Had high hopes of running out to the Glory Hole but my crew bailed. Left the dock at 6 am solo, broke the inlet and was greeted to birds working and only two other boats in the on the action. Had non-stop action with spike weaks for two hours until leaving fish to find fish.

Moved out onto the Axel Carlson Reef and with very little wind or current and the few boats that were anchored and doing circles decided to drift the deck barges and rock piles. Again had non-stop action with mostly short sea bass and monster porgies. Had triggers coming up with the porgies but couldn’t hookup with any. Also released several would be keeper fluke. After boxing a few porgies I said screw it and headed further off.

Put lines in at the 15 line and the inshore slough and headed toward Little Italy. Shortly after I had a falsie on a green/yellow mini feather daisy chain. Reset the lines and 10 minutes later had another one. Circled back around and had big splash on the mini spreader bar. Then a smaller splash and I thought I finally had something good, but it came unbuttoned after about three minutes. Reset the lines again and trolled back toward Manasquan Ridge without a touch. Had great marks deep, never stopped to jig, didn’t feel they were concentrated enough warrant it, in hindsight, probably a bad idea.

Picked up and ran back to the reef and boxed a few more porgies and at 2 pm called it a day.

I also started using the Lucanus jigs that have been in the boat all season, they work pretty well. Had weakfish and sea bass on them Sunday and sea bass on last Tuesday. Only reason I tried them for weaks was I had broken off the leader on my spinning rig and didn’t want to take the time to re-rig so I tied in a dropper look to put on the chartreuse/yellow clouser that I was doing so well with the weaks and I started getting double headers. The jig that worked for the weaks was the green/gold. It was the 3oz size which was overkill for the drift we had in 30′ but I had only planned on using it get the teaser down but the weaks were all over it.

I normally don’t stay out that late and now I remember why…the inlet, train bridge and canal were a zoo. The hard charging outgoing from the moon and the SE breeze didn’t help the inlet with all the joy riders that haven’t been out in a month but it was still a great day on the water and glad I went. Water inshore was 66-68 degrees and pretty clean and green/brown, offshore was clean, blue/gray and 64-66.

I went down to the boat Saturday morning to ride out the storm and rearrange the tackle lockers Saturday and hopefully install rod holders and maybe the outriggers on Sunday.  Tropical Storm Danny was a big disappointment.  There was no wind to speak of and not much more than your average downpour as far as rain.

Got the lockers straightened out and hopefully in a more user friendly arrangement.  Billy came back in with a limit of fluke from a rough inlet.  He lost a couple of big fish in the 6 to 8 pound range trying to net them.  I then had a hard decision to make, go fishing or work on the boat.

I did what any self respecting fisherman would do…I went fishing.  I made a quick stop in the river before heading to the inlet.  Got a couple hits in the river but quickly moved on.  The inlet produced all the shorts you wanted, had a few hits on a jig that felt like weakfish but never came tight, which made think more that they were weaks being finicky and just mouthing the bait.

Was back at the dock by 1 pm, got cleaned up and just hung out with friends and enjoyed the beautiful day.  Hopefully I will get to the installations this weekend since fluke will be closed and wreck fishing may be as well.  I will post info on the pending closure of scup and sea bass as soon as I find anything out.  I should have an idea Tuesday night.

Stayed at the dock most of the day with the fog and got a few things done on the boat. When it finally lifted in the afternoon we figured what the heck lets give it a shot. Got to the inlet and there was maybe 100′ visibility outside so we headed back up the river. Poked around, threw metal and popers…nothing.

Headed up river to get out of the wind and anchored up and started chumming 10 lbs. of spearing from last year. Figured we could bring them to us. We did get a few fish to come up our slick…no blues, bass or weakfish…a couple of fat fluke.

They are hear and despite the cold water pretty aggressive. Guess I know where I am starting next week at first light before the boat traffic pics up.

Left 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.

NJ DEP has published the 2009 Fish Consumption Advisory. Pretty much the same as last year, biggest changes are for some of the species from Raritan Bay and its estuaries.  What I am curious about is what the recommended intake on sea bass, blackfish, porgies, tunas, shark and mahi would be.  Some are mentioned briefly in the Federal Advice for Fish Consumption, but other than that they are not mentioned.  Since these are the species most desired by family and friends and the species we target more often than others it would be nice to know the state and federal governments would like to control our eating habits.

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.

I had a family party on Sunday so I only had Saturday to work with. It was dead calm at 5 am when I got up, not a ripple in the marina or the creek and none of the anemometers on the blow boats were spinning. By the time we left it picked up and was probably close to 12-14 knots out of the NNE. We decided to go for a boat ride and throw a jig or plug around a bit. Marked a few fish but did not find any takers between BB and the 42.

Went out to the inlet to take a look. Turned the corner at Ole Barney and was greeted with 4-5′ rollers and 8-10′ breakers about 200-250′ past that. Watched the Big Red Sled go out…I bet some of the fares wish they looked at the weather when they hit the first set.

There were a couple dozen boats fishing Myers, didn’t see a bent rod in the bunch. I did have to hits along the dike on fin-s but judging from the sudden weight then head shake figured it was probably fluke hits.

Stopped in to Sun Harbor to say hello to Joe and Joey and ran into Swamp Bug in the shop. It’s always nice to put a face to name.

By the time we got back and got cleaned up and had lunch it looked like a nice day. We probably should have headed out for the afternoon/evening as the weather looked a whole lot better.

Looks like Mother Nature is getting ready to blow for a few days with a good Nor’easter coming. While it will keep us inshore or in the bays and rivers again this week it may be just what we need to get the yellow fin tuna bite going in the northeast or move the long fin south from The Dip and Fish Tales.

Most likely we will be headed South in Barnegat Bay this weekend searching out keeper sized weakfish. There has been a pretty good bite of puffers and kings with spikes mixed in an occasional larger weak…hopefully we can key in on all larger ones. I hope to net a bunch of peanuts for bait Friday nigh.

I will start off with what a day! It was beautiful out. I first ran outside just to take a peak and run the boat a bit. Started marking bait here and there, then started marking tight isolated pods of fish.

Thinking this was going to be a bass and flounder day excitement started running high. Had to take short drifts with 1 or 2 shots to hook up on each drift over the fish. First few drifts ended in frustration with the fish just mouthing the baits. Felt strange though and not like bass. On the third drift about an 8lb weak was brought along boat side. I continued working the weaks for another hour and half There ran from 8 to about 12 pounds. I lost one boat side due to it not fitting in the net, so I have no idea of the weight.

All using my homemade bucktails. When the current went slack the bite died off. At that point I decided to run back inside and get on the hook and try for some flounder.

With most reports during the week coming from the river side I setup in a hole between the main channel and the old channel. I baited two rods and put them out. Before I could get the first chum pot in the water I had a fish on, nice 15+ incher and fat. Got the first pot in and the second rod goes off. Another nice fat fish. It did not matter gulp sands live sands they both produced. Fished four about an hour and had the best fishing of the season with non-stop action till the water temps rose above 51 degrees. Not one short and all fish over 14″ with many over 15 and a couple in the 16-18″ range.

What a day on the water. Great weather, great fishing, life does not get any better.

Just a reminder that as of October 1 the weakfish or sea trout bag limit changes to 6 fish at 13 inches.

I took the girls out today…had Victoria and Mickie on board for what will probably be our last sea trout trip of the season. We left Sun Harbor Bay Club at 6:10 AM and headed up between BI and BB.

We moved around a bit till we were marking bait and fish. We did not mark the huge schools that we have in the past few weeks. I suspect this is due to the cooler water temps and the bait starting to make their run out the sea trout are also on their way out.

It ended up being a slow pick with many missed hits today. The fish seemed to be lethargic due to the drop in water temp, we read 64 when we left the dock and saw a rise in temp to 67.2. They were not taking the larger BKD’s so we switched to smaller Fin-s and started hooking up more.

Also had a school very large mullet come right up behind the boat. It was a beautiful sunrise and nice day on the water. We ended the day with 5 weaks up to just over 3 pounds.

I have to admit…I was outfished. Mickie was high hook with the smallest fish of the day and the largest.

I spoke to Chrissy T on the radio and he was reporting slow action as well when we spoke I also ran into Captain Mel of Fisher Queen Charters while cleaning up poolside at Sun Harbor and then we ended the day with lunch at Osaka. Life is good!

Left the dock solo from Sun Harbor Bay Club at about 15:30 (since most everyone I know works during the day) and headed up to the BI. Fist stop about 100 yards NE of the buoy had a fish on the first cast. With about a 19″ boat side fumbling for the net he shook himself free. Casted out put the rod down to ready the net and while the Rat-L-Trap was sinking had another fish on. Got that one halfway to the boat and it dropped off. A few casts later same thing. Decided to lift the barbs a little at that point and made a move as I was not marking bait or fish anymore.

As the storm was approaching the bite seemed to die off. I could mark bait and fish but no takers. Tried traps, fin-s, BKD’s bucktails, shads and Gulp. Once the rain stopped and the clouds cleared enough for the sun to shine through the peanuts started flipping and the weaks started feeding again.

Had about a dozen weaks in 35 minutes most around 19-21″. They were feeding so aggressively they were swallowing 2″ rat-l-traps.

It was a great quick trip despite the short storm. Despite having to clean the cockpit up and fillet fish I still made it to Capt. Alex’s class on time this week.

They say third time is the charm…or was it my lucky fishing shorts? It was our third weakfish trip this season and we set out from Sun Harbor Bay Club at 6 am and headed up between the BI and BB where we had good marks on sonar. At that point we started drifting due to no wind and very little current. We were about 200 yards west of the fleet at that time of about 50 boats. After about the third cast we were into fish. From then till about 8:36 am we had non stop action.

Soon after boating a few fish the fleet moved west and increased as the morning went on to about 200. We continued our action as the fleet seemed to pick here and there. Most of the fleet were using bait, we had bait out early as well but it was not producing so we pulled the bait rods and concentrated on artificials. BKD’s, Fin-S, bucktails and Rat-L-Traps all worked but the red head Rat-L-Trap was the hot lure. At one point the action was so good we had double headers on every cast.

Once in the height of the action we decided on only keeping fish 15″ or larger, we limited out with almost all fish over 15″ with only three being under. It was a great day on the water and a full cooler.

After about 20 years I have finally targeted sea trout again. We sailed out of Sun Harbor Bay Club with it’s owner Joe and his son Joey. After setting up Southwest of the 42 marker we fish right away, but they were all kings. We did also boat a cocktail blue and had a few hits and bite offs probably also blues.

After giving that a shot for a while we moved and setup off Gulf Point. We had similar results with a few kings and two dogfish. We also put out some live peanut bunker. We had several run offs and hits on them but failed to hookup. Some of the run offs had the bunker bitten in half but some did not so we think there was a mixed bag of blues and some weaks there but they both eluded us.

All in all it was a nice day on the water after the sun came out and warmed things up a little. I did hear reports of fish further to the North in the area of the BB so we will probably try up there first next week and then work our way south.

I have been debating this week if I should move the boat south to take advantage of the sea trout fishery in the southern part of the bay. With some nasty weather forecast for this weekend it may be a good idea. I won’t be going offshore, and I won’t be able to get out to reef and tie up for some sea bass either due to weather. So I guess I will run her south and fish down in Barnegat for a few weeks.