Left the dock early to fish the river before the boat traffic picked up. When my buddy showed up with two friends we decided to give outside a shot. Swell wasn’t too bad, confused sea on top of it made for an interesting drift that just proved way to fast in 45′ of water so we headed back in.

It was like fishing in an aquarium just before feeding time. You had a fish on within seconds of the bait hitting the bottom. The lettuce was at a minimum but the only problem was most were shorts.

Coolest part was the water was so clean that in even 12′ of water you could see the bottom, your bait swimming along then either it would disappear of you would see it take off in a different direction if the fluke grabbed the tail of the bait. Tried shooting some video of it but it didn’t come out well. It was really wild to watch 3 or 4 fluke come up off the bottom to all chase the same bait.

Ended the day when the boat traffic picked up with a couple keepers to 21″ and was back at the dock and cleaned up by 10 am.

My buddy Mark and I decided to stay inside since all the reports we heard during the week were much better from Manasquan and Shark Rivers than from reefs.  I checked the current tables and the current looked OK despite it being the ebb and me personally preferring the flood to fish the Squan.

We shoved off at ten to five to get setup at sunrise and beat the boat traffic.  Got through the canal and despite no moon and very little wind the current was racing and not as anticipated.  We gave it a shot near Clark’s, in the Old Channel between Clark’s and Garden State, Hoffman’s, the doggy beach and the inlet itself.  No matter where we went it was a challenge to slow the boat down to be able to get a proper presentation.  Not to mention the salad was the worst I have ever seen.  OK…insert vegetarian jokes here!

On the plus side so far there were only three boats that had past us so far.  With the poor conditions inside we decided to at least try outside and worst case go wreck fishing.  Got out front to birds working, not sure what was chasing the bait up but we immediately got into a garbage fish blitz!  It was skate after sea robin after miniature dogfish…with short fluke mixed in when you could get your bait to the bottom.  We did manage sea robins to just under 2 lbs but didn’t weigh any in for the tournament.  Did manage to pull one keeper off the Manasquan Wreck before the current went slack and the drift died.

Moved off to the Sea Girt Reef hoping for better drift conditions and there was a little more breeze and a drift.  Again had non-stop action with birds, skates and short fluke.  We also had some short and keeper sea bass mixed in and picked up another keeper off the reef before the drift died there.

Headed in a bout noon.  By then there were finally people on the beaches and some boats out.  We were both surprised at the amount of boat traffic.  It didn’t really pickup till between 10 and 11 and even when we headed in the canal was busy but it sure didn’t seem like a holiday weekend.  Not that I am complaining but it sure didn’t seem like that many were out, certainly not like AAA said there would be a huge increase in vacationers driving to closer destinations to home.

Anyway all in all a great day on the water till we hit the railroad bridge on the way in and we realized how hot it really was out.  Ended the day with a nice 3lb sea bass, two fluke 19 and 20 inches, about 50 shorts (many 17-17.75″), one with almost a completely brown belly (will post a pic of it shortly) and probably a hundred sea robins, skates and dogfish combined.  Although there were only a handful of doggies.  And it was really nice to fish all day with the light outfits and 3/4 to 1.5 ounce bucktails even out on the reef.

Had to wait out the fog, it was really bad till about 2-3 pm. It was amazing how many boats were out blind and on plane or going as fast as they were and in no wake zones today.

I got some things done on the boat in the mean time.  I put the sink back in, hooked up the hoses, filled the domestic water tank, put some more tackle away, rearranged gear and tried the 3M non-skid cleaner on the deck.  This stuff worked really well.  Finally a non-skid cleaner that works without a lot of effort and claims to be safe for fiberglass and gel coat.

Anyway, finally about 3:30 we shoved off to give it a shot. Since Mike was done with working on his boat he decided to go on a boat ride with Tommy and me.  When we got setup the surface current was flying with the howling SE wind but the bottom wasn’t too fast. Had 51 degree water and fish on within minutes of the chum bags hitting the bottom.

We ended up boating our three man limit with only one short and several missed fish in about 2 hours.

Left the dock later than I planned but was in no rush, especially with the chill in the air. Plans got derailed a bit early on when a call came out over the radio about someone in the water in the canal.

Got setup in the spot we caught on Thursday…I was very skeptical due to the drop in water temps. I thought my transducers were wrong but when I double checked with the thermal gun-I was shocked. Temps were down to 35.3.

I waited out the change in tide, figured since the action was very slow to none I would straighten out the pilothouse and put away a crate of tackle I brought down. Once I was done with that I worked the rods for a little while, had two nibbles, and the slime and salad started to pick up.

Water temps rose to a balmy 37 on the beginning of the outgoing and with no increase in action I decided to head in and get some work done on the boat. Water temps at 4 PM at the slip only rose a bit more to 39.1.

This weekend should be a whole lot better with the warmer weather returning again.

The Admiral let me have the day off today.  First I was headed to a few bait and tackle shops in hopes of adding to the list of participating weigh stations for the BFH Year Long Tournament.  I was able to add Fisherman’s Supply, Co. to the list for the Manasquan Inlet members.

Then we headed out with Tommy about 11 this morning for a couple hours.  We had about a dozen fish and kept our two man limit.  Water temps were 48.x to 51.2.  Biggest was a little over 14″ @ 1.63 lb.  We were back at the dock and cleaned up by 1:30 pm.  Only burned .7 gallons…priceless!

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.

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.

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.

Decided to make a quick trip to the river and then work on the boat. The storm at 4:30 delayed my departure by about an hour. Figures…there were weakies crashing peanuts in the creek during the lightening show. Finally left the dock at 6 and had the river to myself. Tried gulp, spearing, and finally peanuts. Had a fish on as soon as the peanuts would hit the bottom. Problem was no matter where I tried they were shorts…from about 8″ up to 17.5. Moved toward the Inlet and had a steady pick of almost keeper fish and some of the smallest sea bass I have ever caught or seen.  Soon after stemming the tide a bit to slow my drift down I started overheating. Threw the hook, hooked up the raw water wash down to flush the motor while waiting for it to cool a bit, cleaned the strainer (not much in it) and then headed back to the dock.

Pulled the water pump apart…had some grooving in the housing so I am ordering a new one today. Runs fine at higher RPM but at idle I guess the slight grooving causes it not to pump enough water. Not sure how long they usually last but she has almost 700 hours so it is probably time. Also checked the heat exchanger and that is clean as a whistle.

Drift was a little fast for my liking, water temps were 72.4 to 74.5 depending on location, peanuts were the best producer and the water wasn’t nearly as dirty as I thought it would be after the rain on an ebbing tide. There were also tons of small spearing all over. While throwing a small diving plug they would spray when the plug hit the water and while coming to the surface near the boat.

Stayed at the dock most of the day with the fog and got a few things done on the boat. When it finally lifted in the afternoon we figured what the heck lets give it a shot. Got to the inlet and there was maybe 100′ visibility outside so we headed back up the river. Poked around, threw metal and popers…nothing.

Headed up river to get out of the wind and anchored up and started chumming 10 lbs. of spearing from last year. Figured we could bring them to us. We did get a few fish to come up our slick…no blues, bass or weakfish…a couple of fat fluke.

They are hear and despite the cold water pretty aggressive. Guess I know where I am starting next week at first light before the boat traffic pics up.

Left the dock about 7 am with high hopes of heading outside and looking for some bass and weakfish. When we got to the inlet the fish gods had other plans for us. After watching the Paramount disappear behind a swell only showing the bridge of the boat when in the ditch we decided to wait out the change of the tide. There were some pretty tall breakers across the inlet mouth with the SE breeze and outgoing current. The dredge was also finally gone from the river.

I setup on the mussel beds in hopes for a stray flounder. Didn’t have live worms so we set out Gulp! sand worms.  He had a couple of hits and bite offs and figured it was blues. The inlet had seemed to have calmed so we picked up and headed out. It waited for us to just about clear the inlet and then a big breaking wave appeared out of no where. She took it better than I did. Still have a bump on my head from hitting the pilothouse roof but we didn’t take any water over the bow or the pilothouse.

Once outside there were big rollers of varying sizes. They would be 3-4′ for a while then a set of three or four over 5′. There was a ton of bait around but nothing wanted to chew. We tried spoons, plugs, mojo’s, bucktails and umbrellas. There were definitely some small schools of bass and also some larger schools of what looked like weakfish along the bottom. Those who get out today may fare better with calmer conditions.

After about an hour or so of no action and marking tons of bait and fish we decided to head back in for the change of the tide further up the Manasquan River to see if there was any action inside. Finally the right decision. We had light tackle, non-stop action with blues for the next 2-3 hours. Fish varied in size but most were 2-4 pounds. I had two that went 6.7 and 7.75. Yo-Zuri crystal minnows and small swimming plugs produced the best.

We also decided since we wouldn’t be flounder fishing anymore to hang the chum pots over to draw more fish to the boat and clean them out…it was a blast having the blues coming right up to the transom and exploding on plugs right at the boat. I was going to get the fly rod out but then realized I left my box of leaders and tippets at home. Probably would have had my first fish on fly…oh well, next time.

The rain came and went throughout the day until we got back through the canal, then the sun sort of came out…figures. Water temps ranged from 51.3 to 59.8.

I got my b-day present installed on Friday afternoon and had some fun testing it out. Got the Faria Fuel Manager from Lacey Marine. I don’t really know what the fuel burn was before having the wheels done but at a 26kt cruise (3,800 rpm) now I burn about 12gph, at 22kts (3,600 rpm) at 10gph. The factory sea trial has a fuel burn of 9.5 gph at 3,500 rpm at a speed of 25.7 kts and at 4,000 rpm, 31.6 kts at 12.9 gph. So with bottom paint, 3/4 fuel, two people, 1,000 pounds of gear, 10 gallons of water, beer, ice and about 25 lbs of fish I think I am doing pretty good.

Set out late due to the pea soup fog with Tommy and Wayne on the morning trip.  Made a quick stop where we had fish the week before, but after twenty minutes without a touched bait we headed right to the river.

Setup on a spot that has produced in years past with the water temps at what they were, 51.3.  We had fish in the boat before all the chum pots and rods were set.  We thought it was going to be a banner day.  Well, it was if you were fishing for Jersey Snow Crab, aka the spider crab.  There were also tons of giant green crabs around as well.

In the morning for the incoming we had four fish one being short before we had to head in to drop Wayne off and Tommy had to let the dogs out.  Once Tommy returned we headed back out for the afternoon tide.

We figured lets take a peak outside first but the ESE blow had things stirred up pretty good and we decided not to venture out past the jetties, head back and look for more flounder.

I put the boat right back on the spot we were in this morning.  Again we had fish right away, and again the Jersey Snow Crabs made a fierce showing.  We finished the day with another three fish for the box with the biggest going just over two pounds. 

Bait of choice once again was live sand worms, Gulp! chum and clam chum.  I feel it has made a huge difference in our flounder season this year.  We have had buddies pull up in our slick and not catch fish, other boats along side us to either side or off the bow and not catch fish.  The Gulp! raised fish are always covered in little bits and have it in their stomachs as well.  It has definitely earned its place in my tackle locker this spring.

We fished Friday and Saturday this weekend.  Friday was not so hot but we did boat two fish.  Actually they two fish were boated pretty much right after we got setup at our first spot.

Saturday was another story.  We went back to where we had fish on Friday and did not have a single fish for over two hours.  Then we got one and then no more bites there.  Deciding to make a move and try another spot for or last 30-45 minutes of fishing time was a good move.   We had fish right away and steady action for the next 40 minutes.  We ended up boating 13 fish total to 2 lbs.

Water temps ranged from 47.6 to 51.3 degrees, the water was pretty clean and clear and winds varied throughout the day.  A few of the fish that were not that fat did have roe in them.

I also heard reports of limit catches to the South off of The Water’s Edge on Friday and pretty good catches on Saturday as well.  It looks like the bite is finally turning on, hopefully it will continue for another couple of weeks.

Got a late start yesterday due to having to finish a work project that ran late into Sunday.  Hit the Parkway at noon, stopped for bait and lunch and we pulled out of the slip on Tommy’s boat at about 1:30.  At this point I am still waiting for Volvo to come and replace the fuel pump, I was promised it would be fixed this week so we have our fingers crossed.  It is now going on three weeks.

Tried up by the Mantoloking Bridge for a little but, not a touch and saw no fish caught.  Then headed back to where we had fish last week.  Only saw one short caught.

Water temperature was 50.5 degrees and the water was a bit cloudier than last week.  We did hear a few reports of some fish caught in the morning.  I have two theories though, one, either the fish are having a late spawn due to the sudden rise in temps from below preferred spawning temp to above in a week and  a half or two, the first wave of fish to move out already started and they are on the North side of the canal in the river already.  I guess we will have to wait until next week to prove that theory.

I am still waiting for Volvo to come out and replace the fuel pump so we hopped on Tommy’s boat and headed out for some flounder.  We got a late start, after talking to everyone at the marina and heading down to Sun Harbor Bay Club to pickup the new butterfly jig mold and then a stop at Lacey Marine for fuel filters we shot back to the marina, loaded the gear and headed out.

We just ran down to the end of the creek where it meets the main channel.  I have usually done well here early in the season and the water temps seemed right for this spot.  It was about 2:30-3:00 pm when we got there and weren’t sure how long we would stay due to the storms coming up from the South, so it was all or nothing with only fishing one spot.

We stayed there for about an hour and a half and had two fish.  One at 14″ and the other at 17″.  While Tommy was not as excited as I, with these being my first fish caught for 2009 he was happy that the boat was not skunked and that these were the first flounder ever caught on his boat.

It was probably a good idea to head in early and only make it a quick trip.  Just as we finished cleaning up the fog rolled in again and it began to get cold and damp as the sun disappeared again.  Water temperature was 44.5 degrees, we used clam and Gulp! chum and live sandworms.  I had a rod out with Gulp! sandworms but it did not get a touch, both fish were on live worms.

I had a family party on Sunday so I only had Saturday to work with. It was dead calm at 5 am when I got up, not a ripple in the marina or the creek and none of the anemometers on the blow boats were spinning. By the time we left it picked up and was probably close to 12-14 knots out of the NNE. We decided to go for a boat ride and throw a jig or plug around a bit. Marked a few fish but did not find any takers between BB and the 42.

Went out to the inlet to take a look. Turned the corner at Ole Barney and was greeted with 4-5′ rollers and 8-10′ breakers about 200-250′ past that. Watched the Big Red Sled go out…I bet some of the fares wish they looked at the weather when they hit the first set.

There were a couple dozen boats fishing Myers, didn’t see a bent rod in the bunch. I did have to hits along the dike on fin-s but judging from the sudden weight then head shake figured it was probably fluke hits.

Stopped in to Sun Harbor to say hello to Joe and Joey and ran into Swamp Bug in the shop. It’s always nice to put a face to name.

By the time we got back and got cleaned up and had lunch it looked like a nice day. We probably should have headed out for the afternoon/evening as the weather looked a whole lot better.

The morning weather was perfect, sunny, light winds, warm…the winds quickly picked up late morning but not to a unmanageable state. Reports from many boats were not good for the morning tide but we decided to give it a shot anyway and pulled out of the slip about 11 AM after we all finished up some work on our boats.

We decided to stop a little south of Dale’s Point since a buddy was closer to it and had no action, we figured we would give a different spot a try. Had a few real light hits and taps but no hookups, just lost worms.

We then moved to just outside of the canal on the North side, didn’t stay there long as the current was pretty much at max flood stage.

Our last stop was a hole off the north channel along the golf course. Again a few nibbles but no hookups and a few crabs almost keeper size.

The water was 51.2 to 54.5 degrees. After speaking with a few guys that fished during the week we came up with the consensus that they are having a late spawn this year. A few guys had fish during the week that still had roe in them. But we don’t feel that they will stick around long if the water stays in the low to mid fifties, maybe two weeks three tops. Would be nice to see them stick around till a good bass bite materializes but not likely.

Also several guys had heard second hand reports from divers with fish stacked on top of each other at the Mathis Bridge and Mantoloking Bridge. Which would be consistent with them spawning. Earlier in the week a buddy was down to Island Heights and had limit catches and near limit catches of good sized fish.

The boat has been running great and I was hoping to stay in the water through spring…but today we picked up about a 5′ x 2′ length of carpet in the wheels. I will be hauling out this week to make sure there was no damage and the wheels don’t look damaged.

Anyway, on a lighter note, we did manage to get some fishing in. With water temps still low (41.2 to 43.5) we managed only one flounder at 13.5″ and very fat. In speaking with some of the local captains and guides it seems that the fish have yet to spawn. Many of the fish caught during the week were full of eggs and sperm. Which is good news, we still have a shot at them. Last year we had similar water temps this time of year and the mad dog bite on winter flounder didn’t really pickup until mid April.

Hopefully this week will warm the water a few more degrees to that magic number and the bite will turn on. And hopefully the carpet incident was a minor one and we will back at it this weekend again.

It was a nice sunny day with light winds in the mid forties. Water temps ranged from 39.5 to 43.2 degrees. Despite the mild winter we had I was surprised the with the water temps. Especially since it has not warmed much with the recent slightly warmer weather we have been having.

Armed with plenty of flounder chum, corn and blood worms we set out for our first spot. It was slightly less crowded than I thought it would be. There was only about a dozen boats just South of the Mantoloking Bridge. We set the pots out, started a heavy corn slick and had not even a tap after about an hour. We did see a few fish netted from a sailboat about a hundred yards away.

At our next spot along Herring Island we boated a nice 14″ flounder in no time, but that was it for that spot. After moving over near Dale’s Point we managed two more fish…a 14.5″ and 15.25″ blackback.

While it was not a stellar day, despite the wind against the tide conditions and cool water temps we managed to keep the skunk away.

I did not end up doing any fishing but I did poke around the bay a bit and there is a lot of bait out there. We had 4 aboard for a cruise around the bay…this was good since it simulated the weight of three aboard plus gear. She ran nice and cool, handled good and is ready to go for the 2008 season. I am glad to put the running hot/overheating issue to bed.

Even idling in the slip for 1 to 2 hours prior to the trip and after she still ran well below 180 and the risers only reached about 75 degrees. Now it’s time to fish!

I joined Anthony for a morning of clamming along the sod banks of Barnegat Inlet. We knew it would be a challenging day due to weather and it was nothing short of our expectations. We got setup along the channel edge on a nice ledge quickly and started the slick. Shortly after a boat about 200′ off our stern quarter was hooked up and boated what looked to be a 33 to 36″ striper. We figured this is great there are fish here and continued chumming and cleaning lines. The salad was relentless. We were able to keep two to three lines in at one time while continually clearing the others. By about 9:30 the wind was really starting to kick up. All we had to show was a few bumps and a short run off.
 
We decided to take a short run over to Meyer’s Hole to see if there was a chance at a weakfish bit but the chop and wind over there would have made for a very short uncomfortable drift.
 
At this point we decided to head back to the dock. Once we turned west into Oyster Creek Channel about 20 minutes later we would not believe how much the wind kicked up the swell and chop. It was a long slow ride back to Toms River…at times at only 5 knots. Thank goodness we had the enclosure up otherwise it could have been like driving through a car wash in a convertible with the top down. I have no idea how guys go out day after day in weather like this in open boats.
 
All in all it was a nice day on the water with good friends despite the weather and lack of fish. With our first dedicated bass trip ending with the skunk I am sure it will only get better from here. I did speak to a number of guys as well as tackle shop owners and it seemed that most of the action this weekend with keeper fish was along the beach. This makes sense and is consistent after a Nor’easter tears through and the surf is up as it provides a natural clam slick along the beach where there are clam beds.

I took the girls out today…had Victoria and Mickie on board for what will probably be our last sea trout trip of the season. We left Sun Harbor Bay Club at 6:10 AM and headed up between BI and BB.

We moved around a bit till we were marking bait and fish. We did not mark the huge schools that we have in the past few weeks. I suspect this is due to the cooler water temps and the bait starting to make their run out the sea trout are also on their way out.

It ended up being a slow pick with many missed hits today. The fish seemed to be lethargic due to the drop in water temp, we read 64 when we left the dock and saw a rise in temp to 67.2. They were not taking the larger BKD’s so we switched to smaller Fin-s and started hooking up more.

Also had a school very large mullet come right up behind the boat. It was a beautiful sunrise and nice day on the water. We ended the day with 5 weaks up to just over 3 pounds.

I have to admit…I was outfished. Mickie was high hook with the smallest fish of the day and the largest.

I spoke to Chrissy T on the radio and he was reporting slow action as well when we spoke I also ran into Captain Mel of Fisher Queen Charters while cleaning up poolside at Sun Harbor and then we ended the day with lunch at Osaka. Life is good!

Left the dock solo from Sun Harbor Bay Club at about 15:30 (since most everyone I know works during the day) and headed up to the BI. Fist stop about 100 yards NE of the buoy had a fish on the first cast. With about a 19″ boat side fumbling for the net he shook himself free. Casted out put the rod down to ready the net and while the Rat-L-Trap was sinking had another fish on. Got that one halfway to the boat and it dropped off. A few casts later same thing. Decided to lift the barbs a little at that point and made a move as I was not marking bait or fish anymore.

As the storm was approaching the bite seemed to die off. I could mark bait and fish but no takers. Tried traps, fin-s, BKD’s bucktails, shads and Gulp. Once the rain stopped and the clouds cleared enough for the sun to shine through the peanuts started flipping and the weaks started feeding again.

Had about a dozen weaks in 35 minutes most around 19-21″. They were feeding so aggressively they were swallowing 2″ rat-l-traps.

It was a great quick trip despite the short storm. Despite having to clean the cockpit up and fillet fish I still made it to Capt. Alex’s class on time this week.

They say third time is the charm…or was it my lucky fishing shorts? It was our third weakfish trip this season and we set out from Sun Harbor Bay Club at 6 am and headed up between the BI and BB where we had good marks on sonar. At that point we started drifting due to no wind and very little current. We were about 200 yards west of the fleet at that time of about 50 boats. After about the third cast we were into fish. From then till about 8:36 am we had non stop action.

Soon after boating a few fish the fleet moved west and increased as the morning went on to about 200. We continued our action as the fleet seemed to pick here and there. Most of the fleet were using bait, we had bait out early as well but it was not producing so we pulled the bait rods and concentrated on artificials. BKD’s, Fin-S, bucktails and Rat-L-Traps all worked but the red head Rat-L-Trap was the hot lure. At one point the action was so good we had double headers on every cast.

Once in the height of the action we decided on only keeping fish 15″ or larger, we limited out with almost all fish over 15″ with only three being under. It was a great day on the water and a full cooler.

After about 20 years I have finally targeted sea trout again. We sailed out of Sun Harbor Bay Club with it’s owner Joe and his son Joey. After setting up Southwest of the 42 marker we fish right away, but they were all kings. We did also boat a cocktail blue and had a few hits and bite offs probably also blues.

After giving that a shot for a while we moved and setup off Gulf Point. We had similar results with a few kings and two dogfish. We also put out some live peanut bunker. We had several run offs and hits on them but failed to hookup. Some of the run offs had the bunker bitten in half but some did not so we think there was a mixed bag of blues and some weaks there but they both eluded us.

All in all it was a nice day on the water after the sun came out and warmed things up a little. I did hear reports of fish further to the North in the area of the BB so we will probably try up there first next week and then work our way south.