Sunday, April 30, 2006

Lack of Flounder Report

Well our suspicions were correct...the flounder have migrated out to the continental shelf following the heavy rains we had last week. Reports up until the blow prior to the rains were good but only a really slow pick of a handful of fish or no fish at all after the rain.
Well it was a beautiful day on the water. The winds were no where near the 15-20 knots as predicted or the gusts. We got setup at the first spot about 9:30 and had nothing. The water was gin clear and you could see bottom and watch crabs walking by in 10' of water. At 11:30 we moved out to the inlet when we received a phone call from the the Norma K II which just caught 4 keeper flounder and a few fluke. We setup in the inlet and immediately caught a 20" sea robin and numerous spider crabs. We also had one suspect bluefish due to the typical bite off when using very small, short shank hooks. When the K II headed in we moved to slightly behind where they were which did not produce any fish either. The current was ripping all day. The 4 fish that were caught on the K II were caught at slack tide as were the fluke. All in all it was a great day on the water and I am glad I did not let the forecast dictate my decision to leave the dock.
We did also take a quick cruise across the bay to blow out the cobwebs...we got up to 34.6 knots (With 3/4 fuel, 25 gallons water, and full load of gear and 2 passengers) before the channel turned and scrubbed some speed. I have to find a big enough, straight stretch of water to see what my WOT speed fully loaded really is. In any case 34 knots is plenty fast for me and most days you can't do that outside anyway without getting really beat up.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Get'n Ready for Bass & Fluke!

Well I got the first batch ready for an epoxy protective coating. I could not come up with a suitable way to make the ball jigs chrome, plus chrome tends to attract dogfish and skates anyway so we went with three of my four favorite colors. I have to do a few in school bus yellow prior to epoxy coating everything. The school bus color seems to work very well on early season fluke when the water is very clear. Early season bass love it as well.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

This Weather Sucks!

Unless you are a duck! Well with the wind howling and the rain coming down in buckets we decided to stay tied up at the dock this weekend. As some of you know I don't usually miss too many trips due to weather. Unfortunately this time of year there are not too many species lurking in the rivers and bays. Winter flounder are the main catch right now and don't cooperate with murky water and cloudy skys. I did however get to work on more jigs for the upcoming fluke season. Got a bunch prepared to be painted in various paterns like bunker, herring, spearing and standard white.

Friday, April 21, 2006

More Ink!

Was just notified by a buddy that my opening day 2 lb. 13 oz. winter flounder picture made it into the Asbury Park Press. Now only if the weather would cooperate so I can get out and catch a bigger one!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Another Shity Forecast

Well this weekend looks like it id going to blow hard on Saturday as well as T-storms and then pretty much rain and T-storms all day on Sunday too. I was hoping to fish a winter flounder tournament on Saturday and possibly try out my new bunker spoon rods as well. Got them all rigged up today with 200 yards of 50# mono backing, 300 feet of 40# monel wire marked at 150', 200' and 250' topped off with a 12 foot 50# fluoro leader. I guess I have to wait till next weekend unless there is a huge change in weather in the next 24 hours or so.