OK…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.

Next 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.

We know something is coming, whether it be the already mandated Federal Registry (Jan. 1, 2010), state registry or state saltwater license.  Delaware put one in place for 2008 and NY has one in the works.  There are some bills in legislature already that hopefully don’t pass the way they are structured.  I am for a state license.  Why would we want to send money to the Federal Government to be put in the general fund and never used for fishing?  I think Tom’s white paper is excellent and brings up a lot of very important points for the structuring of a saltwater license in NJ.  While most of the angling community is against a license, I don’t see a way around it.  If it is well thought out it very well could make things a lot better in the future.  One thing it could benefit is the traveling angler, if you fish Delaware Bay, NJ waters and Raritan Bay if NJ structures the license properly it would be reciprocal or honored in each neighboring state so you would not be required to purchase three licenses.  Despite the corruption and political bias in NJ I think a saltwater license can be structured to help the recreational angler if enough of us get behind the process to ensure it is tailored to our specifications and not the to the politicians liking.

Take a read and I think if you are on the fence or against a license you may rethink your position.

Federal Registry White Paper by: Tom Fote

I received an e-mail tonight about a rally of farmers taking their tractors to the Statehouse. Also in the e-mail was information that I did not know. That the Department of Agriculture has been opposed to many legislature items against the recreational angler. Below is the e-mail I received, what do you think my fellow anglers?

Go to the link below and vote YES .

Farmers fear Corzine plan
Thursday, March 27, 2008
By Gene Robbins
Angry Hunterdon farmers plan to rev up their tractors Tuesday and drive them to the Statehouse to protest the governor’s proposal to eliminate the Department of Agriculture as a Cabinet-level agency.

As many as 50 tractors and horse trailers from the county and northern New Jersey will rendezvous at Dave Bond’s farm on Route 579 in Delaware Township. They’ll gas up and leave by 8 a.m. to roll down routes 29 or 31 in time to reach a “Save the Department of Agriculture” rally in front of the Statehouse Annex, West State Street, from 10 a.m. to noon, rain or shine.

Not coincidentally, the Assembly Budget Committee convenes that day at 9 a.m. on the fourth floor of the Annex.

The slow-moving tractor-cade should be quite a spectacle, and could snarl commuter traffic. Farmers are out to make a point, although pitchforks and even placards on wooden stakes are prohibited.

From Tom Fote:

The saltwater anglers in NJ have not been treated fairly over the years by the Dept of Agriculture. They have supported the commercial fishermen over the recreational anglers at every turn. They support the menhaden boats in state waters, against striped bass gamefish, fought against recreational Sunday clamming and many other recreational concerns of the years.Their name was bought up at the latest Senate Environment Committee hearing of the Pots Off the Reef bill as supporting the potters over the recreational anglers. Over the years they were not friends of the Division of Fish and Wildlife and the recreational anglers. I would not consider it a loss at this time. Their functions could be absorbed by other agencies. A lot of the local agriculture board have commercial fishermen members and take up their positions at the local level.

You have a chance to show your feelings. The wording of the question is a little tricky since you need to vote yes if you support doing away with the Dept of Agriculture.

Tom Fote

Subject: NJ Dept AG

Below is a link to a poll on whether the Garden State needs the agriculture department. Please take the time to vote.

http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=OPINION

I am not sure how many of you are following with detail the fight over summer flounder or fluke that most of the Northeast states are going through. There has been some speculation over the options being presented to the ASMFC and some controversy over the three of size options that were published by the APP this week.

1. 5/24 – 9/8 18.25″ 8 fish bag
2. 6/28 – 9/8 17.25″ 2 fish bag
3. 7/4 – 9/2 17.25″ 8 fish bag

There have been several comments that these are not actually three of the six and we may not know for another week or so if that is the case or not. But the fact that they are all a quarter inch size limit really has no bearing if they are viable options or not. In the history of ASMFC they have never approved a quarter inch minimum size, it has always been a full inch or half inch in size.

If you are not already involved at some level I urge you to join a local fishing club that is in-line with your beliefs as well as donating to one or more of the organizations fighting for the recreational angler and sportsmen and women.

• Jersey Coast Anglers Association: http://www.jcaa.org/
• Recreation Fishing Alliance: http://www.joinrfa.org/
• NJ Outdoor Alliance: http://www.njoutdooralliance.org/
• Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund: http://www.ssfff.net/

We headed out and toughed the wind. We left the dock about 5:30 AM. It wasn’t really that bad, more of a pain in the ass then anything. In tight to the beach and out to about 35 feet it was flat, once you got about 3/4 of mile out it started to get a little sloppy. It did blow almost all day and the gust were something…if you did not stow everything it was only a matter of time before the gods carried it 30-50 feet away from the boat before touching down in the water. Despite the predicted bad conditions, we headed up North in calm seas and gusty winds, about a mile North of Monmouth Beach (only took 40 minutes from the Inlet). We worked our way south from there stopping at all the usual places, Red Church, The Rocks, Deal, Long Branch, The Essex & Sussex. Between the three of us we had between 60-70 fluke ranging from 14-16 3/8″ with 4 keepers to 3.lbs. Fluke seemed to be everywhere just nothing with any size to it. Closer to the beach we were able to fish with 4 or 5 oz. and as you got further out you eventually had to go up to 10 or 12 (using lb. mono or lb. powerpro). The bigger fish we caught were further off the beach. In the ocean the warmest water we saw was 56.4 degrees…brrrr! The tide line was something else, clean greenish/blue water inside and murky brownish/green outside. And the amount of garbage, leaves and other debris on from the edge out about 50 feet was incredible. We got hits and caught fish inside it but near the edge and just over the edge it was no man’s land until you got out past the debris then the fish turned on again. The ride back was a breeze (LOL) with the wind and swell following we were able to cruise at kits. and make exceptional time and fuel economy on the ride to the Inlet. All-in-all we had a great time on the water despite not having anything big enough to bring to the scales. We arrived back at the dock about 4:30 PM.

The fish that were weighed in were depressing. Some of the winners for the various ports were just over 3 pounds and to place on the board weighing a fish just over a pound was good enough.