PW Fishing Report 1/17/09

We started our day outside the Big 10 area at around 5:45 am. The water was not clean we did not mark much bait there. We started working to the northeast just above the Big 10 we started marking bait and at 7:00 am the first bite reports came over the radio. We stayed with the bait readings we had, and were just 2.5 miles from the bite reports. Then right by us we had diving gannets, bait and crashing fish. We made a pass and did not get a bite out of it. We circled several times and did not get a bite out it stayed with the bait for another hour. Then worked around the 10 fath line .A fleet had developed and several bites occurred until about 10:30 am, then things slowed down for the rest of the day. The hard bottom area SW of the Knuckle was holding bait all day it seems the fish came in to feed at 7:00 and fed until 10:30 �11:00 .The rest of the day we spent time on the 10 fath line looking for bait it was quiet. Not much to it for us today.
Capt Keith

PW Fishing report 1/18/09

We left the dock at 4:30 am and headed to the area SW of the Knuckle. We arrived just before 6:00am.We had our lines in and headed for where we had bait readings yesterday. Today we were fishing 2 Bally Hoo on our long riggers 450� and 500� back with Joe Shute 3oz heads. One planner bait 250� back, and a shot gun back 600�from a bridge rod(a friend of ours uses this with pretty good success).At 6:50am it started the first bite report came across the radio and we were right in the mix. When it starts you can�t help to get an adrenaline rush. Everyone on board gets ready, the sleepiness goes away, someone got a bite �right here!� we check the planner bait and get it to ride right near the bottom. Everything looks just right Lil John and Phil�s baits are swimming perfectly we watched them go out. For the next 2.5 to 3 hours there are about 12 legit tuna bites and a few grouper bites.We had bites within 150 feet of us we pounded it out and it was not to be for us today. There was at least 75 boats when the fleet was at it�s largest ,you could feel the clock ticking as the bite wound down,then it was over.We pushed our way out of the fleet and worked up on the shoal we found thousands of diving gannets when they rolled to dive they looked like a water fall. They were coming up with bunker each dive and leaving some floaters on top not even eating them.We stayed there for more than an hour didn�t see any signs of or read any fish.Day six of no bites for the Pretty Work ,it wears on you a bit ,we pulled up the riggers and said "we�ll get them tomorrow" and steamed home.

Capt Keith