Report 4/19 Breezy Point

[Slayer]

Was supposed to fish PLO today but the wind forecast made me redirect to Breezy Point. Glad I did because it was worse than they had forecast.

Anyway, started getting spread out at 5:45 in 35ft near 78A. Bait and marks galore on the fish finder. Got the spread out and headed east. Picked up a nice 41" in around 45' of water off a 9 oz white chute 60' off board. Next up was a 36" on a 4 oz chart mylar chute (A FISH NUT SPECIAL I might add!). Just after 8:00 we picked up a 39" off a chart 3/5 tandem.

Wind was worsening and we had a limit so we started pulling the spread. This is where things went to hell.

I was having a HO circle around so we would be nearer the shore and not tossing around so much. Once the turn was complete we were heading into the wind. An old buddy of mine was driving. We had been going with the wind and now into a 15-20 kt wind. We pretty much stalled out and all my rigs sunk to the bottom. I was winding up a tandem at the time and looked out at my planers to see the lines with a whole lotta slack. I quickly had him bump the throttle but it was too late. 4 rigs snagged on something at the bottom. Not sure what since we were in about 60 ft of water at the time. Anyway I cut the lines to the ones that snagged. I do not have any idea how this next thing happened but I have 2 witnesses. Somehow my clip attached to my arch pulling my starboard side planer came undone. It didn't break, the clip wasn't stuck open, it was firmly attached to an eyebolt. The line did not break. No clue at all. But I had my buddy step aside while I took the wheel. He got a boat hook and I swung around. I never once took my eye off the board and we were able to recover. Before we did anything else, I took us shallow to near shore where it was a little calmer and we finished pulling the spread.

I'll be spending my time re-rigging this evening before heading out again tomorrow. This time PLO for sure.