Posts Tagged ‘bait’
River fluking is hot!
Sunday, July 11th, 2010Left 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.
Independence Day Flukin’
Sunday, July 4th, 2010My 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.
Mako Mania 2010
Saturday, June 26th, 2010Got down Friday morning to get the boat ready, pickup bait, ice and rig the rods. Had to change wheels on Tommy’s boat for better performance with a full load of fuel and had to scramble to find bushings for the new ones but got it done. Headed over to the Captain’s Meeting…good seeing you again Joe (Freedom). Always good talking to Pete Grimblas and Anthony Mauro. Didn’t win any door prizes or the 50/50 so we figured we were saving our luck for fishing.
Left the dock at 4:30 and headed over to check out. Caught the darn train bridge…thought we would miss the first train but caught it. The checkout was much more organized and civil than years past when boats were circling to check out and racing out from the monument.
Broke the inlet set our course for our spot some 50 plus nautical and had a very uneventful ride out. Didn’t see much life on the ride out and the water was pretty warm the whole ride out and didn’t start dropping in temp till we were almost 45 off. Ride out took a little over 2 hours 30 minutes but was a nice ride out compared to the last two years.
Got the slick setup and rods out and before we got the last rod out had our first bite. First fish, mako, and released about a 100 pounder. Got reset and about 20-30 minutes later we get our second run off. It played with the bait for a while. Then hit another rod, fought the fish for a few minutes, get it near the boat and another small mako released. Get reset again, change all the baits out to what had the first two fish, bonita fillet and squid and reset all the rods.
Had a couple of run offs and a stripped bait. Then we get a double header, drop one and hook one for our third fish. I’m on the rod and get the fish to the boat and it is another small mako about 50-60 pounds. Released that fish, reset the rods and then it was quiet for a little while. We put a time limit on moving back up our slick and we get another run off that never came tight.
We moved back up the slick, about 45 minutes later we get another run off that quickly went slack. Then as we are getting ready to call it a day we get a real good run off. Get the other lines cleared, fight the fish for a little bit and nice dusky comes up. Released that one and got cleaned up and headed in.
We never found the fish we were looking for but had good action with several run offs, three makos to the boat, one pulled hook near the boat and a dusky.
We never found the cooler water but there was tons of life out there. Turtles, bait, birds. The guys a little further off in the Toms and Hudson were picking YFT and eyeballs but were covered up in bluefish and it was tough getting through them to the tuna. On the ride in the water ranged from 74 to 77! It looks to be shaping up for a good inshore tuna season.
On the ride in we heard from a friend of ours from down our dock that was racing in with a nice fish to weigh. They ended up hanging a nice fat 232 to put them in 3rd in Mako Fever and 4th in Mako Mania at the end of Saturday. We wish Brian and the crew of the Bella Mia the best of luck in maintaining their position through today.
First keeper fluke of 2010!
Saturday, June 5th, 2010
Broke the inlet shortly after 5 and starting working bunker, wouldn’t call it pods…they stretched pretty much from the inlet all the way south to Ortley/Lavalette. Some of them were thicker than others but unfortunately they were all happy bunker and swimming for their lives. Talked to Tuna Kahuna, Bri-Time, Loanfish and a couple others and everyone seemed to be doing the same…stocking up on crab bait.
Once I got a 10 gallon bucket of bunker I headed off to the Axel Carlson for sea bass and fluke. My first drift I put a nice 24″, 4 lb 12 oz fish in the box. As I was motoring back to the beginning of the drift a buddy a few slips down from me is anchoring up right on my MOB mark from where that fish was caught. I circled him a couple times, busted his stones and moved off to another piece. Only had short sea bass, cod and fluke after that.
Decided to look at a couple other wrecks but there wasn’t much life on the sonar so I didn’t bother stopping. Despite the wind against the tide in the river I decided to give it a shot. The kelp was pretty bad but if you kept your rig clean there were tons of fish there. Weeded through the shorts and put a 19 incher in the box before a boat anchored up right in the path of all who were drifting. Called it a day and headed in.
Had 52 degree water when I broke the inlet along the beach that warmed to 54/55 when I left bassing for bottom fishing. On the reef the surface was a bit warmer and was up to 60.3 at one point. After my buddy got back from wreck fishing they had a cooler full of sea bass and cod, 8 keeper cod I think he said with at least that many more shorts. They also had released a dozen or so keeper blackfish and countless short sea bass but no fluke for them while on the hook.
Weekend bass roundup
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Flew solo on Saturday up to Asbury to check out the bunker bite. Got there at 5:45 and missed it! Couldn’t believe two buddies with four man limits were headed home already after getting their limit and releasing dozens of fish. I knew with the new moon it would be an early bite but that was ridiculous. After getting bunch of bunker in the boat and only having two run offs and no real action I pushed North to get on the troll. I trolled stretch 30 plugs after a buddy called me over to a bite they had on shad rigs. Started trolling 100′ to the East of them and the plug wasn’t in the water 5 minutes and had a 42″ bass in the boat. Put the plug back in and was putting water and ice in the fish box and rod goes off again, a 35″ fish. Same thing for the next few passes on a South to North troll, each pass another fish. Ended up releasing a 44″ and 33″ fish.
Sunday we decided to go back to the scene of the crime from the day before. Debated on running South but turned left out of the inlet. Again arriving up at Asbury about 5:30 there was no bunker to be found from there up to the Cedars. Got up on the troll and then got a call from BillyT to come back South a little and use white #4 Maja’s. Put a 16 pounder in the boat right away but then it was quiet. Trolled all over Monmouth Beach, Long Branch, Asbury, the Rocks, the Cedars and ended up getting an 8lb blue. Heard from Bri-Time that the bite was off Ortley when we were in the canal but at that point decided to just keep heading for the barn.
Despite the ASA and Bahrs tournaments on Saturday the Northern waters were not that crowded. Sure wish i was in the ASA tourney since the 42″ and 44″ fish would have been good for second place. Also on Saturday I was quite shocked at a very large and prestigious charter boat that came right through the fleet of boats live lining picking up five lines from three boats, three lines had fish on. They came so close to the boats fishing zig zagging through the fleet I could have underhanded a bunker to someone in the cockpit. I guess when you get that big you only care about yourself and $$$.
All in all it was a great two days on the water. It is funny how I usually do so much better solo than when I have four guys on the boat.
5/1 & 2 - Lots of work, few fish…
Monday, May 3rd, 2010Headed to the rocks both Sat and Sun. Saturday got up there early but it did not matter what I did I could not keep anything on the hook. Didn’t matter if it was a spoon, plug, jig, heck even a Rapala plug with three treble hooks and I was dropping fish. Also had a knot failure near the boat, was the closest I came to boating a fish, about a 15 lb bass…if anyone catches a bass with a chartreuse Rapala in it, can I have the plug back?
Sunday I was going to stay close to home due to the forecast. Broke the inlet a little later than planned as my crew never showed. Worked some blues near the inlet for a little while and felt better that I was able to keep something hooked. Then worked spoons South off Bay Head and again was hooking up and dropping fish. Even changed out the hooks the spoons, guess I have new rod syndrome.
Got some calls on the radio and phone to head up North again. Conditions were no where near predicted with just a 2′ swell with a little chop on it. So I picked up and ran up to the rocks but got there at the end of the bite and only picked up more blues.
Both days it great seeing fish boiling on the surface taking baits. It is a shame so many have to drive right through them and break them up. Seems like the lack of courtesy and boat handling is getting worse the more that obtain their captain’s license…oh I mean boating safety certificate.
The amount of spearing around this spring is amazing. Hopefully that is going to lead to a great fluking season as it did back in 2007.
I was amazed at the difference in the ride of the boat after having more work done on the wheels again this winter. Despite the conditions on Sunday I was able to cruise with a following sea at a comfortable 26 knots with no pounding on the way in with the swell and chop on the front quarter at 22 knots passing every other boat but the Fish Monger and the 36′ Bertram across the creek from us on the way home.
Mixed bag
Sunday, September 20th, 2009Had 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.
Back-to-back BFT
Sunday, August 16th, 2009Saturday we headed out on my boat to the mud hole. Hit several spots, Humpty Dumpty, 20 fathom slough, Little Italy, Monster Ledge, Slough and some other lumps. Water was not as charted, it was cold, dirty and gray. Had some bait balls, porpoise and had a hard time picking through the monster bluefish to find an under fish. We finally came tight on a small 33 inch, 27.1 pound dressed under fish. After a while of no other knockdowns we ran down to Barnegat Ridge after talking to Bri-Time to try and get into the bonito bite and got there at the end of it and only came up with a falsie. Decided to go in Barnegat and run up the inside…should have gone all the way back up to Squan…outside was like a lake and bay was a washing machine.
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.
River slaughter
Sunday, August 9th, 2009Since 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.
First river fluking trip of ‘09
Sunday, July 26th, 2009Decided 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.
Day off
Monday, July 20th, 2009Played hooky today and went fishing before the week of rain got here. Took the Admiral to Atlantic City on Saturday and she was kind enough to give me Today off to go fishing with the boys.
Turned out Mark had to work so it was just me and Tommy. Left the dock at 5:30 and was fishing by 6:40 off Monmouth Beach. Flat calm conditions with very little drift. Water was in the 69-70 degree range.
Right away we had a few short fluke, skates, robins and spider crabs. With mostly garbage fish we made a move and shortly put a 23″, 3.75 pound fish in the box. Repeated the drift several times and nothing but short sea bass.
Made another move and we started bailing sea bass shorts and keepers. After trying a few more spots we put another fluke in the box, it was about 20″.
On the ride in we tried to locate a wreck I have fished on other boats in the past with great success but failed to find it. I have a book that has notes on where it is by landmarks…have to spend some time this season and find it. it was always a good producer on the way in.
We ended the day with 16 sea bass to 17″, 1.97 pounds and two fluke. Water was very dirty, 69.x degrees and fish hit peanuts, spearing, whole squid and squid heads. Back at the dock by 12:30 and back up North by 5 pm to take the Admiral to the spa.
4th of July Weekend
Sunday, July 5th, 2009
Saturday we went fluking up off Monmouth Beach. Ran up at 28 knots and was fishing by 7. Tons of fish up there, many 17 to just over 18″ fish. We didn’t keep anything under 18.5 so there was no question if stopped on the way in. Heard a number of boats were boarded. Fish were taking spearing, squid heads and peanut bunker. With peanuts getting the most attention and stronger strikes. I had a couple of double headers of both fluke and sea bass. Also had tons of sea bass with many shorts. Probably had 60 plus fluke and about the same sea bass keeping 12 fluke and 11 sea bass for the table. We also had birds workign around us most of the day, not sure what was under them didn’t really cast to them at all nor did we mark anything really when we drifted through them.
Sunday I mainly mated for a buddy who had to take a friend and his two kids fishing. This trip we headed out to some numbers I did well the week before with sea bass. Shortly after arriving in 75′ of water we had the first fish in the boat. I was hooking fish and handing the rods off to the kids. Once both were bringing in fish I decided to catch my own…big mistake. The rods I was handing off all had keeper fluke and big sea bass (16-20″ fish) but all I would come up with were skates, sea ravens and sculpins. Only fished about two hours but we put a couple nice fluke (19-21″) in the box as well as another 11 sea bass but none of the keepers were under 16″. Had a dozen or so short fluke and probably two or three dozen short sea bass to keep the kids on constant action. We also added a few ling to the box for a little variety. The ling weren’t as thick so bottom temps must be coming up a little. Again bait of choice was squid, killies, spearing and peanuts.
The peanuts were not big, only about 1.5″ to 2″ but very thick in the marina this weekend. After a fall, winter and spring of not throwing the net I was pretty rusty and only yielded a dozen or so a throw I was still able to put a good amount together for this weekends trips. Definitely need to get a smaller net to through in the launch ramp where they appear most of the time. The 8 footer is just too big for the small space.
Water temps were down a little but sinkers and fish were coming up warmer. Surface temps ranged from 66 to 69 degrees both days deepening on location and time of day. There was a small pod of dolphin just outside the inlet making the inlet a little more interesting with it being a holiday weekend, with all the armatures out with them site seeing at the same time.
Highlight of the weekend was Saturday night just after the fireworks displays up and down the creek there was a supposed jumper off the Beaverdam Bridge. The emergency vehicles and state police cleared out pretty quick though, not sure what the outcome was but they were cruising up and down around the bridge and walking all the docks in the marina.
I also heard rumors from sources I wouldn’t waste gas on but heard from a few people that a couple guys got YFT in the eastern parts of the mud hole yesterday. I do know there was another thresher pulled off the Sea Girt Reef over the weekend and heard a bunch of BFT caught south in the Fingers and also up toward the Mako Hotel.
Mako Mania & Mako Fever
Sunday, June 28th, 2009Headed out Saturday morning late (7 am) in order to avoid Saturday’s checkout for the tourneys to get some fresh bait. We headed out to the Manasquan Ridge and the Southeast Lump. All sorts of live out there, we had porpoise, turtles, sunfish, bunker and sand eels but no bluefish. Just an occasional cocktail blue. After a few hours of getting frustrated we moved in on the Axel Carlson for sea bass and ling. It was non stop action with almost no short sea bass and the keepers were all over 17″ and the ling varied in size from 1.5 to 4 pounds.
Sunday morning we checked out and headed offshore with the front of the pack. Made it to our spot in just under 2.5 hours. Upon arrival the water was blue, clear and 68.5 degrees. Had good life on the wrecks but nothing came to investigate the slick.
Had a really slow drift despite the wind and swell. We went to make a move to get setup back at the beginning of the slick and halfway we had a free jumping mako about 200-225 pounds. Stopped immediatle and got baits out right away but was unable to raise the fish.
Ran in to the fingers to give that a shot for an hour or two and had nothing there. The drift was even slower, at first we just doing circles and couldn’t get the lines away from the boat. We did see tuna busting a couple times while running and lot of really big debris out there so if you are running off keep a close watch. Lots of pilings just at or below the surface.
Bass moving on?
Saturday, June 20th, 2009Decided with the weather being a crap shoot to leave the dock late and sleep in. Shoved off at 5:30 with the sun rising, light to no wind and few clouds. Broke the inlet and was greeted with flipping bunker.
Pod hopped for a couple hours moving North as we moved on. Bunker was from MI pretty much all the way up to Red Church. Unfortunately they were small pods, scattered easily and had nothing on them. Most pods would sound as the line hit the water over them or the snag hit water.
Switched over to fluking and picked away at them and sea bass. frustrated with fish that were right on the 18″ line or just under we moved further North to where we had fish last week.
Right away we found a pod of fish making short 50-75 yard drifts over them. But again the fish were just borderline keepers. We kept a few that were just over and a couple of sea bass.
Also had a few small robins, a sculpin and a skate. Larger robins were kept for crab bait. Almost forgot…I guess we had some sort of inshore Garbage Fish Slam…sea robin, sculpin, skate, star fish and Jersey snow crab (spider crab). At least we had variety. We tried but could not find a doggie to complete the Grand Slam!
Water was flat for the most part, one in a while there would be a big roller. Had a couple sprinkles start about 11-11:30 as we were heading in. water temps ranged from 60.2 to 65.5 depending on time and location. Bait…pretty much anything worked…spearing, squid strip, sun dial strip, squid heads (my favorite) gulp jerk shads and shrimp.
Got back to the dock, gear off and the skies opened up…perfect timing…let nature do the washing!
Are the striped ones moving on or did the coming storms put them off the feed? Hopefully they were just taking some time off of feeding and stick around a few more weeks. Unfortunately next week we will be busy with the shark tournaments and Fourth of July weekend we usually take our first offshore trip. If they stick around hopefully they wait till mid July to move on so we can get one more shot at them.
Long weekend roundup
Monday, June 15th, 2009OK…I get down to the marina, unload the truck…forgot my tackle bag. No biggie we go and buy new hooks, leader, swivels, snags, etc for fluking, sea bass and striper fishing for the weekend and pickup bait and Entenmann’s for breakfast. No we are not Norweigan…the bait is for fishing and the Entenmann’s is breakfast!
Go to fuel the boat up…lose forward on the way to the service slip. Figure let’s get her fueled up since I need it and then look at the shift issue. Go to move her back and not only don’t have forward but get stuck in reverse. Luckily the service slip is only three slips away and we float her back to her slip. It’s already dark out so we figure we will just take a buddy’s boat and look at in on Saturday, plus we figured there would be fog anyway so we would probably end up taking his since I don’t have radar.
So now we are down one boat the first day of the weekend.
Saturday…get off to a great start. In the first 20 minutes and less than a mile from the inlet we get on spraying bunker, put a 38 pound fish in the boat and have two other run offs. Then Wayne on his flounder rod gets spooled by a big fish.
The not being far from the inlet it was not long before the fleet of fluke tourney boats runs through the school of fish, puts them down and they scatter. We tried for another half hour and on a few more pods but then gave up and switched to sea bass. Had tons of shorts and decided to go fluking. Ended up putting 5 nice fluke in the boat with two 16″ sea bass and then while moving we smelled diesel.
Shut her down and look for the leak. Tanks look good, lines, everything. Can’t figure out where it is coming from. Start running again and same thing, now we get it down to the starboard motor so we come in on one and after close inspection find a broken return line right in front of the turbo! Good thing we didn’t keep running…could of been a serious problem if the fuel found its way closer to the turbo.
So now we are down two boats in two days.
We had planned on fishing a different boat on Sunday so at least we know we are still fishing tomorrow. Sunday rolls around leave the dock EARLY to get in on the great bite we had early the day before and wanted to be out even earlier to hopefully get a longer shot at them.
First drift we make bait, hookup and drop two fish. Go to move off the beach and again the starboard motor won’t fire. Get off the beach on one motor and start jogging while we try and diagnose the problem. Ignition circuits keep tripping and paralleling batteries doesn’t do much either.
Check the current charts and it is slack at the inlet and slowing in the canal so we decide to run in on one while the getting is good. It is always a good day when you come in on your own power and safe…even it is on one motor.
Get back to the dock and it turns out to be the starboard battery. Voltage was fine with no load but under load went into a dead short and even smoked a bit.
So now we are down three boats in three days.
I make arrangements to be hauled Monday morning and check with the Admiral that it is OK to stay over one more day…good thing I always pack extra clothes.
So in the mean time I run over to Harbor Freight to get a jack and jack stands to rotate my tires. Cashier is ringing me up and the register dies. So now my buddies conclude the hex is caused by me!
Monday…get hauled out and the problem with the shifting is a loose cable clamp, check the cable, no nicks or wear in it, reset the clamp and all is well…or so we think. Decide while it is out to check the drive fluid. Nice shade of light gray. Dipstick was only hand tight and the o-ring on the drain plug was rolled. Only person to blame for that is me since I changed the gear oil.
Run to the gas station get a can of diesel and flush it three times. Fuel was clear after the second, did the third to be safe and also flushed a half gallon through from the top. Filled her back up and went for a test ride and all is good.
Now we just have to wait and see. Everyone was telling me they have seen worse but with my luck I will need a new drive by season’s end.
Hope everyone had a better weekend than us.
No stripers but scored ling and sea bass
Sunday, June 7th, 2009We figured with the last few weeks being an early bite as well as the full moon being yesterday we should make an effort to get out early…well we shoved off at 4:05 and were out the inlet by 4:40.
Ran a little North found nothing and then decided to be a creature of habit and run to where we had fish three weeks in a row. We found bunker but no bass. Water early was about the same as last week-57.8 degrees. Bunker were flipping with an occasional spray and some coming clean out of the water. It looked like a good unhappy pod. We worked it for a little over an hour, chased down some other pods that were more scattered and returned back to the more active one.
We did not hookup on livies or cut bunker nor did we see anyone else except Capt. Murph hooked up for a few minutes on a mystery fish. Eventually we gave up on bass and switched over to wreck fishing.
With the cold temps we decided to not even bother fluking and went right to some rock piles for sea bass. With the direction and slow speed of the drift it made for nice long, slow drifts over the piles.
We immediately were picking up sea bass and ling. As the day went on the ling got thicker and you had to weed through them to get to the sea bass, a welcome nuisance compared to doggies.
We ended the day with a little over a dozen nice sea bass and kept six ling. Surprisingly at the dock the ling were in high demand.
Good talking to all the Barnegat Fishin’ Hole members and trying to find fish and work together covering a lot of ground.
With the presence of large schools of ling, the temp the sinkers coming up and gulp baits being almost brittle speaks volumes about the water temps on the bottom. I did however hear of a few good catches of fluke to the North with several fish in the 4-6 pound range. We will probably be headed left out of the inlet next week with bass, sea bass and fluke being the target.
Weekend bass roundup
Sunday, May 31st, 2009With a great weekend last week and all the positive reports coming in during the week from those that got out I got a weekend pass from the Admiral and was planning on fishing both Saturday and Sunday weather permitting.
Got down to the marina by 8 pm and unloaded and began rigging up for Saturday. Made plans with the crew to leave a little earlier, hoping to shove off a little before or no later than 5 am.
5:10 Saturday morning just as I am about to call Wayne he rolls into the marina. He jumps aboard and off we go.
Broke the inlet and pretty much steamed right to the spot off Mantoloking I had fish the week before. We had great marks, plenty of bait and conditions looked really good.
We moved from pod to pod looking for bass, each pod looked agitated and unhappy but each time we failed to hookup. Finally about 10:30 Wayne gets a pickup, hooks up and we boat a nice 25.5 pound fish. We continued to work the area but were only able to boat the one fish.
Back at the dock we get cleaned up and the drinks start flowing. Then we all go out for dinner and made plans for Sunday. We would be sailing with Wayne, Danny and his son Michael, again supposedly at or before 5 am.
Sunday morning I was ready to go and had the engine warming up at 4:44…no one was up or ready yet. After knocking on boats and receiving a call from Wayne I figured we would be leaving even later today. Ended up shoving off about 5:35.
Broke the inlet and immediately headed back down to Mantoloking. After making bait and screwing around with a few bunker pods BriTime from Barnegat Fishin’ Hole called me down to off Lavalette. I asked where he was, his reply was you will see when you get here.
Upon arriving at Lavalette it looked like the Tice’s Shoal fleet got lost and ended up on the East side of the barrier island. From the scene today you would never imagine that there was a financial crisis going on. There had to be 300-400 boats converged on this area that was holding bass.
Shortly after arriving we had our first shot at a bass that appeared to be in the 25-30 pound class. It was on the lightest rod we were snagging with and quickly spooled and eventually broke off Michael. I tried to explain to him to loosen the drag as pressure increases when the spool diameter gets smaller but kids never want to listen, they think they know everything.
Soon after that I dropped a fish, there was a reel malfunction. Well, actually someone, I think myself, put the lever to strike and not bait. The fish ran about three feet before dropping the bait due to too much tension on the line.
Then about 20 minutes later we dropped our last hookup as well. Had we left on time we might have had a larger window of opportunity before the boat traffic and full bellies from the bass gorging on bunker quieted the bite down.
We trolled for about an hour after leaving the fleet with great marks but not one knockdown. After that we pod hopped finding some active pods again but no run offs or hookups.
Running back to the inlet we noticed a large fleet and several head boats just North of the inlet so we decided to investigate. It looked like some of the fish coming up on the head boats were whiting with some cocktail blues mixed in.
I quickly handed out small jigs and we proceeded to get in on the light tackle blues action for a few minutes. This proved to save the day and keep the skunk off the boat.
While it wasn’t the mad dog bite of last week it was a fun weekend with fish in the boat, smiling faces and way too much beer and alcohol consumed once again. The weather was great and we had calm seas both days. Hopefully the bass stick around a few weeks longer. Water temps rose a little from Saturday to Sunday but not by much.
Solo bass slaughter!
Sunday, May 24th, 2009
Woke up at 5 as planned with a nasty hangover, looked around…no fog but also no crew. They were all still passed out. Popped a couple Advil and reset the alarm for 6. Got up feeling much better, put coffee on and still no crew up. Decided to hit the river solo so I called the Admiral and gave her my float plan since I was going solo.
Got to the inlet and saw birds South of the jetty and flat seas, called the Admiral back with a change of plans. From 7:45 to 9:00 it was non-stop live bait bass action.
Had the first fish on shortly after snagging a bunker about 200 yards South of the South jetty in 18′ of water. The fish immediately ran under the boat. Fought it for about 10 minutes under the boat, got it to the boat once but as I reached for the net she made another run under the boat. When she came up you could have shoved a basketball into her mouth. After another few minutes of tug of war under the boat I was now in 12′ of water and decided I had to try and move the boat…unfortunately that caused more rubbing and chafing on the bottom and the 65# braid had finally had enough…but I and the boat did not end up on the beach.
I moved the boat a little South to get back on the bunker, re-tied a snag and got the rods setup with livies on top and heads on the bottom. Shortly after I boated the first fish, a nice fat 27.1 pounder.
The bunker and fish kept moving South. I kept on them and broke off two other fish, had six or 8 good run offs that never came tight and two that ran and ran while I was fighting another fish but by the time I was ready for the second rod they got off.
I ended the day with three in the box using my bonus tag, fish were 27.1, 29.2 and 33.5 pounds. I also released one fish about 20 pounds. The biggest fish came on a bunker head on the bottom. Also, finally got a chance to break in my new Lami/Avet combo. Water was 53-54 degrees, much warmer from the 41-44 we saw on Saturday. The bite started just south of MI and I ended up right at the Mantoloking pipe. Had bunker and fish from 10′ to 30′ of water.
I did setup once with no bunker busting on top but good readings on and near the bottom and had run offs and one fish, the 20 pounder I released.
The fish had remnants of small bait, peanuts and eels in their stomachs, one had nothing at all…probably spit it all up during the fight.
Spoke to several Barnegat Fishin’ Hole members, Bri Time, Capt. Murph, EMALS, and others some of which came up to get in on the action. At first the boat traffic was putting them down but later on it didn’t seem to bother them. I am really glad I ran out despite a lack of crew, was back at the dock about 9:45.
Foggy but managed…
Saturday, May 16th, 2009Stayed 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.
Stripers and fluke making a showing
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009I unfortunately did not get a chance to sail this past weekend. Though it seems as if striped bass have really started to make a showing. With Sunday being Mother’s Day and only having Saturday to fish, and then the AC breaking I had do deal with home repair issues.
I received many reports of bass and some good sized fluke with some bluefish mixed in were caught both inside and outside over the weekend and early this week. Fish have been caught on various jigs, bunker, herring, spoons and umbrella rigs. One common theme seems to be that you needed to search them out. There might not have been tell tale signs of birds diving and fish busting but if you searched out structure, bait and kept an eye on the sonar you found the fish.
Hopefully I will get out this weekend, it all depends on if I can get my current work project done early…if I really move my butt, which I am planning on doing I may be able to fish both Saturday and Sunday.
Winter flounder opening day
Monday, March 23rd, 2009It was to be our first trip of 2009 and we were very anxious to get lines in and bends in the rods. I rigged up four rods, iced down the boat, loaded the second anchor and rode, chum pots, picked up bait, lunch and beverages. I also picked up a bucket of Gulp! chum to give a try.
Tommy and I headed South to the Mantoloking Bridge. While heading out there was a whining noise, we checked and thought at first it was just the new belt settling in. While trying to get set on anchor in our first spot the motor started sputtering and the whining got louder.
We performed some more troubleshooting and determined the noise to be coming from the fuel pump, most likely the low pressure pump. We decided that with a fuel delivery problem and breezy conditions it was best that we scrapped the trip and limp back to the marina. We were able to get back safe under our own power.
I did speak to a few guys that fished catches ranged from not even a bit to about five fish per person.
After clearing the cockpit we dropped the fuel filter and water separator and there were no signs of any water in the fuel. Put new filters on to be on the safe side and fired her up again. The filters filled with fuel so it is not a line or tank issue.
Next I called Volvo to find out parts availability and cost. I also inquired to see if it would be covered under extended warranty, supposedly it will be. Which is a huge relief since on my motor it is one part for the filter mount, high and low pressure pumps and not individually serviceable with a cost of $659.
Now I am waiting for a call back from my local Volvo dealer to schedule the repair, hopefully they will be able to get to it this week or next.
This is just the kind of thing I try to avoid by going in the water the end of February or the beginning of March. Now due to the soda blasters damage and my going in the water just days before our first trip I am now down taking away from fishing time. Going in early gives two to four weeks to run her weekly and work out any kinks if any and get her running at peak performance for the season ahead. In a perfect world our boats would go to bed working 100% and wake up after their winter’s naps running 100%. But after sitting idle for several months there is always something that is not happy about being idle and being exercised during its hibernation. In the end I am sure we will have a great season, we are just off to a slow start once again.
Striper & wreck trip
Saturday, November 1st, 2008We had non-stop action all day…while it was not some of the species or sizes of them we wanted it, it was an awesome day on the water.
Left the dock at 6:25, broke the inlet, looked North East and South…saw some birds to the South and started jigging around them…nothing. Continued South away from the fleet near the inlet and kept working the birds and bait pods…had a couple of bumps on plastics, bucktails and various irons but no fish.
Headed down to Seaside when we got a call on the phone from a friend of one of the crew that was catching bass. Put out a dark red tube rig, pearl and black back shad umbrella rig and a chartreuse mojo. The tube rig got a couple knockdowns but nothing came tight. Shad rigs and mojo’s started hooking up almost immediately.
Had a steady pick of medium and large blues with short bass mixed in about every two blues then a bass. We kept working that area and bait pods and switched out the tubes for pearl and blue back shads and that became the hot color so we switched both umbrella rigs to pearl/blue and put out the white/black mojo’s since I did not make up any blue/white yet (shame on me for thinking they would not go after a blueback herring pattern yet). We kept at it with several fish on each pass until about noon when we picked up and ran up to a wreck in 65′ of water.
Put the anchors out and two of the crew had sea bass in the boat before we came tight. Once we came tight over the wreck it was drop and reel action the whole time. We shifted a couple of times over it to try and find some bigger fish. We had a constant pick of sea bass and monster porgies (near 2 lbs). Then the wind died out and when the current went slack it was hard to stay over the wreck.
We picked up the anchors and drifted a few near by rock piles and put a few more fish in the box before heading in around 2:30 pm.
My best guess on the final tally was around 30 blues (kept 10), 5 short bass, 100 plus sea bass (kept 20) and 60 porgies (kept 15). What a great November day on the water, calm seas, fair winds, warm sunny day and fish in the box. It was great talking to all the members of Barnegat Fishin’ Hole on the radio…shee’s a keeper, just a fluke, Davo, heard EMALS but I don’t think he could hear me, speedbump, sorry if I missed anyone (talked to dozens of guys on the radio yesterday), and even Jim made it out yesterday-I bet the neighbors are glad to see the lawn ornament gone!
Striper/wreck trip…the glass is half full
Saturday, October 4th, 2008We bagged our offshore trip due to lack of reports from the canyons. Then we bagged our mid-shore trip again due to lack of reports and only a crew of three. It may have been a bad call with some reports trickling in from both the edge and the mid-shore waters.
Left the dock at 6 am and were shocked with the amount of boat traffic. More than any day we were out in the summer including the holiday weekends. The Point Canal looked like a Christmas tree when we looked back behind us with all the red, green and white lights.
Broke the inlet and were greeted with birds working from Bay Head South as far as you could see with the binoculars. We went from pod to pod of bait all the way down to Lavalette. Plenty of bait (peanuts and spearing) but only managed snappers and sea robins. The amount of sea robins was amazing, I think we caught more in two hours yesterday on both bait and jigs than we did all summer fluking.
After giving up on stripers we decided to hit some wrecks and rock piles on the Axel Carlson. With very little drift (.2-.4 knots) and no stellar pickings at any one location we drifted about eight different pieces. I had hoped to tie up and get some togging in but each wreck we tried was inundated with bergals to about 1.5 lbs. Some of the biggest I have seen inshore in a while.
We did manage probably over 100 sea bass and porgies though on clam, fiddler crab and gulp baits. Keeper ration was poor with many of the sea bass just under, right on or just over 12″…but with the small fillet size of a just legal fish we only keep fish over 14″.We ended the day with a nice cooler of sea bass to 18″ and porgies to 13″ keeping only about a dozen fish for the table between the two of us and were back at the dock around noon.
BFT baby!
Sunday, August 31st, 2008We left the dock at 4:15 AM…I was told the night before 4:30 and was woken up at 3:55 to the sound of the diesels being fired up three slips down and Mark yelling COME ON JOE! Jumped up got dressed and hopped aboard just as the dock lines were being cast off.
Broke the inlet shortly after in very dark calm conditions due to the full moon. Not sure what the draggers were doing but it looked like one was coming into the inlet on the North side of the North jetty but it turned out they were dragging the beach for something.
The ride out was nice but then our port motor temp gauge was reading a little hot…hotter than normal. We quickly took readings on both motors with the thermal gun and everything was fine. Then we lost all gauges for the port motor. We then shutdown the port motor and cleaned the sea strainer which did not seem that bad but did it just to be sure. Fired her back up and the thermal gun was reading just about them same temps and then about 10 minutes later the gauges came back and everything was reading normal…by this time we had first light…which we were hopping to be out there for was creeping up and Mark put her up on pane finally and headed right to our numbers. If it wasn’t for the thermal gun we probably would have limped back home on one engine and bagged the whole trip. You can never be too prepared.
Since we were behind a little we dropped the lines in about a mile or two short of our destination since we started marking bait, fish and had some whales in the area. It was pretty uneventful all morning. There were whales a porpoise around all morning, an occasional free jumping mahi and we marked a lot of fish in the 100 to 125′ depths all morning that would not come up.
We stopped twice and jigged on some bigger concentrations of fish but no takers. We were also able to make a couple of wrecks not on any of our charts…we will be investigating them further on other trips.
We then zig zagged through a maze of what seemed to be endless pot strings along the ledge. Rum Runner picked up a small mahi in the maze.
There was one knockdown that we never saw the fish…it bit right through the wire on the pre-rigged bally. Water was probably a little cold for a wahoo so we suspected a small mako.
After that in the next hour I release two bags, that once filled with water put up a fight similar to a large cow-nosed ray. They were released unharmed to the garbage can to die a slow painful death.
We were getting ready to call it a day and decides to troll another half hour. Wayne and Tommy were sleeping, Mark was driving and me and Ryan were on the bridge talking…and then she hit. By the time Tommy got to the rod she dumped about a third of a 50SW. I came down from the bridge in two steps and landed on the cooler. Tommy fought the fish for about 10 minutes and had it just about to the leader, it looked at the boat and headed right for the bottom…well about 20 feet short as we watched it sound on the fish finder. Tommy got her back up a second time and same thing…right to the bottom. Third time she came up I stuck her right in the gills and she was in the boat.
While we were hooked up Rum Runner fast trolled over, circled us and immediately hooked up a fish and boated it just after us. We worked the area for another hour, Rum Runner again hooked up and we did the same fast trolling over and circled but we could not find our under fish as they did. We trolled another 15 minutes and picked up the lines and headed in.
It was a joy not rigging baits at 4:30 that morning, especially with having to deal with the gauge and motor temp issue. The pre-rigged ballys from Sun Harbor held up better and didn’t wash out like a lot of pre-rigged baits we have had in the past from other tackle shops.
Water was very clear but gray in most spots and also a grayish/blue in others. We stayed in the colder water…67-69.5 degrees. This is where we had the best readings of bait and fish deep. It was just a mater of getting the speed right to get them to come up. We trolled between 6 and 9 ballys naked and skirted in various colors and a WWWB varied from bird/bally, bird, daisy chain and spreader bar. The fish hit the port flat line bally.
It was an eleven day on the water with great conditions, beautiful sunny skies, good friends and a fish in the box. She weighed in at 59.7 dressed. One of the best parts was the 37 minute ride to break the inlet…catching BFT close to home…priceless!
Mud Hole BFT
Sunday, August 17th, 2008We decided to try something off the beaten path and run out to the mud hole.
It was a nice ride out but once out there it was sporty. We had whales all over, several draggers, weed lines, pilings, and birds here and there. We figured at least we may find some mahi if no BFT were around. We marked several bait with nothing under or around them.
The 75 degree water on the charts was no where to be found, instead we had a 69/70.5 degree break and that was about it. Water was cold, green and dirty.
Trolled up and down Little Italy, across to Monster Ledge, up and down the Ledge, around the Lillian and Arundo.
We did hear of some action at the Oil Wreck but that turned out to be amber jacks…at least that is what was said on the radio. I personally have never caught one trolling and have always caught them wreck fishing.
There was a school of baby mahi between the west wall of Monster Ledge and the Shark River Reef that we release a few of…the biggest being about 14″ all hit on either the purple/black jet or purple/black cedar plug.
Due to the terrible water conditions we decided to run back in early and do some fluking. About 8 miles off the water was much bluer but cold…68 degrees and no bait to be found.
Once we got over to the Axel Carlson we had pretty steady action with fluke and sea bass. Fished a couple wrecks and put a half dozen fluke and 8 sea bass in the box and headed in.
After speaking with a couple guys who fished the Southern end of the Axel Carlson one had 14 keepers between two guys and the other had their limit and came in early.
All in all it was a nice day on the water despite taking a slight beating in the beginning. My first two home-made spreader bars swam straight and looked good to us back in the spread. Hopefully soon we will get some better water to the North and have some fish move in.