After lots of wind and rain, the skies finally cleared, and Wednesday 6/11 was fishable. Fellow member Alan Goracy and I ventured off for a day of Fluke fishing. We left my dock at 5:30 and we were drifting in Double Creek by 6:15.

Unfortunately, the incoming tide brought in lots of weed making fishing all but impossible. We then tried High Bar, and I could not believe my screen until I looked over the side and saw masses of slimy weed as far down as I could see! We then tried the new channel that runs parallel to the dike without a touch – unbelievable.

We moved to Oyster Creek and finally had two decent shorts and added two more shorts near the BI buoy. We then moved to the Rutgers buoy between BB and BI but by then, the wind had totally died. I engaged the trolling motor and almost immediately Alan had an 18″ keeper. Shortly after that, I had an almost 21″ fluke. We continued until my battery was near dead. We caught 12 fish with two keepers. Not the best catching but a welcome day on the water after all this ugly weather.

Went out on the Seabass trip today with club member Rick and my friend Larry. We left my dock around 6:30, but we turned around because we forgot the trolling motor remote. We went about 14 miles out towards a wreck on the Atlantic City reef. We arrived out there about 7:30 and got on the fish right away. We had 25 keepers from 13 to a little over 17 inches and probably had 100 throwbacks. We caught some really nice sized fish including a Bluefish, Ling and an eel. It was a great day on the water with the calm conditions making for an easy trip out and back.

After all the days of strong winds, Monday June 2nd was finally fishable. I went out with Anthony on his Steiger, aptly named Rig a Tony, for a multi species day starting with Sea Bass on the GSN reef. The ride out was tough since the waves had not yet quieted down from all the windy days.

We finally made it and the fish were hungry. My first fish was a Cod – but that season is closed! My second fish was a Tog – also closed. The third was a Skate – open but no thanks. Finally, a Sea Bass! Anthony also had a Cod and between us we had ~20 Tog. Eventually we had our limit with some really nice Sea Bass. We then headed to the inlet for Stripers.

Unlike a few days ago, there were no Bluefish to bite our Spot in half. Only Stripers! Anthony positioned his boat alongside the jetty so we could cast our spots right onto the rocks. He had a pickup on almost every cast. Twice, we even had two fish on at one time. We probably had a dozen pickups and boated 7 – 8 Bass yielding two slots and one bonus tag fish. What a day – great weather, beautiful green water and biting fish!

Sean & I did a morning bay trip on Monday June 2nd. We left the dock at 8:00AM and limited out by Noon with fluke to 22”. We also had several snapper blues which we released. One of Sean’s fluke spit up a spot! It was still alive, so he tried fishing it with no takers. Winds were weird – first morning wind was out of the west then after several drifts changed to east. All in all, a great day with no shorts!!

When my neighbor Anthony (aka Rig a Tony) agreed to fish the inlet on May 30th, I jumped at the opportunity. Armed with 20 Spot, the plan was to fish the North jetty for Bluefish and Stripers with Fluke as a fallback position. When we arrived at the jetty, the inlet conditions were barely fishable, but we persisted. Anthony landed a 22″ Striper but then all we were doing was feeding the Bluefish $3 snacks.

We then went to the sod banks and after a few lost Stripers, once again the Bluefish were having their way with our Spots. With the Spots gone, we then went to Double Creek where the drift was decent but not great. Once again, the Bluefish also liked our Killies and Gulp. We tried High Bar but the drift conditions were awful, so we returned to Double Creek. To my surprise, I hooked a heavy fish that I thought was another Bluefish. But it was a 26″ Fluke! Shortly afterwards, Anthony got a 20″ Fluke. That was it for the day.

When weighed at the Elks, my fish was 6.96 lbs. for my personal best in NJ. Two years ago, I had 2 near 10 lbers in Nantucket, MA.

Having been out twice on the Mary M – once for the Elks on 5/18 and once for VHFC on 5/20 – with only 2 keeper Sea Bass each trip for me, I didn’t have the highest expectations for my third trip with the Shillelagh Club – a fraternal group dedicated to boosting the sales of Irish products like Guiness and Bushmills. And the weather forecast didn’t help with 4 – 6 footers forecast and delivered!

But off we went for a sporty ride out to some wreck which only the captain knew its location. Once anchored, it wasn’t too bad as long as you held onto the rails. But the fishing was fairly decent for most of the 21 members and really good for 5 of us. All together we had 110 Sea Bass, 10 Ling and one lone Boston Mackerel. High hook was new club member from West Marine, Dave Gering with 18, I had 16, John Barrett (trip organizer) had 15 and John’s nephews had 15+ between them. We all fished the port side near the stern. Did that matter? We all used bait, but Dave added a piece of cooked shrimp to his hooks. Did that matter?

Anyway, everyone was glad when we passed Ol Barney and returned to the docks. A nice bag of fish to take home was also nice. Note: The photo is my 18.5″ fish that weighed 2.7 lbs when weighed at the Elks for the May Sea Bass lead. 

I went this past Monday offshore for Sea Bass with Wil and 2 other friends. We caught our limit in about hour and a half with many shorts in the mix.  I had an 18 in fish.  I went out again on Tuesday with the nice flat seas with Paul and another friend. This time it took a little longer to get our limit since we were only keeping larger fish. My biggest was 19 1/2″. Truly a great day on the water!

Good trip today. Brian, myself. Sean & grandson Bryson went about 7 miles out of Barnegat to a wreck called Shipara (Sp?). We kept 20 nice Seabass 17-18”, 1 nice Hake and plenty of tog that were released. All and all a great day with a nice ocean in the afternoon. Note: we came back at low tide through Double Creek and it was e extremely shoaled over. Someone needs to dredge ASAP.

Tuesday, May 20th was such a day for me, along with club member, Caesar, John, Gene and Bill. We were on a Sea Bass charter with Captain Greg Carr, also a club member, on his KEV ‘n ASH.

Being cautious due to the conditions, Greg held off from our scheduled 6AM departure until 9:30. The conditions got better but not great until 1 and only lasted until 3. We fished hard and finally caught the last fish of our boat limit of 60 at around 3:30.

Caesar caught the largest at 17 ¼”, but we had several in the 16.5 – 17” range. Hopefully, the conditions will get better for all of us with what is left of this portion of the sea bass season which ends on June 19th.

Our first club trip on the Mary M for Sea Bass and Ling was on Tuesday May 20th. 25 members and guests attended the event. All in all, it was a nice day before the rains start tomorrow. A few nice fish were caught, wish there were more.
Glen Minor took the Sea Bass pool with a 19” fish and Will Kresge swept the ling category.

Thanks to Phil Simon for setting up the trip and the captain and mates of the Mary M.  Already looking forward to the next trip.

SOMETIMES, IT HAPPENS

We have all been dealing with terrible winds and rain since last year, with many trips postponed or canceled at the last minute. Such was the case on Thursday 5/15 when I, Bill Dabney, his son John and grandson Will, 13 had scheduled a 4 hour bay fluke charter with Brett Taylor. Since John had a 2 hour drive from Nyack, NY, Brett waited to make a decision. Finally, it looked good enough to go. Boy, was that the RIGHT DECISION!!

Will, had never fished for fluke before, but learned fast. He caught the first keeper and followed with many more. We caught over 70 fluke with our limit of 12 from 18 – 21”. Brett put in the finishing touch with number 13, a beauty at 25” and 6 pounds.

We all went home with smiles, especially Will and many fillets. I know that Will, as soon as Bill asks him, will be returning. The greatest thing is to have the younger ones join us and get hooked on fishing.

We went out yesterday for the opening of Seabass.  We tried the Glory wreck first but only managed a few shorts. We then moved over to two other wrecks close by but also not many keepers either.  We then made a move a lot further out from the inlet (25 miles) and we finally found some fish. We all landed keepers on the first drop and ended up with 26 keepers total including a 17″ beauty that Perry Hoagey caught. We also had some Ling and one Tog.

Most fish we caught using clam all day. The water temps were 56-57 degrees with the water at the far wreck being clear and blue. On the inshore wrecks, the water was dirtier.

I started the second day of our Inshore Slam at 5:15 AM on Brant Beach. It was very foggy and misty with a light wind. There was also a hard current to the North – an 8NBait (Surf rat lingo for 8 ozs of lead and a bunker chunk) kind of day. With dolphins over the bar, it was a very fishy morning.

First in was a Dogfish. Around 8:15, my rod went down hard and I knew it wasn’t another doggie! After one helluva fight, I landed a nice yellow eyed demon. 12.44 lbs and 30″ to the fork. I am in the LBI Spring Derby and measured to the end of the tail, my Bluefish was 34 1/2″.

I started the morn like any other, early and with high hopes. It got better when I saw Dolphins on the bar. My rod soon went down and I was rewarded with a nice Dogfish. I stayed a little longer and decided to move North from Beach Haven.

I traveled up to Brant Beach where I ran into a few friends from PA, so I decided to fish with them and catch up on things. A short while later, this Striper hit my clam. It’s nice to have a keeper off the surf but no luck with Fluke or Bluefish! I tried later at 5:00 PM with club member Glen Minor but we only managed a few more Dogfish.

My Striper was entered into the LBI Spring Derby and our club Inshore Slam. It weighed in at 10.2 lbs and measured 30 1/4″.

Good luck to everyone!

With Stripers being caught and the Spring Derby underway, I decided to hit the Brant Beach surf with fellow member Pat Presutto to see if we could get a Bass. Instead, a hungry 22″ Bluefish took my bunker chunk. Despite being the perfect eating size, I released it for another day. We will return for another shot at a Bass!

Headed out on Friday for the first trip of the season. I had the honor of bringing along the man, the myth, the legend, Bayside Dave. We headed to GSS where we had water temps around 46 degrees. We managed a total of 5 keepers throughout the day. We also had a lot of small fish and we estimate we caught 30+ fish total. A fun day on the water nonetheless and looking forward to the next trip.

With the winds finally down, I went out Monday April 14th. I had four people on board including Wil from the club. We started at Little Egg Reef with water temperatures between 46 and 47°. We tried a couple of stops on LER but there wasn’t much activity with only short fish. We then went out further to the Glory Wreck with slightly better results but still many short fish from 14 to almost 15″. We did manage four Keepers to 16″ that Wil caught, and we had a few nice sea bass! Fun day on the water and a good season opener!

Grandson, Tyler Leary decided to fish the bay prior to going to school on the morning of April 11. He was rewarded with hooking and landing this beautiful Black Drum! His fish measured 39″ and weighed on a handheld scale went 35 lbs. Tyler safely released the beast to be caught another day.

I was out with buddy and fellow member Pat Presutto at his ‘secret spot’ – Dock Rd and caught this nice, chunky White Perch. It was a chilly, windy day but my old stinky Bloodworms were the ticket! I released the fish for another angler to enjoy. She measured 12.5″ to the fork.