Monday, May 29, 2017

Happy Memorial Day

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend. This weekend marks the first quarter of the baseball season and for the first time in six years, the Yankees are actually fun to watch.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

What The...

It's the day before Memorial Day weekend and we have the fireplace going. If it rains anymore the woods behind the house will turn into a jungle. The bluefishing remains good but skill levels determine the catch. Anglers with spin rods do well, farmers with boat poles go home hungry. Yesterdays charter had a full cooler of ling. Evelyn caught a twenty inch winter flounder. The high lite of the trip was a young humpback whale that jumped out of the water six times. Cool stuff.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Fishing Fun

Sunday was a nice day for our bottom fishing trip with our Pioneer family. We caught a bunch of ling for some nice dinners, a few nice cod, some good sized blackfish and lots of out of season sea bass that we can't keep until Friday. It was good to see everyone and I hope we can do it again soon.

Saturday, May 13, 2017

More News on Regs

The fluke issue has not been settled. The ASMFC wants to find NJ out of compliance for not playing nice and going along with their bogus data. To make matters worse, some professor from MA is trying to limit the fall sea bass season to 5 fish per person. Don't forget, next Sunday 5/21 we have a bottom fishing trip on the Skylarker. Go fishing while you still can!

Thursday, May 11, 2017

New Fluke Regs

It looks like a compromise has been reached that would keep NJ in compliance with federal regulations. A limit of 18" and three per bag, with a season of  5/25 to 9/5 has been tabled to a vote next week. The other option would be 3 at 19" and a longer season. It seems that in twenty years of fishery management the regulations have become more burdensome and the fishery only suffers. I spent the entire morning reading the transcripts of the ASMFC meetings, and it seems the only way they consider managing our marine fisheries is through restricting the catch while making it as complicated as could be, with all kinds of formulas and number bending. Twenty years of managing recreational fisheries by catch restriction has proven to be a total failure and the unwillingness to change their methods leads one to believe something more sinister is afoot.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Next Big Trip

Sunday May 21st all day bottom fish extravaganza! Ling, Cod and other ocean species. Give me a call if you would like to go. Limited number of spots left.

Monday, May 8, 2017

Sunday on the Skylarker

Mike L. brought out the crew for Phil's bachelor party and had a fun day on the high seas. The day started with light winds, but a big ground swell left over from Friday's storm slowed the fishing on the inshore grounds. A move offshore produced better fishing. There were huge schools of dolphins around feeding on bait and we picked at the ling. Hi-hook had nine ling and everyone aboard went home with tasty fillets. Some keeper cod and Pollock, along with a bunch of out of season sea bass and blackfish rounded out the catch. The bottom fishing will only get better as the weather improves.

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

May

The weather on land sure is nice, but out in the ocean it is still cold and breezy. The bluefish have invaded the Jersey shore and are being caught from land and boat. No stripers down this way, and I here they are even finicky up in the Raritan. Went trout fishing this morning and landed a few rainbows while watching two deer and a turkey pass by. Blackfish season is closed but we did well on the last weekend and sea-bass and fluke open this month. May has just begun, the nice weather is coming, and Joe Girardi has already worn out the bullpen.