once, the weatherman erred to the high side. Seas were rough on the way out but once anchored, it was fine.

Unfortunately the black seabass weren’t on the feed; fortunately, the ling were voracious! I don’t know how many I caught, but between culling out the shorts and tossing some into the boat basket, I still had plenty to take home. The other VHFC anglers on the trip had similar results. I did have one decent seabass at 16+ inches. Not big enough to beat Carmine Tocci’s last weigh in of 2.6 lbs but good enough at 1.75 lbs to give me the temporary lead in the ELKS June contest.

Overall, we had a blast and will certainly look forward to next year’s trip. Ling are definitely not fighters but they are tasty when fried up golden!

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Fishing Facts

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