Posts Tagged ‘troll’
Mud Hole Trip - Fishing - Spot
Saturday, August 21st, 2010Weekend 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 bass of 2010!
Sunday, April 18th, 2010
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.
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.
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.
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.
Bunker spoon rods & reels
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008With 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.
Short shot @ bassn’
Saturday, December 6th, 2008I had only a few hours to go fishing since I had to be home and ready to leave for a family party at 13:15 but we gave it a shot with a forecast for a bluebird day. After breaking the inlet just before 6:00 I was hoping to get a call that the party was canceled, it was one of the nicest days of the year on the water.
Knowing we had only a few hours and we would be fishing all day, weather permitting, on Sunday we did sort of an exploratory trip. We knew many boats, including charters and head boats limited out several days in a row to the North so we made a left turn after looking North, South and East out of the inlet through the glasses.
On the way up there were no birds working but rather just sitting and waiting and we only marked a couple of small bait balls with no fish around them.
When we arrived at the the rocks there were only about four boats there, and two minutes after getting there we were greeted with birds working and huge splashes about 75 yards away. It seemed to good too be true, and it was. It only lasted for about three minutes and we barely had time to get over to it before it broke up. Later I found out it was not bass but the giants had returned inshore on their migration south and we missed our first shot at a giant in December.
We jigged and trolled the area for two hours with only a small bluefish to show for our efforts. Being pressed for time we started South and stopped and jigged on some marks along the way a few times. We did manage to find a good school of adult bunker but there were no takers in or around it.
I look forward to reading the day’s reports later to hear if anyone did hook up with the giants and to see where the reports of keeper bass will come in from so we can make a last minute decision on what to target and where to go on Sunday.
Where are the bigger bass?
Sunday, November 30th, 2008With little reports from the North we again decided to head South. Broke the Inlet just before sunrise and turned right. Did not mark any bait or fish till we got down to the Piers. Jigged a little and then got up on the troll. Put out black tubes, blue/white shads and a chartreuse/white mojo. The tubes got hit almost immediately. Once that short was released and rig back in the water we pulled the shads and put out white tubes instead. Then we had both rods go off…again more shorts. After both rigs were back in we changed out the mojo for a Santini tube. We had a couple more shorts before making the run down to the old CG station to join Bri Time and Striker Joe.
I always have a hard time leaving fish to find fish but our biggest in the area was 26″ and it sounded much more promising further South. We could not believe how many boats were there as we were approching…there had to be two hundred boats easy, up North there were only a couple dozen.
We slowly cruised around looking for good marks to jig but after about 5 minutes of nothing concentrated enough we started trolling. Again before the rigs bounced off the bottom we had fish on. Although short they were a little bit bigger and were just short. We had steady action with one, two and even all three rods going off at one point.
Then we had a knockdown that started pulling some drag, we figured we finally had a solid keeper. After about 10 minutes it surfaces about 50 feet behind the boat…looked way too long and skinny to be a bass. It turned out to be a tail hooked 3′ spiney dogfish. Got that puppy released and reset the spread, joked with Bri time about it and a few minutes later another knockdown peeling drag. We joked kiddingly in the cockpit about it happening again and sure enough, an even bigger tail hooked spiney.
We moved slightly deeper and a little South and started picking at shorts again but never found a keeper bass.
Beautiful day on the water, wish we could have stayed out longer but we had two crew members that had to be in by 3 so we headed in about 1 and decided to head back out light, just me and Tommy to see if there would be an afternoon bite. Ducked in BI, there were a bunch of guys fishing the inlet but did not see any bent rods on the way. I almost followed a boat through the cut but decided not to since I had no idea who it was and if they really knew where they were going.
After dropping two off, and talking for a few minutes at the marina we headed back out MI. Went about a quarter mile out and looked around. We thought we saw the blitz of the season just North of the inlet. Upon arriving to the several hundred birds working a very small area we realized it was a small netter. We were not really sure what they were doing but they were throwing something over the side and pulling lines in. The boat was in only 15-20′ of water off Manasquan. A few minutes after us coming within 50′ to see what was up they left. We circled the are to see if anything was picking up the scraps from below but there were no promising marks.
We cruised around the inlet, south to Bay Head, in along the beach, out to 65′. There was very little bait around and no solid marks to jig on either. We came across a small pod of flipping bunker, snagged a couple and sent them down but found no takers.
Once the sun got down behind the buildings we headed for the inlet, again with no keepers in the box. On the way in we looked at the weather and discussed plans for Sunday. We had figured we would be able to get a few hours in the early morning before the blow came through. Hosed the deck down and left the majority of the mess for after Sunday’s trip and went to dinner. Checked the forecast again and decided to leave early-5:30 and get a few hours in…wrong!
At 1:45 am we were woken up by the chop slapping the hull, it had blown up way ahead of schedule and we had gusts from the East to 18 mph and about a foot of chop coming up the creek. We decided to check the weather and beach cams at first light and make a final call then but it was even worse by then. Had breakfast and then proceeded to clean the boat and gear in horizontal rain. Once we were done the rain let up…figures.
Hopefully next weekend we will be able to get back-to-back trips in if the weather cooperates. We are trying to get in as many trips before the boat comes out but someone upstairs seems to have other plans all the time.
We did finally get to try out the Tournament Grade Tackle Rod Riggers. We did have to grind out the notches a little for the heavy duty bar pins to fit since they are a 1/2 inch tall and don’t seem to fit most accessories. Even though the fish were not big enough to pin a rod in a traditional rod rigger or holder it was much easier to get the rods in and out of the rod riggers. It was also much easier to let out or bring in some line without having to lean out over the gunwale to reach the reel. They lay the rods down a little more than most others too, the rods were just about parallel to the water, plus if you have a rod to pull umbrellas that doesn’t have a gimbaled butt they hold them perfectly in the correct position unlike the more traditional rod riggers. Making turns is a bit easier as well, the cradles keep the rods from wanting to creep out of the rod holder. Everyone on board was very impressed by the quality and finish on them and we are anxious to try them offshore next season. Forgot to take come pics of them in action, will try and remember to do so next weekend.
Rod riggers
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008I have used several different brands over the years…Canyon, Reliable, homemade ones and custom ones. I have also seen many newer models at boating and fishing shows over the past two years. The one that really caught my eye was the Tournament Grade Tackle Rod Rigger. There are two drawbacks to these that I can think of. One they bring the rod tips in about 6-8″ on each side. On a narrow beam boat this may be an issue depending on how much your bunker spoons swing. The second is you can not put a spinning outfit into them.
I know some of you are thinking why would you wan to troll a spinning outfit…well, I don’t. But drifting for fluke I typically use the rod riggers. It lays the rod down, jigs the bait better than if in a rod holder and when a fish hits the rod tip pulls the bait away from the fish less when it is laid down. Again not a huge deal since I have very few spinning outfits anyway and almost always use a conventional when fluking.
One of the advantages is being able to use them when trolling offshore. You can put up to an 80W in these. A big advantage when trolling on a small beam boat. I can now extend my third and fifth wake baits out away from the flat lines by a few feet now, making my spread look bigger and leading to less tangles when multiple hook ups occur.
I can’t wait to test them out this weekend. I will post my opinions and some pictures after the weekend.
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!
Success without being there
Sunday, November 9th, 2008Apparently I missed a great day today. Got a call late Friday night and had to tend to family health issues. Mom is recovering well after emergency kidney stone removal surgery today.
After tending to mom before surgery Saturday I ran down to the boat to fuel it up for next week and drop off the gear to some of my regular crew so they could put it to good use in my absence today…they are sure glad I did.
Not sure what time they broke MI, I know it was early, probably in the neighborhood of 6:30. Not even 5 miles from the inlet they were into bass and blues right away. They had double and triple headers on umbrella rigs with tubes and shads with both rods going off at the same time several times…and then the one rod really starts screaming. Several minutes later they boat double header keepers on the black tube umbrella rig-a 30 incher and 31.6 pounder!
The slaughter continued with them boating, catching and releasing shorts and keepers till they were tired with a few fish lost as well. Not sure what time they headed in but it sounded like they were running when I spoke to them around 10:30 and Tommy said they went in early leaving the fish biting. Grand total was in the neighborhood of 75 blues and 50-60 bass. He said most boats were just running right over fish and the areas they were catching all morning in route to other destinations.
Wire line trolling tips & tricks
Monday, November 3rd, 2008This seems to be a hot topic lately so I thought I would start a new thread where we can share some tips, tricks and ideas that we do when trolling with wire line. Below are some of the things we do, I know a lot is personal preference. Please post your methods and ways in comments so others can also learn and pickup new ways of doing some old things. Enjoy.
Wire Types: Basically there are two types used, monel and stainless. Monel is denser than stainless but much more forgiving, it is less springy than stainless and does not kink as much. But that comes at a cost of about three times the price for the same test line and 300′ length. Monel also stretches over time causing it to get thinner and thinner. Depending on how much you troll the wire will determine how long it takes for it to get thin enough to cause mystery break offs. I typically use a shot of wire for two to three seasons or, four to six half seasons depending on if you started using the shot in the spring or fall.
Marking Wire: I have tried the Malin pre-marked wire and it is not worth the extra money or even for the same money as non-marked. They started to slide on the wire the very first day we used them. I know a few shop owners that fought with Malin to give them refunds on the large spools they fill reels from because they had issues with them sliding as well. The best method I have come across is not easy to do and I have not mastered it yet…basically you use colored phone wire and create haywire twists and barrel wraps with the telephone wire onto the monel or stainless. When done this way they will never move for the life of the wire since they are interlocked with the haywire twist. The second best method I have used is to take a small board and pound two nails through it about a foot apart. Then cut a rubber band and tie each end around a nail stretching it a good amount in the process. Lay the wire over the stretched rubber band and then wrap tightly a colored piece of wire ten to fifteen times finishing with seven to nine barrel wraps on each end. This creates a good visual and also feeling mark if fishing in low light conditions. You can mark your wire however often as needed for your fishing habits. I personally mark it at 150′, 200′ and 250′ as this covers all our needs.
Trolling Habits: I usually troll deeper water so we usually have the hole 300′ out but if you are inshore and not deploying the whole shot of wire you should let out a few feet or crank in a few feet every ten to fifteen minutes to avoid creating a kink and also wearing a weak spot into monel especially, but should also do this with stainless.
Aluminum Spools: I have had Shimano Tekota 800 reels for three seasons now and my spools are healthy and fine. Yes they have a few pits on them but I have also seen worse on older Penn Senators with steel spools. The new anodized aluminum spools hold very well with wire line as long as you take care of them. We wash our rods and reels down after each trip, towel or chamois them off and then liberally apply CRC 656 to the whole reel and the wire, let it soak in a bit then towel off the reel and leave the wire coated well. This extends the life of the wire and the spool. Also about once a month or if I suspect damage I lay the rod on my bench, attach a hand crank spool to the other end and remove the wire from the reel looking for damage to the wire and also checking the marks are in the right location with a line counter. I also take this time to clean the exposed portion of the spool and apply some CRC directly to it. Once I am satisfied the line is OK I crank it back onto the reel pulling it through an oil soaked rag.
Wire to Mono Knots: To attach the wire to the backing I tie a Bimini twist in the backing first. Then I tie a long slender haywire twist in both ends of the wire line. This allows you to use a loop-to-loop connection to your backing and replace a shot of wire quickly and easily on the water should you break off, kink or have other damage to your wire causing it to be unusable. For the leader I tie a twelve to fifteen turn Albright knot and use eight to twelve feet of eighty or one hundred pound fluorocarbon leader to which I attach a two hundred pound ball bearing snap swivel.
Spoon Attachment Points: Whether the spoon comes with one or not I always attach a heavy duty, stainless split ring to it. I have had several spoons fail or severely weaken by them being attached directly to the snap swivel.
Spoon Weights: On spoons with weights I use either 3M marine silicone sealant or 5200 (whichever is handy). Most manufacturers of spoons recommend that you check the screws every fifteen minutes of use. I have found that if you bed them well with the silicone sealant or 5200 you pretty much don’t ever have to worry about them coming loose and losing a weight to the screws loosening from the pumping action.
Trolling Speed: This has a lot of personal preference but we usually don’t look at our tach or our SOG or SOW readings as much as we watch the rod tips. One thing we try to avoid at all costs though is trolling with the current. We always troll against it or across it. As for the actual speed we adjust the throttle till we have big slow pulses in the rods. You can run the spoon only a few feet behind the boat so you can see if it is wobbling back and forth or spinning. This will give you an idea of what the pulsing of the rod tip should look like.
Spare Shots of Wire: You have extra rods, reels, plugs, plastics, sinkers and everything else you use…carry an extra shot of wire. I keep at least one sometimes two spare shots with the trolling gear. You can mark them ahead of time and tie the haywire twists in the ends and even attach the flouro leader too. If you use a Bimini twist in your backing changing it out is a breeze as long as the damage to the line or where it parted is not in your backing. Even if it was once proficient with a Bimini it only takes a minute or two to whip another into your backing. Having a spare or two on board can really save the day sometimes.
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.
My first BFT
Sunday, October 12th, 2008I guess the third time really is a charm as they say. It was our third bluefin tuna trip on my boat this year and on the third trip we finally got one!
As everyone arrived at the dock Mark and Wayne were a little apprehensive about going after they found out Tommy and I decided late last night to definitely sail for BFT and head out to the Mud Hole. We left the dock about 5:45 am with a full crew of Tommy, Mark, Wayne and myself. Despite the extremely swift currents in the canal due to Tuesday’s full moon and with the max flood current predicted to be just about when we broke the inlet, the inlet was pretty calm.
Shortly after breaking the inlet I spoke to Scott on the Kimberly Ryan and they were about three miles out of Monster Ledge already…they were very anxious to get in on some inshore tuna fishing. About an hour later we arrived to our first spot and again checked in with Kimberly Ryan to see if they had any action yet.
We got to the west wall of Monster Ledge between first light and sun up, there were probably about two dozen boats there at that time with several charters chunking along the ledge. We set out our spread of bait and lures and started trolling the edges and zigzagging across the deep.
We had some good marks and fish deep, but no knockdowns. We keep expanding our pattern outward and covering new water. The further out we went the less marks we had. As we started back in on where we had the best marks the port short rigger goes off. It was a red and white skirted ballyhoo.
With my boat having such a small cockpit the crew started clearing most of the lines right away leaving the starboard short rigger line in for a couple of minutes before clearing that line as well. It was funny as we were just discussing why we leave so early and never get our first fish before 9 am and at exactly 9:05 the rod went off.
It was a short battle that only lasted maybe 10 minutes and we had our under fish in the boat. My first bluefin tuna measuring out at 32″ and weighing 22 lbs dressed.
We immediately reset the spread, changing out lures to all bait. We had an assortment of ballyhoo skirted in red and white, blue and white, green and white as well as naked hoos. We continued to work that area in tight and wide patterns but failed to find our over fish.
Later we started to troll toward the barn and Kimberly Ryan was doing the same and had a double header of an under and over fish about 8 nm away. They called us in on the action and we picked up and ran in some pretty sporty seas on the beam to their location. They had a dragger working the area and we had some pretty good marks up behind him but again could not get a bite. We then worked the area around the Lillian and good water and marks but no bites.
We worked that area for about an hour and called it quites and headed in. Water was clear and gray to gray/blue and 61.3 to 62.8 degrees
With the following sea and light NE breeze we were able to make much better time and a much smoother ride in. We ran in at 24-26 knots and broke the inlet from 26 nm out in just under an hour. It was a beautiful day on the water despite the somewhat choppy conditions making it a bit bumpy on the ride out and trolling with a head sea…but MY first BFT on MY BOAT…priceless!
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.
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!
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.
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.
First Skunking of the Season
Sunday, November 4th, 2007I 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!
First Striper Trip a Bust
Saturday, October 6th, 2007We decided to do a little scouting for a tournament we are in next week. Anthony and I headed out of Squan in the soup.
A blind man could have located bait. Although with very low visibility pretty much everyone was blind. Our first stop we could hear birds working and splashes but could not locate them in the fog (I had decided not go any shallower than 20-25′ when not able to see the shoreline). The bait was everywhere, I think in the 45+ nm we covered there were only about 3 nm that had no bait. It was on top with birds working it, blanketing the bottom suspended you name it we found. Unfortunately there were no bass working the schools.
We made several stops that had more promising marks on the sonar and jigged. Anthony had two hookups that soon dropped off. Once the fog started to lift a little more we gave up jigging and made the run to our intended destination. With flat seas we made good time at 28kts to our nest stop.
Once there we jigged a little with only a few hits decided to go on the troll. Trolled up the rocks, across, up to the cedars, along the west side of the reef and back down to the rocks. Had one nice knockdown and boated two bluefish with Anthony dropping one boat side. He called it a graceful release or something like that but I wasn’t buying it.
On the way in we made a quick stop on some mussel beds but there were only short sea bass and blackfish. There were a lot of boats drifting and anchored bottom fishing the mussel beds and rocky bottom areas. There were also tons of pots and traps there which was suprising. I have never seen that many there but I guess with the pressure from Reef Rescue we will win the reefs back but lose some other productive bottom in the process.
It was a nice day on the water once the fog lifted. The fog definitely made for an uneasy run out but all in all it was good to be back in my home waters.
Last Two Trips of the Season
Sunday, December 17th, 2006We had our last two trips of the season. It was a tough call but I decided to pull the boat next week. With all the warm weather and lack of threat from freezing temps it was a tough call. After getting some house work done if it is still warm I will put her back in early (end of January) if there are good reports of fish hanging around similar to earlier this year.
Saturday we fished from the bathing beach up to Lavalette. The entire ride down from Manasquan to the bathing beach there was absolutely no bird action. We marked a lot of bait and some fish. Trolled south from Lavalette to the bathing beach, picking up and running to our usual spots along the way. Our total for the day was 13 fish to just about or just over 28″. Since they were so close and our recent visit from a conservation officer we decided not keep any. Most fish were caught trolling from North to South or West to East and all fish were on blue and white shads. We tried chartreuse as well as pearl and neither got touched except by a few blues.
Sunday we had Bob out (a fell BFH’er) and decided to run North to the rocks after hearing great reports on Saturday about the action up there. If only we had decided to run up their for the afternoon bite instead of having lunch and hanging out down South for it. But, let me tell you…it was worth taking a slight beating on the ride home with that stiff south wind. We had a rough total of around 75 fish. Yes most were school fish of around 20 to 24 inches with a lot of 26 inch fish thrown in. It was typical December jigging action with tons of bird action. The fish were so thick you could feel the jig bouncing off them. Bob had some great top-water action with small poppers (wish I could have gotten a photo of the boils and blow ups) there was mid water column jigging, bottom bouncing. The fish were everywhere. There were so many boats it made it hard to troll which was producing many larger fish. We saw one 30 pounder landed and heard reports of several in that range as well as one that was estimated around 50# and according to the captain the largest bass he had ever seen. The bigger fish were reported to be on spoons and plugs. Once we got on the troll again with only the blue and white shads seeing action it took less than 10 minutes to boat the only keeper of the day…a 10lb 13oz 31.5″ fish. Not long after that the bite died off. Due to commitments on Monday morning we had to cut the day short otherwise I think we could have put a few more keepers in the box trolling with the fleet thinned out once the tide changed. After cleaning the fish back at the dock it was loaded with blueback herring, and they were 8-10″.