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. 

First bass of 2010 hit the deck today! We were going to only run a few miles but when we heard and saw the fleet racing to the Sea Girt Reef area we decided to just make the run North and fish somewhat by ourselves. There were reports of big fish outside the 3 mile line and many paid the price for going after them. Sever boats were stooped, boarded and fined including a party boat.

Anyway back to the good stuff. Got up off Monmouth Beach quickly, started putting the spoons out and 200 yards behind us the birds came out of no where. Picked up and ran to them and it was fish on as soon as the jigs and plastics hit the water. As soon as it started it ended as the fleet started racing in. Then they popped up again a little way off. We then pod hopped for a little while with fish on each drift. Silver was the hot color today for jigs.

After a few drifts we switched over to bait and continued to boat fish on each drift. We had 5 in the box to 16 plus pounds by 9:30-10 and went up on the troll to cover ground. We had a few knockdowns but nothing came tight.

I hope this is a sign of good things to come in 2010 with a great bite weeks earlier than normal.

With 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.

With the Holidays coming there have been questions flying around what rod or what reel should I use for trolling bunker spoons. Whether you may be buying these items for someone or planning on using cash or gift cards received to buy them after the Holidays I thought I would share my experiences and opinions about them.

Rods for spoons have a very specific blank that is used. Typically they are surf blanks that are cut down from 12 or 14′ to 8, 9 or 10′. Some blank manufacturers have started rolling blanks specifically for spoon rods. They have a soft tip with a parabolic bend to them. This allows them to ‘pump’ and work the spoons properly.

If I did it all again, which I might next year…I would go with two pairs of custom rods from a reputable rod builder, they are about the same cost as production rods from Seeker in 8 or 9′. I currently have the 8′ Seeker rods and would definitely go with a 9′ rod next time for spoons. I would also get a pair of shorter 6′ 6″ or 7′ strictly for umbrella rigs. This does not mean that you have to have two pairs of rods, you can get a pair that can perform double duty and troll both spoons and umbrella rigs. With the amount of trolling we do I find it more pleasurable to use a shorter rod when not pulling spoons.

There are two big advantages to getting custom rods. If you are going to only troll braid you can have lighter less expensive guides put on. And you can get removable butts which make them much easier to store on the boat. Plus you have many more options for other components-guides, swivel roller tips, grips, butt material and reel seat material, etc.

If and when I get new rods I will also opt for cork fore grips instead of foam. I like the feel better and I think they hold up much better.

The reels are very much personal preference. The Penn Senator 113HSP seems to be the defacto standard but there are more and more converts to Shimano Tekota’s and other brands with heavy duty level winds. I have fished 113HSP’s with and without the Accurate one piece frame, Accurate spools and Aftco Star Sets. I personally have the Shimano Tekota 800′s and love them. They do require a little more diligence with maintenance due to the aluminum spool. But you get a lighter reel (5.2 oz lighter), they come with a one piece frame, they have a heavy duty level wind, they have two more bearings, are capable of four pounds more drag and they crank in 7″ more line per crank than a Senator 113. 7″ may not seem like a lot but when checking rigs for weeds or if they are fouled from bouncing bottom or to pickup and run to another location they do crank in a whole lot faster.

The only thing I miss on the Tekota’s is the Aftco Star Set. It is a very nice feature to have but we work around it. But when I do go to a four rod setup (2 for spoons, 2 for umbrellas), all four will have Tekota 800′s unless something newer and better comes along, but as of right now that would be my ideal setup.

Since I still have yet to hear from the manufacturer of the boat about any resolution to the condition of the fuel tank we took Mark’s boat out for opening day of the 2008 fluke season.

Due to all the reports we turned right out of Manasquan and ran down to the bathing beach. We had spoons in the water before 6 am and zig zagged our way to the CGS. Marked a ton of fish and bait, had a half dozen knockdowns, had three fish on for two minutes but nothing to the boat.

Around 10-10:30 we switched over to fluking. Stopped on a couple of small lumps with bait…only dogfish and skates. Moved further North to a small wreck off Lavalette and had tons of 16″-17″ fluke. Spearing was the preferred over any type of strip bait but Gulp shrimp out fished the spearing.

Water was cold…started the day with 51.2 and ended the day in 15′ of water with 55.3…most of the day was around 53 degrees.

I was amazed at the lack of boat traffic. I don’t think we saw 100 boats all day including only 1 head boat. The huge crane being towed North was something…that thing was gigantic.

I did hear from a couple of guys after we returned to the dock that the few that ran North had pretty good results on 20 and 30 pound class fish up on the mussel beds and rocks, and they reported large bunker schools up there as well.

We watched a tug towing a huge crane all day. We first saw it before 6 am a little South of Barnegat Inlet. When we were packing it in around 12:30 it was up to Lavalette. All in all it was a great day on the water…great weather, great friends but not so great fishing but we all still had a great time.

I was thinking to myself as I was breaking the inlet that if I had made it this far though the season without being skunked that I may make it through the entire season. After thinking that I should have turned around and only gone for a boat ride. After about 45 or so trips I had the skunk on the boat.

I knew before leaving the dock that the water would probably still be very dirty from the blow that had just finished the night before. Most of the crew that I was trying to line up had reservations from the weather forecast and not the prospect of poor fishing conditions. As usually Buoyweather.com was right on with the forecast. They had predicted a four foot ground swell and I think most of the day inside the three mile line was more like 3 foot.

I ran down to the Seaside Piers are good clip (26 knots) and put out a chartreuse Secret Spoon due to water clarity. After 30 minutes of no action I switched to bunker blue and then white. I was surprised to get knockdowns on the white in dirty water. I also pulled a few different Stretch pugs that also did not produce.

There were a lot of big marks deep and along the bottom. I did not mark any bait to speak of, not like two weeks ago. There were also a lot of small to medium sized fish suspended in the water column between twelve and twenty five feet. I stopped a few times to jig both deep and mid water column to try and entice whatever was there to bit but with no avail.

I spoke to several guys and not much was doing outside on the troll. The guys I spoke to that stayed inside Barnegat Inlet and clammed were producing shorts and slot sized fish throughout the day when the tidal stage was right.

It was a beautiful day on the water, the boat ran great, and I did about fifty nautical miles round trip on twelve gallons of fuel and returned to port safe and sound. Can’t ask for much more out of a great fall day…well maybe full fish boxes!

We headed out late due to other committments…Broke the inlet about 11:30 and arrived at the Casino Pier a bit before noon. As we were slowing down and getting ready to setup the troll we passed over a couple of enormous bait clouds, repositioned the boat and trolled over the edge of them, nothing. We continued to troll out to deeper water (50-55′) and continued to mark huge clouds of bait but no marks under or around them. We trolled south down to IBSP where there were a few birds circling and one diving here and there, same thing no good marks and no knockdowns at all. At about 4 PM we picked up and headed back North. We thought the sight of dozens of birds working just outside the inlet would save the day but once we got there there were no marks not even bait on the scope and no one out of the 10 boats or so with bent rods. We jigged for 10 minutes to be sure there was nothing there and headed in. It was a gorgeous day on the water and I felt bad for those guys out in center consoles freezing their asses off while we were inside the cabin, warm and dry.

After not receiving them last year due to backorder delays and a two week wait this year I finally got a pair of Capt. Jimmy Geaorge’s Secret Spoons! I can not wait to try them out this weekend, hopefully we don’t have weather like last weekend.