06/30/2007 - Fluking Raritan Bay

OK, Charlie and I hit up the Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook are for the second straight day...this time for a shorter trip as I had a graduation party to be at midday. We had an awesome day yesterday, landing a two man limit and with the light NW winds and beautiful day ahead of us...we were certain we'd continue to beat on the fish again today! Needless to say, we were pumped to get out there...as a matter of fact, Charlie was up tossing and turning at 3AM and ready to go...I got a call at 4:10AM asking where I was...which was just leaving my town since we had a 5:00AM departure time set. I tell him to go gas the boat up and get everything out of the way...turns out he was ahead of the game and already had all of that done! Haha, ya think Charlie was ready to go or what?!?

Well, I get there right on time...5:00AM, and we slip the boat in at the ramp, pack the gear and we're off by 5:10AM. What a beautiful morning, hardly any wind in the back river, and some awesome, scenic skies on the way out.

Wow...what a morning!



Unbelievable...



Why we get up in the morning to go fishing (and hunting)...



Unreal colors...



We head out to the grounds we fished the day before, but decide to stop at a spot on the way. Charlie drops down and lands a keeper in like seconds...before I even have my line in the water. I quick run and mark the spot on the GPS and commence fishing. We pick up a few more shorts, but not a lot of fish, so we decide to stop wasting time and head to where we caught them good the day before. Well...little did I know, I overwrote the waypoint we marked the day before by marking that first spot! DoH! So we are studying the GPS to find the hole based on the depth changes we fished the day before and wind up way south of where we should have been...all the while thinking we were on the spot.

So we setup, drift is slow, Charlie drops down and immediately hooks into something BIG. Straight up and down, and he can't move it off the bottom. We're both pumped, thinking he has a monster flattie on. He's fighting the fish for 5 minutes or so now, every time he gets it off the bottom, it rips the drag out and sits right back down...we are seeing some deep head shaking action to the rod, so we're still thinking good flattie. It's about 8 minutes in now and I'm getting doubtful, so I toss out a my bucktail, two hops and BAM I hook up with something BIG too. my drag is going (little too tight) and pops almost immediately...I reel in to find a missing bucktail but the teaser is still there. UGH! Charlie's fight is approaching 10 minutes now...and the line starts heading out away from the boat...so now I'm thinking maybe a nice striper! Charlie's getting tired haha...and doesn't think it feels like a striper, so we decide to BACK DOWN on the fish like we are fishing offshore! Hahahaha Well, it winds up being a big ol' doggie, tail wrapped and thrashing like a mofo. I'm assuming I hooked into the same, as we proceeded to get beat down by the dogs for another 15 minutes or so before we opted to move to another location.

Charlie fighting his fish...look at the grimace!










We moved a little closer into the beach and battled absolutely driftless conditions...and still believe we are fishing the "right" spot. Boats are moving all around, an indication of people trying to find fish...some going south, some going north...but very few actually fishing anywhere within eye sight...pretty odd. We picked at some shorts, then I landed a keeper, so we continued fishing the area a bit but the conditions were just dead calm, no wind, no drift...nothing...and very few fish.

So we opted to head out to the channel to pick up some current and see what was doing out there. Party boats and a few private boats were out in the section we opted for...but conditions were still slow on the drift and worse with no fish, no hits, nothing. Keeping a close eye on the other boats, we didn't see a single net go either.

At that point, we started studying the GPS again and finally realized we weren't in the "right" spot before...so we shot back in to fish the grounds we fished the day before. Fishing was slow, drift was non-existant still...so we power drifted a bit and I believe that's when I picked up my second keeper...lots of sea robins as well. Not a whole lot doing and it was getting late in the morning so we headed up towards the tip of the Hook for a few quick drifts before heading in. We picked up some shorts, ran into Tom on the Daly Double...our first confirmation Tom has a boat...we've heard about it, we've talked about it, we've made plans to fish on it, but it was plagued with engine trouble last year, so we never saw it...plus I had plans to fish with Tom on Sunday, so it was a relief to see he really does have a boat...and it runs!!! haha

Ultimately we ran out of time as I had to head in, and we just couldn't locate that pile of fish we had the day before. Hindsight is always 20/20, and I realize we didn't fish the right grounds given the conditions anyway and should have altered our game plan. Both Charlie and I are new to the water out front, so it's all a learning process and we're having a blast just being out there and trying to figure them out!

We finished the day with just 3 keepers and probably about 30-40 shorts with doggies and sea robins mixed in. Still a beautiful day out there, and we learned a good lesson.

1) Learn your GPS
2) Don't overwrite your waypoints
3) Fish the right grounds given the right conditions

OK, so here's a few more pics...

Tom...yes there really is a Daly Double!!! Sweet!!!



Final fish pic, our keepers from the morning...




That's all folks...little report on the day...next excursion with Charlie is set for Saturday, and Craig is coming along too!
Nice! Can't wait!

Until then...

06/29/2007 - Fluking Raritan Bay

Quick little report, because Charlie and I are heading back out in the morning again.
Charlie (aka catfish hunter) was nice enough to invite me out on his boat for a day of fluking up in the Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook area.
We met up pretty early, around 5:00AM and hit the water shortly after fueling up.

Fishing was pretty good, although not the "mad dog" bite Charlie experienced a couple days ago...we still had a great day and the best for both us this season. Although we didn't quite have the fish quantity, we definitely had the better quality with more keepers coming aboard. All in all, I think between the two of us we had well over 120 fish, and boated 18 keepers in all, keeping the 2 man limit and releasing the remaining two...and Charlie had a keeper seabass as well! No big fluke, all just in the 17-19.5" range. We hit our limit around 11:40AM, and continued fishing and releasing before calling it a day shortly afterwards.

Conditions were beautiful, light breeze and overcast...no sun beating down on us today! Boat traffic was surprisingly light, unlike tomorrow I'm sure, which will be a madhouse. Drift was a little variable, but we managed to locate a decent pocket of keeper sized fish and roll over them continuously. We were strictly fishing Gulp today, pink seemed to be the hot color...but I'll warn you ahead of time...good luck finding any! I was trying to reload my supply for the rest of this weekend and coming up empty handed after calling up about 6 different shops. Ack! We'll have to make due tomorrow with what we have!

OK so let's move on to some pics of the day!

I have to apologize...there aren't many today...I seriously didn't have time to snap a ton as we were almost constantly on fish, whether it was fluke, sea robins, sharks, or sea bass!

Charlie's boat...off the trailer and ready to roll!



Cruising...



Conditions early on...



The man Charlie with a little release action!



He hates the camera!



But apparently he likes getting jiggy with the fluke...wwwwwhhhhhaaaaatttttt!!! Nice...stain! Get a room next time! Haha



Charlie, releasing another short...



Cooler full-o-fish!



Charlie with his seabass



Final catch photo



Charlie and I have been talking about getting out for awhile now, so it was great to finally meet up and beat on some flatties!
Much thanks to Charlie for taking me out, beautiful boat, beautiful day, and awesome fishing...what more could you ask for!
Can't wait for tomorrow, hopefully we can find the fish again and continue the beating!

06/23/2007 - Fluking the Captain Cal II

06/23/2007 - Fluking the Captain Cal II



Well short little report, since I hit up the Captain Cal II in Belmar again but went solo today.


I fished with a few familiar faces: Barry, young Hunter, and regular Carl to my right.  Also met Mark, good dude, he commutes from way out in PA but he seems to be there whenever I am...so he's pretty regular on the weekends.


The conditions were very breezy out of the NW, wind against the tide for the most part and a real slow drift throughout the day.  Captain Ron rode us wayyyyyyyyyyy up North with a boat full of people (70+?).  He heard the bite was good up that way, and we wound up just south of Sandy Hook.   


Fishing overall was surprisingly slow, some shorts and keepers coming over the rail, but just one of those tough days where not much was doing...and we just couldn't locate a solid pod of fish.  We tried several different spots while heading southward and eventually hit a decent pile of fish with some keepers coming on board, but not a mad dog bite by any means...just spotty, here and there we'd pick up a few.  We pretty much fished from around 15-35 feet of water throughout the day.


For some strange reason, I had a good day today with high hook on the boat, bringing 6 keepers over the rail...one of which mate Danny literally caught in the net as it came off the hook!  Nice!  I was bucktailing all day, with Gulp, strip baits, and/or spearing working equally well at different times of the day.  Barry wound up with only one keeper (you know it's slow!), I believe Carl landed 2, Mark also landed 2, and young Hunter had a rough day and didn't land any.  Poolfish was modest, probably around 3-4# or so.


Beautiful day out there, hell any day on the ocean is beautiful and better than sitting at home or in the office!

I have to work in the morning tomorrow, so I'll be taking the day off from fishing and hitting up some golf with a few buddies around midday...should be fun!


Anyway, here's a few pics from the day...



Danny...flashin some cash on the way out...those boys make some good tips huh?  Yeah right, if tips were only that good!





Oh she's gonna be a busy one today!!!








Let us out!!!  Bridges going up...





Nice sunrise...





Where we started the day south of the Hook...





Oh my was it railed!  Decent pool though.








My end of day, 6 keepers...nothing big, just all 17-18.5"ish fish.





That's all she wrote folks, until next time...

06/18/2007 - Fluking on the Atlantic Star

OK, after a long, hard weekend of golfing on Friday and camping Friday through Sunday, I decided to take a much needed day off work (haha) and head out fluking Monday on the Atlantic Star out of the Atlantic Highlands, NJ for double header 1/2 day trips with my buddy Doug, Doug's Dad, and their friends Mark and his wife Drena.

We all arrived at the boat around the same time, not super early...probably around 7:10AM or so, preparing for an 8:00AM departure. We head up towards the bow, and know we're running a little late, plus we want 6 consecutive spots so we can all fish together...so we wind up just shy of the port bow. We come prepared with strip bait, killies, and Gulp. I recognize one of the mates eventually, it doesn't hit me at first when my buddy mentions his name because I only know him from Belmar when he mated on the Captain Cal...but here Carl is...back from another tour with the military and working up in the Highlands. I haven't seen him in probably 6-7 years...good guy and nice to see him again.

Anyway, we prepare for the trip, get everyone rigged up and ready to go. Bait's thawing, and the ball busting begins promptly as we try to predict what hell Doug will put us through today as he winds up smack in the middle of myself and his Dad. I predict Doug's Dad as the joker to the right and myself as the clown to the left...with Doug stuck in the middle, bailing fish. Haha. I've never met Mark nor his wife before today, but I hear Mark is an incessant ball buster...so I can't wait for the antics to begin and can only hope he beats on the fish and gives Doug a run for his money.

While we are waiting to depart, I decide to flip a bucktail off the bow and catch a little shorty fluke, as well as a 4oz sinker attached to a ton of line. Interestingly, the guy watching me told me about this time when he snagged a line off the docks and pulled in a nice tuna rod and reel...ironic given what happens later!

So we finally depart and head out to the Raritan Bay. Bob comes around and collects fares and pool money, good crowd on board...probably 60 people or so. We get out there and encounter pretty driftless conditions...the sun is just beating down on us, it's hot, muggy, and not a breathe of wind to relieve it. I choose to bucktail with my light spinning setup given the conditions, but don't get a ton of hits. I catch a few small fluke, while Mark quickly brings two keepers over the rail. Doug in the meantime is off to a slow start and tangling up everyone! Good job there buddy! Haha, OK...seriously, he was getting tangled up when he wasn't bailing sea robin after sea robin. Eventually he spots some room in the stern and escapes the ball busting and tangles. I eventually land a nice keeper in the 2.5# range or so and a few more shorts, then Doug's Dad gets a keeper, and I land another one later on. Meanwhile Doug is back and bailing sea robins like a champ! I figure he has to be up to about 30 by now. The rest of the morning is pretty uneventful, some shorts around and a few keepers around the boat, but the driftless conditions are making it tough to cover water. The morning trip comes to an end, and I have 2 keepers, Mark has 2 keepers, Doug's Dad has 1 keeper, Doug has none, and Drena has none. Let me repeat that one more time in case anyone missed it...DOUG HAS NO KEEPERS!!! April Fools? No, it's June. I'm still trying to grasp this anomaly myself! As it turns out, I wind up winning the 1st place pool money with my MONSTER 2.5# fluke! Half to the mates, half to me...and everyone is happy...well almost everyone, I saw Doug pouting on the top deck. He's OK though, he knows we have the second half yet! Meanwhile Mark is still busting his chops!

We hit the dock and guys are already itching to get on board for the afternoon. Doug and I move up to the pulpit and lock our spots for the afternoon before anyone else gets on. Then we all hit up some lunch and relax while we wait for the afternoon trip to depart. In an effort to spend money and cure boredom...Doug and I head to the bait and tackle shop and grab another Spro or two to try out. I pick up a copper colored "Mullet" (say what?) pattern and Doug grabs a School Bus pattern to give them a go...neither works overly well though as it turns out. Just another Spro to add to the box!

So anyway, we are off on the afternoon trip...and the strangest of things happens. I remember Captain Tom saying "it'll be a little windy out there" just as we departed, and I thought to myself...we didn't have a breath of wind earlier...how windy can it be? Well...let me tell you, that South wind kicked up and was blowing like a constant 25mph+ the entire afternoon...it was unbelievable. Even crazier is you'd think we'd have a sick drift going on, but it was wind against the tide...which left us moving but not very fast...but at least we were drifting.

Captain Tom his a few spots, and larger fish started coming over the rail. Less shorts, but more big keepers than the morning trip. I had a difficult time and just couldn't hook up with any keepers at all and only a handful of shorts. Meanwhile Doug's Dad turned it on and landed 3 more keepers including the 2nd place pool fish for the afternoon, a nice 4.0-4.5# fish or so. 1st place went to a guy in the stern with a 9.25# monster! Talk about dwarfing my morning 1st place...I think there were like 10 fish on board in the afternoon that were bigger than my morning winner! So Doug's Dad is on the fish, and Doug starts to turn it on...gets a keeper to the boat but loses it right as the next gets down to it. He eventually hauls in about 50 more sea robins with a few fluke mixed in, including two more keepers. Meanwhile, I'm landing skates, sea robins, and shorties...keepers all around me...bucktailing not doing the trick. I keep switching it up, trying this and trying that...but can't seem to find the right combo, nor the fish...even using the same thing Doug is (same story, different day). In the afternoon, Doug's Dad landed 3 more keepers, Doug landed 2, and I think Mark, Drena, and myself all got just shorts.

Overall, the morning bite seemed better, more fish but better/bigger ones in the afternoon. Captain Tom hustled around the various haunts trying to find those elusive flatties and landed on a few nice pods, the conditions just weren't cooperating but he got us all some fish! Really a nice boat, and a friendly crew...I even saw Captain Tom down on deck netting fish and BSing with the customers. And mates Carl and Bob worked the deck well, great service! I'll tell you another thing I noticed that I don't always see on boats is that Tom made an effort to help customers via the wheelhouse, paying close attention...especially to the beginners, on how to properly handle the rods/reels, feeling for the bottom, staying on top of the conditions and necessary weight required, etc...all signs of a great captain! I've been on boats where captains go in the wheelhouse and you never see them again, definitely not the case on this boat as Tom certainly likes to stay involved and on top of things to increase everyone's chance of catching fish! Big thumbs up!

OK, so here's some pics on the day...

Doug's Dad showing Mark and Drena how he rigs up for fluke...



Doug, putting his game face on...



Few people lounging up front waiting to depart...



More rigging fun...



Doug and I, ready for some action



On the way out, somewhat a group picture of us all making fun of some hand gesture thing Doug did as a kid that I found out about in the morning...I still have no idea what the significance is, or what the mysterious sound is Doug used to make...I'm awaiting the rest of the story!



Few shots on the way out in the morning...







Well, we tried drifting in the channel, then this badboy came through...so we hung off on the flats for a bit...



Doug's Dad fighting one...might have been a sea robin since I have no after pic...



Doug, releasing a fluke...



But not before he get's a little somethin somethin...hey, did your wife see this yet?



Doug's Dad, enjoying one of my Kojak Pops while putting the hook to one!



Fluke!!!



Well, you remember the irony of that guy mentioning catching a rod...here's a rod Doug's Dad and I co-caught out in the bay! Would have been a nice setup, Penn Custom Power Stick and a Penn International 975 attached to it. Shame...totally shot, I left it at the dock.



And here's my poolfish from the morning...



Everyone lounging while we wait for the afternoon trip.
Drena tried dodging the camera, but I got her!



Then there was this nice spectacle, as the Sea Fox tried to get back to it's dock...this private boat blocked the waterway and pinned the Sea Fox trying to turn around and back into the slip. Note the Sea Fox docks on the portside of the Atlantic Star...so it has to swing in front of the AS bow yet.



There's actually a bow line in the water here, and the Sea Fox was probably seconds away from taking it in the wheel...would have been bad news!



Close call...good captaining/maneuvering...they eventually got in their slip OK.



Anyway, moving along to the afternoon trip...greeted by windy conditions and whitecaps...







Little railed. Also note the guy right in front there was fishing live herring...he had only a few shorts, no keepers. Prime bait, just nothing doing for him.



Other side...



Doug's Dad hooking up a keeper!



Doug...with a fluke...finally! Wow buddy, I was getting worried!



Doug's Dad with the 2nd place afternoon pool fish!



I didn't get his name, but here is the 1st place afternoon pool fish at 9.25#



And a final shot of Doug...little sunburned there buddy?




So overall, this was a great set of trips, always a nice time fishing with Doug and his dad, and great to meet Mark and his wife Drena. Captain Tom and mates Carl and Bob did a great job, really a nice boat and a pleasure to fish with them. Fishing was a little tough, you know it's tough when Doug isn't catching, but Tom tried his best to get us on the fish and did a good job of it. We all had plenty of fillets to go home with in the end!

Until next time...