Spring is in the air and we will be back on the water in no time taking advantage of the world class fishing that we enjoy
up and down the Jersey coast. I'm happy to report that things are slowly getting back to normal here in Point Pleasant and
the surrounding towns, in the aftermath of Sandy. More and more people are getting back into their homes and even more businesses
are coming back on line. Make no mistake, the Storm greatly changed lives and landscape forever but most, if not all have
vowed to say and rebuild.
The Princess made it through the storm with just a couple new dings and scratches. The crew
and I are hard at work getting her ready for the season and she will be back in the water by mid-April. Our normally
busy fall was kind of lackluster due to obvious reasons but we did manage to get out a few times and both the stripers and
tog were cooperative.
I typically pull the boat right after the 1st of the year but this year I stayed in a couple days longer and
made a run out to the offshore wrecks in early January a was treated to drop and reel Giant Sea Bass.
Also in mid-September I made run offshore with good friend Captain John Wayne and his crew on the Green Stick boat Jamie
Claire. It was one of those crazy good trips that you only dream about during the long cold winter months.
With yet another summer in the history books we had some of the best tuna fishing in years with some tackle busting
big eyes showing up!!
Not to out done on the inshore grounds, the late fluke and seabass fishery was pretty spectacular as well!!
The fall Striper and Blackfish season is starting to get underway and the calendar is quickly filling, don't wait until
the last minute to book your trip!
We have been busy on both the offshore and inshore grounds!!
On the offshore grounds the Tuna have been a little allusive this year and have made us work a tiny
bit harder than in years past... but September and October have traditionally been the time when this fishery breaks wide
open. Some trips are better than others and when the tuna don't show we've been able to find other species to fill the gap!!
On the inshore grounds summer flounder is the name of the game, you need to pick through the shorts but there are plenty
of keepers to go around. Seabass fishing remains solid with the occasional trigger fish burning up drags on the unexpected
angler.
It never fails I try to keep up with the reports but before I even blink an eye a month has gone by.
Another
spring striper run has come and gone, with the water temps in the low 70's there are only a few stragglers still around.
Wreck fishing remains exceptional for black sea bass and fluke fishing is pretty decent also. We've also had some nice surprises
in the mix like keeper size cod and large trigger fish.
We made our first run to the canyons a few days ago and I'm
happy to report that the tuna are snapping as well.
It was a very busy couple of days for us, the Striper bite remains solid with the average size fish in the
35lb range and a couple of big girls pushing 50!The bait has been thick and the bass are just gorging
themselves, as long as the bait sticks around and the water does not warm too fast, it’s going to be an awesome run.
When we are not Striper fishing we will be wreck fishing for
Sea Bass, in less than idea condition we were able to fill the box with these tasty fun to catch critters. Now is the time to get out, the calendar is filling quickly so call now before it’s all
over!
The striper live line bite is in full swing and the past two weekends we had two young men on board that landed
fish that were almost as big as them. We also had some big kids put some pretty impressive fish in the
boat as well!Now is the time to come out and get in on the best striper fishing in the world!
After a ton of work we are finally back
up and running.To thank the crew for all of their hard work in the off season and to give the boat a shakedown
we headed out for some striper fishing.The morning started off slow with nothing but a bunch of bluefish
but around mid-morning things broke wide open and it was two and three on at a time. I’m happy to
report that new motors ran great, are smooth as silk, don’t smoke at all and most importantly are FAST. We will be running full and open boat trips starting
immediately, call or email if you’re interested.
Our three man
limit and big old hug for one of the new motors!!
It won’t be long now, the Princess is ready to go and the weather couldn’t be better.With
the unusually mild winter we had I’ve been predicting an early Striper run all along.Our resident
Surf Rat, John Allen hit the suds earlier this week and landed a dozen or so school size bass on buck tails.The
big cows are sure to follow and the calendar is quickly filling up so don’t wait till the last minute to book your spring
striper trip.
It’s been a very busy off season for me and the crew, the Princess is expecting
twins and we are hard at work making preparations. Here is the ultrasound and expectant mother resting
comfortably in the delivery room……should be any day now!!
We wrapped up the 2011 season with some solid bass fishing, on some trips we were limited
out by 7:30am!We would then either play catch and release or we would find a nice small wreck and beat
up on the black fish.I pulled the Princess a little early this year to begin a well needed and exciting
refit, check back from time to time for progress reports.
Well for the first time ever I’m happy to say fall is finally here, after hurricane Irene things got pretty
quite, the water was really dirty and wind just wouldn’t let up.Well that is all behind us now and
I can honestly say the fall season is in full swing.
We will be targeting
Striper, Sea Bass and our favorite….Tog from now until the end of the year.
July has got to be the fastest month of the year, can’t believe its Aug 1st already!
The
off shore Blue Fin bite continues to be very consistent, some days are better than others and we are now seeing some bigger
fish move in.For the most part it is a jig bite however some days they want bait and some days they
will only hit on the troll but the important thing here is they are biting!
On the days when the tuna fishing is slow or the bite dies we have been hitting the deep water wrecks and getting
some very nice Cod.
On the inshore grounds Fluke fishing has been surprising good this summer and we have been seeing a pretty
good pull of quality fish coming over the gunnels.As for Sea Bass, we are not seeing the drop and reel
fishing we have had in years past but the fish we are catching are BIG, kind of quality as opposed to quantity thing.
Summer is slipping away at an alarming rate, the fishing is as good as it gets and now is the time to go!
I’m happy
to report that our first two trips out to the Bluefin grounds were both very fruitful!!!
On Wednesday June 22nd we made
our first trip out to the Bluefin grounds and had fish on within ten minutes of putting the spread out.We
picked away all morning, not going more than 15 minutes without having fish on.We also tried several times
to get them to eat the jigs but it was all a troll bite on this day.Around mid morning the blue fish moved
in so we decided to hit a nearby wreck and found plenty of keeper cod and fat ling to round out the trip.
Back
out on Saturday June 25th to where we left off a few days earlier and again had fish on the troll right away, this
time however we were able to get them to eat the jigs.By the end of the day we had brought well over 40
Bluefin tuna to the boat, keeping our under and letting the rest swim free.Came close to the over a couple
of times but couldn’t find the right one.
