PrimeTimeFishing
FISHING LOG
2008 Season
April 19. Boats in the water and we did our Sea trial today. All systems performed well and we are off to a good start. Ran into the back bay to give the Stripers a shot. Although the full moon made fishing poor for the whole fleet, we did manage to bring in a 31" keeper to the dock. I still have some open dates for the early spring striper season available.
April 26. Made a run to the back bay today in some pretty poor conditions. Forecast called for 10 - 15 from the southeast but it rapidly became 25+ with higher gusts. Could only stay on anchor for about an hour because conditions were getting worse by the minute. Had a couple of runoffs but had to leave before we could establish a bite. Looks better for next week.
May 3 & 4 . Northeast winds 20-30 knots. No trips
May 10 & 11 Another blowout weekend with a 3 day Nor easter
May 17 Another blow out this morning with 20 to 30 knot winds. Ran out in the afternoon when the winds dropped to 10 - 15 knots. Clammed for about 2 hours before the winds started blowing hard again. Caught a few small bass no blues.
May 24 Finally had good weather but the fishing was the worst I have seen yet. Clamming, trolling and jigging, no bass. Even Blues were hard to raise. Could read the bait and fish, but the fish had lockjaw.
May 25 Another tough day but we managed a pick of Bass to 12 lbs and Blues to 5lbs. Figured out why they were not biting. Their bellies were full of baby porgies. They were swimming through the schools of porgies with their mouths open. That is why they were not interested in Clams and bunker.
May 26 Blues, Blues and more Blues. Caught Blues trolling. Caught Blues clamming and caught Blues Fluking. Caught the first Fluke of the season. Looks like summer is finally starting.
May 31. Tornado Watch. Unbelievable. So much for running down south.
June 1 What a beautiful day. Caught lots of Monster Blues out on the Knoll today as well as a good pick of Fluke to about 4.5 lbs. Caught a lot of last years keepers but this years throw backs. It's hard to throw back fish that fat.
June 7. Had a fly fishing charter today. Had to really work to find a decent concentration of fish. We finally located a big body of big Blues in the channels and nailed Blues to about 10lbs.
June 8. Slammed them today. We were on fish all day and left them biting. Monster Blues and Stripers mixed together hitting metal on top.
June 14. Had a father out with his 3 kids today. All under 12 years old. We started out in the river and got into fish right away. Kids had a great time catching Fluke up to 4.5 lbs and lots of action on shorts and searobins.
June 15 Fathers Day trip. Had the boys out fishing with there old dad. Grabbed the light tackle and chased the Blues all morning. Blues were 3- 5 lbs and had the ugly sticks bent all morning. Thanks Boys.
June 21 am trip. Bass and Bluefish trip. Started between the channels and followed the birds down the beach. The fish were very scattered only picking up one fish on each stop. Ended up down at the rocks chunking Bunker for some good sized Blues. Missed some good Bass runoffs though.
June 21 pm trip. Strong south winds and thunder storms keep us from running down the beach again. Hit all of the rips in the bay and Sandy hook and ended up trolling some Blues out between the channels.
June 27. Looking for the birds on an afternoon trip and nothing happening. Got on to a couple of pods of bunker with nothing feeding on them. This was the worst trip I think I have ever had.
June 28. What a difference a day makes. Had no trouble finding the birds today. Bent rods all day long with Bass and Blues. on light tackle
July 5. Fluke season again. Caught a ton of last years keepers out at the knoll today. About 6 were this years keepers.
July 7. Another Fluke slaughter at the knoll today. About 50 throw backs to 5 keepers. There is a lot of fish out there with plenty of action.
July 12. Lots of Fluke all over the ocean today, but if it weren't for some nice size seabass no keepers were coming home. I have never seen so many 2 Lb. shorts in my life.
July 13. Joined the fleet today at the reach for a nice catch of keeper Fluke to 19.5 inches.
July 19. Ran outside today and managed a very good pick of Fluke to about 21 inches. Lots of fish out there along with the usual doggies and sea robins adding to the action.
July 20. What a difference a day makes. The water temp dropped a good 5 degrees today and the fishing reflected that change. The first fish of the day was a nice fat 5 pounder but if was down hill from there. The action was there, but far too many dogies and skates. We did land a lot of Fluke but they were 17 1/2 to 17 3/4.
July 26. Found some bigger fish today in deeper water away from the fleet. Had lots of fish coming over the rails with a nice catch of keepers from 3 lbs to 5 lbs.
Aug 6. Ran out to some of the bay spots to stay close because of a strong frontal system due in the afternoon. Had steady action all morning between Fluke and Sea Robins with Fluke to 22 inches.
Aug 4. Plenty of action today with lots of short fluke with some keepers up to 23 inches. Bright sunny day on the ocean
Aug 10. Strong winds and currents in the channels today. Had to pick through shorts, robbins and dogfish to put together a catch of keepers to 22 inches.
Aug 17. Lots of shorts today at the end of Sandy hook channel. We had plenty of action all day but very few keepers.
Aug 20. beautiful day out at Ambrose today. Hit a ton of Fluke today with lots of shorts and keepers.
Aug 21. Ran down to the rocks on a flat calm sea today and loaded up on SeaBass and Fluke to about 6lbs.
Aug 23. Had a great day today chasing giant schools of Bluefish. Must have caught over 200 fish between 4 guys, releasing most of them. Great action all day.
Aug 28. We had to stay close today with strong NE winds blowing. Fishing was poor but we still managed some keeper SeaBass.
Aug 30. Ran down the beach on a flat sea and landed keeper Fluke and about a dozen keeper SeaBass to about 4lbs.
Aug 31. Chased the Blues in the bay again today on fly rods and landed fish up to 8lbs. What a fight.
Sept 1. Another day chasing Blues on the fly. Boy this is fun.
Sept 8. Fished the Sandy hook reef today for a catch of keeper SeaBass and Porgys
Well that was the last trip of this season for me. I will be heading down to a warmer climate for a well-deserved vacation.
I want to thank you for fishing with me this year and hope to see you again next spring for the Striper run. I am taking reservations now for the Spring Striper run. Reserve your date today.
Thanks Again and See you in the spring
Capt. Karl