Area 9 has plenty of Blackies right now...just got to know where to find the candlefish and the blackmouth are right behind them. Went out yesterday and spent 4 hours trolling the 90 - 180 ft. standard stuff and then after the beers kicked in we found ourselves in 74ft of water...uh, oh too shallow..so we pulled up the riggers to 70 and 60 feet and spanked our first fish. 9lbs with scuffed gillplate. Spent another 2 hours screwing around in the shallow stuff and hit one 26" and another about 8-9lbs. I used to slay fish in the same area in March and they were always eating candlefish in there...same thing going on right now.

The fish are there, just not in their usual hiding spots, folks. I used to flat out slay blackmouth when I had my Glasply, now I'm a river junkie, but I still love the saltwater and it was great to get out on such a beautiful day. Showing a rookie friend of mine how to fish and run his new boat and he is hooked for life now, heh heh

My e-mail is down so please don't ask for specifics, just do your homework and figure out where the major candlefish spawning grounds are in area 9 and stay SHALLOW. Good luck...

Justin