2006 Archived Fishing Reports

I had an open boat trip today with a bunch of regulars and some newbies. On our first drop Brent Peterson nails a 8.5 pound blackfish so I'm thinking it's on. Well they never bit for us today and these guys fished their arse off for 14 keepers up to the 8.5 pounder. Most of the fish we caught were in the 3-5 pound range just not enough of them. I even sent down the underwater camera and at one point we could see all the blackfish swimming around so they were there just not chewin'. I even made a drop at 17 but found someone on my favorite piece. That sucks! At 17 we got a few small sea bass but that's it so I made a drop at Scotland where we finished the day with a bunch of ling up to 3 lbs plus a lone whiting. The weather was great and my guys fished hard. ~ Capt Carlos

Had Paul Frias and his posse Pablo and George with Shimano Butterfly jigger Dan B. Started in between the channels for over 30 Bass with no keepers in the first hour, had enough of that action and rocketed to one of my Blackfish spots, with a bunch of newbies on board to togging they were able to land a dozen fish up to 7lbs. Went back to the original Striper spot and jigged another dozen fish with no keepers. ~ Capt Fred

Had NJFishing.com forum member Groovedog, with Rob, Dave, Dan, Anthony,and Kaylin today. Started in between the channels with tons of short fish over 30 in the morning alone, tried trolling to pick up some keepers just more rats, anchored up on Scotland and had a nice Ling right away and the dogfish took over, landed some more Ling and short Blacks before the doggies overran the joint. Went back to Striper jigging and trolling and finished the day with more Stripers bringing our total over 70 with no keepers. ~ Capt Fred

Put together a last minute trip with Ed, Anthony, Joe and Dave. Started at the Hook in the Channels, had close to 30 shorts on metal and jigs, decided to run down the beach, 3 miles off the Highlands bridge we ran into acres of working birds, working big swimming and popping plugs we limited out in short order with fish from 28-32 inches. Decided to switch gears and do some Blackfishing. First drop we had a dozen fish to 6lbs, then went back for a second session of Striper fishing. Working surface plugs among rolling bass in shoals of herring we caught and released many more Stripers to end the day. ~ Capt Fred

I had the Ed Krupski party from Linden on board today! We started out on the blackfish and right away we caught a nice 6 pounder. The bite was tough today after that. The 4-man party picked away all day and we were able to land a dozen keepers and the same amount of shorts. We also jigged up a bunch of stripers with the biggest being 26 inches and we caught a pretty big silver eel during the day as well. A lot fun out on the water fishing with a great bunch of guys. ~ Capt Carlos

Had an open boat trip led my board member False RIP, Bart, Anthony, Ray and Alfred, set up on some rocky bottom near the Rocks and had fish on right away, steady pick all day on 2 pieces, had the boat limit by lunch time,lots of quality fish, half of the fish were over 5lbs up to 10lbs with over 2 dozen throwbacks. Set up to do some Striper jigging near working birds. Had a fish on right away and the fog came in thick, decided to call it a day and headed to the barn. Beautiful weather with great company with first time tog limits for most of the crew.

Today I had an open boat trip with a few regulars on board. Blackfish were tough today. The swell coming from the south shut the bite down. We still managed to pick away at some nice keepers. In total we had 14 keepers for 4 guys with half of those being from 3 to 8 pounds and about a dozen shorts. A far cry from the bite we had this past week. A brief attempt at stripers resulted in a few shorts. Tough day with real tough conditions but the guys fished real hard.

Had Troy Greenawald with buddies, Bil, Ted, Seth, Joe and Mr C (Stan), started out jigging close to 60 Stripers, from 16 inches up to 27 inches in the morning between Officer's Row and the Navy Pier. Then the guys wanted to try Togging with everyone being new to togging in our northern waters, once the guys got the hang of it they boxed 20 keepers to 6lbs, and over a dozen throwbacks, with everyone landing a fish. Ended the day with close 40 more Stripers jigging off the Navy Pier. Great bunch of guys to fish with on a beautiful December day!

Had Mark Petracci with buddies Frank, Dave and Big Tim out today. Guys wanted to Striper fish, convinced them that a mixed bag trip of Blacks for the dinner table might be a better option, since keeper Stripers are rare. Started out jigging a half dozen shorts to get us warmed up. Headed out to the reef and in little over an hour, the 4 newbies to toggin each landed a keeper with a couple more to spare with over a dozen shorts, once the winds kicked up we headed back in for more Stripers. Fish were spread from Officer's row to Navy Pier, landed another half dozen and headed home.

Had forum members Jesse(skunked) and Banana Boat Dan, with their buddies today. Started jigging a dozen Stripers at the hook to start the day. Tried some blackfishing today, very tough bite, Tog were just scratching the bait, wound up with only 10 keepers up to Jesse's 8lb pool winner and over a dozen throwbacks. Guys decided to look for more Stripers on the way home jigged and baited another dozen to end the day.

I had a group of guys from Teaneck today who wanted to catch stripers. With the lack of keepers around I suggested we try a drop for blackfish. These guys never fished before so I didn't think that we would do well with the blackfish being picky after the strong NE winds. Well from 9:30 to 12:30 they boated 7 keepers up to 5 lbs plus the same in shorts and one customer dropped a big boy on the surface. You gotta set that hook! We finished off the day with a few drifts for stripers but no keepers only a few shorts. Pretty good day for the amount of time we put in.

Had the crew on the boat today, Capt Mike, Mates Joe,Dave,Brent, and cuz's, Pepe, Claudio, and Gustavo, drifted the Ambrose, for 10 shorts and 1 keeper. Lots of good jokes, plenty of good cheers. Happy Holidays!

Had the Coach Tony Picaro charter today, with buddies Joe M., Corky and first timer Ted. Started on the reef and after half an hour of a slow pick, the fish bit their heads off for and hour, once we had the 30 fish, we picked up and headed to my trophy tog grounds, after 10 minutes we filled our limit released some and landed Joe's slob at 13.6 weighed in at Crabby's Bait and tackle. By 11 AM we were striper fishing with eels for the last hour with no takers.

Today I had another all day blackfish trip and the fish cooperated nicely. My customers today agreed with me on the circle hook incident and the fish were coming up pretty steady all day long. Our first drop in 42 feet lasted 6 hours with a nice steady bite. Brent Peterson, the charter organizer, had big fish honors with a tog that was around 9 pounds. Our total for the day was 34 keepers plus many shorts. It was a great day on the water with a great bunch of guys!!

Met Capt Vic, his cousin EJ, and Alex for a day of toggin on the Andrea's Toy C-Hawk this morning. After a bunch of fruitless attempts to get the boat anchored we gave up on the grapple and used the fluke anchor to get set on our first piece. It was drop and reel for the next hour, with a lot of really nice fish coming over the rails. We started throwing everything under 16 inches back a little before ten. We probably threw back 2 limits to fill the last 4 fish to complete our creel limit of 32 blackfish. The picture is of the pool winner at 7.2 lbs!

Today I had a group from south jersey for a day of tog. The tog bite was on and off throughout the day. If you took advantage when they bit you did real well. The charter insisted in using their own circle hooks which are not good for blackfish, so at my first stop in 50 feet they dropped more fish than they actually caught. On top of that 4 of them would only use high low rigs baited with clams that they brought along. I tried to explain to them that the sea bass were gone and only the doggies would bite. With all that they still managed 22 keepers up to 8lbs with one guy catching most of the fish. Hey I tried. Be back at it again tomorrow.

Put together a Blackfish trip of board members and customers. Had a semi-good feeling on conditions today, heave from last 2 days. Hit the snake with bad results, worked some rocky areas to the west and found a good area, spent the majority of the time there.We wound up with 20 keepers to 10lbs, weighed on certified scale, 2x 9lb'rs, and at least 20 throwbacks with many over 13 inches. Had 3 first time toggers on board and they held their own for their first time. Once the bite died we did a short drift for Stripers had a couple of runoffs and one 27 incher released.

Today I had Josh and a few of his buddies out for a day of fishing. I anchored up on the clam beds first thing in the morning but after 2 hours there we only had 8 schoolie stripers but no keepers. I then set up on the drift near Ambrose Channel with clams and eels. On our first drift we got a nice 33 inch striper on clam plus a few more schoolies. I spent the rest of the afternoon there drifting and anchoring for 3 more keepers plus a bunch of throwbacks. All in all it was a pretty good day. Most of the guys never even caught a striped bass so it was a real pleasure to pop some cherries. They were a great bunch of guys. Alot of fun to fish with. Oops i forgot about the bluefish we also got. It was about 6 or 7lbs.

Had the Butel Brothers John,Paul and Dave, went out front to look for bigger fish, drifted eels in wind against tide conditions, had some bumps, waited for tide to change and started clamming during slack, had a couple of small keepers and a dozen shorts. Decided to go back to eeling to look for larger fish in better afternoon conditions, had a mad dog bite, limited easily with fish to 38 inches.

Had Frank and Sean Knofel out today for Stripers, Worked the back bay to, West bank, to Ambrose Channel to, Breezy Point, to Sandy Hook Bay, had a slow pick, 2 keepers to a fat 38 incher, and close to a dozen throwbacks. Fun day with Frank and Sean in beautiful conditions.

Decided to hit some of my favorite pieces to make sure there is some life on them for next week's Blackfish season, hit 2 spots and in an 45 minutes worth of fishing I landed 6 keepers and a dozen throwbacks. We still have some weekday dates left call to reserve either boat, the C-Hawk for $500 max 4 guys, Contender $700 max 6 guys, all bait, rigs, rods provided. We will also fish for Stripers on the way to the grounds or back or if limited out early.

I had a group of guys today that wanted to catch just blackfish regardless of the 1 fish per man. So after getting a full pail of greenies... off we went! My first spot in 50 feet held all large blacks but the doggies were insane there. We had a couple of 3-5 pounders there before I made a move to some real sticky stuff in 38 feet. We got into a real nice bite with blackfish and a few nice sea bass. They easily limited out and played catch and release for the rest of the afternoon. On the way home we made a few stops on birds for bass but nobody home. It was a great day to be out on the water!

Had John Butel and sons on board today. Started out striper fishing in the same area we crushed them yesterday, with storm shads on spinning tackle, eels on the drift and trolling shad rigs, just short Bass, kids were getting antsy. So we picked up and took a 40 knot cruise down to the rocks, set up for bottom fishing and landed over 40 slab Porgies and Seabass to keep the kids busy. Came back into the bay and still could not find any keeper Stripers.

Had a afternoon trip with Art Hoover and Dave Owens, worked the birds off Keansburg for a limit catch within minutes of finding the birds. Needed shads fished slow off the bottom in 20-30ft depths. After limiting out we released another dozen fish and headed back to the barn.

Had an open boat overnighter on beautiful calm conditions on Monday, left the dock and was in the Hudson fishing within 3 hours. Started trolling at the tip down the west side towards the bombs over to the East notches down to the elbow with no touches. After an hour of trolling I noticed all the commercial draggers close to a dozen working the east elbow, trolled through them with no action, decided to chunk early 2pm, to take advantage of the readings and bait deep. Caught yellows and longs on bait 100ft down, on my last drift the water temp dropped 5 degrees in the area, so I chased the warm water to the west side, set up on the chunk and had a fish on right way 6pm, didn't have another touch until 10pm, decided to go on the drift out to the 500 fathom tip and go for swords, only sharks, so I decided to head back to my original spot and get ready for the early am bite, had a flurry of fish at 7am and the bite shut off. At this time the east winds were picking up so we hit some pots on the way home and landed 3 nice mahi to round out the catch. Wanted to give kudo's to Joe Degrupta on the his mating capabilities on the overnighter. Great job Joe!

Capt Carlos had the Sean Hayes party which consisted of Scott Perkinson, Kevin Jones and Raimas both from Ireland. We left the dock at 8:00 am with a nice westerly breeze behind us. Around an hour later I set the hook in 38 feet on a piece that I haven't been to since 1998. Needless to say it was lock and load for the first hour on large sea bass. On my next drop in 42 feet proved the same. Hot action for an hour and then a pick. We hit 2 more spots and picked away at more sea bass plus a few porgies and called it a day. The wind really made it tough on my last drop. It got up to around 25-30 mph and the boat was Swinging!!! Alot of lost rigs. Well it was a great day with a great bunch of guys.

Had the Krute/Gamboa Kids out today 7 in all, Whew! Started out clamming out near the hook on the outgoing tide, not a sniff, after an hour the kids were getting restless. Went bottom fishing for Seabass and Porgies. Had half a dozen keepers and tons of shorts to keep the kids busy, after that the kids wanted a challenge so we picked up and headed out 17 fathoms for slammer blues on light tackle, landed half a dozen up to 12lbs, winds started picking up so we decided to head in and go for weaks. Caught them to 14 inches, then ended up casting to Blues to 5lbs off of Keansburg to end the day.

Had the Steve Romain family out with buddy Scott. Guys wanted to use strictly light tackle gear for maximum fun, started out with weakies and landed close to 15 up to 20 inches. Then did some bluefising under the birds and caught close to a dozen up to 5lbs. Tried Striper fishing off the Hook in the ocean but Stripers were not cooperating.

Had an open boat trip with Mark, Jerry, Jeff and Anthony sunday into Monday, arrived at the East Wall and it looked like NY City with all the lights and boats parked decided to look for a spot away from the fleet found a temp break with tons of life and bait and decided to chunk it on the drift, had fish right away and had a decent pick for the rest of the night. The fish ate live squid,live peanuts, sardines and jigs, wound up going 12-16 on Yellowfin to 60lbs, getting our limit during the night. Decided to troll and got a fish right way but since we had our limit and weeds were a problem we did some mahi fishing then headed back to the barn early.

Had Dave Owens and Anthony Altobelli out today looking for their first slam of their lives, each accomplished the task, started out Weakfishng in the channels and caught 6 on jigs and worms in short order, then went casting Storm Shads into the rock piles and landed a half dozen, ended up off the Navy Pier for keeper fluke to 18 inches and Blues from 1-3 lbs.

Had a 24 hour open boat trip to the Hudson. Got a late start from the dock and wound fishing in between the Bombs and East Notches, not my first choice, wound up with a slow pick ending up the night 4-7 on Yellowfin to 50lbs, also released a Mako during the night. Wanted to troll in the morning but weeds were a problem,decided to try the Jones Canyon on the 500 fathom line to avoid weeds and potential shot at some Marlin. On the way there we ran across a weed patch the size of a football field, it had hundreds of mahi on it, landed 40 up to 12lbs on light spinning tackle in minutes, called in some friends and headed to the deep. Once there we had some small mahi when a 9ft blue Marlin came in and start attacking the Ballyhoo's in the spread, when he decided to eat he inhaled my Canyon Runner Spreader bar, had him on for a short time before his bill chafed the leader, the most incredible fishing site I have encountered to date.

Had Anthony Altobelli on board today, his goal was action on light tackle preferably Poppers and Shads. Decided to try the schoolie Stripers in the Bay landed 1 dozen in short order on various lures from swimmers,poppers and shads, also had half a dozen Bluefish up to 6lbs to keep a bend in the pole, added 1 keeper fluke to the mix.

Started out the day in the back of the bay. Right away the customers hooked up 5 or 6 weakfish and pulled the hook on them. Then we boated 4 more weakfish; 1 short and 3 nice keepers the biggest aroung 4 lbs. All weakfish were caught on little tiny butter fish I netted and live snappers. Then we ran into a school of blues and caught about 12 small cocktails. While the customers where casting to the blues I dropped a white bucktail and caught a fluke that was 5-6 lbs. I didnt have a scale so I dont really know the actual weight. We then caught 2 more shorts and 1 keeper. Once the tide was low the bite died.

Had an open boat trip with Lou Yosin, his nephew Scott, Mark Marquez, and Jim. Left the dock at in time to arrive in the Hudson for an evening troll, set up at the Notches on the East Wall and had 2 fish on within minutes, landed the first Yellowfin of the night on a dressed Ballyhoo, continued down the line toward the East Elbow where there was lots of bait,whales and other boaters so I kept going towards the temp break at the 100 square. Boated the first Longfin of the night on ballyhoo. Set up on the drift out in the deep for Tuna and Swords at the 500 fathom tip, lots of bait but no takers. Headed back to the 100 fathom line of the 100 square where all hell broke loose, within minutes of the drift there was a mad flurry of action, we managed to land 2 of the 5 fish on, with many missed bites, the action came to an end when a 8ft Blueshark spooked the Tuna, baited him and wore him out but the Tuna never returned, went on the troll at first light and landed 2 more Longfin on Canyon Runner Spreader Bars and ballys, ended the day baiting Mahi off the pots and deep dropping for Tiles.

Today I had John Peterson and his family of fishers for a couple of hours in the afternoon. We left the dock with no wind but as soon as we turned the Hook, Bam! a straight 25 knot south wind. The Petersons are a tough fishing family. With steady 4 to 6 foot waves, they fished hard and caught a real nice bunch of sea bass on one of my favorite high spots. The fish were mostly large today with very few throwbacks. After taking a few over the bow, we then decided to make a few drifts off the navy pier but that only led to one keeper fluke at 18 inches.To try to get my group into one last flury of action, I then decided to hit a wreck in 80 feet of water. The wind had laid down a bit but there was a large swell mixed with the moon tide and the anchor would not hold bottom. That's bad. In the process of not being able to anchor John and his daughter Jess together caught the largest fish of the day, a 7 pound fluke.

Did a crew trip do work out the logistics for overnight trips and target species. Left the dock at 3pm to arrive to the canyon for an evening troll. Due to weather didn't arrive until 7pm. Trolled for an hour and had a fish on near the West Elbow. Set up for the night were we had tons of bait marks, had tons of squid under the boat all night but no Tuna marks, decided to go on the drift to find a body of fish, after a couple of hours of no bites after chunking butters, we put out the chum to try for some Mako's/Swordfish, no takers on the deep rig for swords but went 1/2 on Mako's. At first light we went on the troll, worked the West and East Elbows down to the 100 square over to the 200-100, down to the 150/050, on the way there we finally saw life, had birds diving, porpises and tons of bait down deep-squid and frigate skipjack working everywhere, pounded the area for hours no bites. Gave the crew an option of Tilefishing and Mahi fishing, they went for the action, got some Mahi off the pots and deep-dropped for a dozen tiles then went home.

Had the Greg Singh Charter on board today, with clients and frineds John,Rich and Steve, started the day doing some light tackle bluefishing near the hook under pods of bunker and caught blues from 2-6lbs, worked our way down the beach and set up on anchor for some mid-summer stripers, had to fight throught 4-12lb blues but finally landed a 20lb'r after some run-offs and lost fish near the boat, changed gears and headed to do some seabassing on the sticky stuff near Elberon, then ended the day with some fluke drifts off Seabright. Total tally was over 25 Bluefish from 2-12lbs, 20lb Bass, 2 dozen Sebass to 15inches, and over a dozen fluke.

Had Gustavo Singares, Alec Smith and Mike "Happy" Gasin on board today, went to the Hudson, started at the tip during a fog bank and had no bites until we got down by the bombs, had a double bite of gaffer dolphin but only managed to land one, had 3 more knockdowns, then got a double of nice sized Yellowfin, lost the first one, and pulled the hook on the second one right before the gaff shot. ZDidn't have any more shots late in the morning the guys decided to do some deep dropping, they got 10 tiles to 10lbs, so we decided to try trolling again, picked up another mahi and headed for the barn, great time with a bunch of good guys.

Capt Carlos started out fishing the edge of rough bottom and a few wrecks. They had one fish that went to 6.6 lbs on a hand scale plus 2 other keepers and a few seabass. They then went to a wreck off the red church and there they got a few more sea bass and a couple of short fluke. Then gave an attempt at the stripers after getting a call from Capt Vic but when they arrived the bite shut down but they did catch some blues. After that they tried a few more rough spots for a few more sea bass and a ton of doggies. They then made 2 drifts along the beach for a lot of short fluke. The skates were also out in full force. On the way home, hit a wreck at Scotland and there they picked up a few nice ling before the doggies found us again.

Capt Carlos had the Barbara Goss group from Roselle, NJ out for the afternoon for some bay fishing. Although the bay didn't give up much they did land 5 keeper fluke up to 19 inches and a few shorts. He then tried some readings in the reach which resulted in some bluefish but no weakfish like he had hoped for. The group and Capt Carlos had a blast!

Had an evening trip with Chris Thelwell, son Reny and his posse. Had Shamrock on to help out and we did some light tackle bluefishing and fluke drifting, caught some keepers up to 20 inches and landed over 1 dozen blues while drifting along the reach in wind against tide conditions.

Capt Carlos just got back in from one of his weekly Sunday canyon trips and all went really well! The tilefish took a while to find but once they were dialed in on what depth they were at,it was non stop action. We had 25 tiles up to 20 lbs. After that we hit a few pots for mahis and we were able to hook 6 mahi up to 15 lbs. We found a pot that had a huge school of mahis but they did not want to eat. Finally, I made a quick 20 minute stop on a wreck in 185 feet of water for 2 pollack, 1 seabass and a few ling. Quite a nice day at sea!

Had John Butel out with his brother's for his day before wedding fishing trip. Had intentions of running to the Lindenkohl today but 4-7 ft confused seas this morning dashed those plans. Headed to the the Tom's canyon and got started at 6:30 this morning, had no knockdowns except for mahi, charter was pressed for time to get back for dinner, needing to leave the canyon by 12:00, so they decided to do some light tackle run and gun Mahi on the pots, the guys wound up landing close to 20 mahi's overall. Did a 1 hour shark/tilefish drift which didn't produce due to wind against current conditions again.

Had Mark Lamadeline on board with his son Alex and fellow teammate from the UCONN Football team. Plan was to troll inshore, mahi fish then shark drift, with some bottom action. Weather conditions were horrible to say the least 4-6ft seas most of the day. Started trolling at the HA, nada, went towards the Glory and started banging Skipjack, kept them for shark bait, no Bluefin, so we picked up and ran to the Chicken Canyon, had half a dozen shots at Mahi but couldn't connect. Started the shark drift and had wind against tide conditions, only drifted 1.5 miles in South Wind of 20 knots in 4 hours of fishing, nonetheless with hard work from Capt Vic and Sergio we were able to hook a nice Blueshark which Alex and Mike tangled with before the release. Picked up a half dozen nice whiting to round out the catch. From all of us here at Andreas' Toy Charters - Good Luck to Alex and Mike this upcoming football season!

Just got back from the dock and Capt Vic put the group on the meat! They took home a bunch of stripers up to 30 lbs. plus 3 keeper fluke and a handful of seabass. A good day considering he got mugged at the striper spot. That's summer Saturdays for ya!

Had Al Ristori, Gene Grammin and a friend out for some fishing today! First we ran to Great Kills Harbor and caught some of the best looking bunker of the year at about 8 inches. This turned out to be the perfect Striper candy. So then we ran down the beach to one of my favorite spots and it was game on. We had fish on in minutes and the bite never died until we ran out of 180 baits. We caught 42 bass ranging from 18 lbs to the about 38 lbs.

Took out the Dalessio Family today, had all the family on hand ready to do battle. Had intentions of Striper fishing along the beach, didn't see any life or hear any good reports, talked to the family and asked them If they wanted to bottom fish, all wanted Seabass, started at the rocks lots of shorts some keepers, ran further down the beach off of Monmouth,set up on a rock pile and had a steady pick on the drift, decided to set the hook, had a steady pick on the first drop. Wound up with 35 keepers and tons of shorts with some Blackfish up to the 7lb pool winner. Ended up the day Fluking with 30 shorts and only 1 keeper.

Today I had Ariel and his son Patrick along with his two nephews from california. We started off with a nice pick of fluke boating 6 keepers and releasing 15 shorts. Then my guys wanted some light tackle bluefish action so I took them to the flats and they jigged 2 dozen blues. We also had alot of topwater action with plugs and the kids really enjoyed watching the plugs get tossed in the air by the strikes. Great trip and a great group of guys.

Had Mike and his party out today to do some bass fishing. Day started out tough trying to find the bunker. One hour later finally found some and with 2 throws we where in buisness with over 100 bunker in the boat. The day started out slow hit 4 pieces - I like to fish with no life on them. Finally I went to the rocks and anchered on a small piece I haven't tried and 2 years. After about 20 mins we had the first one on. All together we had 7 striper and many dropped fished with the biggest going at around 25 - 28lbs. On our way in we hit a massive school of bunker but no one home. Then we ran into the birds at the ammo pier only to find bluefish eating up on rain fish. All in all, we had a great group that went home with plenty of meat.

Had the Barton's Pub Crew out today, had my trusty mate False Rip at my side. When we booked the trip it was as a Mixed bag trip, but told the crew that there was still some big bass around, they all agreed live-lining or bust, loaded up the live well in Keyport harbor and off we went, arrived at the grounds at slack and didn't get a touch until the tide started to run. As soon as it did the bites were fast and furious, had Stripers competing against each other to inhale the baits. Had most of our hits right in front of our face on the surface, still gets me excited to see it occur. Landed over 15 bass from 15-35lbs.

Had a business meeting today with my Boss Barry and co-workers, decided to cut the meeting short and take a pleasure cruise on the boat-yeah right! Told the crew we might have a shot at some Stripers, and they were into the idea. Met capt Vic at the tip of the hook and he loaded me up with bait, made a mad dash off the highlands bridge and set up on the chunk. Tide was almost slack but the fish bit their heads off, had our 6 person boat limit within half an hour, and played catch and release for another hour before we headed back to the barn. These were the first Stripers ever for the entire crew so it was a very hectic, pleasurable experience with my Boss and co-workers. All told we landed over a dozen fish from 15-30lbs.

Captain Carlos had the Mike Roth group out today for some stripers. They had an excellent bite on all large fish with the biggest at 40 lbs. The four man charter boated six stripers and lost the same at boatside. Capt. Carlos then put them on some fluke with 14 shorts and 2 keepers caught in 3 drifts. He topped off the fish boxes with a dozen 1 to 7lbs bluefish. All He needed was his weakfish!!! He felt as if he had "popped everyone's cherry" today as the four guys never caught a striper. What a way to start!!!

Had the Todd Moyer crew out again today. Netted the bait right in Keyport Harbor and made a run back out to Flynn's Knoll. Set up and once the tide started running we had fish on, had one eat a head and another live-lining, as quicly as it started we had a least 6 boats run directly into our slick, one boat the Sweat Pea, blue hulled center console boat with inboard motors, ran directly behind the transom at high speed, once that happened, we never had another bite not even from bluefish. Took a ride to Breezy and West bank, but nothing doing so we decided to do some Ling fishing. Went to Scotland and caught a dozen Ling to finish off the day. Great time had with the guys.

After a couple of less than medicore trips, we came back today with a good trip. Had the Steve Romain charter out again from last week. Obtained our live bait and headed to the knoll. Within in the hour hour we had our boat limit and headed out to do some live-lining had one fish come up and had our bait smashed on the surface by a 20l+lb Fish, after that the action came to screeching halt. Popped a couple of Striper cherries today, one by the man himself Steve Romain.

Well after last weeks tough weather felt good about today's chances of getting on the meat. Not to be, had the Mike Hetrick charter out today and it was a tough pick, had 3 Stripers up to 15lbs. Had some followers to the boat,busted a couple off,and missed a few but couldn't get the fish going. Drifted near West bank, set up on the chunk there and at the knoll,but just a few fish at each spot, Bluefish were a curse, but did keep the guys busy. Will still try to Striper fish this week if the fishing doesn't turn around we will be shifit gears into summer mode.

Captain Fred and Captain Mike teamed up to put their charter Chuck and his crew on bass yesterday afternoon. They gathered plenty of bait at Great Kills and headed to the front of the bay where the action had been in the morning. After drifting livies and heads for the better part of 2 and half hours they only managed to get dog fish, blues, and only one bass. After a disappointing start we decided to move towards the back of the bay along the reach channel only to get eaten by monster blue fish. I guess they don't eat between 2-8.

Had Steve Romain his 3 sons Brian, Chris and Louis and buddy John out today. Had hard Northeast winds effecting any type of chunkling we tried by making us swing at anchor, decided to drift at various spots and live line bunker, had some decent amount of bites but where only able to land a couple of fish, tried one last drift near the 20 can of the reach but the Bluefish tore us up. Had to give a thumbs up to these hardcore guys who tolerated these conditions.

Did another run to the edge today, envisoned doing a first light morning troll, followed by deep dropping for tiles with chum and shark rigs at the ready for some sharks. Unfortunately the warm water edge had pushed way offshore which would have really eaten into the day for Tiles, so we went for the sure thing and deep dropped, conditions where horrible for the drift wind was against tide not allowing for a good drift, nontheless the tiles where coming over the rails at a steady clip, at that point I decided to put out the chum and hope for the best, False Rip who was on fire was lowering his tile rig when he got bit and the fish was pulling drag, after getting the fish to the surface we saw a 42 inch Bluefin had eaten the Tile rig! At that point there where Bluefin boiling all around the boat, after we released the fish we put out some 60lb Flouro on tuna hooks with sardines for bait to try to find a keeper, had some run-offs but no solid hook-ups, continued to try to bait a shark to no avail, at one point we did see a big shark swirl near the boat but not commit to the baits. Water temps was 62 degrees didn't expect much on the sharks. Ended up the day with almost 40 Tiles from 5-18lbs.

Captain Carlos had an open boat trip today. They had an "OK" trip considering they had a screaming current which lasted all day long. On top of that his fish finder died right before he got to his first drop so he had to fish his larger pieces which at times get touched by others. Sam Melendez was high hook with 12 keeper sea bass, 3 ling and a bunch of small blues. Carlos wants to thank Mike aka "Happy" and John Deno and his friend Rob for making a decent day out of it.

Captain Carlos had a great group of guys from PA out today. They popped a few striper cherries and caught fish up to 30lbs on what was a tough afternoon. It was wind against the tide until the last 2 hours and then when we found the bunker... the big bass were waiting.

Had an open boat trip with Tunaman, Gary D,Sam F, Andy, Mark B, and Dave Owens. Ran to the warm water break at the dip 150 Miles one way, found it out on the 500 fathom line. Trolled for about half an hour and got covered up by 5 Bluefin Tuna, had to release the 2 because they weren't 47 inches, just shy. The fish ate everything in the spread, Canyon Runner Spreader Bars and jets, dressed Ballyhoo, and mini-green machines. After talking to other boats we realized that this would be a catch and release affair and the guys wanted meat to take home, so ran 50 miles south to the Hudson and started our drift, the first hour we picked at the fish due to wind against tide, once we started to drift it was drop and reel fishing, wound up with 22 fish from 5-20lbs. While reeling in one of the Tiles just missed getting eating by a 10ft Blue Shark. Tons of life out there pods of porpises jumping everywhere, Tuna in May, doesn't get any better this early.

Had forum members Scuba Nut, John Cuber, and Brian Morris, with his buddies Tom, Ray, and Joe. Due to wind against tide conditions in bay decided to run down the beach to look for bigger fish. Started jigging on reading and birds, turned out to be cocktail blues, started drifitng live bunker at the rocks and had a decent pick of 6 Bass up to 33lb's,from 3 different hand scales on board. Ran out of bait from pesky blues up to 12lbs, so with wind and tide running in unison we headed to Staten Island to replenish the baits, 2 throws and we had 100 baits to work with, started drifting along the reach and filled the boat ,limit in minutes.

Had the Nick DeGenio Charter out today for a great morning bite. As soon as we threw down a live bunker we were greeted by a 25 lb. stripper who wanted to say good morning. We had a total of 6 nice fish aboard ranging from 16-25 lbs and of course our share of 10 lb blue fish. The morning bite quickly came to halt later in the morning and it was slow picking from then on in. Get up early because the guys who slept in missed the bite and the good action.

Had the Tony Trigg charter with nephews Rick and Steve,Capt Skip from Cape May with his buddy Rick, and Doc "Skolman". Threw the net once and loaded up with 100 livies to start the trip, had tough wind against tide conditions but nontheless we got our limit within the first couple of hours, then went into catch and release mode, then we ran out of bait.While re-upping our bait whe had the Bass eating our baits before we could get them to the boat, so we released a bunch more bait while making bait before we headed in. Landed close to 25 Bass up to 25lbs, on great day with a bunch of good guys.

Had Dave Haspel and Aaron Grieco out today for trophy hunting Bass. Started out obtaining live bunker in Princess Bay, once we secured bait we started our drift, had the boat limit within half and hour and went into release mode after that, wound up landing over 2 dozen fish today up to the big one of 25lbs.

Our top fish of the week was a 33 lbs Striper caught by a gentleman from Westchester County NY. Thanks Tom, you guys did a great job. Our second biggest catch was Capt Mike's largest fish of the week. A fat 30 pounder caught by Brett "the Mate's" friends. They had a great time and caught plenty of large bass.

Had the boys from Barton's Pub out today, Forum member Jim aka FalseRip put the trip together, with buddies Mario, son Chris, Gary and Ed.. Charter wanted to hunt for trophy stripers to start the day, got the live bait we needed but missed the bite by half and hour, we tried bunker chunking in some of my productive hot spots but not a sniff, not even from blues. Decided to do the sure thing and clam Stripers. Ran out to the Nude beach and clammed 20 Bass with 4 keepers in little over an hour. Came back to the trophy grounds and bite was over. Snapped my consecutive streak of 20lb Bass today, but had a great day with the guys from the pub.

Had the Paul Harter family out today. Had tough wind against tide conditions most of the day so I chose to drift near bait around the 20 can. Son Griffin nailed his first Striper of his young life of 38 inches on fresh bunker to start the day off, however winds picked up in speed and decided to save the family a beating and tried Great Kills Harbor. Couldn't get much going in protected waters and family wanted some action, so we ran to Old Orchard and trolled some Blues. Made an attempt to clam Stripers with wind and tide running in concert but due to strength of wind the boat was shifting wildly, decided to call it early and head to the barn.

Had the Charles Foschini charter on today with buddies Ron and Mike. Started by obtaining live bait today and headed back over to the Reach, Charles from who lives in Miami, but is originally from NJ landed his first Striper a nice 40 incher, then his buddy Mike was up and landed his first keeper Striper all on live bunker, had to really fight off the Blues today had over 30 up to 14lbs. Landed some more 35+ inchers all on light fluke tackle and ended up clamming another half a dozen to 28 inches.

Had the Tom Ferrick Charter today with brothers Chris and Tim. Started out chunking in the reach after 2 moves had only bluefish. At slack tide I decided to drift bunker chunks. Had action right away, had 40 inch Bass on every drift with 2 or 3 Blues for every Bass up to 12lbs.The largest Bass was almost 42 inches and weighed 28lbs on a hand scale. After the bite died we decided to clam for some smaller fish for some light tackle fun. Set up and landed another half dozen Bass up to 28 inches. Great thing about today's charter is that they released all their Stripers. Total tally, boat limit of Stripers, and a dozen fish overall from 22-42 inches.

Had The Chris Martalus family today, with twin brother Brian and dad Bob. Had wind against tide conditions all morning, tried Bug Light, Old Orchard, and Romer clamming and bunker chunking with only short bass and Bluefish to show for our efforts, made a move outside off the Nude Beach and hammered them. Had over 20 fish between 30-35 inches in half and hour, had tripleheaders majority of the time. Wanted to thank Shamrock Eddie for helping me do the charter today on short notice.

Had the Pat Dallessio charter today. Started fishing at slack tide tide today, so decided to troll stretches and bunker spoons, not a touch, then went to Great Kills Harbor to net bunker, still too difficult, so we snagged some and set up on the chunk, nothing, then clamming just some small hits, went on the troll and still nothing, I could tell my charter was now getting antsy. Reeled up the lines and went to my honey hole, as soon as we set up we had fish on, started out clamming and getting smaller fish, then some keepers, then went to bunker chunks and bigger fish started to chew, total tally was 12 fish landed and first boat limit of the year to 35 inches, also had the first Bluefish of the year 6 up to 10lbs, lot of fun on 12lb test, most of the action came at the end of the incoming.

Took my 3 kids out this afternoon to catch their first stripers of the year. We set up near Andreas’ Toy 3 where Capt Mike had the John Cuber party bailing the bass. In the first hour they landed 20 stripers with 3 keepers to 33 inches. Once I set up my kids, we had rod bending action and they all landed their first fish of the year with my oldest taking the pool winning 32 incher. The total tally was 12 fish to 32 inches in an hour's worth of fishing. If you combined with Andreas’ Toy 3's # we had landed over 30 fish and 4 keepers in an hour's worth of fishing. All fish caught on incoming tide with calm seas.

Had Jack K. and sons Sean and Ryan out today in sloppy but tolerable conditions today. Fished the incoming tide with a sporty east wind, had a dozen bass on our first drop to keep the boys busy, they decided to chase bigger fish so we tried bunker chunking in the harbor due to conditions, for an hour with no touches, went back to clamming for another flurry of 2 dozen fish with 2 keepers.

Had the Ed Yuengel charter on board today. Started out the day with the small ones and had steady action, at the change of tide I offered Ed and his crew a chance to tangle with some bigger fish. Heard some reports of bigger Bass on bunker chunks, so we ran to Great Kills to try to net bunker, "not", to spread out so we decided to clam at Romer, ran into Team Monger doing their thing, after just skates ran out to the clam beds of the Nude Beach, more shorts, ran back into the bay to finish off the day with a nice flurry of Bass to 30 inches. Total tally was 20 fish up to the 31 inches. Man these bigger fish better start to chew!

Had an open boat charter today for Tiles. Had Capt Carlos and Capt Vic joining me on the trip. Had done lots of research with my fellow captains and came up with our game plan. Went to Shimano for help in outfitting my charter on the latest and greatest which they responded with. I knew today I would have less than optimal conditions due to full moon current, but because of the 12 hour weather window and 2 consecutive blow-out trips I rolled the dice nonetheless. Using the Shimano Torsa/Trevala combo with 65lb Braid using 20 ounces, we begin filling up the fish boxes. Once both boxes were filled we took a run to a wreck inshore of the Hudson to finish stuffing the boxes with Jumbo Seabass and Ling. Total tally was 50 Tilefish 5-25lbs, A dozen jumbo Seabass and Ling in 15 minutes of fishing to top the boxes off.

Capt Mike and I had forum member John, his son, and Marcel Jaegou on board today. From the first stop to the last we had rod bending action and bites at all 3 spots. Due to very windy conditons and cold 48 degree outgoing tide water temps the fish would pick up the bite but not fully commit (suicide bite), nonetheless we still landed 20 fish up to Marcel's who is 86 year's young 31 incher.

Capt Carlos and I had Flatsman, False Rip, Tunaman, Joe D, and Segio Agostino for some Deep dropping for Tiles. Got to pop a couple of Tiles cherries today, but unfortunatley new moon and doggies made it difficult, wound up with 4 fish from 5 to 22 lbs. Hit a wreck inshore of the Hudson and in 1 drop added 25 Seabass to 6lbs, Ling and Porgies.

Ran Andrea 2 with Victor Medina, Mike Ryan and Jim Mulvey. Started out really slow, 1st spot on the Navesink had no bites in 44 degree outgoing tide, then ran near Highlands bridge same conditions no bites, then took the long run down to Shark River. Got there around slack, just missed the outgoing water, as soon as the rods went in we had a double on and proceeded to catch 40 fish with Mike catching the big one at 2.88 lbs and almost 20 inches in an hour's worth of fishing, once the incoming 42 degree water came in the bite completely died.