July '06... Let the summer Begin!

[Deep C]

Day one for the month was a mako shot to the promised land. Just a laid back fun trip but I worked it hard. Only one bite... the right one yielded a final mako for the season.
I dorove back from Barnegat to Atlantic Highlands where three hours of sleep were interrupted by the engines starting and us heading toward the Hudson. I woke about 4:30 as we crossed the tip. Despite our best efforts and covering tons of ground, fish did not want to play. We did pick a small YFT for our only bite.
Colin was aboard another boat who only scored three pee wee mahi.
Headed back to Florida after... Will get a little R+R, reload the rolling tackle box, get some local fishing done and a sword run or two in...

[Deep C]

A quick drag today provided some action despite way crowded conditions out there. We picked a pee wee dolphin out of the gate. neeters nailed us as we slod north. We had two shots at sails that were trying to eat big combo baits. That resulted in a great show but a zilch on the scoreboard. We capped it off with a small king that ate my wwwwwb wahoo bait...

[Deep C]

Well four more days sice last report and nothing to add unless you want to hear about rain... I need to get some practicin in with this years spreads. Although the fish here don't act the same as the ones north, just dragging the spreads and watching lets me fine tune them...

[Deep C]

The boomers continue and don't seem to have an end in site . Looks like this may go on til I head back north. Plenty of rigging going on and even have enough time to make a handful of lures but this land stuff is killing me...

[Deep C]

Last weeks trips were fairly unproductive... A charter earlier this week was shortened due to sea sickness. My practice run yesterday was better with a sail release and a big marlin bite...

Tonights word trip was a good one!

When I lit the motors it was still a question mark. Loads of looming thunderbangers were threatening to wreck another night of swordin...
My buddy Ken and his friend Joe didn't care, he was game to give it a go as I had promised to take him out for months and never got around to it. The wind was not promising either as I untied and pointed for the inlet.
Then the top blew off a storm to the south giving us aome overcast and allowed the atmosphere to cool enough to lay the wind out and better yet put a hurtin on the other storms.
I hit the open and was greeted by a greasy left over swell from the days wind. I hate pushing the ol girl but the condition called for 22knots and thats what she got.
Swording has been hit and miss this summer and I just picked a productive area not too far from home. I got to the grounds early and scouted but found no breaks or really any place special. I picked a numbert and shut here down.
The "C" team outfits had me a bit worried so I backed off the drags a bit. I ran a 50w on the long mid line, the beastmaster took honors for the deep bait and another 50w had the 100' high slot. One of my 9/0 old timers would get the job for the surface bait.
As the sun set I flicked on my Deep Cheap sword light as the boys enjoyed a couple cold ones and some shrimp cocktail... I was expecting it to be a long boring drift and settled back for the wait. No sooner did I get comfortable I saw the long bait start to bend a bit... "WHat the? Come on Deep you know what that is react."
I Froze for a moment. Itt wasn't even dark yet. Out of practice and several months since my last sword bite I made my way for the now bending stick. I picked it up and felt pressure. I reeled like hell and there was more pressure so I passed it off . I went to clear the deep bait and as it was about half way up I felt a thump. I stopped and waited... Nothing...Then wham! the 100' bait got drilled.
Some string went away and Ken took control.
The fights weren't epic but soon I had two swords nearing the boat. I grabbed the leader on the first. Eyeballed the fish as being barely legal so I lip gaffed it. The fish went nuts and I had to lay on it while runniong the tape. 50" ... Good enough. I gave it a flashlight shampoo and then went to leader the other fish...
While I had been down on the deck with the one the other managed to find my wheels and was wrapped up pretty good. I could see the bugger clearly as he would slide out from beneath the boat. Another border line fish. I couldnt reach it with the gaff but I could reach the leader with it. I gaffed the leader and gave it a pull. The fish came up and Looked tobe the twin of the first. WIth one on the deck the decision was being made to let the second one go or take it too. Just then the hook pulled . The fish made the decision easy...
With that I pointed at the beach. Back in time for the guys to grab a couple more cocktails as I knocked the sides off their fish.

Tomorrow morning the rolling tackle box gets the call to duty once more...

[Deep C]

Well after my eventful ride north I spent a night working the bridges of Monmouth County crushing bass blues and weakies with my deck hand. ThenOn monday I slid offshore in a clients 27 contender. We ran for the Hudson but a heavy chop had us shut down in cold but pretty water shorth of there. Once we rached the tip the water got colder and uglier and we turned to the south along the 50 line toward toms.
Bango!!! Spreader goes down and theres a bill slashing in there. Second spreader goes down and then my lone piece of meat a hoo with a Compleat Dk starts screaming. One fish comes unglued and I was thinking whites when the tips showed pointy! Yep a tripple of rat blues in cold ugly water. One was gone but the other two stayed stck. The 50w gear was enough to put the brakes on the first fishand releasing him was a pleasure as that poor bar was getting the hell knocked out of it. The one that ate the hoo was a little longer pbattle on a tld 25 outfit with 40. The leader gave up when I grabbed it so a release but I didn't get my hook back. Inshore of there we found the bluefish to be thick as fleas so we packed it in.
That ride home was brutal and I spent Tuesday looking at the ceiling asking why I still do this at my age.
Wednesday, I mustered the energy to head to the Beach haven tourney, where I was invited to join Undisputed Joe and Buddy. Undisputed also a contender is a sweetie. She's the big girl with the tripple 250 yammies for power and reminded me a lot of Admins ride as we tore through the predawn chop on thursday... We set up on the westwall of the Wilmington and started our drag...
I guage crews I fish with by how much I have to say to get us on the same page and it really didn't take much. These guys have game and it was a pleasure to be with them. About 10Am I saw the first antichrist slip in and knock a rigger down only to just go away... An hour or so later we had been getting a steady pick of dolphin when the other rigger came down... There was a big bust in the water and I was thinking tuna. So the drop was short and the stroke was strong. The fish raced up and out... "Oh crap a white" I knew the drop was too short for one and sure enough he came unglued.
The mahi continued to maul our spread and Joe toook sadistic pleasure in pushing it a touch close to the pots if he thought buddy or I were getting bored. Between pots the flat line sang out. I saw this antichrist clear... "Let em eat..."
Buddy did every thing right and went to come tight. I saw the hoo pop out of the fish's mouth and it came right back and piled again. Buddy did another masterful job of dropping but the fish never got the steel. As he worked that one a second one joined the party. It piled on a lure and savaged it several times. It did not want to play with the pitch and jsut kept popping the lure til it got bored and went away... Final tally 0 for 4... Seems I've done that before... I take the blame..
The ride home was a bumpy one and though he tried hard Joe was not able to flick me out of the boat with his fancy driving...
Yesterday we laid up and watched it blow... Then this morning took mother mother ocean back on and headed back out. Our water had moved and the sea wouldn't let us point at the Baltimore so we searched hi and low around the Wilmington for the right white . The mahi found us again and worked us hard but at least they barfed up a nice 20 class bull in the mix.
My secret way back bait had a bite that I'm pretty sure was a white but we never got a look. We saw another raise away from ourspread andeat something but never gave us a shot. Alas the fat lady chirped and the clock had run out on our bid to beat the fleet. Still I had a ball with two great guys and was impressed with that outboards ability to raise fish... Theres always next year...

[Tunaman5]

Well after my eventful ride north I spent a night working the bridges of Monmouth County crushing bass blues and weakies with my deck hand. ThenOn monday I slid offshore in a clients 27 contender. We ran for the Hudson but a heavy chop had us shut down in cold but pretty water shorth of there. Once we rached the tip the water got colder and uglier and we turned to the south along the 50 line toward toms.
Bango!!! Spreader goes down and theres a bill slashing in there. Second spreader goes down and then my lone piece of meat a hoo with a Compleat Dk starts screaming. One fish comes unglued and I was thinking whites when the tips showed pointy! Yep a tripple of rat blues in cold ugly water. One was gone but the other two stayed stck. The 50w gear was enough to put the brakes on the first fishand releasing him was a pleasure as that poor bar was getting the hell knocked out of it. The one that ate the hoo was a little longer pbattle on a tld 25 outfit with 40. The leader gave up when I grabbed it so a release but I didn't get my hook back. Inshore of there we found the bluefish to be thick as fleas so we packed it in.
That ride home was brutal and I spent Tuesday looking at the ceiling asking why I still do this at my age.
Wednesday, I mustered the energy to head to the Beach haven tourney, where I was invited to join Undisputed Joe and Buddy. Undisputed also a contender is a sweetie. She's the big girl with the tripple 250 yammies for power and reminded me a lot of Admins ride as we tore through the predawn chop on thursday... We set up on the westwall of the Wilmington and started our drag...
I guage crews I fish with by how much I have to say to get us on the same page and it really didn't take much. These guys have game and it was a pleasure to be with them. About 10Am I saw the first antichrist slip in and knock a rigger down only to just go away... An hour or so later we had been getting a steady pick of dolphin when the other rigger came down... There was a big bust in the water and I was thinking tuna. So the drop was short and the stroke was strong. The fish raced up and out... "Oh crap a white" I knew the drop was too short for one and sure enough he came unglued.
The mahi continued to maul our spread and Joe toook sadistic pleasure in pushing it a touch close to the pots if he thought buddy or I were getting bored. Between pots the flat line sang out. I saw this antichrist clear... "Let em eat..."
Buddy did every thing right and went to come tight. I saw the hoo pop out of the fish's mouth and it came right back and piled again. Buddy did another masterful job of dropping but the fish never got the steel. As he worked that one a second one joined the party. It piled on a lure and savaged it several times. It did not want to play with the pitch and jsut kept popping the lure til it got bored and went away... Final tally 0 for 4... Seems I've done that before... I take the blame..
The ride home was a bumpy one and though he tried hard Joe was not able to flick me out of the boat with his fancy driving...
Yesterday we laid up and watched it blow... Then this morning took mother mother ocean back on and headed back out. Our water had moved and the sea wouldn't let us point at the Baltimore so we searched hi and low around the Wilmington for the right white . The mahi found us again and worked us hard but at least they barfed up a nice 20 class bull in the mix.
My secret way back bait had a bite that I'm pretty sure was a white but we never got a look. We saw another raise away from ourspread andeat something but never gave us a shot. Alas the fat lady chirped and the clock had run out on our bid to beat the fleet. Still I had a ball with two great guys and was impressed with that outboards ability to raise fish... Theres always next year...

Hey Deep! Is that Buddy Hughes you had with you? He is a really close long time friend of mine. Just wondering...
If so, we are ALL gonna go slam some meat as soon as i get this boat back up....

[Deep C]

You know? Thats a good question. I just know them as Undisputed Joe and Buddy... I'll have to ask. I suck with names but it comes with the turf. The tourney circuit like the internet is just a bunch of nick names...