Happy Holidays!

As we grow up we are handed down traditions from our parents and close friends. One that was passed on to me from my best friend's father, Dave Sr., was slow cooked spiral ham on the grill slathered up with honey mustard all over and in between each slice. As times change we are forced to change our traditions. I am still making the ham for Christmas dinner but am forced to make it Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day. My mother has moved into a condo now and they have no terraces so they cannot have a grill. I don't think it will be a huge let down as everyone loves the ham left over cold, so it will still be enjoyed but not entirely the same.

A new tradition has been the addition of cheesecake to the dessert menu. I posted the recipe a few days back and it should be ready to come out of the oven by the time I post today's entry. It took some refining and everyone was happy to sample each version as I honed my recipe. We have even figured out the optimal transportation method for winter and summer so it will not run after being carted from our house to our destination.

In recent years it seems we have less and less time on our hands to do things. This time of year make time for your friends and family, and make time to keep your traditions alive and create some new ones you can pass down through your family.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

All Covered Up

With snow at the house and then the boat, I shoveled the snow and ice from the walks and driveway and headed down to the marina. Luckily there was no accumulation there. I removed a few items from the boat and started erecting the frame for the cover and then got her covered up for what seems like it will be the worst winter we have had in a long time.

This year I am trying the tennis ball tip in Saltwater Sportsman to help prevent chaffing on the cover from the rocket launcher. It makes a lot of sense, and I added a little twist to it. I made two small holes opposite each other in the tennis ball. I then passed a length of shock cord through it and adjusted the length so there would be just enough to slip over the bottom of the rod holder and keep the ball in place over the top of it.

Next week I will remove the rest of the gear and get the v-berth and pilothouse cleaned. After that I will start on my many projects.

Jersey Joe's Cheesecake

I thought I would spread some Holiday cheer and share my NY style cheesecake recipe. It took me about a dozen tries to hone the recipe just right to accommodate fat free cream cheese but I got it, and it was fun along the way sampling all the results. It also works wonders in getting clearance from the Admiral for that weekend long fishing trip. Enjoy.

CRUST:

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons melted butter

FILLING:

• 32 ounces fat-free cream cheese
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 eggs, separated
• 5 fluid ounces heavy cream
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and butter together in a mixing bowl. Pour the mixture into the springform pan. Cover your hand in plastic wrap and press crumbs into the base. Using your fingers press crumbs in the sides of the pan. Bake for 6 minutes. Let cool.

In a food processor, cream the cream cheese and the sugar together. Add the vanilla, blend until smooth. Add 4 egg yolks and heavy cream, pulse until smooth. Pour into a large clean bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until a soft froth forms. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar slowly to the egg whites and continue to whisk until soft peaks form. Fold into the cream cheese, a little bit at a time until fully integrated. Pour into the prepared springform pan. Wrap springform pan and sides with aluminum foil and place in roasting pan. Fill roasting pan with 3/4" to 1" of water and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until firm. Let cool for 1 hour and 30 minutes, then refrigerate for at least three hours.

Hauled, Weighed and Blocked

With 2008 winding down and the threat of a bad winter as well as some much needed drive maintenance I was hauled out today. But first before blocking we had her weighed just about full of fuel, no water and with full gear. She tipped the Toledo at 6,300 pounds. I thought it would have been a little more but at that weight being full I can tow her with the new truck.

Once she was blocked I flushed the motor, changed the oil and filter and winterized the motor. This weekend I will get the stateroom and pilothouse cleaned up and then get her covered up. Then I can start in on my winter projects.

1. Have wheels re-pitched
2. Drive service
3. Replace bellows
4. Replace gimbal bearing
5. New aft bilge pump
6. Replace forward bilge pump
7. Replace two rod holders
8. Add three new rod holders
9. Install outriggers
10. Install inverter
11. New cockpit power point
12. Plumb outdrive discharge overboard
13. Install fishbox macerator

And I am sure I will find a few others. A few of these items I have been putting off for some time, hopefully I can get them all taken care of this winter.

Last Trips a Bust

With the lackluster fall striper run we decided to mainly target tog our last two trips. Saturday we set out a little later than normal, probably around 7 am. We were returning North to Elberon Rocks but never made it there. Instead of NW winds we were greeted by stiff N to NNE winds and steep four to five foot waves. At that point we decided to surf back home and poke around the inlet for some bass. We had almost no marks on the fish finder the entire time. We then ran out to the Axcel Carlson to scout out a few spots for Sunday and stay closer to home.

We checked a few wrecks and three out of the five looked very promising with many marks swimming around them. Upon returning on Sunday, our top three picks had dive boats on them and the sun was not even up yet. Then after dealing with a ground tackle issue on another spot we were inundated with dogfish and bergals. With the wind and seas pickup up we called it quits and began reflecting back on a season that had many firsts and personal bests for us.

Bunker Spoon Rods & Reels

With the Holidays coming there have been questions flying around what rod or what reel should I use for trolling bunker spoons. Whether you may be buying these items for someone or planning on using cash or gift cards received to buy them after the Holidays I thought I would share my experiences and opinions about them.

Rods for spoons have a very specific blank that is used. Typically they are surf blanks that are cut down from 12 or 14' to 8, 9 or 10'. Some blank manufacturers have started rolling blanks specifically for spoon rods. They have a soft tip with a parabolic bend to them. This allows them to 'pump' and work the spoons properly.

If I did it all again, which I might next year...I would go with two pairs of custom rods from a reputable rod builder, they are about the same cost as production rods from Seeker in 8 or 9'. I currently have the 8' Seeker rods and would definitely go with a 9' rod next time for spoons. I would also get a pair of shorter 6' 6" or 7' strictly for umbrella rigs. This does not mean that you have to have two pairs of rods, you can get a pair that can perform double duty and troll both spoons and umbrella rigs. With the amount of trolling we do I find it more pleasurable to use a shorter rod when not pulling spoons.

There are two big advantages to getting custom rods. If you are going to only troll braid you can have lighter less expensive guides put on. And you can get removable butts which make them much easier to store on the boat. Plus you have many more options for other components-guides, swivel roller tips, grips, butt material and reel seat material, etc.

If and when I get new rods I will also opt for cork fore grips instead of foam. I like the feel better and I think they hold up much better.

The reels are very much personal preference. The Penn Senator 113HSP seems to be the defacto standard but there are more and more converts to Shimano Tekota's and other brands with heavy duty level winds. I have fished 113HSP's with and without the Accurate one piece frame, Accurate spools and Aftco Star Sets. I personally have the Shimano Tekota 800's and love them. They do require a little more diligence with maintenance due to the aluminum spool. But you get a lighter reel (5.2 oz lighter), they come with a one piece frame, they have a heavy duty level wind, they have two more bearings, are capable of four pounds more drag and they crank in 7" more line per crank than a Senator 113. 7" may not seem like a lot but when checking rigs for weeds or if they are fouled from bouncing bottom or to pickup and run to another location they do crank in a whole lot faster.

The only thing I miss on the Tekota's is the Aftco Star Set. It is a very nice feature to have but we work around it. But when I do go to a four rod setup (2 for spoons, 2 for umbrellas), all four will have Tekota 800's unless something newer and better comes along, but as of right now that would be my ideal setup.

Don't Believe the Weatherman

Despite the gale warning we wanted to give blackfishing a shot. Worst case we figured we would just turn around in the inlet and go to the diner for breakfast. I got down to the boat at 5:15, all the flags in the area were limp, and proceeded to brush the snow off the dock. Then brushed off the boat, some of which we saved for the cooler...nothing like free ice! Got the gear setup, extra anchors on the bow and left the dock at 6. Broke the inlet at 6:30 to a flat windless ocean as we suspected. Just a very light 1-2' ground swell. Ran up to Elberon Rocks for some inshore black fishing.

Tied up on the first spot in 30' of water around 7. It was so calm it was hard to come tight at first. Around 8 a light breeze picked up and kept us tight over our spot.

Very slow for the first half hour, only one short but as the haze cleared a bit and the water temp went up a degree the bite picked up and for the next 2.5 hours we had a halfway decent pick of keepers and shorts.

Fished till about 11 and headed in as the wind started gusting to about 15 knots almost due west. Seas were still a ground swell with maybe 6" of chop on top. We looked around for bait and birds but did not see any and decided to head in.

We were glad we decided to at the very least take a ride to the inlet and look and see if it was fishable and the morning certainly was. Total for the day was four for the table to 4.5 lbs and 8 shorts. It was Tommy's first blackfish trip and he fed them quite well for most of the trip till he started to develop the touch and ended the day catching the biggest fish.

Short Shot @ Bass'n

I had only a few hours to go fishing since I had to be home and ready to leave for a family party at 13:15 but we gave it a shot with a forecast for a bluebird day. After breaking the inlet just before 6:00 I was hoping to get a call that the party was canceled, it was one of the nicest days of the year on the water.

Knowing we had only a few hours and we would be fishing all day, weather permitting, on Sunday we did sort of an exploratory trip. We knew many boats, including charters and head boats limited out several days in a row to the North so we made a left turn after looking North, South and East out of the inlet through the glasses.

On the way up there were no birds working but rather just sitting and waiting and we only marked a couple of small bait balls with no fish around them.

When we arrived at the the rocks there were only about four boats there, and two minutes after getting there we were greeted with birds working and huge splashes about 75 yards away. It seemed to good too be true, and it was. It only lasted for about three minutes and we barely had time to get over to it before it broke up. Later I found out it was not bass but the giants had returned inshore on their migration south and we missed our first shot at a giant in December.

We jigged and trolled the area for two hours with only a small bluefish to show for our efforts. Being pressed for time we started South and stopped and jigged on some marks along the way a few times. We did manage to find a good school of adult bunker but there were no takers in or around it.

I look forward to reading the day's reports later to hear if anyone did hook up with the giants and to see where the reports of keeper bass will come in from so we can make a last minute decision on what to target and where to go on Sunday.

Busy Weekend

Friday, don't think I will be down early enough for the afternoon bite but will be able to refuel and get the gear set. Also have a fishing club meeting.

Saturday I have a family event so that only leaves me about three hours fishing time...but we will make the best of it.

Sunday I should be out all day depending on wind and if it stays out the West when it picks up.

Not sure if I will be turning right or left yet waiting to hear from some guys who may be fishing to the North tomorrow and Friday. Should be leaving the dock Sat & Sun by 5:30.

Only 12 days, 1 hour 46 minutes till she is hauled out...have to make the most of it.

Where are the Bigger Bass?

With little reports from the North we again decided to head South. Broke the Inlet just before sunrise and turned right. Did not mark any bait or fish till we got down to the Piers. Jigged a little and then got up on the troll. Put out black tubes, blue/white shads and a chartreuse/white mojo. The tubes got hit almost immediately. Once that short was released and rig back in the water we pulled the shads and put out white tubes instead. Then we had both rods go off...again more shorts. After both rigs were back in we changed out the mojo for a Santini tube. We had a couple more shorts before making the run down to the old CG station to join Bri Time and Striker Joe.

I always have a hard time leaving fish to find fish but our biggest in the area was 26" and it sounded much more promising further South. We could not believe how many boats were there as we were approching...there had to be two hundred boats easy, up North there were only a couple dozen.

We slowly cruised around looking for good marks to jig but after about 5 minutes of nothing concentrated enough we started trolling. Again before the rigs bounced off the bottom we had fish on. Although short they were a little bit bigger and were just short. We had steady action with one, two and even all three rods going off at one point.

Then we had a knockdown that started pulling some drag, we figured we finally had a solid keeper. After about 10 minutes it surfaces about 50 feet behind the boat...looked way too long and skinny to be a bass. It turned out to be a tail hooked 3' spiney dogfish. Got that puppy released and reset the spread, joked with Bri time about it and a few minutes later another knockdown peeling drag. We joked kiddingly in the cockpit about it happening again and sure enough, an even bigger tail hooked spiney.

We moved slightly deeper and a little South and started picking at shorts again but never found a keeper bass.

Beautiful day on the water, wish we could have stayed out longer but we had two crew members that had to be in by 3 so we headed in about 1 and decided to head back out light, just me and Tommy to see if there would be an afternoon bite. Ducked in BI, there were a bunch of guys fishing the inlet but did not see any bent rods on the way. I almost followed a boat through the cut but decided not to since I had no idea who it was and if they really knew where they were going.

After dropping two off, and talking for a few minutes at the marina we headed back out MI. Went about a quarter mile out and looked around. We thought we saw the blitz of the season just North of the inlet. Upon arriving to the several hundred birds working a very small area we realized it was a small netter. We were not really sure what they were doing but they were throwing something over the side and pulling lines in. The boat was in only 15-20' of water off Manasquan. A few minutes after us coming within 50' to see what was up they left. We circled the are to see if anything was picking up the scraps from below but there were no promising marks.

We cruised around the inlet, south to Bay Head, in along the beach, out to 65'. There was very little bait around and no solid marks to jig on either. We came across a small pod of flipping bunker, snagged a couple and sent them down but found no takers.

Once the sun got down behind the buildings we headed for the inlet, again with no keepers in the box. On the way in we looked at the weather and discussed plans for Sunday. We had figured we would be able to get a few hours in the early morning before the blow came through. Hosed the deck down and left the majority of the mess for after Sunday's trip and went to dinner. Checked the forecast again and decided to leave early-5:30 and get a few hours in...wrong!

At 1:45 am we were woken up by the chop slapping the hull, it had blown up way ahead of schedule and we had gusts from the East to 18 mph and about a foot of chop coming up the creek. We decided to check the weather and beach cams at first light and make a final call then but it was even worse by then. Had breakfast and then proceeded to clean the boat and gear in horizontal rain. Once we were done the rain let up...figures.

Hopefully next weekend we will be able to get back-to-back trips in if the weather cooperates. We are trying to get in as many trips before the boat comes out but someone upstairs seems to have other plans all the time.

We did finally get to try out the Tournament Grade Tackle Rod Riggers. We did have to grind out the notches a little for the heavy duty bar pins to fit since they are a 1/2 inch tall and don't seem to fit most accessories. Even though the fish were not big enough to pin a rod in a traditional rod rigger or holder it was much easier to get the rods in and out of the rod riggers. It was also much easier to let out or bring in some line without having to lean out over the gunwale to reach the reel. They lay the rods down a little more than most others too, the rods were just about parallel to the water, plus if you have a rod to pull umbrellas that doesn't have a gimbaled butt they hold them perfectly in the correct position unlike the more traditional rod riggers. Making turns is a bit easier as well, the cradles keep the rods from wanting to creep out of the rod holder. Everyone on board was very impressed by the quality and finish on them and we are anxious to try them offshore next season. Forgot to take come pics of them in action, will try and remember to do so next weekend.

Bass and Blackfish

Left the dock at 5:30 and a brisk 23 degree air temp and 33.5 degree water in the creek. No ice in the water. There was a dredge I guess in the inlet similar to the one down in Barnegat with only one light on it and it stretched from first ICW marker to the sea wall. I can't imagine how they get away with blocking most of the channel with something like that, with no lights on it and not get fined.

Anyway, broke the inlet and had some birds and marks just outside...stopped and jigged but nothing. Started heading North since the plan was to hit Shrewsbury Rocks for bass then the Elberon Rocks for blackfish on the way back.

Made a couple stops off Spring Lake, Belmar, Asbury and Monmouth Beach jigging and trolling hear and there. We had a steady pick of just short, really fat fish the whole time. No blues brought to the boat although we suspect one jigged up fish that was lost just as we started to see color may have been due to its erratic fight.

Then while up off Monmouth Beach jigging I hooking into something really heavy and pretty much dead weight. I thought we might have a nice monkfish but it turned out to be a tail hooked spiny, one of the biggest I have ever seen.

On our way back South to Elberon Rocks just about at slack water we came across a bunch of birds working close to the beach and decided to jig a little more before the tide change and get setup on the hook. It was all blues about 3 pounds. it was fun for a while with poppers and jigs but then that wore off.

Made our way through the fleet onto some structure that looked good and got setup. Unfortunately I didn't end up right over the structure but with a short toss of the baits we were into steady action and since it is not high profile structure decided to stay put. We had great action as long as you pitched to the right place and put 6 keepers all around 3 pounds and one 3.5 lbs in the box.

At about 11 the wind started kicking up and we had some pretty good white caps and taller chop so we decided to started heading back down to MI. After running about 5 minutes along the beach it flattened out again and the wind dropped out we decided to look for birds and readings and fish a little more but we found nothing. Just after noon we decided to head in early and call it a day.

Water temps outside ranged from 47.2 to 50.8 and inside from 33.5 to 35.7. Trolling we had most fish on blue/white shads with some on wine colored tubes (Thanks Brian and Ken for the color tip, finally found some this week). White tubes, black/white shads and black tubes produced nothing. Jigs we used dorado color MegaBait jigs, black/silver and blue/silver did not produce. All our short bass were spitting up peanuts and rain bait...did not see one sand eel spit up. Same with the bluefish. The blackfish were very aggressive and there was no missing a subtle bite as there were none. I even caught two fish dead sticking while making a sandwich...something I have never been able to do before. We were a little apprehensive about the day after the first stop and the rods and reels being iced up from frozen spray the first few stops but then we just brought the rods in the cabin between stops and all was good.

It was a great day with some fish in the box and a warm dry ride home. We ended up running 51.1 nm putting 7.3 hours on the motor and burning about 28 gallons of fuel for 1.82 nmpg and an average burn of 4.8 gph. I definitely see a big difference with plus (89 octane) fuel and my nmpg and gph numbers. At the end of the day getting in the slip was another story with the blowout tides though...we had to stop short and tilt the outdrive all the way up and float her in.

Rod Riggers

I have used several different brands over the years...Canyon, Reliable, homemade ones and custom ones. I have also seen many newer models at boating and fishing shows over the past two years. The one that really caught my eye was the Tournament Grade Tackle Rod Rigger. There are two drawbacks to these that I can think of. One they bring the rod tips in about 6-8" on each side. On a narrow beam boat this may be an issue depending on how much your bunker spoons swing. The second is you can not put a spinning outfit into them.

I know some of you are thinking why would you wan to troll a spinning outfit...well, I don't. But drifting for fluke I typically use the rod riggers. It lays the rod down, jigs the bait better than if in a rod holder and when a fish hits the rod tip pulls the bait away from the fish less when it is laid down. Again not a huge deal since I have very few spinning outfits anyway and almost always use a conventional when fluking.

One of the advantages is being able to use them when trolling offshore. You can put up to an 80W in these. A big advantage when trolling on a small beam boat. I can now extend my third and fifth wake baits out away from the flat lines by a few feet now, making my spread look bigger and leading to less tangles when multiple hook ups occur.

I can't wait to test them out this weekend. I will post my opinions and some pictures after the weekend.

New Rod Holders

I was hoping to get out around noon for a few hours but as the morning went on the winds got stronger and stronger so despite their Westerly direction and reports of the seas being just a swell along the beach we decided to just work on our boats.

We did a group trip to West since we all had 20% off coupons and the stores had tables of stuff 40 and 50 percent off due to the stores closing and moving to a mega store. I was able to grab a couple of items I was in short supply of for half price plus 20% off...score!

Anyway back at the marina I removed the old factory rod holders, sealed the old screw holes and the hole for the rod holders themselves. Then covered the gunwale cap with masking tape to make out the new holes. They ended up a little close to the old ones but I am not too concerned as we are installing a backing plate and through bolting them instead of just using lags as they were originally installed.

Installation went fairly easy and once installed they looked great. The stainless rod holders with white liners looks much better on the boat than chromed ones with black liners. Over the winter I will order five more and replace the other two existing ones, add a center transom rod holder and two forward for the outriggers.

I also retooled my shelf for the bilge heater. After converting the raw water intake the new through hull and hose is slightly in the way of the old shelf. Plus the newly installed battery boxes cut down on the width in the motor well. Once I cut down the shelf length and made its feet longer it was a perfect fit once again. And just in time for this cold front coming through.

Next weekend looks to be very promising weather wise...lets hope the forecast holds.

Played Hookey

Left the dock at 6:30...didn't realize I goofed on departure time till I got to the dock. Forgot to adjust my routine to standard time from daylight savings time.

Broke the inlet and the sun was already up and there were birds working at the mouth. With good marks on the sonar I jigged for a few minutes with not a touch, I also did not see any of the other five boats hook up so I did not stay there long.

Ran South and kept pod hopping and jigging. Had a steady pick of a range of blues and bass with about a 50/50 ratio, at this point it was still all shorts. I would move on when the fleet would join me.

Started working off the piers in 35-38' of water and had steady top water action with mostly short bass and an occasional bluefish for about an hour before the fleet showed up and put the fish down. Had a blast with small poppers and was about to get the fly swatter out but that was when the bite died due to boat traffic.

After speaking with Bri Time, and others from BFH I headed South along IBSP again pod hopping till I got to the pavilion. Still with about a 50/50 ration to shorts to blues. Then I jigged up and lost two fish that were about 30-32" trying to get them in the net. This was the first time I was using the larger net solo so it took a few tries to get the coordination down of the large hoop and long handle. Next fish was a 28.5" that I swung thinking it was short but found its way into the box.

Shortly after bite started to really slow I went up on the troll. I pulled a black tube rig and chartreuse and white homemade mojo with a 6" Gulp chartreuse power grub. Within 10 minutes both rods went off. The mojo seemed to have a larger fish but I decided to tend to the wire line first. Bad move...the umbrella rig yielded a short and after boating that fish, grabbing the other rod, taking two cranks it was gone. Most likely a bass as the grub had no teeth marks or missing parts.

Released the short and reset the spread and had pretty steady action zig zagging up and down between a 1/2 mile North and South of the pavilion in 35-45' of water.

Had to leave to go to the eye doctor and left the fish biting though it was slowing down as it approached slack current. Did not mark much on the ride North back to MI and only say one pod of birds working. Did pass a fin, stopped to see what it was since it was small...was a baby mola mola, only about two feet across. It was a little timid at first but then swam right up to the boat. Tried to take a picture but it did not turn out good. It was the smallest one I have ever seen.

It was a beautiful day on the water with very light winds, flat seas and non-stop action. It was good talking to all the BFH members. Thanks for twisting my arm and calling me down Brian. Was considering going wreck fishing and not having to make the long run home. It was a little frustrating though, I dropped a lot of fish for some reason. I changed out hooks and tried singles, doubles and trebles...it did not seem to matter if jigging or trolling. I would take a half dozen cranks sometimes more and fish was gone. At first I checked the barbs on my hooks thinking some of my buddies may have played a trick on me but they were not flattened. I did lose about about a half dozen jigs to bluefish competition bite offs but that is to be expected.

I tried several jigs, Sea Striker JigFish (Mega Bait style jig), AVA's, Kroc's, SPRO prime swimming (don't think they are made anymore, great sand eel imitation though) and bucktails. Had blues on everything, bass all came on the JigFish jigs in blue/silver, blue/yellow/silver or black/silver. Blue/Silver and blue/yellow/silver seemed to have the higher catch rates though.

Anyway finally tally for the day for the fish that made to the boat was around 30-40 bluefish and 27 bass with one keeper in the box and two lost boat side. Total for dropped fish was around three dozen. My back, shoulders and arms are sore today s I type this out but its all good!

Sun Harbor Fall Bass Tourney

This weekend is the First Annual Sun Harbor Bay Club Fall Striped Bass Tournament. I know there is growing concern over the weather for Saturday, hopefully the fish and weather gods will cooperate and clear out all the weather by the Captain's Meeting. Last year there were a few tournaments that were threatened right up until the day of the tournament with bad weather...and we were fortunate that it cleared each time.

We have some great door prizes and give-aways in the Captain's Bags this year from Mann's Bait Company, Shimano, Tournament Grade Tackle, Lunker City and more. There will be food and refreshments at the weigh-in and it is sure to be a good time. Currently there are about 18 boats registered and we anticipate more the night of the Captain's Meeting.

So come on down and register Friday night at the Captain's Meeting if you have not already registered. It will be held at Sun Harbor Bay Club, 451 E. Bay Avenue Barnegat, NJ...see you there!

Entry Form

Success without Being There

Apparently I missed a great day today. Got a call late Friday night and had to tend to family health issues. Mom is recovering well after emergency kidney stone removal surgery today.

After tending to mom before surgery Saturday I ran down to the boat to fuel it up for next week and drop off the gear to some of my regular crew so they could put it to good use in my absence today...they are sure glad I did.

Not sure what time they broke MI, I know it was early, probably in the neighborhood of 6:30. Not even 5 miles from the inlet they were into bass and blues right away. They had double and triple headers on umbrella rigs with tubes and shads with both rods going off at the same time several times...and then the one rod really starts screaming. Several minutes later they boat double header keepers on the black tube umbrella rig-a 30 incher and 31.6 pounder!

The slaughter continued with them boating, catching and releasing shorts and keepers till they were tired with a few fish lost as well. Not sure what time they headed in but it sounded like they were running when I spoke to them around 10:30 and Tommy said they went in early leaving the fish biting. Grand total was in the neighborhood of 75 blues and 50-60 bass. He said most boats were just running right over fish and the areas they were catching all morning in route to other destinations.

Wire Line Trolling Tips & Tricks

This seems to be a hot topic lately so I thought I would start a new thread where we can share some tips, tricks and ideas that we do when trolling with wire line. Below are some of the things we do, I know a lot is personal preference. Please post your methods and ways in comments so others can also learn and pickup new ways of doing some old things. Enjoy.

Wire Types: Basically there are two types used, monel and stainless. Monel is denser than stainless but much more forgiving, it is less springy than stainless and does not kink as much. But that comes at a cost of about three times the price for the same test line and 300' length. Monel also stretches over time causing it to get thinner and thinner. Depending on how much you troll the wire will determine how long it takes for it to get thin enough to cause mystery break offs. I typically use a shot of wire for two to three seasons or, four to six half seasons depending on if you started using the shot in the spring or fall.

Marking Wire: I have tried the Malin pre-marked wire and it is not worth the extra money or even for the same money as non-marked. They started to slide on the wire the very first day we used them. I know a few shop owners that fought with Malin to give them refunds on the large spools they fill reels from because they had issues with them sliding as well. The best method I have come across is not easy to do and I have not mastered it yet...basically you use colored phone wire and create haywire twists and barrel wraps with the telephone wire onto the monel or stainless. When done this way they will never move for the life of the wire since they are interlocked with the haywire twist. The second best method I have used is to take a small board and pound two nails through it about a foot apart. Then cut a rubber band and tie each end around a nail stretching it a good amount in the process. Lay the wire over the stretched rubber band and then wrap tightly a colored piece of wire ten to fifteen times finishing with seven to nine barrel wraps on each end. This creates a good visual and also feeling mark if fishing in low light conditions. You can mark your wire however often as needed for your fishing habits. I personally mark it at 150', 200' and 250' as this covers all our needs.

Trolling Habits: I usually troll deeper water so we usually have the hole 300' out but if you are inshore and not deploying the whole shot of wire you should let out a few feet or crank in a few feet every ten to fifteen minutes to avoid creating a kink and also wearing a weak spot into monel especially, but should also do this with stainless.

Aluminum Spools: I have had Shimano Tekota 800 reels for three seasons now and my spools are healthy and fine. Yes they have a few pits on them but I have also seen worse on older Penn Senators with steel spools. The new anodized aluminum spools hold very well with wire line as long as you take care of them. We wash our rods and reels down after each trip, towel or chamois them off and then liberally apply CRC 656 to the whole reel and the wire, let it soak in a bit then towel off the reel and leave the wire coated well. This extends the life of the wire and the spool. Also about once a month or if I suspect damage I lay the rod on my bench, attach a hand crank spool to the other end and remove the wire from the reel looking for damage to the wire and also checking the marks are in the right location with a line counter. I also take this time to clean the exposed portion of the spool and apply some CRC directly to it. Once I am satisfied the line is OK I crank it back onto the reel pulling it through an oil soaked rag.

Wire to Mono Knots: To attach the wire to the backing I tie a Bimini twist in the backing first. Then I tie a long slender haywire twist in both ends of the wire line. This allows you to use a loop-to-loop connection to your backing and replace a shot of wire quickly and easily on the water should you break off, kink or have other damage to your wire causing it to be unusable. For the leader I tie a twelve to fifteen turn Albright knot and use eight to twelve feet of eighty or one hundred pound fluorocarbon leader to which I attach a two hundred pound ball bearing snap swivel.

Spoon Attachment Points: Whether the spoon comes with one or not I always attach a heavy duty, stainless split ring to it. I have had several spoons fail or severely weaken by them being attached directly to the snap swivel.

Spoon Weights: On spoons with weights I use either 3M marine silicone sealant or 5200 (whichever is handy). Most manufacturers of spoons recommend that you check the screws every fifteen minutes of use. I have found that if you bed them well with the silicone sealant or 5200 you pretty much don't ever have to worry about them coming loose and losing a weight to the screws loosening from the pumping action.

Trolling Speed: This has a lot of personal preference but we usually don't look at our tach or our SOG or SOW readings as much as we watch the rod tips. One thing we try to avoid at all costs though is trolling with the current. We always troll against it or across it. As for the actual speed we adjust the throttle till we have big slow pulses in the rods. You can run the spoon only a few feet behind the boat so you can see if it is wobbling back and forth or spinning. This will give you an idea of what the pulsing of the rod tip should look like.

Spare Shots of Wire: You have extra rods, reels, plugs, plastics, sinkers and everything else you use...carry an extra shot of wire. I keep at least one sometimes two spare shots with the trolling gear. You can mark them ahead of time and tie the haywire twists in the ends and even attach the flouro leader too. If you use a Bimini twist in your backing changing it out is a breeze as long as the damage to the line or where it parted is not in your backing. Even if it was once proficient with a Bimini it only takes a minute or two to whip another into your backing. Having a spare or two on board can really save the day sometimes.

Striper & Wreck Trip

We had non-stop action all day...while it was not some of the species or sizes of them we wanted it, it was an awesome day on the water.

Left the dock at 6:25, broke the inlet, looked North East and South...saw some birds to the South and started jigging around them...nothing. Continued South away from the fleet near the inlet and kept working the birds and bait pods...had a couple of bumps on plastics, bucktails and various irons but no fish.

Headed down to Seaside when we got a call on the phone from a friend of one of the crew that was catching bass. Put out a dark red tube rig, pearl and black back shad umbrella rig and a chartreuse mojo. The tube rig got a couple knockdowns but nothing came tight. Shad rigs and mojo's started hooking up almost immediately.

Had a steady pick of medium and large blues with short bass mixed in about every two blues then a bass. We kept working that area and bait pods and switched out the tubes for pearl and blue back shads and that became the hot color so we switched both umbrella rigs to pearl/blue and put out the white/black mojo's since I did not make up any blue/white yet (shame on me for thinking they would not go after a blueback herring pattern yet). We kept at it with several fish on each pass until about noon when we picked up and ran up to a wreck in 65' of water.

Put the anchors out and two of the crew had sea bass in the boat before we came tight. Once we came tight over the wreck it was drop and reel action the whole time. We shifted a couple of times over it to try and find some bigger fish. We had a constant pick of sea bass and monster porgies (near 2 lbs). Then the wind died out and when the current went slack it was hard to stay over the wreck.

We picked up the anchors and drifted a few near by rock piles and put a few more fish in the box before heading in around 2:30 pm.

My best guess on the final tally was around 30 blues (kept 10), 5 short bass, 100 plus sea bass (kept 20) and 60 porgies (kept 15). What a great November day on the water, calm seas, fair winds, warm sunny day and fish in the box. It was great talking to all the members of Barnegat Fishin' Hole on the radio...shee's a keeper, just a fluke, Davo, heard EMALS but I don't think he could hear me, speedbump, sorry if I missed anyone (talked to dozens of guys on the radio yesterday), and even Jim made it out yesterday-I bet the neighbors are glad to see the lawn ornament gone!

LED Verdict is In

Had my first real world testing this weekend. The red LED on the way in Friday night was great. The crew was able to sit at the dinette with the light on and it did not affect my vision at all. It made them happy being able to find munchies and beer, read, etc. and I was not blinded in the process.

The white LED lighting was great at night cleaning up, reading, and in the morning making coffee and breakfast. It is not as bright as incandescent bulbs but more than enough light for my needs. I accidentally left the cockpit lights on from when we got into the dock around 7 PM until the next morning and my battery voltage at point had barely dropped overnight...only a few tenths of a volt.

I will be changing out my navigation lights this winter to LED's as well.

Blues & Fluke

We headed out a little late due to my getting out of work late. It would have been nice if the crew readied the boat but they started cooler diving early. We broke the inlet about 3:30 PM, just as it seemed the action was breaking up down off Seaside.

We had some small areas of bird activity but nothing to write home about. Had a couple of knock downs on red and black tubes. Snagged bottom letting one rig out in an area I had no idea had any structure...marked that spot as it seemed to be holding some small fish...will have to stop on it in the future when we have bait aboard.

Switched over to jigging and had a few blues in the 8 lb range and some short fluke also on both bucktails and iron. They must be really hungry, some of them were barely trice as long as the jigs.

It wasn't the numbers and species we were looking for but we had a good time, burned very little fuel and got to test my new LED lighting on the way in.

LED Marine Lighting - Part II

I gathered up all the leftover parts from projects over this season and returned them to West in exchange for a second Dr. LED Mars Dome, the 1 watt/3 watt white dome. I powered it up with a 12v power supply in the basement with low light in the room and total darkness. I was very impressed with the light output of both the 1w and 3w settings.

I was skeptical about LED replacements, and frankly the more common replacement bulbs seem to be very weak but the Dr. LED products with their built in drivers are awesome. It will be nice to be able to leave the lights on all night or for even several hours at a time now and not worry about draining the battery. I always hated turning the lights off and coming back to dark boat and straining to step on in the darkness.

Now I just need to get a motion sensor activated light for when I arrive to the boat in the dark.

LED Marine Lighting

I have been slowly converting my interior lighting to LED. For several reasons, but mainly to limit the drain on the batteries. I do not have shore power so when I overnight or weekend on the boat I rely on the house battery to power the lighting, stereo, coffee pot, etc. I had noticed a couple of times that if I had the v-berth light, dinette light and cockpit lights on for most of the night they drew a considerable amount of power. This was when I started looking into the LED alternatives.

I tried a couple of less expensive models out from Ancor and others available at local marine supply stores but they are nowhere near as bright or burn as cool as the Dr. LED lights. After doing some research I decided on the Dr. LED line of fixtures and replacement bulbs. I found the Dr. LED products to have the brightest light, in most cases, the least amp draw. I have installed their MR 16 Magnum Ring to replace the halogens in the v-berth and they are great - bright, cool (no longer burn yourself touching the fixture to reposition it) and plug directly in with no modifications needed. The light is a little different from incandescent or halogen bulbs, the LED's are much whiter light...excellent for reading...at least for me. I am going to try out their nav light replacement bulbs over the winter.

This weekend I replaced a dome light with a white/red LED dome light, the Red Mars Dome. Unfortunately it was bright and sunny so I am not really sure how well it is going to work yet. The v-berth lights are actually brighter than the old halogens, they don't get hot and hardly draw any power, so I am hoping the dome light will be just as good. The addition of the red lamp will be great as my crew regularly blinds me on our way out turning on the light to find things, getting rigged up or choosing which donut is next on their menu.

I was unable to test it at night as I did not stay over this weekend but during the day the white light seemed just as bright as my other incandescent dome light. Next time I stay over I will report on how the white and red light was at night.

First Blackfish Trip, No Keepers but...

We had high hopes of at least wreck fishing this weekend but with the NE blow the seas were just too much for us to get outside. I did however change the oil, check all the other fluids.

Having the urge to catch something Tommy and I decided to head over to the banks of the Point Pleasant Canal. We grabbed some clam out of the freezer, headed over to the bait shop for some crabs, grabbed a sandwich and headed for my favorite spot.

Knowing the current would be very strong we got there a little early but it is a must to get a prime spot. We got into position and ate lunch waiting for the current to slow. With the strong N to NE wind I was by about an hour with slack current but we had no where to be so we waited it.

Getting anxious I decided to give it a shot while the current was still racing, I had two or three subtle taps but that was about it in the first hour. Once the current started slowing though the fish turned on.

We probably had sixty to seventy blackfish between us with about twenty five sea bass mixed in as well. Unfortunately we had not one keeper between us. There were about a dozen others fishing withing view and out of all of them we only saw one legitimate keeper caught.

We did not get our limit of one fish per man but it was still good to have non-stop action and catch a mess of fish despite the conditions. To top the day off Tommy caught his first blackfish among the many caught today.

My First BFT

I guess the third time really is a charm as they say. It was our third bluefin tuna trip on my boat this year and on the third trip we finally got one!

As everyone arrived at the dock Mark and Wayne were a little apprehensive about going after they found out Tommy and I decided late last night to definitely sail for BFT and head out to the Mud Hole. We left the dock about 5:45 am with a full crew of Tommy, Mark, Wayne and myself. Despite the extremely swift currents in the canal due to Tuesday's full moon and with the max flood current predicted to be just about when we broke the inlet, the inlet was pretty calm.

Shortly after breaking the inlet I spoke to Scott on the Kimberly Ryan and they were about three miles out of Monster Ledge already...they were very anxious to get in on some inshore tuna fishing. About an hour later we arrived to our first spot and again checked in with Kimberly Ryan to see if they had any action yet.

We got to the west wall of Monster Ledge between first light and sun up, there were probably about two dozen boats there at that time with several charters chunking along the ledge. We set out our spread of bait and lures and started trolling the edges and zigzagging across the deep.

We had some good marks and fish deep, but no knockdowns. We keep expanding our pattern outwards and covering new water. The further out we went the less marks we had. As we started back in on where we had the best marks the port sort rigger line goes off. It was a red and white skirted ballyhoo.

With my boat having such a small cockpit the crew started clearing most of the lines right away leaving the starboard short rigger line in for a couple of minutes before clearing that line as well. It was funny as we were just discussing why we leave so early and never get our first fish before 9 am and at exactly 9:05 the rod went off.

It was a short battle that only lasted maybe 10 minutes and we had our under fish in the boat. My first bluefin tuna measuring out at 32" and weighing 22 lbs dressed.

We immediately reset the spread, changing out lures to all bait. We had an assortment of ballyhoo skirted in red and white, blue and white, green and white as well as naked hoos. We continued to work that area in tight and wide patterns but failed to find our over fish.

Later we started to troll towards the barn and Kimberly Ryan was doing the same and had a double header of an under and over fish about 8 nm away. They called us in on the action and we picked up and ran in some pretty sporty seas on the beam to their location. They had a dragger working the area and we had some pretty good marks up behind him but again could not get a bite. We then worked the area around the Lillian and good water and marks but not bites.

We worked that area for about an hour and called it quites and headed in. Water was clear and gray to gray/blue and 61.3 to 62.8 degrees

With the following sea and light NE breeze we were able to make much better time and a much smoother ride in. We ran in at 24-26 knots and broke the inlet from 26 nm out in just under an hour. It was a beautiful day on the water despite the somewhat choppy conditions making it a bit bumpy on the ride out and trolling with a head sea...but MY first BFT on MY BOAT...priceless!

Another Eastery Blow Ahead

Tomorrow's weather looks great. I can't get off of work, nor can I muster a four man crew for a weekday with ease. This coming weekend has forecasted for another East to Northeast blow coming our way most likely keeping everyone at the dock or at least in the rivers and bays.

I guess I will do my oil change, hose, belt inspection, torque nuts & bolts, etc. and then go for a boat ride. Maybe head over to the canal and do some black fishing.

Due to conflicting numbers from my fuel gauge I will also re-measure the tank to re-calculate the volume levels at various point of the gauge. I had previously calculated that at three quarters of a tank I have sixty six gallons, thus only needing twenty four gallons to fill the tank. When refilling this weekend from three quarters it only took twenty gallons to fill the tank. I know it may seem trivial but I like to know my range for longer trips, know that I can go out and come back with less than a full tank with confidence and if I have fuel delivered, how much to have brought in and end up with a full tank.

The dock box could use a good cleaning out, over the season lots of stuff gets tossed in as a temporary storage location and never makes it back out. I also need to get a good inventory of my sinkers for the upcoming wreck season.

As much as I would really like to get a good half to three quarter day of fishing in, I can get lots of odds and ends taken care of for those days when we can get out and won't have time to do them.

Striper/Wreck Trip...The Glass is Half Full

We bagged our offshore trip due to lack of reports from the canyons. Then we bagged our mid-shore trip again due to lack of reports and only a crew of three. It may have been a bad call with some reports trickling in from both the edge and the mid-shore waters.

Left the dock at 6 am and were shocked with the amount of boat traffic. More than any day we were out in the summer including the holiday weekends. The Point Canal looked like a Christmas tree when we looked back behind us with all the red, green and white lights.

Broke the inlet and were greeted with birds working from Bay Head South as far as you could see with the binoculars. We went from pod to pod of bait all the way down to Lavalette. Plenty of bait (peanuts and spearing) but only managed snappers and sea robins. The amount of sea robins was amazing, I think we caught more in two hours yesterday on both bait and jigs than we did all summer fluking.

After giving up on stripers we decided to hit some wrecks and rock piles on the Axel Carlson. With very little drift (.2-.4 knots) and no stellar pickings at any one location we drifted about eight different pieces. I had hoped to tie up and get some togging in but each wreck we tried was inundated with bergals to about 1.5 lbs. Some of the biggest I have seen inshore in a while.

We did manage probably over 100 sea bass and porgies though on clam, fiddler crab and gulp baits. Keeper ration was poor with many of the sea bass just under, right on or just over 12"...but with the small fillet size of a just legal fish we only keep fish over 14".We ended the day with a nice cooler of sea bass to 18" and porgies to 13" keeping only about a dozen fish for the table between the two of us and were back at the dock around noon.

Fall Weather at its Best

Due to weather yet again we stayed tied up. I did however get some PM and other odds and ends taken care of this weekend. I also tried to get fuel while out for a boat ride in the Metedeconk and the bay but no fuel docks were open.

Originally my raw water washdown pump suction side was routed around the outside of the motor well. After installing the sea strainer we redirected the suction line under the motor. At the time it seemed like a good idea. However the hose that was used did not hold up to heating and cooling from the motor. I replaced the nylon reinforced tubing with wire reinforced wet exhaust hose as well as installing a sea strainer on the washdown pump. This was probably overkill but two buddies had their pumps die this year and after dismantling in attempts to fix them they were pretty loaded up with crap.

We went for a quick boat ride in Mark's 37 Bertram to test the new gaskets on the sea strainers prior to running offshore this weekend. After that we took a quick ride in my boat.

Next I performed the 100 hour service including: torquing nuts, bolts, clamps, servicing the batteries, checking all lamps, bilge pumps and electrical circuits for functionality, checking fluids and an oil change.

The marina was pretty void of life, similar to the waters along the coast prior to the big blow. By early afternoon I was the only one left at their boat.

I finally put each electrical circuit on its own breaker. Something I have been putting off for some time. Of course I left a brand new package of terminals at home on the workbench so off the hardware store I was...luckily they have an expanded marine section and carry waterproof electrical terminals and are only a half mile down the street. After getting back I also realized I left the spool of red number 14 primary wire on the bench at home as well. Luckily I found a three foot scrap in the bottom of my spare parts bin and began installing all the breakers.

I have to redo teh labeling, I was in a rush and did not cut them even or stick them on straight but at least I know which breaker is for which and they are all on their own complete circuits now.

First Weakie Trip a Bust

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 :shaky: . 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.

Thar She Blows!

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.

Back-to-Back Sea Bass

I had a weekend pass from The Admiral since she was away at a conference promoting our new products GP Reports. We had great weather all weekend, although I could have done without the humidity on Sunday.

Saturday I headed right for a wreck on the Axel Carlson. I made a couple passes drifting over it before anchoring to test the waters. On each of the two drifts I caught a couple shorts and put a keeper sea bass in the box on each pass. After anchoring up and getting in position over the portion that I wanted it was non-stop action with short and keeper sea bass and a few short tog with one keeper about three pounds. The bergals were not too bad, had about a dozen of them as well as two would-be keeper fluke at 22 and 23 inches that were released for next season. I also gave a couple of rock piles a shot, they each produced keepers and shorts as well. Upon returning to the Inlet I was greeted with acres of bunker with nothing working them, they were just flipping and being playful.

Sunday I got a late start leaving the dock about 7 AM and decided to head back to the same wreck since it was producing so well. It did not produce as I had hopped. I guess the swifter currents of the full moon on a day and stronger winds had put the fish off a bit. I moved around to the rock piles and began picking at fish with keepers, shorts and tons of bergals mixed in. I decided to call it a day early as the winds picked up a bit. Approaching the bell buoy there were fish busting everywhere. I grabbed the first rod rigged with an artificial which happened to be a bunker colored rattle trap. I immediately hooked up with something small...it turned out to be a snagged bunker. I knew there was something under them this time as they were spraying out of the water and not just being playful. Second cast I hooked into something much bigger...it turned out to be a four pound bonito. They were everywhere and I had one on with every cast until the fleet showed up speeding right through the breaking fish putting them down in a matter of minutes.

I can't wait for cooler temps to weed out the fisherman that lack both proper boat handling skills and proper etiquette when fishing bunker pods or schools of breaking fish. It is very frustrating and you can't explain to them that they will catch more fish if they adjust their methods as their way is the only way and no one else knows what they are doing. All-in-all it was a great weekend on the water with fish in the box two days in a row and sore arms.

Hanna???

After much hype she was not much more than our average Nor'easter. But everyone pretty much prepared for the worst and fastened storm lines to pilings not already occupied by their everyday lines. I had thought about fishing but with the early morning fog I decided to stay in and work on the boat. Later on I found out there was a mad dog fluke bite right at the mouth of the inlet, pretty much anyone who went had limit catches in no time.

I did accomplish something I have been putting off for some time though. I replaced my main rear bilge pump with a much larger model and then replaced the froward bilge pump with old main pump. Also a big upgrade in pump size...from 360gph to 1500gph. I am not sure what they were thinking with only installing a 360 pump, it would not do much in an emergency that is for sure.

After making sure everything was in order if the storm did come through I headed down to Sun Harbor Bay Club to pickup some tackle I had ordered and also pickup a birthday present. Joey was having a ball with the wind and rain, but most others did not want to be bothered. Joe was hunkered down in the bait shop that seemed to be taking on a little water under the door from the wind driven rain. Not long after my arrival did the chop in the bay start breaking onto the fuel dock. Conditions were very different from Beaverdam Creek with their facing East and being closer to the inlet with no land mass or buildings to break the wind or sea coming in from the storm.

The ride home was pretty uneventful until I reached the Driscal Bridge where it seemed the heavens opened up and everyone forgot how to drive in rain. The rain and wind was no match for the RainX wiper blades and Venco Marine rain and water repellent though once I was able to break free from the traffic.

BFT Baby!

We left the dock at 4:15 AM...I was told the night before 4:30 and was woken up at 3:55 to the sound of the diesels being fired up three slips down and Mark yelling COME ON JOE! Jumped up got dressed and hopped aboard just as the dock lines were being cast off.

Broke the inlet shortly after in very dark calm conditions due to the full moon. Not sure what the draggers were doing but it looked like one was coming into the inlet on the North side of the North jetty but it turned out they were dragging the beach for something.

The ride out was nice but then our port motor temp gauge was reading a little hot...hotter than normal. We quickly took readings on both motors with the thermal gun and everything was fine. Then we lost all gauges for the port motor. We then shutdown the port motor and cleaned the sea strainer which did not seem that bad but did it just to be sure. Fired her back up and the thermal gun was reading just about them same temps and then about 10 minutes later the gauges came back and everything was reading normal...by this time we had first light...which we were hopping to be out there for was creeping up and Mark put her up on pane finally and headed right to our numbers. If it wasn't for the thermal gun we probably would have limped back home on one engine and bagged the whole trip. You can never be too prepared.

Since we were behind a little we dropped the lines in about a mile or two short of our destination since we started marking bait, fish and had some whales in the area. It was pretty uneventful all morning. There were whales a porpoise around all morning, an occasional free jumping mahi and we marked a lot of fish in the 100 to 125' depths all morning that would not come up.

We stopped twice and jigged on some bigger concentrations of fish but no takers. We were also able to make a couple of wrecks not on any of our charts...we will be investigating them further on other trips.

We then zig zagged through a maze of what seemed to be endless pot strings along the ledge. Rum Runner picked up a small mahi in the maze.

There was one knockdown that we never saw the fish...it bit right through the wire on the pre-rigged bally. Water was probably a little cold for a wahoo so we suspected a small mako.

After that in the next hour I release two bags, that once filled with water put up a fight similar to a large cow-nosed ray. They were released unharmed to the garbage can to die a slow painful death.

We were getting ready to call it a day and decides to troll another half hour. Wayne and Tommy were sleeping, Mark was driving and me and Ryan were on the bridge talking...and then she hit. By the time Tommy got to the rod she dumped about a third of a 50SW. I came down from the bridge in two steps and landed on the cooler. Tommy fought the fish for about 10 minutes and had it just about to the leader, it looked at the boat and headed right for the bottom...well about 20 feet short as we watched it sound on the fish finder. Tommy got her back up a second time and same thing...right to the bottom. Third time she came up I stuck her right in the gills and she was in the boat.

While we were hooked up Rum Runner came fast trolled over, circled us and immediately hooked up a fish and boated it just after us. We worked the area for another hour, Rum Runner again hooked up and we did the same fast trolling over and circled but we could not find our under fish as they did. We trolled another 15 minutes and picked up the lines and headed in.

It was a joy not rigging baits at 4:30 that morning, especially with having to deal with the gauge and motor temp issue. The pre-rigged ballys from Sun Harbor held up better and didn't wash out like a lot of pre-rigged baits we have had in the past from other tackle shops.

Water was very clear but gray in most spots and also a grayish/blue in others. We stayed in the colder water...67-69.5 degrees. This is where we had the best readings of bait and fish deep. It was just a mater of getting the speed right to get them to come up. We trolled between 6 and 9 ballys naked and skirted in various colors and a WWWB varied from bird/bally, bird, daisy chain and spreader bar. The fish hit the port flat line bally.

It was an eleven day on the water with great conditions, beautiful sunny skies, good friends and a fish in the box. She weighed in at 59.7 dressed. One of the best parts was the 37 minute ride to break the inlet...catching BFT close to home...priceless!

Fluke & Sea Bass

Left the dock at 5:30...got to the inlet and thought we were making a big mistake when the Henriques and Viking in front of us went down into the trough and all we saw was their hard tops and antennas of their fly bridges! Hit the bottom of the first trough and took water of next wave over the pilothouse...still not through the inlet it was too late turn around so we proceeded out to the bell buoy to see what it was like. Once out away from the inlet it was not too bad...4-5' rollers with little or no chop on them. I guess we just happened to leave at the wrong time of the ebbing tide as guys who left later said the inlet was not that bad.

Once we picked up everything off the floor we proceeded to the Axel Carlson. Hit several wrecks until we found the ones with fish willing to feed. Marked bait and fish on almost everyone we stopped at.

We had a constant pick of fluke (both shorts and keepers) as well as many keeper sea bass. Actually most sea bass were keepers.

The lack of drift I don't think was the problem with fluking...the ground swell and wicked bottom current in the morning had the fish off. The little bit of wind there was there was opposite the current but once they were going th same direction the fluking bite picked up.

Once the South wind really kicked in we headed into the Mantoloking pipe to give that a shot before heading in. More of the same...plent of sea bass on it and some fluke as well.

All fish were on spearing. I tried various gulp baits throughout the day and did not get a touch on any of them. Tried deadsticked and jigged...spearing did not matter jigged or deadsticked the fish just hammered it everytime.

All in all it was a great day on the water ending the day with seven keeper fluke to 23" and a dozen sea bass to 3 lbs! The highlight of the day was my personal best sea bass at 21.5" and 3 lbs.

Are they migrating early as in 2005?

Curious as to your thoughts on what the weekend's forecasted heave will do to the fluke fishery. I have a feeling it will be the beginning of the end. In years past when the close was Columbus Day that was a much bigger deal. If my memory and my quick glance at my logs was correct the last time they fled the inshore waters in a hurry before a storm was in September of 2005. What do you think...will the heave starting on Saturday trigger them to migrate back to the shelf? It seems that they are already showing in numbers in the haunts that we typically fish in mid to late September.

Mud Hole BFT

We decided to try something off the beaten path and run out to the mud hole.

It was a nice ride out but one out there it was sporty. We had whales all over, several draggers, weed lines, pilings, and birds here and there. We figured at least we may find some mahi if no BFT were around. We marked several bait with nothing under or around them.

The 75 degree water on the charts was no where to be found, instead we had a 69/70.5 degree break and that was about it. Water was cold, green and dirty.

Trolled up and down Little Italy, across to Monster Ledge, up and down the Ledge, around the Lillian and Arundo.

We did hear of some action at the Oil Wreck but that turned out to be amber jacks...at least that is what was said on the radio. I personally have never caught one trolling and have always caught them wreck fishing.

There was a school of baby mahi between the west wall of Monster Ledge and the Shark River Reef that we release a few of...the biggest being about 14" all hit on either the purple/black jet or purple/black cedar plug.

Due to the terrible water conditions we decided to run back in early and do some fluking. About 8 miles off the water was much bluer but cold...68 degrees and no bait to be found.

Once we got over to the Axel Carlson we had pretty steady action with fluke and sea bass. Fished a couple wrecks and put a half dozen fluke and 8 sea bass in the box and headed in.

After speaking with a couple guys who fished the Southern end of the Axel Carlson one had 14 keepers between two guys and the other had their limit and came in early.

All in all it was a nice day on the water despite taking a slight beating in the beginning. My first two home-made spreader bars swam straight and looked good to us back in the spread. Hopefully soon we will get some better water to the North and have some fish move in.

Mixed Bag

What a day...it was a little sloppy once you got 4-5 miles off the beach early but then laid down. Actually needed a sweatshirt and jeans in the early morning. It was 58 at the dock when I left! Brrrrr....and it is August!

Anyway, started on the Manasquan Wreck and had only shorts, moved to the Valparaiso and more shorts and short sea bass.

Then moved to the NE side of the Axel Carlson. the drift was very fast and needed 8-10 ounces to hold bottom with 30# braid but it was worth it. On the first drift there I put a 21" and 23" fluke as well as a 17" sea bass in the box. The next couple of drifts produced some shorts, more sea bass and two skates.

I moved south a little bit and put two more fluke in the box a 24 and 25 incher (biggest of the day). After a few more drifts there with more shorts and sea bass and short sea bass I decided to head to a lump a little further off to the south since it was laying down. I never ended up making it to the lump.

On my way I was greeted by birds working and fish busting all over. From the distance it looked like bonito...but after a few passes it was not. I immediately hooked up a falsie. Then numerous single and double headers of monster bluefish and another falsie. I was getting ready to pack it in when something munch larger hit the green/yellow feather. I cleared the other rod, slowed the boat, increased to full and the drag was still screaming. I was at first thinking I might have finally done it and hooked into my first BFT but the typically pulsating was not there. After about 10 minutes and a brief pause of the slight give and take and I spotted the whip tail in the distance, another short run and the line parted.

The mono had been shredded above the 6' Bimini. 6' leader to feather plus 6' Bimini, mono shredded above 12' of line = big thresher! It was fun while it lasted. Actually surprised it stayed hooked as long as it did with a 150 pound mono leader.

I then heard back from a buddy in the marina that was out on the Axel Carlson curious about what I had found. I ran back to the reef to fish with them for a while and try and put them on that spot I was on earlier since they only had shorts all day but there was a dive boat on it when we returned. We moved in between some pots on another spot and immediately I put two more fluke in the box...a 20" and 22" fish. repeated drifts yielded some shorts and more sea bass.

Total for the day was one lost thresher, a dozen or so bluefish (released), two false albacore (kept for bait), 15-20 short fluke, dozens of short sea bass, 6 keeper fluke from 20" to 25" and 12" keeper sea bass. By far my most productive day bottom fishing this season.

BFT or Bust

Friday night I did not sleep much with the anxiety of going off for the first time in my boat as well as if I actually had the range to make it back.

We left the dock at 4 am and made it out to Olley's just after the sun broke the horizon. The water temp was 75.5 and there was a slight one degree break over the Northwest corner of the lump. We started marking bait and fish deep and a few suspended between 20 and 30'. We were setting out 6 rods and before all 6 were out one went off...cedar plug on the flat line. A few minutes later 12+ pound bluefish. Didn't bother us too much as some of the reports we had said you had to pick through the blues but the BFT were in and out of the are.

Got that rod reset and the others out and about 20 minutes later two rods go off. Cedar plug on the other flat line and the WWWB skirted bally. Again two more gator blues.

Reset the spread and trolled around the edges, slowed down the speed and didn't get a tap. Increased to 8kts and picked more blues. We marked bait and fish almost the whole time over and around Olley's.

Picked up and Ran to the Star after Fear Knot reported they had bluer water over there. Water temp was a little cooler at 73.5 but the water looked a whole lot better. Trolled around that area for about a half hour and didn't mark anything or have any knockdowns. So we started South to the Fingers.

Got the spread setup and again before all lines were out we had a triple. Unfortunately all bluefish again. It was a first for me to catch bluefish in that blue of water.

The wind was picking up a little and there was a storm off in the distance. Not sure exactly where Fear Knot and WillPower were but they were reporting rain. Around 10:30 we had a real hard hid that screamed line off an 80 (Due to lack of anything better to bring...none of my buddies 30's or 50's were re-lined yet this year). It also just about ripped the rod holder off the rocket launcher even with a light drag. Before anyone could grab the rod the fish was off. Jigged the rod for a few minutes and nothing...checked the bait-bally was stripped off. We circled back over that spot twice and nothing.

At this point it was getting a little snotty out...tightly spaced 4 footers and some were starting to break a little. We started in for Manasquan Inlet but as the wind picked up a little more and we were running in the trough I decided to turn around and head for Barnegat and take the seas on the quarter. BI was at that point about 8 miles closer anyway.

Ran over Barnegat Ridge North and didn't mark a thing. Took us about 2.5 hours to break BI from the Fingers in the slop. We were surprised to see that many boats out at the Tires despite the conditions at the time we ran past. I would assume you needed 10-12 ounces yesterday afternoon.

Run up the bay was pretty uneventfully, we were pegged on E from Seaside but made it the last 10 miles home just fine. Highlight of the trip through the bay was seeing Barbed Wire doing about 140 mph and then seeing Jet Set making a couple of passes up and down the bay as well.

After taking on a load of fuel we found out we were not on fumes or as close to empty as we thought...only took 70 gallons to fill up and I hold 90. At the end of the day we did 123 miles for just about 1.75 mpg. We ran out at 22-25 knots fighting strong current, ran back in fighting wind, seas and current with three aboard, full of fuel, ice and cooler of tasty beverages and food.

Despite the lack of pelagics we all had a great day on the water, the boat ran great, made it back in fine and we now know we can take her pretty darn far in some slop and make it home with plenty of fuel to spare in a nice dry cabin!

Pt. Pleasant Elk's Fluke Tournament

I fished aboard the U Lucky Dog for the tournament with Tommy, Ryan and Mike. We broke the inlet to gorgeous weather, flat calm seas and little wind. Not your ideal fluking conditions but we were determined to make the most of it and were glad the forecast was off a bit.

After a little debate to head North or South the captain pointed the boat North and hit the throttles. It was a quick ride up to the Sandy Hook Reef. Shortly after getting lines in most of the crew was complaining about the sticky bottom and wanted to move over sandy bottom. I tried explaining you had better chances of quality fish in and around structure but they were tired of getting hung up on the bottom after only our first drift. Oddly not that many rigs were lost though, most of the time they were able to get themselves free.

We fished two wrecks on the reef before moving to the edges of the mussel beds. We had constant action with shorts and just legal fluke as well as hordes of short and barely legal sea bass. We did manage a few keeper sea bass and I had one that was almost 18".

After moving around that general area we had a few in the box but nothing to write home about...maybe a three pounder. We tried off of Red Church and the Elberon Rocks and then started heading back South. As we started making our way South the conditions deteriorated quickly and came more in line with the original forecast. At that point we decided to head for the barn. As we neared the inlet we decided to make one last drift on the Axel Carlson.

I had a few good hits right away but failed to hook up. Even dropping back to compensate for the fast drift did not help. I switched out to a two hook-slider rig to try and hook up on the short strikes...still could not catch a break. I will definitely be headed out to that last spot with more favorable conditions next week though.

All in all it was a fun day but not very productive. Everyone caught fish, not everyone caught keepers but we did have some fillets for all and we had a great time.

Bertha Blowout?

Looks like this weekend is a bust for offshore and near shore waters. I guess the remnants of Bertha are making their way inland. We were supposed to fish the Elk's Fluke Tournament but I can't see racing around and getting beat up over fluke. That and if I had to guess fishing will probably be off from the ground swell earlier in the week and the rough conditions tonight. Great conditions for tuna and bass but not finicky ground fish. I will probably just fish the river real early for a couple hours before the boat traffic picks up then go back and work on the boat and the dock.

Bertram Rendezvous 2008

Ah, The Gathering of Eagles. This year was my first year at the Rendezvous. I was invited by Mark to attend with him on the Tigress, a 37 Bertram. We left at about 9 AM on Friday from Pt. Pleasant and had slightly sloppy run south to Absecon Inlet into the wind and sea. We didn't make bad time though arriving shortly after noon.

We got the boat and ourselves cleaned up and immediately the drinks from our boat and others started flowing. The Rum Runner was churning out frozen drinks by the dozen for the welcome dock party along with hot and cold hordevours.

We tried to have lunch but the patio bar was very unaccommodating. My being vegetarian sometimes makes for finding a good meal a little difficult. They had hamburgers and cheese burgers along with chicken sandwiches with and without cheese but could not make a grilled cheese. I even tried for a mushroom Swiss burger, hold the burger patty but the waitress could not figure out how to enter that in the computer. I reciprocated with not being able to figure out more than one percent for the tip.

At this point I am thinking, oh great if this is how the rest of the weekend is going to turn out...I am taking car service home now!

Luckily that turned out to be the only real issue of the weekend. We headed back to the boat for more of the usual festivities...more drinks and finger food.

After dinner we headed over to Trump's for a little gambling. It is not one of my favorite casinos and we didn't spend much time there since no one seemed to be winning. Back to the docks for more drinks it was. Do you see a trend happening here???

We had discussed fishing on Saturday the week before but had figured none of us would be up and were uncertain of the weather. As luck would have it Mark, myself, Mike, and Wayne were all up before 6:30 AM and ready for action. We contemplated on heading out over coffee, then breakfast, then beer. At that point we figured it was a little late and settled in for more drinking and finger food. We did hear later there was a pretty good blue fin tuna bite on the AC Ridge-figures. There is always next year.

Pretty much the rest of the weekend was drinking eating, a little gambling here and there and oh did I mention drinking?

We took a look at the new 41 but I was not impressed at all. The salon seemed cramped with the raised floor are for the dinette. This did create a pretty decent size second stateroom though. The cockpit was also a little strange...the gunwales were very wide, about 18" wide. Plus with the higher freeboard of the cockpit you would probably need another 2' on your gaffs in order to be able to reach the fish. For the roughly $900k price tag I was not impressed. Even less impressing was the cruise speed. I did not go for a ride but was told that at 75% it is only about a 20 knot cruise and 26 wide open.

Saturday night's dinner was a pig roast on the rooftop of the patio bar. There was also lobster for an additional fee. I think there were two pigs but not sure as I did not investigate too well. I had a salad, some corn, a $10 Coors Light and headed back to the boat to eat and consume alcohol that was already paid for.

Sunday morning was just spend getting the boat ready for the ride home, breakfast and refueling.

The run home was smooth and downhill despite the 3-5 foot seas. We left around 10:30 AM and arrived home about 1 PM. There was however pea soup fog where visibility at times was maybe 50-75'. About 5 miles offshore visibility increased to about a quarter mile for most of the run North. A few guys ducked into Barnegat, not really sure why. They all complained that you could not see the jetties till between them and that there were dozens of boats all over the place. The fog did clear for them once inside the bay though. We decided to keep running north and go in through Manasquan and deal with the canal again. Once we hit the bathing beach on Island Beach State Park the fog pretty much lifted and all we had left was haze.

Other than the fog the trip down and back was uneventful for us, we did hear on the radio one boat seemed to have blown a head gasket and another boat had and engine shutdown while running but never hear what the outcome of that was. All-in-all it was a great weekend with pretty good weather and good friends. Can't wait for next year.

I should have walked around with the camera more as there would have been some very interesting shots but this is what I ended up with...Bertram Rendezvous 2008 Gallery.

Fluke are Heare

Left the dock at 5:20 and was up to Monmouth Beach at 6:35. First time in a long time we did not catch the train bridge on the way out!

Had two buddies from the marina aboard and I did not even get the engine off and my bait in the water before the first keeper hit the deck. A fat 19 incher. Minutes later we had more coming over the rails. We took a long first drift and the fish were in small pods in different parts of the drift so we started moving around to each spot.

There was constant, almost non-stop action as long as you worked and were not lazy about moving the boat back over the piece after a short drift. Water was 68-65 degrees. I say it back-wards because it went down as the South wind picked up. Went through about 8 lbs of spearing.

Made a couple other stops off the tennis courts for sea bass but only got one keeper and bunch of shorts. Did manage another keeper fluke there and another stop off the orange condos North of Red Church. Again short sea bass and tons of short fluke with a few more keepers mixed in.

Highlight of the day was we went up with two boats, the other guys were slow out of the gate so we had a few minutes on them. When they radioed to say they were about three miles away over the side went a bag of popcorn. Then two minutes later they were all excited on the radio asking if were in the action with the huge pod of birds working. Of course we said yes, just North of it drifting South into. Which was a line of crap since we had a North drift but the looks on their faces and words that soon followed yelled in our direction were priceless when they figured out what the bird activity was from.

Started home when some of the rollers started topping 5'. Probably was a good move as the inlet was not bad at that point but on the change of the tide it looked like it was going to get interesting. Coming into the inlet there were breakers topping the jetties and crashing almost up to the Tiki Bar.

Ended the day with 14 keepers to just under 5 lbs, only two skates, no doggies, three birds (always welcome for crab bait) and countless short fluke and sea bass. Another great day on the water with good weather, good friends and good times.