Bill Dabney joined me on Tuesday 9 May to hopefully get some bluefish blood on my new boat. A trip last week with Dave Spendiff, Bill and I started with calm winds that soon turned to 40 mph gales forcing us to limp back home. Dave couldn’t join us today for our early start due to his therapy session – physical that is – but he planned to leave on his own by late morning.

Bill and I first hit the bridge by Hochstrasser’s marina and the Ship Bottom boat ramp. Several long trolls through the area yielded nothing despite some nice readings. We then went up to Gulf Point and made multiple passes close to shore from the condos along the point and back to the 42 buoy. There were 3 boats drifting by 42 but we did not see any fish caught. As we were making plans late morning to return to the bridge area, Dave called to say he had boated one blue and had another on the line. Dave was fishing off the Surf City water towers. My Evinrude 300  had us there in no time at speeds approaching 50 mph – what’s a few more gas dollars anyway!

We followed Dave’s troll using a Hopkins on one rod and a Clark spoon on the other. Almost immediately we hooked up or at least had several follow ups. After catching one on the troll, we would plug the area and have follow up strikes. We were fishing a quarter of the distance from shore to the ICW. Water was 4-8 feet deep, cold at 56-58 degrees and very clear so that you could see bottom along with the striking fish. We boated  multiple fish from the smallest at 5 lbs with most 10 – 12 lbs.

The real key to this story is the power of networking with other club members. Had Dave not called, we probably would have returned to the bridge area and missed out on some fantastic fishing!

On May 3, I left the dock at 7 AM and headed to a man-made reef that was located about 13 miles into the Gulf. We marked structure on the reef and hooked up with the reef anchor. Very few people grapple the structure here but my experience fishing NJ wrecks came in handy. As soon as the anchor caught we saw 2 big cobia cruising around the boat. We threw everything at these fish and after I handed my buddy Ray a pin fish that I caught on a sabiki rig he connected on the live lined bait. The fish fought hard for about 15 minutes and we even had to untangle the line from the marker float. I estimate the fish at 20-25 pounds with a large head and fins. We put the fish in the box and started fishing for the second fish. We hooked the second fish twice but he escaped both times. The bottom fishing was slow but I got taken into structure and cut off twice. Before we departed, 2 loggerhead turtles popped up near the boat to investigate our float. They are huge and a beautiful sight.
On the way home we stopped at a 6 mile reef and hooked up with the grapple. The water was full of bait and barracuda. Although I caught live bait and a small bluefish on my sabiki rig, we could not catch the cuda nor any bottom fish. Before we departed I put on 2 cuda tubes (bright colored surgical rubber tubing with wire dropping 2 trebles). On the first pass over the reef a cuda came clear out of the water and missed the tube. On the second trolling pass we hooked up with a nice barracuda. We headed for home and gave the cuda to a neighbor who likes to eat them and we divided up the cobia. We had some cobia for dinner and it was tender and tasty.

On April 22 I went off shore 13 miles in my boat in the Gulf of Mexico off Siesta Key in Sarasota, FL. We caught a 30 inch King Mackerel while trolling spoons in rough seas. I dropped a sabiki rig and caught some live bait fish. We caught a 40 inch King Mackerel while live lining the live bait fish on light tackle. An exciting day despite the rough conditions that were not accurately forecast. I will stay a few more weeks to catch more of these toothy critters. Good luck up there with your early blues. See you this summer.

At least once a year my grandson, Michael Marchitto and I get out for a day of striper fishing. As a police officer in Voorhees, NJ, his schedule can be tough to plan around, but he was off the day after Thanksgiving and the forecast was for calm seas so we headed out before dawn. We went to the Governors Mansion area along IBSP before we saw any marks on the machine, stopped and started fishing. The first was our biggest of the day, a 41″, 23+ pound fish. We were casting swimming shads and it took Mike a little practice to get the rhythm and speed of the retrieve down, but soon he was dealing with a bent rod. The catching was not steady, had to move often to keep up with the southern movement of the fish. Mid morning turned into a follow the birds pattern that resulted in being able to take a couple of fish on surface poppers as they chased the bait on the surface. What a blast! We headed for home around noon with 2 in the box and plenty of fun and action in our memory banks.

On Nov. 22, 2016 four club members, Bill Dabney, Martin Friedrick, Ed Valitutto, and me joined Capt. Steve Purul aboard the Reel Fantasea for a day of striper fishing. It was a very windy, cold day with very low tides creating the need to leave the dock about an hour later than normal. A quick run north of the bathing beach area of IBSP brought us right in the middle of “striper city”. We were casting 6″ swimming shads with hook ups immediately. As this pod of bass moved, so did we and did so for the rest of the trip, generally following the active bird action over bait being pushed up by the predators. To add a little excitement to the mix, big blue fish were also on the feed with more than a few rigs lost for each bluefish boated. The morning bite was best, but fish were being taken on almost every stop during the day. Capt. Steve worked hard, as usual, chasing the fish enabling us to boat loads of fish and giving us the option of having striper for Thanksgiving. Because of the wind and rough seas, a few of us were wet and cold sports by the time we returned to the dock, but all us had that “we caught” smile on our faces.
GREAT TRIP, GREAT CAPTAIN!!!

John Lyszczarz and I left the dock at 6:45 am, Monday Nov. 14, 2016 on the SEA BONA and headed for the Barnegat Inlet. After clearing the Inlet, we headed north. At the Bathing Beach we saw a fleet of boats at Seaside. About a good mile from the fleet, I decided to slow the boat down and start trolling a few minutes before 8:00 am. Within a few minutes we had a hookup and boated our first bass. We had another knock down, but lost the fish. Nearing the fleet, we noticed no fish were being caught, so I turned the boat around and headed back to where we hit the bass. We got more hookups and caught more bass. We kept 4 bass, 2 each. We had a very good day. Bright sunshiny day with a light southwest wind and 2 foot seas. Water temperature low to mid 50’s. We picked up a little after 10:00 am and headed in. John’s largest bass was 45 inches long and weighed in at 38.12 pounds and my largest bass was 43 inches long and weighed in at 31 pounds. Something else to be thankful for at Thanksgiving.

I left the dock at 6:30 this morning and headed for my favorite spot near Morrison’s Marina to try for weakfish. Although the NE wind was blowing like crazy and would be opposing the incoming tide, I just had to get out and try catching something; hadn’t taken my boat out in almost 2 months.
I lost the tail ends of a few BKD’s to small bluefish before I was able to catch a few small weakies in the 12” range. Then I tried sliding bobber rig with a 1/8 oz. jig head with a New Penny 2” gulp shrimp and a 1” strip of Fish Bites. On the first cast, the bobber went down and I landed a 3.4lb. weakfish. With the wind blowing up white caps, I decided to head for home. Looking forward to some great Fall fishing!

By Martin Friedrich

I had gotten a fishing report from a friend Saturday night after our tournament. He and a friend fished an area and gotten 9 keepers. If wasn’t for the weather coming in they might have gotten there limet. Next day my neighbor went there and gave me a call about 10 o’clock. So I loaded the boat and headed out there. The fishing was on open bottom in 45 ft. Of water. Got 3 keeper’s biggest was 21in 3lb 11oz. Also had about 20 shorts. The last fish I caught ( pictured ) had no tail. It was healed over, was 11ins. Was released in good health and quickly swam away.

Friday July 1st Fished on my buddy Tim’s boat today I managed to catch two keepers a 23 and a half inch at 5.7 lbs and 18 and a half inch fluke we also have 4 keeper sea bass the water out there wasn’t too clear it was a Milky green color you could only see about three or four feet down but we manage to have a good day of fishing with about 30 short fluke about ten short sea bass.

I went fishing on Jeff Barnhart’s Reel Deal with Jeff and John Lyszczarz. We fished on the LE Reef. We knew the forecast was for heavy winds and seas building into the afternoon. Only a few boats on the reef. Not much action. Listening to Jim Hutchinson Sr.’s talk at our VHFC meeting the night before, I wanted to try something new. Jim said that he puts his conventional reel in free spool and thumbs it until a fluke hits. Then he lets a little line out for 3 to 5 seconds and sets the hook. I usually fluke fish with 2 rods. I hold one and I put a dead stick in a rod holder. So I set the dead stick in a rod holder with a very light drag and the clicker on. This way I could hear the clicker if a fluke hit and I was not watching that rod. On our second drift, a fluke hit the dead stick and I heard the clicker and I looked over seeing the line going out slowly, I quickly put the rod I was holding into a rod holder and grabbed the dead stick and set the hook in about 4 1/2 seconds, LOL, with in the 5 second time limit. 21 inch fluke weighed in at 2.90 lbs. That was the only fish caught by us that day. We made one more drift before the seas got real heavy and we headed in. Thank you Jim!

I am vacationing in Sarasota, FL this month and Ihad one of the best fishing experiences of my life while fishing with Marvin on the “Winning Bid”, his 30 foot Grady with twin 300 Yamahas and auto pilot.

We departed at sunrise in calm seas and first caught live bait with Sabiki rigs and filled the live well. We then motored off shore into the Gulf approximately 50 miles to a depth of 140 feet where fish gather around natural springs.

We first drifted over fish marks and caught several amber jacks with 3 keepers, well over the 34 inch keeper size. These fish dig deep and fight so hard that your arms grow numb and you have to strap on a fighting belt. You are drained and have to rest after each encounter.

We then motored to a favorite grouper area and caught several big grouper to 40 inches on live bait. I even caught some on a 6 ounce Spro jig with stinger hook with whole squid.

As we were fishing, a large fish kept circling very close to the boat. I eventually recognized it as a cobia. I quickly removed my sinker and put a whole squid on the hook and casted to the fish, He immediately ate the bait and kept swimming near the boat, not knowing his days were numbered. I eventually fought the fish and brought him aboard. He measured 36 inches.

Marvin kept moving us around to his favorite spots until the day ended. The seas were calm and glassy all day and the weather was perfect. We reached the dock at 5 PM and cleaned fish for the next hour. This was a memorable fishing experience and I hope Marvin invites me again some day.

The bay ol’ timers say the big blues come into Barnegat bay around the 21st of April each year – last year they were a little late, this year they were on time. Caught (boated) 27 of these yellow eyed devils today, hooked twice as many and simply had to yell UNCLE on the last fish. Found them at 9:30 this morning and threw in the towel at 2:00 – absolutely spent! The pictured bruiser weighed in on the official scale (Fisherman’s Headquarters) at 17lbs.10oz! Caught about 6 in this class, 11 in the 10-14lb range and the rest in the 8-10lb class. The real record is, I only lost one surface plug and one spoon. Wish you all could have been out there with me hooting and hollering. As I told Kyle, my son, my poor boat looked like a WWI trench – full of blood, guts and scales! The wildest top water action I’ve ever experienced!
Bill Dabney and I went out the following day and had a good day of top water bluefish fishing and saw Billy Figley and his son, Nathen with their rods bent most of the day as well. Saturday, Joe Filice and I went out and had a slow start. As the wind abated and the sun started to shine things started to happen with blue fish in the 10 to 14lb class started hitting our spoons. We couldn’t get the surface bite today, but we were not complaining. Get out there before it’s over!
Dave