07/29/2012 - Fluke Fishing on Fish Mongers

07/29/2012 - Fluke Fishing on Fish Mongers

Alright round two of this weekend's fluking adventures!
This time I hit up another Vongas charter aboard Fish Monger Charters with Jigamafish Joe, Tony Trigg, "Turn the Handle Rondal" Ron, and Suzanne filling out the crew!

I arrive at the scene to see the guys ready to roll!



Another morning of cloudy skies...hopefully the weather is a bit nicer! ;)



Some nice scenery on the way out...







We arrive on the fluking grounds to catch a beautiful sunrise!





Ron and Tony flukin away!



Doesn't look like the sun wants to come out today...not bad, nice and cool out but the wind is crankin again!



But the fluke are chewin for some of us!  Life's Short, FISH HARD!



Even Jerry is getting in on the action from up above!



Of course by action, I totally meant tangling up Vongas and knitting a braid and fluoro leader sweater while Joe hooks into "something special"! haha



Beachball rescue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Despite the adverse weather, the afternoon turned out beautiful as the wind laid down and the skies opened up!



Fortunately the fish were biting for the crew, as we put together a nice limit+ catch boxing 40 keepers for the ride home!



The guys filleting...Jerry, superstar charter captain and possible rap video mogul?...



The birds, living it up and loving the fillet table scraps!



This guy, just hangin out, observing...so I snapped a quick pic as close as I could get.  Wishing I had my D700 with me instead :)



Well that's it, just a quick little report...fishing was pretty tough, they were finicky but we put together a nice solid catch and boat limit+...the standard Fish Monger trip!
Was good to get out and fish with Jerry again, been a long time and looking forward to doing it again soon!


Until next time...

07/28/2012 - Fluke Fishing on OOAL

07/28/2012 - Fluke Fishing on OOAL

Well another weekend of fluking is here!  This time we kick it off aboard OOAL out of Keyport, NJ!
Vongas was the ring leader on this trip, with Dougie Fresh joining in and a few faces I haven't seen in quite awhile...Cool Hand Al, One On Don and the infamous but never forgotten SCRUBBY (aka Captain Panic) rounding out the crew!

Let's walk through a few shots from the day!


Nice skies in the AM!



Little bit of cloud cover as we leave the marina but only 5-10 mph winds predicted (YEAH RIGHT!)



Cool Hand Al ready for some action!



Joonya, sippin on some liquid turpentine coffee and driving the boat!



Doug, stretching out before he puts those fluke muscles to work!



Ohhhh boy...the legendary trademark "Two Handed Hi" from Scrubalicious with Don cheering in astonishment in the background!!!



Vongas...tying up!



It's hard to tell from the picture, but the seas were quite angry...VERY sporty conditions with some mild 20+ mph winds and tight chop/rollers.



What's not hard to tell is that Scrubby is SOAKED looking like he just got rolled around in a washing machine!  SWING BATTER BATTER SWING!!!
BTW, that bat almost killed Vongas falling out of the center console netting on the way out!  That would have hurt!
Also notice the "slight" tilt of the boat relative to the horizon...did I mention it was a little rolly? haha



Alright finally time for some sporty fun flukin!!!  Doug's already laughing!



I would be too catching fish like this!



And a little later Dougie lands a nice slob, 9.3# fluke (weighed back at the dock at the end of the day) that he makes look like a short...hilarious!



And a little while later, Vongas hooks into something BIG!  But Scrub ain't moving...that's HIS corner!



Puttin the Garone rod to the test!!!!



The guys lookin on, enjoying the show!



Bend those knees Vongas!!!  Well it turned out to be a cow nose ray that took Vongas for a ride and eventually broke off!  Fun fight and action though!



Well the day went on and we continued to pick at the fish, slowly filling the box...as the day and weather got worse and worse.
Apparently there were some severe thunderstorms inland, which provoke Captain Panic to well...panic.  "Maybe we should head in and try to beat the storm?"  Nonsense!  FISH ON! haha
Here he is, calling his insurance agent to make sure his policy is up to date!



And the boys just keep on fishin!



Doesn't do the weather justice, but it felt like it was blowing 30mph...you know that whole wind tunnel next to your ear kinda wind...very sporty fishing.



But we managed to squeak out a box full of 32 keepers going home with us! ;)



Storms in the distance on the way in...nasty



And a final shot heading into the marina!



Well that's all for this fun day of fluking!  Definitely not one of those easy going and relaxing days on the water, but fun nonetheless!
More and more big ones are showing up, hopefully there will be a few more on the horizon for the reports!

Until next time...

07/22/2012 - Fluke Fishing on The Angler with Dad

07/22/2012 - Fluke Fishing on The Angler with Dad

We had originally planned to go fluking Friday with JR on OOAL, but the incoming weather forced JR to cancel.  Dad decided to come down anyway, so we hung out Saturday waiting for the weather to clear and opted to hit up The Angler out of Atlantic Highlands on Sunday to get at least one day of fluking in!

Fishing was slow overall due to the lack of drift, the water was just plain dirty (I blame NYC haha), and the fish were either spread out big time or just finicky in the areas we fished. It's OK, we pretty much expected it given the weather that just cleared out, but we had to give it a go!

Despite the tough bite, Dad and I managed to get a few for the cooler and have some fun in the process!

Here's a few pics from the day! ;)

Dad hangin in the morning, waiting to head on out!



Pretty good crowd as we're getting ready to leave...





Leaving the marina...



Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh boy...never a good sign!  Banana?!?!?!



It was a little crowded out there!



Ronnie, bucktailing it up, light tackle style!



And FISH ON!!!



A little more scenery as we moved to another spot for a drift...



End of the day, he's relaxing...and I'm not sure if that's a wave or what haha



And a final fish pic with two of our keepers!  We didn't have many, only 4 for the box, but I managed to land the one that counted...the pool fish!  Nice! :)



Well, it was definitely a great day on the water, beautiful out and always fun to get Dad down for a little fishing!
Hopefully conditions will be a little better next time, but at least he got to head home with some nice fillets! ;)