Posts Tagged ‘bluefish’
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.
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.
First blowfish trip
Saturday, September 26th, 2009With 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rainy day blues
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009Left 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.
2009 Fish Consumption Advisory
Saturday, March 28th, 2009NJ DEP has published the 2009 Fish Consumption Advisory. Pretty much the same as last year, biggest changes are for some of the species from Raritan Bay and its estuaries. What I am curious about is what the recommended intake on sea bass, blackfish, porgies, tunas, shark and mahi would be. Some are mentioned briefly in the Federal Advice for Fish Consumption, but other than that they are not mentioned. Since these are the species most desired by family and friends and the species we target more often than others it would be nice to know the state and federal governments would like to control our eating habits.
Saltwater Fishing Expo
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009Next to us in the JCAA booth at the Saltwater Fishing Expo we had Joe Calcavecchia of Saltwater Custom Flies. He had a pattern that caught my eye right away. It was a mummichog, or more commonly known in NJ as a killie. Joe Calcavecchia wished he had known earlier that we called them killies here in NJ, he would have changed his display to read killie imitation.
It is his signature fly and a very good imitation of one of our staple baits here. I picked up a few from Joe and can’t wait to try them out. I will also attempt to recreate them but on a smaller scale. The ones I picked up are in the four to five inch range which should prove deadly on stripers, weakfish and blues. When I try and recreate them I will do so in a three inch model. I think the smaller incarnation would be very effective on summer flounder and sea bass, and probably deadly on mahi mahi in any size.
Bass and blackfish
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008Left the dock at 5:30 and a brisk 23 degree air temp and 33.5 degree water in the creek. No ice in the water. There was a dredge I guess in the inlet similar to the one down in Barnegat with only one light on it and it stretched from first ICW marker to the sea wall. I can’t imagine how they get away with blocking most of the channel with something like that, with no lights on it and not get fined.
Anyway, broke the inlet and had some birds and marks just outside…stopped and jigged but nothing. Started heading North since the plan was to hit Shrewsbury Rocks for bass then the Elberon Rocks for blackfish on the way back.
Made a couple stops off Spring Lake, Belmar, Asbury and Monmouth Beach jigging and trolling hear and there. We had a steady pick of just short, really fat fish the whole time. No blues brought to the boat although we suspect one jigged up fish that was lost just as we started to see color may have been due to its erratic fight.
Then while up off Monmouth Beach jigging I hooking into something really heavy and pretty much dead weight. I thought we might have a nice monkfish but it turned out to be a tail hooked spiny, one of the biggest I have ever seen.
On our way back South to Elberon Rocks just about at slack water we came across a bunch of birds working close to the beach and decided to jig a little more before the tide change and get setup on the hook. It was all blues about 3 pounds. it was fun for a while with poppers and jigs but then that wore off.
Made our way through the fleet onto some structure that looked good and got setup. Unfortunately I didn’t end up right over the structure but with a short toss of the baits we were into steady action and since it is not high profile structure decided to stay put. We had great action as long as you pitched to the right place and put 6 keepers all around 3 pounds and one 3.5 lbs in the box.
At about 11 the wind started kicking up and we had some pretty good white caps and taller chop so we decided to started heading back down to MI. After running about 5 minutes along the beach it flattened out again and the wind dropped out we decided to look for birds and readings and fish a little more but we found nothing. Just after noon we decided to head in early and call it a day.
Water temps outside ranged from 47.2 to 50.8 and inside from 33.5 to 35.7. Trolling we had most fish on blue/white shads with some on wine colored tubes (Thanks Brian and Ken for the color tip, finally found some this week). White tubes, black/white shads and black tubes produced nothing. Jigs we used dorado color MegaBait jigs, black/silver and blue/silver did not produce. All our short bass were spitting up peanuts and rain bait…did not see one sand eel spit up. Same with the bluefish. The blackfish were very aggressive and there was no missing a subtle bite as there were none. I even caught two fish dead sticking while making a sandwich…something I have never been able to do before. We were a little apprehensive about the day after the first stop and the rods and reels being iced up from frozen spray the first few stops but then we just brought the rods in the cabin between stops and all was good.
It was a great day with some fish in the box and a warm dry ride home. We ended up running 51.1 nm putting 7.3 hours on the motor and burning about 28 gallons of fuel for 1.82 nmpg and an average burn of 4.8 gph. I definitely see a big difference with plus (89 octane) fuel and my nmpg and gph numbers. At the end of the day getting in the slip was another story with the blowout tides though…we had to stop short and tilt the outdrive all the way up and float her in.
Played hookey
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008Left the dock at 6:30…didn’t realize I goofed on departure time till I got to the dock. Forgot to adjust my routine to standard time from daylight savings time.
Broke the inlet and the sun was already up and there were birds working at the mouth. With good marks on the sonar I jigged for a few minutes with not a touch, I also did not see any of the other five boats hook up so I did not stay there long.
Ran South and kept pod hopping and jigging. Had a steady pick of a range of blues and bass with about a 50/50 ratio, at this point it was still all shorts. I would move on when the fleet would join me.
Started working off the piers in 35-38′ of water and had steady top water action with mostly short bass and an occasional bluefish for about an hour before the fleet showed up and put the fish down. Had a blast with small poppers and was about to get the fly swatter out but that was when the bite died due to boat traffic.
After speaking with Bri Time, and others from BFH I headed South along IBSP again pod hopping till I got to the pavilion. Still with about a 50/50 ration to shorts to blues. Then I jigged up and lost two fish that were about 30-32″ trying to get them in the net. This was the first time I was using the larger net solo so it took a few tries to get the coordination down of the large hoop and long handle. Next fish was a 28.5″ that I swung thinking it was short but found its way into the box.
Shortly after bite started to really slow I went up on the troll. I pulled a black tube rig and chartreuse and white homemade mojo with a 6″ Gulp chartreuse power grub. Within 10 minutes both rods went off. The mojo seemed to have a larger fish but I decided to tend to the wire line first. Bad move…the umbrella rig yielded a short and after boating that fish, grabbing the other rod, taking two cranks it was gone. Most likely a bass as the grub had no teeth marks or missing parts.
Released the short and reset the spread and had pretty steady action zig zagging up and down between a 1/2 mile North and South of the pavilion in 35-45′ of water.
Had to leave to go to the eye doctor and left the fish biting though it was slowing down as it approached slack current. Did not mark much on the ride North back to MI and only say one pod of birds working. Did pass a fin, stopped to see what it was since it was small…was a baby mola mola, only about two feet across. It was a little timid at first but then swam right up to the boat. Tried to take a picture but it did not turn out good. It was the smallest one I have ever seen.
It was a beautiful day on the water with very light winds, flat seas and non-stop action. It was good talking to all the BFH members. Thanks for twisting my arm and calling me down Brian. Was considering going wreck fishing and not having to make the long run home. It was a little frustrating though, I dropped a lot of fish for some reason. I changed out hooks and tried singles, doubles and trebles…it did not seem to matter if jigging or trolling. I would take a half dozen cranks sometimes more and fish was gone. At first I checked the barbs on my hooks thinking some of my buddies may have played a trick on me but they were not flattened. I did lose about about a half dozen jigs to bluefish competition bite offs but that is to be expected.
I tried several jigs, Sea Striker JigFish (Mega Bait style jig), AVA’s, Kroc’s, SPRO prime swimming (don’t think they are made anymore, great sand eel imitation though) and bucktails. Had blues on everything, bass all came on the JigFish jigs in blue/silver, blue/yellow/silver or black/silver. Blue/Silver and blue/yellow/silver seemed to have the higher catch rates though.
Anyway finally tally for the day for the fish that made to the boat was around 30-40 bluefish and 27 bass with one keeper in the box and two lost boat side. Total for dropped fish was around three dozen. My back, shoulders and arms are sore today s I type this out but its all good!
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!
Bass & Fluke
Friday, October 24th, 2008We headed out a little late due to my getting out of work late. It would have been nice if the crew readied the boat but they started cooler diving early. We broke the inlet about 3:30 PM, just as it seemed the action was breaking up down off Seaside.
We had some small areas of bird activity but nothing to write home about. Had a couple of knock downs on red and black tubes. Snagged bottom letting one rig out in an area I had no idea had any structure…marked that spot as it seemed to be holding some small fish…will have to stop on it in the future when we have bait aboard.
Switched over to jigging and had a few blues in the 8 lb range and some short fluke also on both bucktails and iron. They must be really hungry, some of them were barely twice as long as the jigs.
It wasn’t the numbers and species we were looking for but we had a good time, burned very little fuel and got to test my new LED lighting on the way in.
Mixed bag
Saturday, August 9th, 2008What a day…it was a little sloppy once you got 4-5 miles off the beach early but then laid down. Actually needed a sweatshirt and jeans in the early morning. It was 58 at the dock when I left! Brrrrr….and it is August!
Anyway, started on the Manasquan Wreck and had only shorts, moved to the Valparaiso and more shorts and short sea bass.
Then moved to the NE side of the Axel Carlson. the drift was very fast and needed 8-10 ounces to hold bottom with 30# braid but it was worth it. On the first drift there I put a 21″ and 23″ fluke as well as a 17″ sea bass in the box. The next couple of drifts produced some shorts, more sea bass and two skates.
I moved south a little bit and put two more fluke in the box a 24 and 25 incher (biggest of the day). After a few more drifts there with more shorts and sea bass and short sea bass I decided to head to a lump a little further off to the south since it was laying down. I never ended up making it to the lump.
On my way I was greeted by birds working and fish busting all over. From the distance it looked like bonito…but after a few passes it was not. I immediately hooked up a falsie. Then numerous single and double headers of monster bluefish and another falsie. I was getting ready to pack it in when something munch larger hit the green/yellow feather. I cleared the other rod, slowed the boat, increased to full and the drag was still screaming. I was at first thinking I might have finally done it and hooked into my first BFT but the typically pulsating was not there. After about 10 minutes and a brief pause of the slight give and take and I spotted the whip tail in the distance, another short run and the line parted.
The mono had been shredded above the 6′ Bimini. 6′ leader to feather plus 6′ Bimini, mono shredded above 12′ of line = big thresher! It was fun while it lasted. Actually surprised it stayed hooked as long as it did with a 150 pound mono leader.
I then heard back from a buddy in the marina that was out on the Axel Carlson curious about what I had found. I ran back to the reef to fish with them for a while and try and put them on that spot I was on earlier since they only had shorts all day but there was a dive boat on it when we returned. We moved in between some pots on another spot and immediately I put two more fluke in the box…a 20″ and 22″ fish. repeated drifts yielded some shorts and more sea bass.
Total for the day was one lost thresher, a dozen or so bluefish (released), two false albacore (kept for bait), 15-20 short fluke, dozens of short sea bass, 6 keeper fluke from 20″ to 25″ and 12″ keeper sea bass. By far my most productive day bottom fishing this season.
BFT or bust
Saturday, August 2nd, 2008Friday night I did not sleep much with the anxiety of going off for the first time in my boat as well as if I actually had the range to make it back.
We left the dock at 4 am and made it out to Olley’s just after the sun broke the horizon. The water temp was 75.5 and there was a slight one degree break over the Northwest corner of the lump. We started marking bait and fish deep and a few suspended between 20 and 30′. We were setting out 6 rods and before all 6 were out one went off…cedar plug on the flat line. A few minutes later 12+ pound bluefish. Didn’t bother us too much as some of the reports we had said you had to pick through the blues but the BFT were in and out of the are.
Got that rod reset and the others out and about 20 minutes later two rods go off. Cedar plug on the other flat line and the WWWB skirted bally. Again two more gator blues.
Reset the spread and trolled around the edges, slowed down the speed and didn’t get a tap. Increased to 8kts and picked more blues. We marked bait and fish almost the whole time over and around Olley’s.
Picked up and Ran to the Star after Fear Knot reported they had bluer water over there. Water temp was a little cooler at 73.5 but the water looked a whole lot better. Trolled around that area for about a half hour and didn’t mark anything or have any knockdowns. So we started South to the Fingers.
Got the spread setup and again before all lines were out we had a triple. Unfortunately all bluefish again. It was a first for me to catch bluefish in that blue of water.
The wind was picking up a little and there was a storm off in the distance. Not sure exactly where Fear Knot and WillPower were but they were reporting rain. Around 10:30 we had a real hard hid that screamed line off an 80 (Due to lack of anything better to bring…none of my buddies 30’s or 50’s were re-lined yet this year). It also just about ripped the rod holder off the rocket launcher even with a light drag. Before anyone could grab the rod the fish was off. Jigged the rod for a few minutes and nothing…checked the bait-bally was stripped off. We circled back over that spot twice and nothing.
At this point it was getting a little snotty out…tightly spaced 4 footers and some were starting to break a little. We started in for Manasquan Inlet but as the wind picked up a little more and we were running in the trough I decided to turn around and head for Barnegat and take the seas on the quarter. BI was at that point about 8 miles closer anyway.
Ran over Barnegat Ridge North and didn’t mark a thing. Took us about 2.5 hours to break BI from the Fingers in the slop. We were surprised to see that many boats out at the Tires despite the conditions at the time we ran past. I would assume you needed 10-12 ounces yesterday afternoon.
Run up the bay was pretty uneventfully, we were pegged on E from Seaside but made it the last 10 miles home just fine. Highlight of the trip through the bay was seeing Barbed Wire doing about 140 mph and then seeing Jet Set making a couple of passes up and down the bay as well.
After taking on a load of fuel we found out we were not on fumes or as close to empty as we thought…only took 70 gallons to fill up and I hold 90. At the end of the day we did 123 miles for just about 1.75 mpg. We ran out at 22-25 knots fighting strong current, ran back in fighting wind, seas and current with three aboard, full of fuel, ice and cooler of tasty beverages and food.
Despite the lack of pelagics we all had a great day on the water, the boat ran great, made it back in fine and we now know we can take her pretty darn far in some slop and make it home with plenty of fuel to spare in a nice dry cabin!
Last ditch bass effort
Saturday, June 28th, 2008Thanks for calling us down EMALS (BFH Member). We were originally working some pods off Bay Head that every few minutes were spraying out of the water. But between the dozen boats not a single fish was boated.
So we ran down to Mantoloking by EMALS. We did see a few fish caught but wanted to escape the fleet so we ran down to about Lavalette in deeper water (65′) and pretty much the same thing. Tons of bait, marked fish but none biting. After screwing around with a thresher on bass gear for about 10 minutes we started heading back North.
Around Mantoloking we saw up in front of us birds working, huge splashes, real choppy water and reddish/purplish water. Monster blues had a good sized bunker pod corralled and were working them South at pretty good clip. We stopped to screw around with them and then saw some bass mixed in up on top. We were amazed! It was around noon and we were only in 30′ water. Had a couple good run-offs with marks on the baits but did not hook up with any bass. We boated a few blues to almost 13 pounds and then again…our top bait gets slammed. Huge splash and big hole where the bait was. Line starts screaming off, this time it figures its a spinning rod. Then we saw the tail. We just thumbed the spool since we knew we had no shot at this thresher. Another beautiful day on the water.
New tank is in!
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008The new tank is in and its time to fish! I am still waiting on calls back from the manufacturer but I am glad I did not hold my breath. It has been sixteen days since I last heard from them and they claimed I was their number one priority and would receive a call back from the man in charge…I would hate to see how their number 2-10 priorities are handled. So at this point I decided to save my season, repair the boat and let the attorneys and USCG do battle with the manufacturer.
After getting the tank in and taking on a half load of fuel I was headed out to search for some bunker pods and try and find some bass. I heard some radio chatter that sounded half promising but with no confirmed reports I was skeptical. On my way out I came across some birds working in the river with fish crashing the surface. Rather than leaving fish to find fish I decided to give it a shot.
I put on a yellow and white popper and had non-stop top-water action for almost two hours! Light tackle action at its best with two to four pound bluefish. Other than me and four kayaks I had the action to myself. The kayaks seemed to be brand new and their paddlers were trying to figure out how to handle them in the swift currents not allowing them to get in the killer action.
Conditions were still a bit breezy despite the reports of it laying down with a bright setting sun and chilly 55.3 degree water with 64 degree air temps.
All-in-all it was a great little shake down run and first fishing trip with the new tank. I am looking forward to an excellent 2008 season even though I am off to a slow and late start.
11/24 & 25 Stripers
Sunday, November 25th, 2007Saturday was a slaughter! I had fish all day, now the day was only about two and half hours of fishing but it was non stop action. I made quick stops at Shark River Inlet and the mussel beds of Monmouth Beach on my way up to the Rocks but there were only very small fish in both places.
Once at the rocks there were gannets diving everywhere! It was the mother load….and mostly bass. Most fish were 25-27″, and in total I had about seventy fish with eighteen keepers. I kept three for the table and they were 10lb 9oz, 12lb 4oz and 12lb 10oz. And only five to seven bluefish, so few I did not bother to count.
I wish I could say Sunday was just as good but most likely due to the South winds and the full moon it was not. We headed to the same area and looked for marks and birds. The bait, fish and birds were scattered and it was difficult to stay on fish for any period of time. The water had also dropped three degrees since the day before. We had three bluefish and two short bass and that was it for the trip.
Later I heard that chartreuse shad rigs were producing on an East to West pull a little North of where we were. We gave it a shot but only had bluefish. There were also several boats that were attempting to pull North to South with the current and crossing everyone else that was going East to West and West to East making it very difficult to troll so we called it a day and headed towards home.
We did make a few more stops where we saw promising marks and birds, I had a couple of hookups but dropped the fish before getting them to the boat. Sunday was just not our day. And from the sound or the radio chatter and other reports I read later in the day it was an off day for most.
Another Successful Bass Trip
Sunday, November 18th, 2007I arrived at the boat at 5:15 AM and it was cold…33 degrees and no wind to speak of. All of the flags within view were totally limp. The water level was very low due to the strong west winds and the gunwale was about six inches below the dock…luckily there was enough water to float out of the slip. We had to cancel a few trips last year this time due to not enough water to get out of the slip. I started the engine and started loading the day’s gear onto the boat. Soon the engine was warmed up and with the heat on the pilothouse started warming up to a nice and toasty 68 degrees.
After finishing storing gear and readying some items for the trip we were ready to shove off. Once the crew arrived we were underway.
We broke the inlet about 6:15 just before sunrise. There were birds starting to take flight in anticipation of an easy meal. The fish finder was all lit up and we started jigging up shorts and bluefish right away. As soon as the sun started to rise above the water’s edge the birds started diving and screeching. And the fleet of boats soon showed up. As it started getting more crowded we started moving south chasing the fast moving schools of migrating fish.
We continued to see fish breaking the surface all over and the spray of fleeing peanut bunker from the ravenous bluefish. Moving from pod to pod of bait we just followed the marks and jigged most of the day. Eventually we ended up off Top of the Mast where we had our best bite of the day. On one drift we produced about a dozen short bass, one nice 31″ keeper and only one bluefish. Continuing to work that area produced non-stop action of mostly short bass with a few bluefish mixed in. At one point I reeled up leaving five or ten feet of line out, leaving my jig in the water to net Anthony’s fish and a follower just slammed the jig.
By the end of the day we ended up just North of the bathing beach. We must have reached that area just as the bite died off as we had little luck in that area. It also started to cloud up a little more and the temperature was starting to drop. Which seemed to signal the end of the bite for us. We continued to work our way North and worked several schools of bait and fish but did not have the action that we had earlier in the day when it was a few degrees warmer. This seemed strange to me since the water was still 53 degrees. Usually we see this type of action when it is later in the year and the air and water temps are much cooler.
I would have included a picture of myself holding my fish here but there was an unforseen camera malfunction…or user error. We are not clear on what really happened.
It was a great day on the water with very pleasant sea conditions despite NOAA’s forecast (no surprise there) and the non-stop action only topped off the day. We ended the day with a total of two keeper bass-with 9 and 12 pound fish. We had several that were between 1/4 and 1/8 of an inch short and about two dozen or so fish that were 26 to 27.5 inches in length. Mixed in were probably near 40 to 50 bluefish.
Out First Game Fish Catch!
Saturday, November 10th, 2007We broke Manasquan Inlet at about 6:30 AM to birds working and fish breaking the surface. It was not long after dropping a jig to the bottom that I had my first fish on-a short striper. Then it occurred to me-just caught my first fish that has game fish status. We figured this is going to be a great day having striped bass to the boat right away. The more fish we hooked into the more blues we started to catch. Moving around with the birds and watching the sonar we were able to keep a steady pick going with bass mixed in with the blues.
Nino got his first bass of the season and almost his first keeper, there were a lot of fish 26-27″ and a bunch that were less than 1/4″ short. As always all short fish were returned to grow up and fight another day.
It was a busy day unhooking, measuring and releasing fish. Something nobody ever complains about even when it is hectic on deck with multiple fish flopping around and more waiting for the net.
When there was a lull in the action we decided to go on the troll, covering more ground and it paid off in short time. With one umbrella rig out rigged with tubes and one bunker spoon we soon had fish on. At first it was blues but then we homed in on where the bass were. Again we had many shorts but after switching to both rods running tube rigs we quickly started picking up some bigger fish.
The bluefish were just gorging themselves on sand eels that must have been carpeting the sea floor. I have never seen blues with their stomachs so extended. The bass were getting in on the feast as well as they too had full stomachs of sand eels. It is amazing how much they can fit in their stomachs…this is the contents of a smaller 4-5 pound bluefish.
At the end of the day everyone had sore arms and big smiles. We ended up keeping 9 blues but released dozens of fish. We also had about 15 stripers and kept two for the table. It was a beautiful fall day on the water with calm flat seas, good friends and plenty of fish.
No Particular Plan…but STill Put Fish in the Box
Sunday, October 21st, 2007I had no particular plan except to spend the day on the water. I wish I could have planned on targeting stripers but when I broke the inlet and was created to 64 degree water and the sun was just coming up I figured that would be a lost cause. I marked water as warm as 67.2.
As I started running down the beach there was not a bird to be found except for migrating geese. I made a few quick stops along the way where we had fish last week but there was even a lack of bait on those structures. I continued south and started to mark bait and fish between Mantoloking and Ocean Beach.
There were a lot of boats working the area and all they were doing was working. I decided to drop down some gulp on a bottom style rig. Immediately had a double header of spike weakfish. With the small size of fish I decided to move on.
I setup again off Top of the Mast in 60′ of water and began catching 18-22″ weakfish. I setup on a bait rig and sent it down to see if there were any takers. I continued bail the weakfish and quickly had my limit. I had no takers on the live lined fish.
I stopped on a couple of inshore wrecks on the way in and had more weakfish and hoards of 11.5″ sea bass. I did have quite a few real strong hits that stripped the gulp bait right off a bait holder hook. Didn’t feel like blackfish…there was no tap, tap, wham! Just a single strong hit. Will probably make quick stops on those spots again this weekend to try and figure out what was down there.
Spoke to RTK and John on the radio (From Barnegat Fishin’ Hole)…sounded like they both had small bonito throughout the day. I trolled back to MI with only bluefish on the clark spoons. I would have though 6 kts was fast enough to avoid them, even increased to 6.8 and still picked up blues.
All in all it was a nice relaxing day on the water and fish in the box. Hopefully we will see a drop to normal temps, this 10+ degrees above normal is going to really kill the fall run. I hope the fish when they come south around LI don’t stay out far and pass us by