I hopped aboard the Gambler out of Point this morning. It was a beautiful day on the water, high in the 50′s flat seas…maybe too flat. The boat started out North and around Shark River Inlet layed down the throttles. We were greeted by bird activity on Shrewsbury Rocks. It was a good sign but only 1 short and 1 30″ fish was caught by the 50 anglers. We continued to fish in and around the rocks and Ambrose Channel. We also hit the Elberon Rocks on the way back. At the end of the day there were only two keepers and about four shorts caught. There were several spineys caught and I had an eight inch squid. I debated on keeping it for the table to avoid the skunk but after a short debate re-hooked it and sent it down. I had a run-off on it but did not hook up. It was supposed to be a half day trip with the Holiday coming and Bobby did his best to put us on fish moving around a lot and trying a dozen or so spots to find fish. We ended up getting back an hour late of the half day return time. All in all it was a nice day on the water with some die hard fisherman.

I guess it is only the trip of the year since I have no intention of stopping with this mild weather. I think I am going to switch to blackfishing though since that seems to be better right now. There are also some small schools of mackerel showing up so may get that chore over with. One trip should load the bait freezer for next or should I say this season.

I did not want to come out but decided it was for the best. She is hauled, blocked and winterized. Now it is time for the annual cleaning and polishing. We did not fish as many days this year but caught a heck of a lot more fish and the decks are filthy.

I am a firm believer of putting the boat away clean. I get criticized by everyone else at the marina but I typically launch in the end of February or beginning of March and usually, maybe not this year, but usually it is damn cold that time of year. So with this mild weather I have gone ahead and washed and waxed the entire outside of the boat. I may need to apply a non-skid traction agent to the decks yet but can do that later. I recently switched to Interlux’s product, Premium Teflon Marine Wax with Cleaner. The boat came out much better than last year, it is whiter, shinier and smoother. Last season I had used the Meguire’s boat/RV product. I know many people recommend the Collonite products but they are much harder to use and if you miss the small window to remove the wax it is a real pain in the but to polish off. I guess we will just have to wait and see how it holds up with weekly fishing trips. I am hoping the Teflon in the product will really help prevent bait, slime, guts and the like from sticking and staining the decks, gunwales and other nooks and crannies of the boat. Now it is on to cleaning the interior and installing new electronics and gadgets.

We had our last two trips of the season. It was a tough call but I decided to pull the boat next week. With all the warm weather and lack of threat from freezing temps it was a tough call. After getting some house work done if it is still warm I will put her back in early (end of January) if there are good reports of fish hanging around similar to earlier this year.

Saturday we fished from the bathing beach up to Lavalette. The entire ride down from Manasquan to the bathing beach there was absolutely no bird action. We marked a lot of bait and some fish. Trolled south from Lavalette to the bathing beach, picking up and running to our usual spots along the way. Our total for the day was 13 fish to just about or just over 28″. Since they were so close and our recent visit from a conservation officer we decided not keep any. Most fish were caught trolling from North to South or West to East and all fish were on blue and white shads. We tried chartreuse as well as pearl and neither got touched except by a few blues.

The blackfish are still inshore. I headed over to the canal and there was no action so I figured I would try the jetties at Manasquan Inlet. Had several shorts and keepers in a couple of hours. Kept one at 18.5″ and 3lb. 7oz.

I’m glad I went by my own thoughts on the weather and not the weather man’s…3PM and only a drizzle, the whole time I was down south there was barely a breeze and no rain. The fog was something to be reckoned with. A few times you could not see across the inlet.

Only three more days till the bag limit goes up!

We headed out late due to other committments…Broke the inlet about 11:30 and arrived at the Casino Pier a bit before noon. As we were slowing down and getting ready to setup the troll we passed over a couple of enormous bait clouds, repositioned the boat and trolled over the edge of them, nothing. We continued to troll out to deeper water (50-55′) and continued to mark huge clouds of bait but no marks under or around them. We trolled south down to IBSP where there were a few birds circling and one diving here and there, same thing no good marks and no knockdowns at all. At about 4 PM we picked up and headed back North. We thought the sight of dozens of birds working just outside the inlet would save the day but once we got there there were no marks not even bait on the scope and no one out of the 10 boats or so with bent rods. We jigged for 10 minutes to be sure there was nothing there and headed in. It was a gorgeous day on the water and I felt bad for those guys out in center consoles freezing their asses off while we were inside the cabin, warm and dry.

I hit the canal again this afternoon and had more fish. I fished with my cousin and between the two of us we again had probably over 25-30 fish not including the pesky cunners. It was once again a clam preference, with them also going for clam and mussel Gulp! baits. I would try fresh mussels next time as they seem to hit the Gulp! mussel bait pretty hard. And once again the action did not heat up or even start for that matter until the current started moving pretty good. Tonight’s keeper was 15.5″ at 2lb 5oz. If I don’t get out striper fishing on Sunday you bet you will find me along the banks of the canal. And yes another limit catch! That makes it two in a row.

I could not get a crew together with a last minute notice to take advantage of a small striper blitz I was told about. So I decided to give some of the inshore blackfishing grounds a shot. I picked up some clams and green grabs to have a variety of baits and headed over to the Point Pleasant Canal. I got there about 3 PM and at first the action was non-existent with the crabs. I switched over to clam and had some short blackfish and bergals. The bergals became a pain but the blackfish did not seem interested in green crabs so I had to deal with it. Once the current picked up to near max velocity for the incoming the blackfish turned on. I had over 30 fish most being shorts and kept one 15″ fish. All in all it was a great first blackfish trip of the fall and a limit catch!

I originally was setting out in search of some weaks. After cruising the bay, the Mantoloking Bridge and the Matedeconk I decided to head towards the inlet and maybe outside for some croaker/weakfish action along the beach. Got near the end of the inlet and the 33 foot express in front of me disappeared in the trough so I decided to stay inside. First drift produced a keeper. Next few drifts produce shorts and then another keeper. All fish were caught on homemade chartreuse bucktails with white Gulp! shrimp. Watched a few other boats try the same drift as me to not catch or even get a tap. The action was fairly consistent over the same piece. All in all not a bad way to end the fluke season.

Well we fished all over…we tried 90 feet of water 10 feet of water and had similar results…short fluke, weaks and croaker. We fished Seaside Lump, the Seaside sewer pipe, off the Casino Pier, the Ortley pipe, Mantoloking Pipe and so on. We heard reports of fluke deep so we tried that. It was a gorgeous day till about 1 PM when the south wind really started to kick in and whip up some chop. We did manage a few croaker, weaks, blues and another ling. Looks like the inshore cod and ling fishing may be really good this year, that is our second ling in the last few weeks from withing the sight of land.

I have no first hand news to report…I am in the final week before moving and have not had much time for anything else. I have heard from very reliable sources that fluke (and I mean keeper fluke) are showing in great numbers. With most guys having limit catches in the 3-5lb. range. Hopefully this is the norm throughout the rest of the season so I can get in on this action in another week or so once the move is over.

Fished the Manasquan River and Inlet today from 3 to 6 PM for a Manasquan Fishing Club Intra-Club River Tournament. Had 10 shorts to 16 1/4″ and no keepers. Also had a couple of birds and lost a fish at the side of the boat…did not get a chance to see what it was other than long and slender and definitely was not flat. Must have either been a weakie or a blue…did not fight much so don’t think it was a bluefish. Water was cold near the inlet only 52-54 degrees, found 70 ish water further up river but no fish. The wind and tide kind of fought each other most of the time except in one part of the river when they combined for 1.9 knot drift.

The first place fish was 18.5″, second was 18″ and third was 17.5″.

We headed out and toughed the wind. We left the dock about 5:30 AM. It wasn’t really that bad, more of a pain in the ass then anything. In tight to the beach and out to about 35 feet it was flat, once you got about 3/4 of mile out it started to get a little sloppy. It did blow almost all day and the gust were something…if you did not stow everything it was only a matter of time before the gods carried it 30-50 feet away from the boat before touching down in the water. Despite the predicted bad conditions, we headed up North in calm seas and gusty winds, about a mile North of Monmouth Beach (only took 40 minutes from the Inlet). We worked our way south from there stopping at all the usual places, Red Church, The Rocks, Deal, Long Branch, The Essex & Sussex. Between the three of us we had between 60-70 fluke ranging from 14-16 3/8″ with 4 keepers to 3.lbs. Fluke seemed to be everywhere just nothing with any size to it. Closer to the beach we were able to fish with 4 or 5 oz. and as you got further out you eventually had to go up to 10 or 12 (using lb. mono or lb. powerpro). The bigger fish we caught were further off the beach. In the ocean the warmest water we saw was 56.4 degrees…brrrr! The tide line was something else, clean greenish/blue water inside and murky brownish/green outside. And the amount of garbage, leaves and other debris on from the edge out about 50 feet was incredible. We got hits and caught fish inside it but near the edge and just over the edge it was no man’s land until you got out past the debris then the fish turned on again. The ride back was a breeze (LOL) with the wind and swell following we were able to cruise at kits. and make exceptional time and fuel economy on the ride to the Inlet. All-in-all we had a great time on the water despite not having anything big enough to bring to the scales. We arrived back at the dock about 4:30 PM.

The fish that were weighed in were depressing. Some of the winners for the various ports were just over 3 pounds and to place on the board weighing a fish just over a pound was good enough.

Well despite bad reports from Saturday and the predicted cold water temps we gave it a shot anyway. We saw surface temps from 62.6 all the way down to 54.3. The winds were not bad except for making it on the chilly side. It was nice when moving to a new spot to be able to go into the heated pilothouse to warm up. Especially for those who didn’t look at the weather forecast and wore shorts. The upper part of the bay from Mantoloking Bridge and the Manasquan River was flat. I heard further south it was slightly choppy and reports from others in the marina were that the ocean wasn’t that bad…2-3 foot chop, a little sloppy but fishable. We had committed to fluking and did not bring the wire line outfits so fluking it was. We tried the upper part of the bay where we did have a few hits (very subtle though…could have had the fluke sluggish from water temps), the Manasquan River around Treasure Island, Clarks, the old channel by Clarks, Crab Creek, and the doggie beach. It was tough with the wind against the tide in most locations as well as the schmeg and grass being pretty thick in most places. We did catch a few green crabs, blue claws and a clam. So I guess you could say we had a crustacean slam! It was a great day on the water nonetheless with my friend Ron, his wife and my mom.

After not receiving them last year due to backorder delays and a two week wait this year I finally got a pair of Capt. Jimmy Geaorge’s Secret Spoons! I can not wait to try them out this weekend, hopefully we don’t have weather like last weekend.

A friend of mine and very reliable source just had 3 bass on Saturday night in Raritan Bay. The largest was over 40 lbs! on 12 lb. test! They also had bass at 17 and 15 lbs. as well as 5 blues.

Our suspicions were correct…the flounder have migrated out to the continental shelf following the heavy rains we had last week. Reports up until the blow prior to the rains were good but only a really slow pick of a handful of fish or no fish at all after the rain.

It was a beautiful day on the water. The winds were no where near the 15-20 knots as predicted or the gusts. We got setup at the first spot about 9:30 and had nothing. The water was gin clear and you could see bottom and watch crabs walking by in 10′ of water. At 11:30 we moved out to the inlet when we received a phone call from the the Norma K II which just caught 4 keeper flounder and a few fluke. We setup in the inlet and immediately caught a 20″ sea robin and numerous spider crabs. We also had one suspect bluefish due to the typical bite off when using very small, short shank hooks. When the K II headed in we moved to slightly behind where they were which did not produce any fish either. The current was ripping all day. The 4 fish that were caught on the K II were caught at slack tide as were the fluke. All in all it was a great day on the water and I am glad I did not let the forecast dictate my decision to leave the dock.

We did also take a quick cruise across the bay to blow out the cobwebs…we got up to 34.6 knots (With 3/4 fuel, 25 gallons water, and full load of gear and 2 passengers) before the channel turned and scrubbed some speed. I have to find a big enough, straight stretch of water to see what my WOT speed fully loaded really is. In any case 34 knots is plenty fast for me and most days you can’t do that outside anyway without getting really beat up.

I got the first batch ready for an epoxy protective coating. I could not come up with a suitable way to make the ball jigs chrome, plus chrome tends to attract dogfish and skates anyway so we went with three of my four favorite colors. I have to do a few in school bus yellow prior to epoxy coating everything. The school bus color seems to work very well on early season fluke when the water is very clear. Early season bass love it as well.

Unless you are a duck! Well with the wind howling and the rain coming down in buckets we decided to stay tied up at the dock this weekend. As some of you know I don’t usually miss too many trips due to weather. Unfortunately this time of year there are not too many species lurking in the rivers and bays. Winter flounder are the main catch right now and don’t cooperate with murky water and cloudy skys. I did however get to work on more jigs for the upcoming fluke season. Got a bunch prepared to be painted in various paterns like bunker, herring, spearing and standard white.

This weekend looks like it id going to blow hard on Saturday as well as T-storms and then pretty much rain and T-storms all day on Sunday too. I was hoping to fish a winter flounder tournament on Saturday and possibly try out my new bunker spoon rods as well. Got them all rigged up today with 200 yards of 50# mono backing, 300 feet of 40# monel wire marked at 150′, 200′ and 250′ topped off with a 12 foot 50# fluoro leader. I guess I have to wait till next weekend unless there is a huge change in weather in the next 24 hours or so.

I got back in the water late Friday afternoon. We planned on getting to the dock with plenty of time in case there was still mechanical problems with the steering affording us time to get over the party boat so we did not miss a day of fishing. We got all the gear loaded, started her up and at the dock everything seemed fine. It turned out to be a fine day. Mostly sunny and warm. Could have been a shorts and T-shirt day had I brought shorts. We were joined by my cousin Dave who caught the biggest flattie of the day. It was 1 lb. 15 oz. and 16.5″ long. It was great to see him again. We had fallen out of touch for a few years after being very close growing up spending summers at the shore in and around LBI. My mother was high hook with 4 fish, I had 3 and Dave had 2 for a total of 9 fish for the day. We had as many shorts and a couple lost at net unfortunately.

The water was not clear but despite the rain and the wind the past few days it was not bad. There were really no weeds and grass to speak of in the bay and the water temp got as high as 56.7, which was at 5:30 when we started to head back in. All in all it was a great day on the water and a successful first fishing trip on the boat this season, hopefully followed by many, many more.

I got a call from the Volvo Service Center…They have finished the repair and I can go back in the water. They did not say for sure that it was covered by warranty but would submit the paperwork to Volvo on it. The dealer where I bought the boat and their mechanic seemed the think there was no doubt that they would not cover it under warranty. He also offered to go to bat for with Volvo if there was any issue. A great dealer that will stand behind their product is hard to find. Unfortunately they dropped the Sea Sport line…but they are still standing behind the product that they sold. Which is even harder to find these days.

Started to tie up a few of the jigs. With all the materials I have laying around in my office I could not believe I did not have the correct size eyes for the Spro bucktail jigs. I had larger and smaller but not the right ones.

If you can’t fish…make fishing stuff! We had the Annual Manasquan Fishing Club Sinker Party today. We molded somewhere between 600 and 800 pounds of lead. Yes between 600 and 800 pounds not ounces. You name it we molded it. Bank sinkers, cannon balls, Hatteras sinkers, drails, all shapes of jig heads, round, bullet, spire, darting, banana, SPRO bucktail jigs and shad jigs. The lead was all scrap picked up by members throughout the year as well as scrap donated to the club from various sources. Everyone went home with buckets full of sinkers and jigs. If you can’t be on the water you might as well prepare for when you are. And we did not even need to break out the fire extinguisher!