Apr. 7. First charter of the season. Very rough conditions with nw winds 15 to 25+. Ran down the beach to find Stripers hitting clams. The bass very hitting very lightly and with the rough conditions it was hard to feel the bite. Missed a bunch of hits but still ended with a boat load of keepers up to about 18lbs.
Apr 14. Ran down the beach today and caught the Bass busting on top chasing bunker. Had bass up to 18lbs on a combination of jigs and trolling stretches. After the bite was over we did some clamming and picked up some more smaller fish.
Apr 17. Ran back down the beach again looking for those big bass on top. Caught one trolling stretches but the fish were spread out. We anchored up and had a good bite on clams and caught some more bass to about 15lbs.
Apr 21 Ran past the fleet in the bay and headed for one of my favorite spots. When we arrived we anchored up and started clamming with no other boats around. Had first keeper bass on within 10 min. We had the boat limit by 8:30am and were playing catch and release the rest of the trip. All the fish were over 15lbs.
Apr 28 Tough day today when the forecast of mild west winds turned into nnw 15 to 20+. The boat was swinging wide on the anchor and made it very hard to feel the striper bite. We came up with a lot of emply hooks. The good news is the blues are in. We caught several nice size blues but only landed one keeper Striper about 20 lbs. and lots of huge skates. The water temp is steady in the mid 50's so the bass should be around for a while.
May 5. Foggy and rainy conditions today. Caught the first fish minutes after dropping the anchor and figured we would be slamming them again today. Had some runoffs and skates before catching another keeper a couple of hours later. Keepers went about 15lbs and were good fighters but were few and far between. Waiting for that next big body of fish to come up the coast and start crashing the bait again.
May 12. Made our first Fluke trip of the year today with great conditions and sunny skys. With the whole fleet out it was hard to find a piece of bottom without a bunch of boats dragging hooks accross it. We picked at the fish with a bunch of shorts and a few big keepers mixed in. Pool winner was a nice 6lb fluke caught on a strip. Water was still cold for Fluke with bottom temps of 58 deg. Looks good for the season.
May 18. Fished in the Manhattan Cup bass tournament today in nice conditions. We found Bluefish on the NY side using fly fishing gear. Later in the day we were on top of huge bunker schools but the bass were not taking flys. We threw out live bunker and managed to land one nice bass 15 - 18 lbs and had several runoffs before we had the make the trip back to for the weigh in. Nice day but with a 9:30 start we missed the morning bite which produced some very big bass at sunrise.
May 19. We fished the last of the tide on the Knoll where there were large schools of bunker moving into the bay. Again there were no feeding bass under the bait. Had one big bass 25+ lbs on but lost it when it got wraped around the anchor on one of its runs. Clams did not raise any bass so we switched to fluke and landed a nice keeper and bluefish.
May25. Ran down the beach in the fog this morning for some great Seabass action. Had steady action on the seabass with all keepers in the 2 to 3 lb range and a couple above the 4 lb mark. Stopped on some bunker pods on the way back, no bass but a huge blue close to the 20 lb mark.
June 3. Mixed bag today with short and keeper Fluke, Blues and big dogfish. Strong winds kept us close to the shore so I could not get into deeper water to hit the seabass that have been biting so well.
June 9. Nice day of fishing for Fluke with scattered results. Had to move frequently to find the fish. Had a mixed bag again with mix of shorts and keepers to 19".
June 16. Annual Fathers day fishing trip today with the boys. Wanted to run down the beach for some Stripers and Seabass but strong NE winds changed that. Stayed inside and hit multiple spots in the bay and found a few fluke on every drop. Ended with lots of shorts and keepers to about 21 inches.
June 17. Another day of strong NE winds keep us from running outside to catch bass. We stayed in the Sandy Hook bay and hit all of the drop offs and humps catching a lot of shorts with some keepers to 23 inches mixed in.
June 23. What a picture perfect day today. Fluke were biting and the sun was shining. Lots of action with shorts and keepers to 21 inches.
June 30. Another great day of fluke fishing. Fished the bay and ocean to put together a nice catch of keepers with the biggest coming in at 4.5lbs. The fishing is getting more steady as new fish arrive daily.
July 4. A nice day on the ocean with lots of Fluke coming over the rails as well as some nice size keeper Seabass.
July 7. Another nice day on the ocean. Sunny skies and flat seas. Ran down the beach for plenty of action with Fluke and Sea Bass. Even gave the trigger fish a try.
Aug 4. Great day on the ocean today with nice calm seas,except for the boat wakes, and sunny skies. Had a good steady bite of fluke with keepers up to 22 inches.
