How do you quantify or qualify a good day Albert Fishing??

[saxatilis]

Fellow Reel-timers:

As October approaches and the weather and water cools, I am starting to get excited about my impending Cape Lookout trip so forgive me if I post a bunch of meanless questions in the next month.

Question:

For Cape Lookout how do you quantify or qualify a good day of Albert Fishing? How many fish and of what size is a great day??

Opinions are welcome!

Thanks,
Rick

[lollygagger]

As with anything that I do:

1) Did anyone get hurt? Anything damaged?
2) Did I do anything stupid that upset anyone else or put anyone in danger?
3) Did I learn anything that will help me next time?

If the above answers are No, No, No, Yes....it was all worth-while. The rest of the trip is justified.

As far as catching fish, it is all relative. If I catch one or two and most everyone else is struggling, I am pretty proud of myself. Also, if we go out and things arent perfect conditions, and we have to switch tactics, or really work for fish (and things work out), it was a good day, and all that much better of an experience.

All in all, it is pretty hard for me to have a bad day on the water without something really bad happening. I just have too much fun doing all the stuff that goes in to a day on the water to have a bad day fishing most of the time.

[Knotdun]

Guess you ask this to get an idea what to expect. Fishing day 7am to 5pm. If I had to guess not knowing any thing about skills or weather and I had to bet how many fish you would catch, I would guess 7. Good day 14, great day 20.

Lots of thing to call it a good of fishing. If slow day, nobody getting much, they go home, you persevere and get 4, you will be pleased with yourself. If it is a Cape Lookout blitz day, and you get 8 and everyone else gets 15, you will feel bumbed out.

Last year, slow day, no fish, hours on end, no fish, many boats go in. Then at 4pm, outside very close to beach, suddenly an acre or so of Albies came to the surface, justa rippin the bait. I felt good we persevered, but I actually sucked cause I got in such a panic I couldn't get myself together. Caught 3. But still a good day cause we stuck with it. Last year, by the way, was relatively poor after hurricane Floyd made the water like chocolate milk.

Can't tell you how big they are in precise terms. Weighed some 16lb, 17lb once, I remember, larger than most. Don't know just, catch them and shoot them back in the water.

Dont' worry, you will be pleased. When you get back, post how many you caught first day and see how close the guess of 7 turns out to be.