Mako Mania

Fished aboard a buddies boat in my marina on a 32' Albie for the tournament. We first setup in an area of some smaller wrecks between the Triples and the Toms. We had a nice 68-70 degree temp break early in the day and 70-72 in the afternoon. We were a little concerned about the warmer than anticipated water there but it produced all day.

Our first run-off was within 30 minutes of setting up. The 50W started screaming, way too fast to be a mako...then just as I picked up the rod it stopped. Reeled in to check the bait and not a mark on it. Five minutes later again...screaming drag. Few minutes later we released a small bluefin.

About 9:45 we had the first mako in the slick, and two more after that but none of them took baits, just swam around and looked...both were probably in the 150-180 pound range. After they disappeared we had another run-off, Mike set the hook, took two cranks and the hook pulled.

Then we get another taker, Tommy grabs the rod, sets the hook and this time is stays hooked. After a brief 20 minute battle we had 140-160 pound mako boat-side and decided to release her.

Ten minutes after that we are blessed with another run-off...Mark grabs the rod, hits the fish for the first hook set and the rod doubles over...he screams big fish and sets two more times. At first the fish just sat there for a second. Mark took a few cranks in and then she came alive peeling about 50 yards on the first run...then turned and charged the boat. A few minutes later she was about 30' behind the boat, we got our first look at the fish...and it was big...about 250-280 pounds. She took one look at us and the boat and went straight down. Fifteen minutes later the line parted. Then she came back and gave us the finger buy jumping twice...once off the stern tapping the tip of the port rigger on the way up and then a second time off the starboard side just missing the side of the boat on the way down. I was standing on the bridge and when it did a somersault-tail over head the head was about two feet higher than eye level. Man what a sight...It was so close I could have reached out and grabbed the wire with the hook still it its mouth.

At this point we figured it just wasn't our day. We made up new rigs with longer leaders...our first mistake. We did have a few more fish come up on the slick throughout the rest of the day and a few more run-offs but no more hookups.

All the run-offs and hookups were on the deep bait, nothing on the top or mid water baits all day long.

It was a great day on the water, we all had a lot of fun. It was my first sharking trip and the first time for both me and Tommy to see a mako jump in real life. At the end of the day we had 9 makos in the slick, 6 run-offs, released a small bluefin, released a small mako and lost a big mako. We also learned some for next time...we will never go shorter than 14' leaders again!

Striper Success

We broke the inlet about 5 am, looked left and there was an armada between the North Jetty and the Spring Lake Hotel. Took a quick cruise past it on the outside out of curiosity...seemed to be the JCAA Fluke Tourney fleet. Did not mark any bait, not surprising with the amount of activity there. Turned South and hit the throttles.

With reports of fish in Spring Lake and the South, Southwest winds for Friday and overnight we ran down to Bay Head figuring the bait and fish moved south. We first setup in 35' of water, marked lots of bait and a few fish. Had several small pods of bunker with bait spraying and coming clean out of the water. Had a couple baits slashed by blues and kept moving from pod to pod.

About 6:30 moved out to 50-60-' water as the sun rose higher and the haze started burning off. Had a bigger pod with a few birds diving. Me and Tommy both snagged bunker at the same time and after about 10 seconds both rods doubled over and line started peeling off. Unfortunately the only two spinning rods I have are relatively light with 20# braid on them. After getting nearly spooled I started backing down on both fish and reeling at the same time. About 10 minutes into the battle and having little line on the spool I loosened the drag a bit. That was about when Tommy broke off...probably due to the small spool exerting more drag than the full spool was set to.

I got the fish up after another few minutes about 15' off the transom and once she saw the boat she was off to the races again and we were forced to back down on it again. Finally after about 20 minutes she was in the net...41.5" bass! My first live lining bunker and first of 2008.

We quickly moved back on that pod and put a baits out on the conventional gear and had run-offs right away. Both came unglued about 3 minutes in. We had one other run-off a few minutes later that never came tight.

We continued to mark bait and fish but by 7:30 it seemed the bite was over and we headed back in.

We had water from 56 to 63 degrees, we stopped over a few wrecks just to see if there was any life in 80' and they looked pretty barren.

Despite losing a few fish it was a great day and a lot of fun on the water with light tackle. The fish weighed in at 25.1 pounds and 41.5". Seemed pretty light for its length, there was nothing in its stomach when I cleaned it. Not completely surprising after a long fight I guess it lost its breakfast on its way to the boat.

The new tank is in and its time to fish! I am still waiting on calls back from the manufacturer but I am glad I did not hold my breath. It has been sixteen days since I last heard from them and they claimed I was their number one priority and would receive a call back from the man in charge...I would hate to see how their number 2-10 priorities are handled. So at this point I decided to save my season, repair the boat and let the attorneys and USCG do battle with the manufacturer.

After getting the tank in and taking on a half load of fuel I was headed out to search for some bunker pods and try and find some bass. I heard some radio chatter that sounded half promising but with no confirmed reports I was skeptical. On my way out I came across some birds working in the river with fish crashing the surface. Rather than leaving fish to find fish I decided to give it a shot.

I put on a yellow and white popper and had non-stop top-water action for almost two hours! Light tackle action at its best with two to four pound bluefish. Other than me and four kayaks I had the action to myself. The kayaks seemed to be brand new and their paddlers were trying to figure out how to handle them in the swift currents not allowing them to get in the killer action.

Conditions were still a bit breezy despite the reports of it laying down with a bright setting sun and chilly 55.3 degree water with 64 degree air temps.

All-in-all it was a great little shake down run and first fishing trip with the new tank. I am looking forward to an excellent 2008 season even though I am off to a slow and late start.

First Trip in Over a Month

Since I still have yet to hear from the manufacturer of the boat about any resolution to the condition of the fuel tank we took Mark's boat out for opening day of the 2008 fluke season.

Due to all the reports we turned right out of Manasquan and ran down to the bathing beach. We had spoons in the water before 6 am and zig zagged our way to the CGS. Marked a ton of fish and bait, had a half dozen knockdowns, had three fish on for two minutes but nothing to the boat.

Around 10-10:30 we switched over to fluking. Stopped on a couple of small lumps with bait...only dogfish and skates. Moved further North to a small wreck off Lavalette and had tons of 16"-17" fluke. Spearing was the preferred over any type of strip bait but Gulp shrimp out fished the spearing.

Water was cold...started the day with 51.2 and ended the day in 15' of water with 55.3...most of the day was around 53 degrees.

I was amazed at the lack of boat traffic. I don't think we saw 100 boats all day including only 1 head boat. The huge crane being towed North was something...that thing was gigantic.

I did hear from a couple of guys after we returned to the dock that the few that ran North had pretty good results on 20 and 30 pound class fish up on the mussel beds and rocks, and they reported large bunker schools up there as well.

We watched a tug towing a huge crane all day. We first saw it before 6 am a little South of Barnegat Inlet. When we were packing it in around 12:30 it was up to Lavalette. All in all it was a great day on the water...great weather, great friends but no so great fushing but we all still had a great time.

Tank Condition Shocking...

I was able to get down to the marina yesterday and get hauled out, pumped the fuel tank dry and pulled it out. The condition of the tank was shocking. More shocking was the design. The tank was built to pretty much the exact shape and size of the hold it was in. It had very little or no ventilation around it causing it to trap water, moisture and sit in water and condensation all the time.

This is most likely what led to its corrosion issue and eventually the forty or more pin holes that developed as a result of the galvanic action of the aluminum tank sitting in water.

I will be calling the manufacturer today to find out how they would like to proceed with this. I am hoping they will admit it was a bad design and allow me to have a new tank fabricated that does not conform or rest on the bottom of the boat causing the same issue within three short years.