With the wind blowing pretty good out of the East and snotty seas Tommy and I decided to run down Barnegat Bay to the BB buoy and go blowfishing.  For both of us it ws our first blowfishing trip.    We left the dock about 7:30 and made good time South and were setup by 8:15.

It wasn’t 15 minutes after getting the chum pots and lines in before we had a pretty good school of northern puffers around the boat and bent rods.  The action continued for a few hours till the tide went slack.

We  also had countless short sea bass and half a dozen nice sized porgies and a few snappers to round out the mixed bag.

Water was 63.9 to 65.8 depending on time of day and location in the bay.  Fish took both clam and squid and we ended up keeping 35 good sized blowfish and half dozen porgies.

Had high hopes of running out to the Glory Hole but my crew bailed. Left the dock at 6 am solo, broke the inlet and was greeted to birds working and only two other boats in the on the action. Had non-stop action with spike weaks for two hours until leaving fish to find fish.

Moved out onto the Axel Carlson Reef and with very little wind or current and the few boats that were anchored and doing circles decided to drift the deck barges and rock piles. Again had non-stop action with mostly short sea bass and monster porgies. Had triggers coming up with the porgies but couldn’t hookup with any. Also released several would be keeper fluke. After boxing a few porgies I said screw it and headed further off.

Put lines in at the 15 line and the inshore slough and headed toward Little Italy. Shortly after I had a falsie on a green/yellow mini feather daisy chain. Reset the lines and 10 minutes later had another one. Circled back around and had big splash on the mini spreader bar. Then a smaller splash and I thought I finally had something good, but it came unbuttoned after about three minutes. Reset the lines again and trolled back toward Manasquan Ridge without a touch. Had great marks deep, never stopped to jig, didn’t feel they were concentrated enough warrant it, in hindsight, probably a bad idea.

Picked up and ran back to the reef and boxed a few more porgies and at 2 pm called it a day.

I also started using the Lucanus jigs that have been in the boat all season, they work pretty well. Had weakfish and sea bass on them Sunday and sea bass on last Tuesday. Only reason I tried them for weaks was I had broken off the leader on my spinning rig and didn’t want to take the time to re-rig so I tied in a dropper look to put on the chartreuse/yellow clouser that I was doing so well with the weaks and I started getting double headers. The jig that worked for the weaks was the green/gold. It was the 3oz size which was overkill for the drift we had in 30′ but I had only planned on using it get the teaser down but the weaks were all over it.

I normally don’t stay out that late and now I remember why…the inlet, train bridge and canal were a zoo. The hard charging outgoing from the moon and the SE breeze didn’t help the inlet with all the joy riders that haven’t been out in a month but it was still a great day on the water and glad I went. Water inshore was 66-68 degrees and pretty clean and green/brown, offshore was clean, blue/gray and 64-66.

I bugged out of work early and headed down to the marina. Tommy and I left the dock at 1 pm and were on a rock pile by 2:15 pm.

We moved around to a couple different rock piles before we found one holding some keeper sea bass. Most were returned as they were right on the line of being legal at 12.5″ but we did manage three that were over 14″.  I also had one fluke at 19″ that was measured and returned to fight another day.

The water has cooled a bit to 69.8 degrees but was very clean, including the water in the inlet and the Squan River. Bait of choice was bits of squid.

We were back at the dock and had the boat cleaned by 6 pm.

Decided due to the holiday weekend and less than favorable conditions to stay at the dock and get some work done on the boat and of course some adult beverages and plenty of snacks and food that accompany bad weather on our dock.

I installed three new rod holders.  One just off center in the transom, would have liked it to be in the center but could not due to the transom fish-box.  The other two were installed foreword up near the pilothouse.  These will be great for the rigger rods.

Also installed the outriggers I picked up last fall.  They got installed on the aft part of the pilothouse roof.  The poles are collapsible so the poles can be installed and the angle of deployment can all be adjusted while standing in the cockpit, despite them being top mounts.  I really like the placement, you don’t have to climb up on the gunwales to deploy them which is great on a narrow beam boat.

The only thing left is to get new release clips and re-rig the lines and I will be all set for trolling this fall.  Can’t wait!  Now all we need is some decent weather for a change.

I fabricated my makeshift, homemade leader stretching jig so I could start making wind-on leaders and top-shots.  It didn’t come out too bad, I wasn’t really going for looks but rather functionality.  If it fits the bill I can always go back and make a nicer one from oak or other hardwood, stain and finish it nicely.

The first few serves I did came out horrible, but I am quickly getting used to the serving tool and making neater, more compact serves in no time.  This is my fourth attempt and assuming after testing that the connections hold up it I think it looks pretty good.

The jig consists of a 3/4″ plywood bas 10″ x 24″ in size, two uprights constructed of 3/4″ plywood as well that I cut slots in with the table saw to create a pocket for the Craftsman bar clamps to sit in.

Thinner diameter leaders (under 200#) seem to slip a bit in the clamp jaws, by adding small pieces of non-slip kitchen cabinet shelf liner in the jaws the line stays guitar string tight.

I received an order of new toys this week from BHP Tackle.  Basil was very helpful in getting me setup with the basics I will need but also with quality tools that will last and that I can grow into.  As many of you know I make most of my rigs, jigs and tackle.  This is something I take great pride in, especially when myself and others catch fish with my creations. 

I am now stepping up my game and going to start making my own stinger hooks and wind-on leaders.  I already started rigging some hooks.  I still have to glue the knots and cover them with shrink tubing which should be arriving today but here is a sneak peak at a couple.  The smaller one is a 7/0 heavy duty live bait hook rigged with 200# Jerry Brown hollow core and the larger is a 10/0 with 300#.

I also rigged two wind-ons last night that all they need is to be served and cut to length.  I am sure the serving will take a little getting used to but I should be up to speed on that by next weekend since the weekend weather looks horrible.  I am also going to make my own wind-on jig for doing the serving.  At least I am going to try.  If it doesn’t work out then I will buy a bench jig.  I was just trying to get in the game for as little as possible but there is no substitute for the right tool for the job.

The more I thought about how useful wind-ons would be the more uses I came up for them.  I previously hardly used them due to cost.  One big advantage for them would be trolling wire line for striped bass.  You have the end loop, or haywire twist, in the wire, it would be so much more convenient to just use a loop-to-loop connection to attach your leader than tying an Albright knot over the wire.  Especially in rough conditions which are usually present in the early spring and late fall. 

Another situation I think will be more convenient as is when bottom fishing.  While I typically only use 30 or 50 pound leaders most of the time you break off or get chafed off on structure near the jig or rig.  After re-tying a few times the leader needs to be replaced.  If you have a Bimini twist in your main line (in my case typically braid) you can just un-loop the damaged leader and loop on another.  Much quicker and easier than cutting, tying a new Bimini twist and Albright knot to attach a new leader.

You could also have wind-on leaders pre-made with your rig or jig already rigged at the tag end.  That way you just un-loop the damaged leader and loop on a new leader and rig all in one shot.  Saving valuable time when the bite is hot.

Once I hone my serving skills I will post pictures and videos in the how to section for creating both wind-on leaders and stinger hooks.

I just received an update from Tom Fote about this weeks NJMFC meeting about sea bass, scup and summer flounder.

…Tom McCloy sent out the notice below in maroon telling us that these agenda items have been removed from this Thursday’s NJ Marine Fisheries meeting.

Tom Fote

Greetings,

Just completed the conference call of the ASMFC Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass Board to discuss emergency closures in the summer flounder, scup and sea bass recreational fisheries for the remainder this year, 2009.

Even though the projections are that ALL fisheries will be over the harvest target (significantly for scup & sea bass) the Board failed to approve any action for an emergency closure this year.

Therefore, there will be NO action required by the Council at the Sept 3 meeting on these species.

Be advised that management measures  for these species could be extremely restrictive in 2010.

Please note that NJ’s recreational summer flounder fishery is projected to exceed our target harvest by 29%.

Tom McCloy

I just got off the call for the ASMFC meeting today.  It took over 1.5 hours for me to even get into the call.  So I missed the presentation on black sea bass and the public comment as well.  Apparently they only had available seats for 50 callers in the conference call.  After Tom Fote, the Governor’s Appointee to the ASMFC, was also kicked out of the call they suspended the call and increased the available seats. 
 
They then re-opened the floor to public comment in favor for a motion to close black sea bass.  The motion to close the remainder of the 2009 black sea bass season was overruled 7 votes against and 4 for.
 
There was no motion on the floor for scup or summer flounder.
 
There were several states that asked questions as to how the projected landings were calculated and there were some very concerning answers given.  The projections were calculated on the 2008 seasons, bag limits and minimum sizes.  If any of the states had put in place shorter or longer seasons, changed bag limits or minimum sizes those regulations were not used in the projections.  Most states have changed seasons, bag limits and minimum sizes on summer flounder in particular, sea bass has pretty much remained unchanged over the past few years.
 
The ASMFC had acknowledged they had problems and this was one of their first webinar and conference calls but they were pleased with the amount of callers and attendees to the webinars and that they had more people on the conference call than have ever attended a board meeting.  They hope to continue with this forum and look to work out the kinks to be able to provide more opportunity for the public to be involved with the process.