Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Fisheries Management

There has been nothing for us to fish for the past two weeks because of bad weather and closed fishing seasons. The entire fleet has been tied to the dock in the strong NE wind. This is mother natures way of managing the fisheries, yet more restrictions loom for next season as the fictional MRFS survey will show that we caught "too many" fish. Fisheries management by restricting recreational catch has been a total failure and needs to be changed.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Weather

It has not rained for seven weeks, but now the forecast shows rain for the next seven days. Tropical storm Joaquin should make things interesting this weekend.

Monday, September 28, 2015

Of Course We Went Fishing

It's Sunday, that's what we do. Every other boat was tied to the dock due to the strong NE wind, rough seas and the closure of the fluke season. Not us, there will be plenty of time to sit in front of the TV soon. The bay was kicked up with the wind and super moon current, so I stopped in a striper spot and all rods bent. Too bad they were all sand sharks. We did manage to land one small but spirited bluefish that ripped the reel from the lucky angler's rod. Next stop was on rough bottom to try for porgies and all we landed were a few oyster toadfish, some little sea bass and a four point buck. Well, we did not catch the deer, but he swam past the stern on his way back to shore (yes, they can swim). I just hope he made it up on the street. Around this time the wind died out and it turned into a nice day in the bay. We spent some time chasing little tunny and bluefish around but could not get any biters. Out came the lite rods and we caught a mess of big sea robins and little fluke which were released for the draggers to take this winter. On the last drift the "Legend" was almost pulled overboard from a savage strike and landed a ten pound blue to win the pool. You never know what you will see out there.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

That Time of Year

East winds are common early in the fall and while it seems nice on the land, the ocean is turned up due to the onshore flow. While driving over the Verrazano bridge yesterday, I could see the swells crashing over the shallow spots on the Coney Island flats. I think we could still catch some fluke if we were allowed to, but that season is closed. The ocean bottom fishing should be good once things settle down, but that may take another week. Striped bass reports have been dismal and the only option would be trying to jig blues in the bay. I will keep an eye on the weather and fishing for the weekend.

Monday, September 21, 2015

The Last Day of Fluke Season

Sunday was our last fluke trip of 2015 as the season closes today. We started out fishing in the area of the other days hot bite and began picking at shorts and big sea robins in an increasing breeze. Jiggin' Jack hooked and landed a little cow-nosed ray of about fifteen pounds on his lite spinning rig after a spirited battle. The wind messed up the drift and we tried for blues but they did not bite in the shallow water. We tried some different areas and I was tempted to make a run to deep water but the wind piped up to about twenty knots and we headed back to the beach. The wind backed off enough for us to get a little drift with the current and the fluke turned on for the last ninety minuets. We finished out one of the most inconsistent fluke seasons in recent memory with an up and down bite. The weather will dictate what we will fish for the next few weeks until we start to look for blackfish in October.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

The Last Round Up

We headed out on Wednesday looking for last licks, as fluke season will close after Sunday's trip. All the big boats headed way out to the old Ambrose Light area and we went back to the same grounds we fished the past few days. The blues are still around but did not school up in big bunches and were a little skittish in the flat calm weather but the fluke went insane. It was an up and down bite, a fish a cast, for over four ours. Only a few made it into the cooler but as one angler described it, "like catching bluegills in a pond. " I fished a ten pound spin outfit with a 1/2 ounce jig and had a bite on every cast. Lots of good fun on a "ten best " weather day and I can't wait to get one more chance to land the elusive "keeper" this weekend.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Another Sunday Fun Day

The day started with calm seas in the bay and the usual short fluke and big sea robins. The blues were laying low until about ten o'clock when Mike saw them splashing on the surface and it was "game on" with the little yellow-eyed monsters for about an hour. After the blues left to do what ever they do when not chopping up everything in sight, it was back to the fluke. Ken "The Legend" landed the only keeper of the day and "Jiggin' Jack" had a big blue on lite tackle that put on quite a show. One more week of fluke fishing before we will have to wait until next May to do it again.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Friday Report

We have not been out much lately and it felt good to be back on the water. On the fishing grounds we were greeted by a stiff breeze and blitzing blues. We took our share for a few dinners and then spent the day looking for the last fluke of the season. Some shorts, a few keepers and big sea robins kept us busy as the breeze backed off on what turned out to be a pretty nice day. Evan took the pool with a nice keeper on his first trip aboard the Pioneer and the "Legend" had a nice keeper come off at the net before landing another later in the day. With fall approaching, it is a good idea to have a second rod rigged with a jig and to be ready for anything.

Monday, September 7, 2015

We are Back On Line

We had some problems the last few weeks but the fishing reports are back. The last few weeks saw fluke fishing with mixed results. That has been the story all season. Last week we had some nice weather and good fishing for mostly shorts with enough keepers to make a few dinners. Sunday 8/30 was an exception as a dozen beauties went on the ice. This holiday weekend saw the passage of a dry Nor'easter that produced rough seas in the ocean and a residual ground swell that shut down the fluke bite. Saturday, Evelyn and I hosted Big John, Mike, Cathy, Roger and Eileen for their annual Labor Day trip. We started off catching a couple keepers and some shorts and big sea robins before the swells forced us to retreat back into the harbor. We finished the day with a hot bite (drop and reel at times) of 12 to 17 inch fluke. Sunday we were greeted with a bluefish blitz and it was fun to catch the 3 to 8 pound yellow eyed monsters on the fluke gear. The rest of the day was spent hunting for keepers before the swells once again forced us back to the bay to catch only short fluke. The fishing should improve once the ocean calms, and fall is now approaching and we will be ready to catch what ever bites best.