I went down to the boat Saturday morning to ride out the storm and rearrange the tackle lockers Saturday and hopefully install rod holders and maybe the outriggers on Sunday.  Tropical Storm Danny was a big disappointment.  There was no wind to speak of and not much more than your average downpour as far as rain.

Got the lockers straightened out and hopefully in a more user friendly arrangement.  Billy came back in with a limit of fluke from a rough inlet.  He lost a couple of big fish in the 6 to 8 pound range trying to net them.  I then had a hard decision to make, go fishing or work on the boat.

I did what any self respecting fisherman would do…I went fishing.  I made a quick stop in the river before heading to the inlet.  Got a couple hits in the river but quickly moved on.  The inlet produced all the shorts you wanted, had a few hits on a jig that felt like weakfish but never came tight, which made think more that they were weaks being finicky and just mouthing the bait.

Was back at the dock by 1 pm, got cleaned up and just hung out with friends and enjoyed the beautiful day.  Hopefully I will get to the installations this weekend since fluke will be closed and wreck fishing may be as well.  I will post info on the pending closure of scup and sea bass as soon as I find anything out.  I should have an idea Tuesday night.

First we had a visit from Bill last week (the storm and not my buddy from SI) and now Danny (again a storm and not Capt. Red Cup from the marine).  Although Danny seems to be loosing steam, thank god.  Our annual cod trip up in Mass was canceled due to weather this  year and is now pending reschedule based on everyone’s schedules.

Hopefully there will be enough breaks in the rain this weekend, I would like to install three new rod holders and my new to me outriggers.  I don’t think the weather will cooperate enough for the latter but I should at least be able to get the new rod holders in.

I created a jig out of a 2 x 6 to help in the drilling of the new holes in the transom and gunwale caps.  I made one hole 15 degrees and the other 30.  So you can use the one jig two different angle rod holders.  I was a little leery about trying to drill straight through the gunwale without a guide and get the angle correct.  But I was very surprised at how easily, and on the first shot, that I got the holes in the jig correct.  I would assume that if I were drilling directly into the boat and not a disposable piece of 2 x 6 that the holes would not have come out as good.

Now all I need to do is determine placement of the rod holder, clamp down the jig and drill the new holes.  Hopefully it goes as smooth as it sounds on Sunday.

For those venturing out this weekend be safe and tight lines.

…and it was probably a good move with Hurricane Bill racing up the coast creating quite a stir in the last stretch of summer flounder season in NJ.  I had originally planned a BBQ on Saturday for the Admiral’s birthday but postponed it till Sunday due to the potential of bad weather. 

The party was a good success, we had hot dogs, burgers, chicken and ribs with all the trimmings.  Ribs were slow cooked for three hours in a special marinate and then finished off on the grill for a nice charring with homemade BBQ sauce.  Oh did I mention all sorts of imported beer, margarita’s and mojito’s?  MMMMM!

This weekend we are supposed to head up to the Boston area and head out to Stellwagon Bank for giant cod, pollock and haddock.  Right now the weather doesn’t look good and the weather at home this weekend is no peach either.

COASTAL WATERS FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
857 AM EDT TUE AUG 25 2009
COASTAL WATERS FROM THE MERRIMACK RIVER MA TO WATCH HILL RI OUT TO
25 NM
ANZ250-260015-
COASTAL WATERS EAST OF IPSWICH BAY AND THE STELLWAGEN BANK
NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY-
857 AM EDT TUE AUG 25 2009

FRI
NE WINDS AROUND 10 KT…BECOMING E WITH GUSTS UP TO 20 KT
IN THE LATE AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT. SEAS 2 TO 3 FT…BUILDING TO
3 TO 5 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.

SAT
E WINDS 5 TO 10 KT. GUSTS UP TO 25 KT THROUGH EARLY
EVENING. SEAS 5 TO 8 FT. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.

Sunday shoved off on the 35′ Bertram at 2:30 headed to the Atlantic Princess area. Stopped 1.2 miles short of our numbers just before first light due to breaking skippies, BFT and spraying bait. Immediately dropped one of my ‘Dragon Fly’ colored jigs down on a 50, clipped it the outrigger, before I could grab my jigging rod with another jig that rod went off. Grabbed the rod, fought the fish for about 10 minutes and the hook pulled. Moved back on that spot, had good marks again got the rods set and chunks going. But for the next two hours it was just catch and release skippies. Once there was enough light to see down in the water we did see BFT cruising below the skippies but they had lock jaw. We tried all different kinds of jigs, sardines, peanuts, squid, different plastic baits…nothing. Two hours after the first fish we get another hookup, same rod, same jig. Ryan (the owner of the boat) had come down off the bridge to go to the bathroom and get a sandwich said hey, this line release from the rigger clip. Funny thing was, fish didn’t take line right away. He went to reset it and as he was putting it back into the clip, fish took off. This little guy was feisty and we had to move the boat a few times as he kept running under it. Fish came to gaff rather quickly though and it turned out to be a 34 inch, 33 pound fish and Ryan’s first BFT and first tuna on his boat. We moved back on our spot but again continued with the skippies and that was it. We did see some bigger fish under them throughout the rest of the trip and a few boats around us hooked up but that was it for us. Trolled a little around the fleet without a touch and then headed in at noon. Back at the dock at 2:30.

Since I was doing a solo trip I decided to stay inside instead of running off to some lumps for bonito after hearing from a buddy that it was a little sloppy out.

Had lines in at 6 and the slaughter continued until I ran out of bait. Fished from the mouth of the canal on the North side to the sea wall. Didn’t really matter where you were but what bait you were using. Out of all the boats I saw out there I think I only saw about two dozen fish caught. I fished fresh peanuts netted the night before and that morning. Took a whole 2.5 gallon bucket full to the top and used it all!  Lost count on how many shorts I caught after thirty something but would venture a guess of well over a hundred due to the amount of bait and leader material I went through.

Did manage two nice keepers both 21″. Water wasn’t too dirty from the rain and the rain was either light or stopped but came and went throughout the morning. I tried various gulp baits, spearing, squid…all they wanted was peanuts. They hit both the trailing hook and the bucktail and I had several double headers and several times when the drift was light where the fish had both hooks in its mouth.

They are feeding heavily and voraciously most likely fattening up to start moving on. Plus if this tropical depression off the Cape Verde Islands forms and comes up the coast you can bet that will chase them out in a hurry. I would definitely concentrate outside though, the last few trips we made outside produced some really nice fish…get them while they are still here.

I had to go to the dentist for emergency work the day we were supposed to leave for our first canyon trip.  That was not the worst though…I woke up with  a major crick in my neck, so bad that I could not look over my shoulder to drive.  Got my chompers worked on and headed home to pack.  Tried to get some gear in the car but was unsuccessful and with no improvement in my neck decided it was probably a bad idea to go offshore in such a state.  Mark and Tommy understood as they have been in similar situations before with aches, pains, broken bones etc.  Capt. Yappy on the other hand was his usual grumpy, ornery self and I just let that be as it may.

I am hoping to feel better later today and head down for Sunday to see what the boys caught and maybe get in a little fluking and drag some lures for bonito before they get in.

Went out Sunday with Mark, Wayne and Mike.  Had a blast, first time I have ever been out with Mike…he his hilarious.  Always a good time at the marina with Mike around and now he is certainly welcome as a crew member anytime.

Decided to stick close to home in case the storms rolled through early so we headed to the Axel Carlson.  Tried a few wrecks I haven’t fished in a while and had a slow pick at short fluke and sea bass until a couple of dive boats showed up, at which point I decided to move to other structure.

On our first drift on some rubble I boated my personal best summer flounder, it measured out at 24″ and 5 lbs 6 3/4 ounces.

We continued to take the same drift and put a few more fish in the boat, fish were either shorts or over 20″.  We also continued to pick away at short and keeper sea bass.

Conditions were great, flat seas, light breeze and warm water for a change.  Temps ranged from 71.4 to 74.3.  Throughout the day we had bunker flipping and occasionally being harassed by something.  A couple times there were slicks around the flipping bunker so we suspect that blues are starting to make a showing.  We mainly fished water 80′ in depth and I used a 2 ounce bucktail all day while others used 3 or 4 ounce ball jigs and bucktails.  All the bigger fish hit bucktails or ball jigs and spearing seemed to be the preferred bait.  Didn’t get even a tap on peanut bunker or squid heads.  Also tried the Hogy Squid and caught a few skates but nothing else.  This was in one of our first spots so I will definitely try it again for fluking with the 7″ bait.  I think it will be a good addition to our lure selection for other species as well including, striped bass, offshore wreck fishing, tile fish, tuna and maybe even as a trolling lure.

Headed in around 11 and got the boat and gear cleaned with time for a beer before the storms stated rolling through.  Got some pretty high winds up to 46 knots and near horizontal rain for a while.  And some pretty big lightening strikes as well.