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Captain D's Fishing Report 2009
     

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October 6, 2009  

     This trip was epic. It doesn’t get any better.  The type of trip everyone dreams of…

     On Tuesday morning Rich, Rudy, my brother Max, and myself set off on a bluefin trip.  As far as I know, we were the only Jersey boat that had some very good intel on a stellar bluefin bite going on 68 miles to the east.  The Long Island boats were keeping this very quite.  As we headed to the grounds which were basically 11 nautical miles NNE of the Bacardi, the anxiety level was high. 

     Well one piece of the puzzle was coming together, as the radar was showing numerous targets 12 miles from us we knew we had found the commercial draggers.  It was in this area that the fish had piled up.  I figured we would be one of only a few sport boats that would be in this spot today.  Well, ok, it ended up that we were the only Jersey boat there, however a small fleet of about a dozen boats did materialize. 

     The first hour of following draggers and looking for fish were very slow and I began to wonder if we were a few days too late.  One of the Long Island boats reported that he had found some fish a few miles to the north, so we made the move.  As we began to pull back on the throttles, to my enjoyment, the fish finder was showing good marks 100 ft. down.  I yelled down to start throwing bait, and before I had the motors off the fish were stacked under the boat.

     I figured the first line down -  we would be on, but it didn’t happen until the third line was set.  As I turned to check the lines set behind the boat I noticed one of the red balloons had just gone under.  Before Rudy got to the rod the line was already screaming off the reel.  Fish on.  Before you knew it we had two on.  The first fish was about fifty pounds and we put that one on ice, the next one was of the same size and was released.  For the next 3 hours we fought fish after fish and had them visually behind the boat.  Then with a blink of an eye they were gone.

     So with the fish gone I figured we would go back up where we had started our drift and try to get back on them.  The other boats had lost them as well.  After 10 minutes of looking around, I marked one and then two maybe three, and had the crew start throwing bait.  After staring at the finder for 15 minutes, 6 fish came on the screen at once and were streaking up into the chunks.  Here we go again - round 2.  Well, as tired as we all were, things were about to get even worse - but in a good way.  The first fish smoked a good amount of line off and took much longer to get to the boat.  When we finally saw this one it was over 100 lbs.  The gaffs came out and we had our fish over 47 inches.  Every fish that we then fought were all 100 to 150 lbs.

     The choice bait were the peanut bunker that Max had netted the day prior.  We were throwing these whole, along with whole butters and sardines.  The peanuts have a tendency to float due to an air pocket inside.  Well, the ones that drifted back up to the surface in the slick were getting demolished by these large bluefins and made for quite a show.  We were watching surface action along with seeing them eating baits in the slick.  We finally put out a bent butt 80 hoping for an even larger fish.  Rudy put out a fresh ling which we had netted behind the draggers earlier in the day.  It got hammered and we fought that fish for a good five minutes before the line parted.  It was definitely a bigger fish, only knowing this by the amount of drag we put on it.  Oh well.  We also lost a larger fish on one of the stand ups.  The guys fought this one for at least forty minutes before having another line cut that one off.  We must have had the entire school around our boat because the Long Island guys were trying to reach us on the radio, and then they were moving in very close to us and our slick.  Even with these guys 75 ft away and in our slick, they still couldn’t get a bite.  This just shows you that a single boat can hold an entire school for certain reasons.  I’m just glad it was us.  As we were still fighting two more, the last piece of bait was being thrown over and I signaled to the two boats next to us to come get right behind us. 

     As we pulled away one boat was already tight.  What an awesome day, along with some very sore exhausted bodies.  We will have some video of the trip to view... so stay tuned.

 

October 1, 2009 

     The water that was in the Hudson had slid on down the edge and was now in the Toms Canyon.  This is the same water we had fished up in about a week ago.  We had a good forecast so we shoved off and made the 86 mile run.  The forecast was for the wind to lay down and become light and variable.  The entire ride out I kept waiting for the wind to subside - but no such luck.  Actually as the sun set it came on even harder and didn’t stop till around 4:30 am.

     It’s always great when you tell people coming on the boat that its suppose to be a beautiful calm night.  Well Rich told that to his good friend Scott, who has been out with us a bunch of times, and was glad to hear the news.  Well let’s just say that we’ll leave it at that, and get to the report.

     Fishing was great and thank god, there’s nothing worse than getting the @#!* beat out of you all night and not catching.  Actually we set our sword lines out first and as Rudy had just got the rod set the tip starts bouncing and the balloon is dobbing.  So he cranks on em a few times and gets the line taught, Rich jumps on and gets the fish up near the boat and we see now that it is a small sword.  As I grabbed the leader the hook pulled out and away goes an estimated sixty pound sword.  More than likely we would’ve released a sword of that size.

     With the sword baits back out it was time to catch some yellowfins, and there were plenty down there.  The finder was once again showing lots of fish under the boat.  Wasn’t long before Rich was tight with the jigs once again, and this would be the way the rest of the night went.   We would put a jig out on the outrigger and with the boat rocking you could just stand there and wait for the hit.  The fishing was fantastic with one after the other.  Scott did make an appearance battling through the harsh environment and boating some yellowfin.  Way to go Scott…..

     Well, we kept our limit of twelve fish with the biggest going thirty five pounds and releasing many, many, fish.   Watched a beautiful sunrise over a glassy slick calm ocean.  If someone had told you 5 hours ago it was 5 to 7 foot out here, you wouldn’t have believed them.  Once again left em biting and had a very pleasant ride home.

 

September 23, 2009

     Wednesday morning Rich stopped down at the boat just to see what was going on and I informed him there was a good bite last night in the Hudson. Most of the fish were small, but a lot of them, with a bigger one here and there, and  along with some good swordfish catches.  I also told him that tonight is your only weather window to get out.  Well the next thing you know we are fueling and loading the boat with bait and food and leaving for the canyon in a matter of hours.  Rich was able to find his good friend Chuck to hop onboard and join us for the trip.

     We arrived at the 100 square just at sunset and found seven other boats already set up on the prime ground.  We found a spot just north of them and got to work.  In a few minutes we had squid in next to the boat and after a couple swipes with the net we had some nice live bait.  After a few hours we had some tuna under the boat and Rich dropped the jig down and was tight.  Chuck got in on the action as well.  The tuna were small just like the reports we had heard.  They averaged twenty pounds and we caught a lot of them only keeping six.  We also had a sword on for a few minutes before pulling the hook. 

     The fish stayed under the boat all night coming through in waves and at times were busting on bait at the surface.  Out of all the fish we caught only two were hooked on bait, the rest were all on the jigs.  At first light we left em biting and headed for home.

 

September 20, 2009

      On Sunday we made a trip back out to the Princess, hoping for another banner trip with the bluefins.  Along on the trip was Rich and my brother Max.  Arriving on the grounds at first light we looked around for some life.  After searching for thirty minutes we found the whales and bait almost three miles from the fleet.

     So we set up on the drift and began throwing bait in the water ( chunking )…   Wasn’t long before we were marking fish on the finder and Rich dropped a butterfly jig down.  Within a few minutes Rich was tight with a bluefin.  A nice thirty- five pounder was put onboard.  The next couple of fish to hit the deck unfortunately were bluefish, not what we had in mind.  Well we stuck to jigging and after losing quite a few jigs to bluefish, we were rewarded.  Max had a fish that was taking some nice drag and we knew this was no bluefish.  After a ten minute battle on light tackle this tuna was boated and released.  The remainder of the day were all bluefish and we pulled the plug a little early, which is almost never heard of on THE BIG BOY!

     For those of you who don’t know, the size limit and bag limit on bluefin are as follows:  one fish per boat between 27 inches and 47 inches, another fish may also be retained if it is over 47 inches and less than 73 inches. Often you will hear people refer to their catch as having their over and under.

     Also the picture of the fish finder.  Those are all bluefish, not tuna…..

 

September 9, 2009 

We finally got out for some of the great action they have been having with the bluefin tuna.  These fish are sitting about 45 miles from the inlet and range in size from 40lbs, all the way into the 200lb bracket.  Average fish are between 40 to 70lbs.

We started trolling inshore around the Monster Ledge area, and then found ourselves slowly heading east.  We had planned on fishing close to home, due to some time restrictions, however, I relayed the reports I was hearing on the radio down to Rich, and before you knew it, we were running 20 miles to the east.  Typically, the bite is over by 10am out there, but today sounded very different as it was now almost 130pm, and it was still good.

Pulling up in  the area, and looking through the binoculars, you could see tuna chicks by the hundreds going crazy, and some bent rods on a few boats.  As we pulled into the birds, the fishfinder lit up with readings.  Rudy and I quickly dropped jigs down and were hooked up instantly.  Rich took one rod, and I handed mine to Dave.  Unfortunately Dave broke his off, however Rich made short work on his 55lb bluefin.

We started throwing bait in the water and had a great show behind the boat.  As the sardines hit the water skipjack, false albacore, and bluefin tuna were boiling the surface fighting over every piece.  At one point we couldn't get a bait or jig down to the bluefins, which were now holding 30 to 50 feet down.  We also witnessed a finback whale swim under the boat repeatedly.  You could have reached down and touched him, he was that close.  Also, saw schools of rays.  These schools had hundreds of rays in them, and at one point they were so close to the surface the tips of their wings were coming out of the surface.  This was like watching Blue Planet - yet we were in it.

Rich's 11 year old nephew, Evan, was also out with us and he had his hands full fighting all three species of tuna.  On about the third release yours truly put a butterfly jig hook into his hand.  Yeah, ouch, but there were fish to be caught.  It wasn't that serious and would later get it taken out in the E.R.  Rudy cut the hook from the jig, and wrapped the hook off to the side of my hand so it wouldn't get snagged on anything.  OK, great, now back to the awesome bite we had going.  I lost count on how many fish we lost, I think it was up near 10 or so.  Released about half a dozen and soon had to think about heading 52 miles back to port, dreading those wonderful needles waiting for me...

 

September 4, 2009 

We had the Gerry McCarthy charter out for a fluke and seabass trip.  We hit two of my favorite spots and one of them produced some fish.  The tide was ripping in the morning, along with a stiff wind out of the north, which made for difficult fishing.  Anyway, we had fluke up to 5lbs and seabass up to 3lbs.  The wind finally laid down and it turned out to be a beautiful day.

 

August 28, 2009 

Hoffman's was hosting the Tuna Stakes Invitational Tournament which was running from the 23rd to the 28th.  The rules for this tournament state that you cannot leave the dock before 5am on the day that you chose to fish, and you must return the following day by 3pm for weigh-ins.  So, you basically were trolling, chunking during the night, and then trolling in the morning before lines out.  Eligible species were bigeye, yellowfin, bluefin, longfin, swordfish, and mako.

We left the dock Thursday with Rich, Chuck, Ben, and Pete.  Our destination just north of the Toms canyon.  After a pretty nice ride out, it was time to get down to fishing... Spoke to a couple of other boats in the area and all that they had to report were very small yellowfins.  After only about an hour, as we were headed north up the edge, I finally had some marks on the finder.  Sure enough, the fish came up and attacked the spread.  We went 3 for 5 on yellowfins from 55lbs to 67lbs.  After that, we pounded the area without a touch.  Only one other boat was able to hook a few at nearly the same time we did, and the fishing went dead for them as well.

Started trolling south looking for a spot to spend the night, then there was this noise of a reel screaming line off - music to my ears.  This fish wasn't acting like a tuna, and I had a good feeling it was a marlin, just what kind, I didn't know yet.  He finally showed himself leaping out of the water, and putting a show on for us all.  After the guys took turns fighting the blue marlin, Rudy had the leader in had for a release at bat side.  The fish looked to be about 250lbs.

Action during the night was dead.  Besides a couple of sharks, one a hammerhead, and the other a small tiger that we released, there just wasn't anything going on until about 4:30am.  The skipjack and small yellowfin tuna came into the slick.  It was fund watching them eat, of course we caught a bunch of bait and jigs, but nothing big enough to keep.  Then on the troll we saw plenty of porpoise and a few whales.  We stayed with them, hoping for a bite from the yellowfin.  Often, yellowfin can be found mixed in with the porpoise, or just behind them; unfortunately this wasn't the case.  It was now 10am, and time for lines out and to head for port.

Well, we didn't win any money, but we did come close to taking heaviest tuna for the day,  We missed it by 5lbs or so.  Enjoy the pics.

 

August 7, 2009 

Leaving the dock somewhere around 11pm Friday night, we were headed east.  Destination, the Hudson Canyon.  The bigeye bite was still going and Rich was finally back from Florida, so a day troll was in order.  Onboard we had Rich, his brother Mike, and my brother Max.

This was Mikes first trip offshore to the blue water, and it will be one he never forgets.  We arrived on the west wall around 4am, and was hoping to find some action there, away from the enormous fleet on the 100 square.  Well, there wasn't much going on there so we picked up and ran over to the 100 square on the east wall.  One of our good friends Cliff was fishing there and called to tell me he had three on.  Rudy and Max quickly go the spread out as I dodged in and out of nearly 80 other boats, all fishing the same spot.

I couldn't take the traffic any longer, and moved off to the north by a mile, hoping to improve our chances of some fish.  Well, it paid off, and it wasn't long before we started marking fish on the finder.  Went over a pile of fish and yelled down to the crew to watch the lines, and just like that, we had multiple hits on all eight rods.  We boated two nice yellowfins out of the attack.  Back on the troll, we went over another group of fish - I watched them on the finder for thirty seconds before they decided to come pay us a visit.  This time we went 3 for 5 on yellowfins.  The fish were 55-75lbs.  These may be some of the only yellowfins of this size to be caught in quite some time.

Well, we didn't get any eyeballs, but I'll take yellowfins like this all day.  It was a great day, along with good family on board.

 

July 22, 2009 

Went out for a day of fluke fishing with Rich, his brother Mike, and his son Josh.  Fishing was slow, but we did manage to put a catch together.  I believe Josh was high hook for the day, and had the pool winning fish of 4lbs.

 

July 14, 2009 

     Had the Dave C. charter out for a day of fluke fishing.  Conditions in the am where a bit sloppy, as we started out on the Sea Girt Reef. Before making a run up north we had numerous throwbacks and one keeper there.  Tried a few more spots along the way up north with just shorts.  Fished the snake for the remainder of the day putting five more keepers in the box along with some nice sea bass.  Was surprised to see so many throwbacks out in the deeper water.  

 

July 12, 2009 

     Had Rich and Laurie out for some fluke and sea bass.  Fluking was a bit slow but the sea bass were snapping.  Rich had a sea bass that was three and a half pounds, as well as being high hook of the day. Nice work.

 

July 9, 2009

  Made a trip out to the Sea Girt Reef for some sea bass action.  Rich and his friend Ben were onboard.  Action was somewhat steady, the ocean was a little sloppy making conditions a little more difficult to fish in.  We tried a few different spots and put a catch together before heading in.

 

July 5, 2009 

We left the dock at midnight and made our way offshore for our first canyon trip of the year. Hudson Canyon was our final destination.  Onboard we had Rich, Ross, Keith Sr., Keith Jr., Max, Rudy and myself.  The reports had been just ok, with a lot of small non legal yellowfin being caught with an occasional keeper here and there. 

Getting on the grounds before sun up, I stopped just short of my original spot, after seeing what I like to call “ fishy water”.  Well, it paid off big.  As Rudy was setting the third line of nine, I quickly yelled down to him “ watch your hands”  because I was marking a lot of tuna on the fish finder.  In an instant two of the lines got exploded on, and the third got tried multiple times but couldn’t get the hook in.

     There was no wondering what kind of tunas these were - Bigeyes, and they were smoking some line.  Once we got Rich and Keith set up, the battle was on.  The first fish to come to gaff was a 126 pounder, and the second, well lets just say it was going to be large.  After an hour and forty minute battle the harpoon finalized our catch.  After a great dart shot we dragged the 222 lb. bigeye through the door and high five’s were flying throughout the cockpit.

    Back on the troll we released a couple small yellowfins and some skipjacks, and then headed back around 2pm.  Great way to kick off the season.

 

July 2, 2009 

Had the Jim Burke charter out for a bass and fluke trip.  Once again the bass fishing was just about dead.  Think I saw one fish get caught out of forty some boats.  So off to the fluke grounds we went.  The fishing was ok, we put a catch together with the heaviest fluke going 6.2 pounds.  We also had a mix of sea bass.

 

June 30, 2009 

    Had the Gerard charter out for a combo trip of bass and fluke.   Well the bass didn’t cooperate in the am, so we changed over to fluking.  We were able to put a catch together with the fluke and some sea bass.  On the way in, we once again stopped and tried like hell to put a bass in the boat, but unfortunately we couldn’t capitalize.  The bass fishing has been hit or miss with the action being very early am or late evening.

 

June 26 - 28, 2009 

   Rich and a couple of his friends joined us on Friday for the 1st day of the Jersey Coast Shark Tournament.  We had plenty of action with the blue sharks, but no makos.  On Saturday the story was the same - only a few blue sharks.  Sunday on the other hand was a bit different.  Found some great water down to the south, and put on the drift all alone on the 25 fathom line.  As time was wearing down, we finally had our first bite of the day.  Yes it was a mako.

     After a short battle we released the mako which looked to be about 100 pounds.  Didn’t take long before we had our next bite - once again another mako.  This one was a little bigger and the decision was made to keep it.  Well time had run out and by the looks of this shark it wasn’t going to place in the tournament.   So we put the lines back out to see if we could release a few more.

    As luck would have it we did get two more shots, pulling the hook on a mako, and getting another to bite.  Our mako we kept weighed in at 122 pounds.  At least the weather was kind to us this year.

 

June 23, 2009 

     Had Cliff, Jack, Larry, and Rich on the boat for some bottom fishing.  Fishing was ok, we caught fluke, sea bass, and a couple of bluefish.

 

June 20, 2009

    Back at it the next morning and we left the dock at 5am this time.  Didn’t want to hear that we missed the bite again.  Even at 5am there was a parade of boats heading out the inlet.  I made a decision to fish south of the inlet today knowing that it would be a mad house north, hoping to increase our odds.  Bait was no problem to get, as one throw filled us up for the day.  We fished multiple pods all down the beach, as far as Casino Pier in Seaside.  So much for getting up early from what I saw and heard nobody did much of anything.  Think I may be going bald, from pulling my hair out in frustration.  Oh well…..

     We made up the day by having some great fun with the sea bass out on the Axel Carlson Reef.

 

June 19, 2009

     Got a call from Rich in the morning and said he’d like to go fishing, so off we went.  Doug was onboard for the trip as well.  Two throws with the net and we were loaded up and began fishing the pods just north of the inlet.  Heard the bite was real good early, too bad we got such a late start however we did get a few chances - 3 to be exact and we blew every one of them.  Wow wish I knew when this bad luck of ours would end.

 

June 16, 2009

     Rich had his friend Peter G out for a day of bass fishing, we were hoping to get Peter on his first striped bass .  Well it took a little while but the spoons paid off and Peter had his first striper.  On the troll we dropped a couple fish and just before pulling the plug on a very slow day of bassin',  the fish finder lit up.  We quickly deployed some live bunkers down.  Within seconds we had a hook up, followed by two pulled hooks.  Did another two drifts only to pull some more hooks, ouch …..The two bass we did manage to land were in the mid to upper twenty pound class.

 

June 13, 2009

 Fished Sat. morning with Rich and Laurie.  The bait was thick just out in front of the inlet, and with one throw we had close to 100 baits.  The net was so full Rudy and I had to pull it through the tuna door.  We kept only forty baits and let the rest go.  Decided to head north to look for the bass, radio was very quite as usual for a weekend.  The fish just don’t bite well at all do to all the boat traffic on weekends.  So we went out in the deep where the boat traffic is usually much less and looked around.   Dropped on some marks and were able to catch one bass.  Tried to get back on them but was able to locate, so we went on the troll.

On the troll we did mark some good pods of bass but once again the fish had lock jaw.  On the troll for hours with two bites and then finally landing a bass.  Rudy noticed some white water just inshore of us, so we quickly reeled in the lines and steamed over there.  Of course as we pulled up to the area the bass had gone down, so we made a few drifts in the area.  Plenty of bunker pods but couldn’t locate the bass, and time was up for this crew as we had to make our way home.  The two fish were 16lbs and 25 lbs.

 

June 11, 2009

 Got Rich, Pete, and Doug out for a late afternoon bass trip.  Lately there has been a decent bass bite that develops around six ‘clock and last into the dark, so we figured we would give it a shot.  We left the dock around two o’clock, the seas were a little sloppy, and there was fog as well.  It didn’t take long to get bait, so we slowly made our way up north searching for any signs of bass.  The fog made it very hard to see anything at all, so my eyes were glued in the radar and fish finder.

We went on the troll up in Asbury and covered the grounds there on up to Elberon only marking bait and not much signs of any bass.  By six we were down to less than an eighth of a mile visibility making things even more difficult.  At around seven we were heading home very slowly still looking for the bass and as we passed Asbury for the second time we marked the bass on the fish finder.  I quickly stopped the boat and had Rudy drop some baits down, Rich and the guys were quick to jump in, as I was yelling down that the entire screen on the fishfinder was showing bass throughout the entire water column.

Within just a few minutes we had a bait on top get hit and at the same time Rich was getting a bite.  Well Rich got tight and for the one we had on top for some reason just didn’t want to eat and disappeared.  After a really good fight we landed Richs’ fish which tipped the scales to 28 lbs.  For some strange reason we didn’t and couldn’t get another bite.  We should’ve had four fish on since we had four live baits in the water, I’m pretty sure we stumbled across the tail end of their feed.  We made a few more drops on them and they just didn’t want to eat.  It was now dark and the we were down to zero visibility with the fog, so we made our way back to port.

 

June 6, 2009

     With another long day ahead of us we left the docks even earlier, 3am.  Wanted to be the first ones up there to find bait and hopefully scout the area for fish.  Once again we got bait with no problems as gray light was upon us and wouldn’t be long before lines in.  The entire area was beginning to fill up like a parking lot for the superbowl.  What a joke, I knew this would hurt the fishing and it most certainly did.

    This had to be one of the worst days of fishing I’ve seen this year.  We were able to muster up one fish that went 28 lbs., one hit trolling spoons, and a pulled hook on a nice fish while livelining.  We pounded and area where there were some very large bass scattered about.  They just didn’t want to bite and I'm certain a lot of it has to do with the full moon.  I'm positive in a few days the bass fishing will be insane.

     After fourteen hours on the water just on Sun. alone mind you, all our hard work and effort for the day didn’t get us far.  However we did manage to finish 3rd in the Brielle Commerce Family Day Tournament, and a fourth place finish in the Hi Mar.  This tournament has always been good to us as we have placed in the top five multiple times.  The MRTC Tournament we did not weigh our fish in since we knew there was a larger fish already weighed in.  Hey overall we did great and had a good time.

 

June 5, 2009

     Rudy and I spent Friday preparing for the 3 striped bass tournaments we would be fishing in this weekend, along with Rich.  The Hi Mar which runs out of Highlands, The Brielle Commerce Family Tournament, and The Manasquan River Tuna Club Tournament - this is a club that we belong to that holds many different tournaments throughout the year.

     We had an early departure on Saturday at 4am. You could have lines in at 5am and commence fishing.  Well the early departure worked in our favor as we headed up the coast north bound looking for bunker.  Came across the bunkers just off Asbury in the gray light and loaded up the livewells in no time.  There were some fish in on the bait and some good marks on the fishfinder so we dropped some baits down.  Wasn’t long before Rich had the first bass of the day on for a short period before the hook pulled.  Rudy was next and he had a good fish on.  I got tight also, only to snap my line and put me out of service.  That’s ok because Rich was now on another fish and I was getting ready to net Rudys’ fish.  What a beauty this fish was tipping the scales at 35.8 lbs.  Followed by Richs’ fish that went 28 lbs. What a great start to the day.

     Throughout the remainder of the day only one other bass was caught and released aboard The Little BIG BOY ("TLBB") - this fish was lighter than Richs’ and didn’t help us in either of the 2 tournaments we were fishing that day.  The Hi Mar is a combined weight of your two heaviest fish, and the other two tournaments is single heaviest fish.   With time running out we made the long run up to Highlands for weigh in.  This was going to be a quick stop since we had to make it back to Hoffmans in Brielle to make that weigh in as well.

     Got a call from a friend who was at the Hi Mar with the final results.  Team Big Boy finished with a combined weight of 63.8 lbs, finishing the day in fourth.  Just five pound separated us from first place.  Back in Brielle at Hoffmans our fish was holding 2nd place in this three day tournament.

 

May 31, 2009

     We were back at it on Sunday with Rich, Laurie, Ben, and Lucia.  We went just south of the inlet to try and catch some bunkers.  After a few throws with the cast net we had plenty of live bait for the rest of the day.  Now we just had to find some fish.  The boats fishing the bunker pods weren’t doing anything and the radio was full of poor fishing reports.  So we slowly headed north looking for some action.  Headed out to one of our favorite spots that we hadn’t given much effort yet this year, and Marc from our marina happened to be in the same spot.  He informed me that we had just missed the bite and things had slowed up.

     With some marks on the fish finder we went on the drift and hoped for the best.  Wasn’t long before our first bite.  Quick to find out they were bluefish, however Ben did manage to catch our only bass of the day, after a long fought battle.  With the fishing being poor and the tide not in our favor we called it a somewhat early day.  Great company and good weather beats a bad day of fishing anytime.

 

MAY 28, 2009

     Got out on Thursday for another go at the bass.  Rich was onboard along with Chuck and Bill.  We fished just north of the Manasquan Inlet and just south of it as well.  Both areas produced some nice bass.  Fishing was tough today but we did manage a total of five bass from 20lbs. up to 26lbs.  We did have quite a few bites but couldn’t manage to keep them on.

 

MAY 21, 2009 

     Rich had to get in on some more hot bass action before going away for the weekend.  So he got a bunch of his friends together - Davie B, Donald, and Matt.  Hoping for another great day, things on the vhf radio didn’t sound all that great.  The water temp. had dropped some five degrees from our previous trip and nobody was catching a thing.   Got a report from Rudy, he was fishing up to the north on another boat for the day and said the fishing was by far terrible.

     With that I figured we would look south and hope for the best.  The bait wasn’t bothered by the cold water, as it was stretched from LBI all the way up to Long Branch.   My brother Max was filling in for the day, as we both tried to get some live bait in the well.  That was going slow so we went on the troll and I figured to look out in the deeper water for some bass.

     About an hour went by till we had our first fish on the boat.  Just that fish alone was a good catch considering the circumstances.  About an hour later we had another bass, this whole procedure repeated itself once more and then the fish finder was starting to show some signs of improvement.

     We soon started catching bass on a more timely note, than waiting sixty minutes in between.  Then it wasn’t long before we had a couple doubles on as well.  The boys all caught two fish each reaching our limit and releasing one.  All the fish were 23 lbs. to 26lbs.   We caught all the fish off of Mantoloking in 52 degree water with a screaming south wind... go figure.  Sore arms and big smiles is how I summed the day up.  Can’t wait to get back out.

 

 

MAY 19, 2009

      What a difference a few days can make in the fishing, we had Rich and his friend Ben out on the Big Boys first trip of the season.   Started the day a little late and slowly made our way up to the north.  Didn’t take long to find the bait and start fishing.  The bunkers were hard to snag and were moving fast so we through the spoons out.  Wasn’t long before we had our first fish of the day a nice 25 lb.  We worked the area with a few more bites and landing another bass of about the same size.

     Took a ride up north where there was a good bite going on off Deal.  As we arrived a huge fleet had already developed.  We snagged some bunker and live lined and had a fish in ten minutes.  Had quite a few loses here and unfortunately we had to start heading home.  As we reached Shark River Inlet I saw some activity offshore with birds, and as we passed over that area the fish finder was showing good signs.  So of course we had to stop!  Had Rudy get the spoons out fast and they weren’t in but three minutes before the first reel started screaming.  We soon had doubles on, even when we had a single on the spoon being reeled back to the boat was getting hammered.  The highlight of the day was when the bass came up on top busting everywhere, thought I was in the canyon for a moment…

     Had a great trip with our limit and numerous releases.  All the fish ranged from 23 lbs. up to 28 lbs.

 

MAY 16, 2009

On Friday the 15th, Rudy and I ran the Little BIG BOY ("LBB" - the 26' Regulator) up to the Highlands with Rich to fish in the ASA Striped Bass Tournament.  The tournament would be our first trip of the year, usually we would've liked to have been fishing for at least a week or two by now, but weather, and parts for the boat kept us from doing so.  However, we did manage some bass on Saturday while trolling spoons in the pea soup fog.  The fish were on the small side, and unfortunately, we didn't place in the tournament.  Despite the weather and poor fishing, we made the best of our first day back in action.

 

MAY 15, 2009

      THE CREW FROM THE BIG BOY ARE BACK AND READY TO FISH.  WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?  BOOK A TRIP NOW BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!

  

 

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BIG BOY Sportfishing

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