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.

Despite the snow, wind, rain, and small craft advisory we headed out and braved the elements! Had a fellow member from Barnegat Fishing Hole (www.bhweb.com) and my regular fishing buddy Ron out today. We were all set to run South towards Seaside with a stop in Bay Head where Ron had fished on Saturday but it was a little snotty and would be very difficult if not impossible to troll. We spotted the Queen Mary and the Prowler jugging near the bell buoy with a couple of smaller boats around them as well. When we got a little closer we were greeted with large groups of birds working the area. We started jigging and immediately hooked up. We had about 15 bass in less than two hours. The largest going 26.5″ at 6.75lbs. We fished not far outside the Manasquan Inlet in about 50′ of water. Followed the birds back and forth and bite stayed steady until the tide went slack. It was a little snotty out but a good day despite the conditions.

Unfortunately I did not get out this weekend even though it was one of the nicest weekends all season. Due to a lack of crew I was forced to stay tied up and listen to all the fun on the radio. Several boats returned to the marina with multiple fish in their boxes. Double and triple headers were the norm instead of rare. Most of the fish ranged from 24-28 inches. No one came back with anything larger than 28″. Almost everyone reported catches of from thirty to over one hunderd fish caught for the day. There were also a few tog caught for those who anchored up in the afternoon. The white chins were all only just legal fish, nothing of notable size. I have also received word of some inshore cod and ling catches….come on cod make an inshore comeback! It would be nice to be able to catch ling in the surf again in December through March. I think the last time I had ling in the surf was over 10 years ago.

Another boat in my marina returned from the canyons with a boat load of mahi mahi, three longfin to 63 pounds and two yellowfin to 45 pounds. They started out Friday night at the Lindenkohl. Saturday morning they started trolling towards Tom’s but found colder surface temps so they headed back to the Lindy. Trollud up a few there. Then trolled to Carteret to spend Saturday night on the chunk. Trolled to Tom’s on Sunday morning then to the Hudson.

Since there were only two capable filletmen I decided to offer my help in return for a few tuna steaks and mahi fillets…little did I know at the time was how many mahi there really were to be filleted. The three of us filleted fish four about 4 hours till all were cleaned and packed on ice. And that was with several others in the marina taking their share of mahi home whole to fillet it themselves.