05/18/2009 - Striper Fishing on OOAL

05/18/2009 - Striper Fishing on OOAL

Secret Sally, Scrub, Doug, and I headed out with JR aboard Out on a Limb to do a little living lining for stripers.
After my hellacious weekend working nonstop, it was a welcomed change!

We hit the water early and headed off for some bunker...little rough finding them, but we eventually spotted some and JR threw two quick nets, loaded up the livewells with about 150 pieces and we were off to the fishing grounds!

Some bunks!!!  I have to admit, O'JRama throws a pretty good net!



We arrived at the fishing spot and were on fish almost right away with me landing a keeper right out of the gate, first (curse) fish on the boat!
Craig followed up shortly afterwards with his first keeper on the day...



We had to fight through some blues, but a short while later Doug hooked up and landed this nice keep



Again some more blues...and Craig landed another keeper



Then as the tide died out, we had a major lull in the striper action...with blues tearing the bunks apart and claiming a ton of hooks.
It wasn't until later, when the tide shifted and Secret Sally Ginsued a livey that the action heated up again.
Here's Secret Sally with a nice keeper



And the little present the fish had jammed in it's throat!



Then Craig hooked up again and landed another nice one...with JR lookin on.



Jesus, they must be thick out there...even I finally got another one!



And a few moments later, Secret Sally was back in the mix with this nice striper



I stopped taking pics after that as the bite was pretty good, Doug landed another keeper and I think we had a few more stripers with a ton of blues.
We ended the day with a nice boat limit of fish up to about 20-25lbs (no scale, just estimating).
Our final catch...



Another shot...




Big thanks to JR for taking us out, another great trip aboard Out on a Limb!
As usual, great fishing with the boys!
Craig was the hot hand, show us how it's done.
Secret Sally can talk the ears off a brass monkey.
Doug got to break in his freshly wrapped rod, but had to battle through blues and triangle offense/nickel defense tangles to keep him out of the game.
I was my standard self, struggling with my nemesis...the striper...but managed to catch my limit...hell if I can do it, anyone can!


Until next time!

04/25/2009 - Striper Fishing Raritan Bay

Quick trip report from today's action.

Hit the Raritan Bay with Charlie, Scrub, and Tom E for some striper action.

Charlie's been putting together some great catches all week, so we attempted to continue the trend.

We figured the crowds might hamper our efforts, but we managed to catch the majority of our keepers in a small window before the tide changes and the bite died.



Really awesome day, with our group landing a boat limit of 10 keeper stripers (2 bonus tags) with a good number of throwbacks.

Scrub lead the way, landing 5 of the keeps!



Unfortunately my camera was acting up, but I managed to get pics of all the keepers except one, along with a few other pics.



Here's some from the day...





Tom E...always smiling!







Scrub...action shot of the infamous two-handed HI!







Charlie...doing a little pre-emptive fist pumping?  That, or in an effort to get pumped is punching himself in the face?







Nice sunrise coming...







Little fireball in the hazy sky...







We start off with a triple header....two keepers.

Charlie with his...







Tom E with his...







Hackalicious is on!!!







And lands his first keeper! (ack sun)







Tom E with a shortie released







Charlie with another nice keeper







Scrubster...showing us how it's done!







And again...this time busting out the tie-dye!!!  HIPPIESTICK!!! Hahaha







Tom E with another nice one!







Oh my...they must be thick...even I got one!







Close-up, nice shot Tom!







HippieStick with another one!







And our final catch on the day!  Good day!









Big thanks to the Edison hick for taking us out to the promise land today!

Great fishing with Scrubster and Tom E again!







Until next time...

01/05/2009 - Blackfishing Out on a Limb, 17lb 8oz Tog! (Pics)

01/05/2009 - Blackfishing Out on a Limb, 17lb 8oz Tog! (Pics)


Alright boys and girls, let the storytelling begin!
Another day, another trip, and some more awesome toggin aboard OOAL!
The weather was near perfect, NW winds with seas mere 2-4s...we left the dock with high hopes.
An allstar crew with a pair of guys I haven't fished with since our last tog adventure aboard OOAL last season...Al and Matt...rounded out by OOAL frequent fishers Craig, Mike, Doug, and myself.

For those that don't recall...Al hooked up and landed this awesome 16lb 8oz fish last year with his then made famous "candycane" rod pictured in the background!



Well, Al and the candycane legend live on, as today he hooked and landed another BEAST of a tog...this one topping the scales at 17lb 8oz!
Al was dead set on releasing this fish, but it hit the deck bleeding pretty badly.
We cleaned up the blood for a few quick snaps and Al, adamant about the release, tried to revive the fish for 15-20 minutes but to no avail.
I believe he is going to get the fish mounted with his fish from last year...maybe a Dueling Tog scene over a whitelegger!
Big congrats to the "Candycane Man" on another beauty!



Ohhhh the candycane rod! She sure has some juju to her!



And our boat limit for the day with some more keeps going back over the rail for another day.
Man Al's fish dwarfs the hell out of the rest of those fish!
Some decent ones mixed in there, in the 5-7lb range.



One final shot back at the dock after gathering our gear and packing up!



Some more cool photos from the trip!

Some guys on the MIMI trip saw these coming on down our way!



Up, up, and away!



Splashdown! Very cool!



Two rocks and a rope baby! When you know where these badboys are dropped, fishing in CM is EZ!!!


Until next time...