16” Venice Flounder to a 48” King and the Follies

Chelsea and her Dad Keith of Massachusetts were on there last day of their vacation and thought they would give it a go on the pier. Armed with nothing but Bass to perch baits, Chelsea had a quarter ounce bass headed jig with a white and red tailed plastic grub. Flipping it out like any young semi-pro youngster would do, she bounced that jig in a slow to quiver retrieve. First cast to the deck, Chelsea landed a sixteen-inch Venice Flounder. Apparently, the kids know how to fish. To that, I changed over to a half ounce “Dude”, a white bristled jig with wraps in red, and started bouncing the bottom. Learn from what you see or as in the military; be aware of your surroundings.


Under a brisk north by northwesterly wind at fifteen to twenty, a few brave souls were out on the boards at Sharky’s on the pier chunking hardware to drowning dead baits. Added to those brave anglers trying their luck for Flounder, Bluefish, Mackerel, Pompano’s or anything that would constitute a “Fish On!”, were “the crew” of Trollyers, at the end of the pier in hot pursuit of big Kings on this cold day in April. Yes, you heard right, cold day in April when it normally would be in the high eighties to low nineties and the water at 77 would be teaming with Hammers to massive migrating schools if Kings to Tarpon. Instead, the water temperature today was a hot 71.8 degrees at the pier. Maybe next week?

The usual local crowd out on the pier were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the water, Gotcha’s, Clarks, Silly Willies, and the list goes on with nothing but a sore arm in the taking. Some had squid, cut baits and on the main menu, dead shrimps. Nothing, nada, no way Jose was the fish in a cooperative mood. Water clarity was partly to blame as it was as clear as glass; the bottom at fourteen feet down one could see the ripples in the sand.



Alias! I hooked it up with two Blues, a Spanish and one Pompano; a bucket of fish. The only other fish and stuff to lie on the boards this day were two King fish in the forty inch plus range. The follies of it all was watching two gaffs in hooking up that one forty-eight inch fish.



A Bucket of Fish spells Dinner.

The Kings are a coming for yesterday a fifty pounder was caught along with five of his gang in the thirty to forty pound class by the “crew” or “T” gang who posses the end of the pier as their own. Tomorrow or Thursday should be even better with Friday being hot as the weather is suppose to warm up and a mild front arrives on Saturday. I suspect Friday will be hot if the water will go off color and by Sunday, it could be a scorcher in Kings on the deck.



“FISH ON!”