|
NOVEMBER 6, 2007
Rudy and I ran
the LBB out to the reef to investigate on how the tautog and
sea bass were doing. Found some ok activity and picked
away at both species. NOVEMBER 15TH - BLACKFISH SEASON
OPENS!
NOVEMBER 4, 2007
Ran up to the
Shrewsbury Rocks for a go at some bass. Threw the spoons
out looking for some larger fish. First fish was 18 lbs.
followed by a short and another keeper. Our best two fish
we had on we dropped unfortunately, looks like things should
start to heat up. Heard Montauk was on fire with big bass -
let's hope they pay us a visit. Rich and his brother Mike
were out on the boat today.
THE BIG BOY IS BOOKING CHARTERS FOR BASS AND WRECK FISHING
THROUGH DECEMBER.
OCTOBER 30, 2007
Threw a last
minute trip together with Rich his son's friend Josh, and a
good friend of mine Pat we were off for the 106 mile run to
the Wilmington Canyon. This would be Josh's first trip to
the edge. As we got close to our destination we watched the
temp. Gauge on the fish finder hoping it would soon show
some signs of rising higher than 63. It soon jumped up a
few degrees right in the area we were going to spend the
night. With calm conditions we dropped the anchor in 650
ft. and got to work.
We picked at
the tuna on and off through the night, all long fin that
went 50 - 60 lbs. Rich let Josh take the first one and Josh
quickly found out it wasn't like bass fishing. After a good
battle the fish was brought to gaff and we all congratulated
Josh. I do believe Pat got a good whooping on Rudy's
jigging rod as well.
Everyone
worked really hard and from the chatter on the radio it
sounded like most boats only had half a dozen fish mostly
long fin and a yellow here and there. We ended up going 5
for 6 with a few small mahi's thrown in. Beautiful night,
calm seas, and good times... a good way to say the least to
end the season.
OCTOBER 13, 2007
Made a run out to the Hudson for an overnight trip with Rich
and his friend Art Roth, and Rudy's Uncle Lou. We were able
to troll up one longfin before the sun set on the East
Wall. We then set up for the night chunk on the 100 Square
in less than favorable conditions. We were the only sport
boat out that night along with a few headboats. Another
NOAA mess up.
We had plenty
of bait in the 67.8 degree water and hundreds of porpoise
that never left us alone. All night we were plagued by them
and when they finally did leave we had one shot at the
tuna. We went 1 for 3 on yellowfins and had to pull the
plug early do to prior commitments. The ride home was
absolutely horrible way to go NOAA. The tuna were in the 40
- to 60 pound class.
OCTOBER 1, 2007
Rudy
and I took the LBB out to the edge of the mudhole looking
for some bluefins. Fished the Monster Ledge area where we
saw lots of bait on the finder but a lack of tuna. Sounds
like it's been hit or miss lately, one day they're here and
the next they're gone.
SEPTEMBER 22-23, 2007
Had the Ashdee Charter out for an
overnight chunking trip to the Hudson Canyon.
Arriving a little early to the grounds, we trolled up the
East side of the canyon before finding our home for the
night. The troll produced three longfins in the
40-50lb class. The first longfin came just inside
the east elbow, which came inhaled a 13" squid spreader
bar intended for a bigeye - but hey... take that any day.
The other two fish came on the troll east of the elbow,
also eating the big squid bars.
From the
chatter on the radio and the looks of the radar, the 100
Square was going to be a parking lot due to the previous
two days of fishing and calm seas. We figured our
chances would be better away from the crowd, so we
headed to the opposite side of the canyon. As we
were coming up on the 150/050 area, we found a great
weed line and a good temperature break of two degrees.
With the calm seas, we decided to drift, leaving us with
the option to run back to the 100 Square if we heard
that it was good. As we ran up the edge, the fish
finder was showing good signs of fish and bait.
With a perfect drift along and out over the edge, we
hoped the fish would show soon.
Well, the
fish never showed in great numbers. We'd mark one
here and there, but nothing would stay or taste our live
squid. Finally, somewhere around 4:30, we marked a
small school under the boat, getting one on and in the
box... a nice 70lb yellowfin. With half a bucket
of chunks thrown in just 10 minutes, we couldn't get the
school to stay. We headed for home around 6:30,
since some of the crew had to get to a wedding.
Wonderful bunch of guys who stayed up with us most of
the night, and helped out in the cockpit. Thanks
guys, and we hope to see you again.
SEPTEMBER 7-8, 2007
The Big
Boy entered the Manasquan River Club Tournament as we
are now official members. The club holds the same
tournament. every year and you have a choice of doing
two day trolls or one 40 hour trip within the ten days
scheduled. Well we all agreed that we would fish the 40
hrs. So as we prepared the boat Rich got a crew
together. Onboard we would have Rich, Stanley, Glenn,
Martin, Scott, Rudy and myself.
Leaving at
midnight we would arrive at our destination just before
sunrise. The tip of the Hudson is where we would begin
this journey. We would spend the entire day trolling
specifically for big eyes knowing these fish are usually
over 100 lbs. and have the best chance of winning.
Well the troll
was productive mainly for longfins and where there are
longfins there is usually some big eyes. With five
longfins in the box we started releasing them so we
would have room for some yellowfin and hopefully a big
eye. We were soon blessed by the tuna gods with a big
eye. Rich got the fish to the boat in just about ten
minutes were Rudy leadered the fish up and we stuck two
gaffs in the 140 lb. big eye. This was what we were
looking for let's hope it's big enough.
Back on the
troll we worked the area hard as we also saw another
boat fighting a big fish. With only a few more longfins
and two yellowfins we started to troll towards the 100
square where we would spend the night chunking for
yellowfin. We would spend the night about three miles
north of the 100 square.
Dropped the
anchor in about 600' where we had some good bait
readings. The night bite never really turned red hot
for us. We had a steady pick on and off of yellowfins
and longfins. Live squid and sardines worked best. By
morning we had a total of 7 yellowfins and our release
on longfins was up to thirteen.
Back on the
troll we headed towards where we had the big eye. We
would spend most of the day in this general area. With
only an hour to go before we would have to depart for
home we started marking a lot of fish on the finder.
There were definitely big eyes down there and it would
only be a matter of waiting for them to come up and
feed. Well they never did and we were out of time. We
did manage to release another four longfins.
Back at the
scales we disappointed to learn that our fish was
currently fourth and only first and second were
payouts. Overall we had a great time and good fishing
with one eye ball at 140 lb.,7 yellowfin 60 - 80 lbs.
and 5 longfin 40 - 60lb. along with 17 longfin releases
no complaints here.
AUGUST 30, 2007
Ran the boat
down to Atlantic City for a couple of days with Rich onboard
to take some very good friends of his out fishing. We
left the slip around 9am on a beautiful sunny, flat, and
calm day. Onboard The BIG BOY for the day were Gene,
Jake, Michael, Art, Ricky, and Jared. After the six
mile ride out, we reached the Atlantic City Reef where we
would spend the day drifting for fluke and sea bass.
Well, it may
have been too calm, because there wasn't much drift to be
had... hampering our chances for a great catch. With
the fishing starting to slow, we stuck it out and were able
to put a decent catch together. The highlight of the
trip, excluding the best bagels and philly cheesesteaks that
I have ever had, was when a small school of mahi's came up
to the boat. We quickly, threw spearing into the water
to keep them interested while we got a light tackle rod
rigged up. In no time we had a 10lb mahi on, and Jacob
took up to the bow for the fight of his life. After
some strong runs on the ten pound tackle - Jacob caught his
first mahi. Give this kid a few more years and he is
going to be one great fisherman.
After a
wonderful day of good company, food, fishing, and weather...
it was time for The BIG BOY to head west toward that
Atlantic City Horizon.
Some pictures
from the trip, and very nice cards send my Mike and Jacob:
AUGUST 27, 2007
I gave one of
our usual customers and friend a call informing him that
the fishing was hot offshore. Dominick replied " what
time are we leaving?" Dominick charters the boat every
year for Mako Mania and Jersey Coast Tournament, along with
some trips offshore to the canyon. Everyone from the
Big Boy crew and family wish Dominick the best and
healthy recovery as you will read in this thread his
misfortune.
Leaving
Manasquan a little earlier than normal the Big Boy was
headed east toward the Tom's Canyon, onboard were
Dominick and his good friend Jose, Joses' father and his
son, and young Mike. Talking to Dominick on the phone
I explained to him if we left earlier we would have some
time to troll strictly for big eyes.
Somewhat of a
smooth ride out in the following sea which only got
nicer as we approached the grounds. Also onboard with
us good friend and captain Larry Grafas who was helping
me out since I had some kind of a bug the night before.
At 2:30 we were pulling back the throttles and Rudy was
putting out the spread of big spreader bars and big
single lures. By 2:45 we were on the troll and heard it
was non existent the day before. Well it didn't take
us long to find some fish, looking on the fish finder we
were marking lots of tuna. It was so impressive I
called Rudy up on the bridge to take a look at the
screen. Thirty seconds later we had our first fish on.
It turned out
to be a 46 lb. longfin which is good because big eyes
hang out with longfin. As the fish was being boated the
long right rigger line was left in. With the boat back
in gear I noticed a large black object underneath the
lure. I yelled to Rudy to start reeling it away to
provoke a bite, no such luck. However we both knew that
fish was what we were looking for. Making the turn
back to where we had our bite we came across a huge bait
ball only 70 ft. below the surface. I knew it was only
a matter of time before we would see some incredible
action.
Just after
passing the bait ball we had a big eye come up on the
long rigger multiple times where every one got to see
the hits. One finally got the hook and the battle was
on. Everyone had a turn on the always mean and angry
big eye. With the fish getting closer to the boat a
splash caught my eye on the right short lure hanging
from the clip. Dobbing in and out of the water with the
boat rocking the lure appeared life like. Well much to
my amazement when I looked over I could see atleast 10
-15 big eyes just hovering below the surface just
waiting to pounce. I could barley speak down to Larry
and Rudy to tell them to drop the lure back 10 ft. and
jerk it. I think five fish tried the lure untill we got
tight and everyone in the pit got a shower of salt
water.
Well the first
fish was finally gaffed and all three of us pulled the
152 lb. over the gunwale. With much excitement and
tired arms we still had one on. Once again those that
felt up to it went to work on what appeared to be an
even larger eyeball. The harpoon was out for this one
no need to take any chances with all the work that has
gone into this fish. With a few more cranks on the
handle the harpoon finsihed off this 183 lb. big eye.
With a lot of high fives going on we needed to get the
lines back in the water, so everyone got involved
helping Rudy and Larry out.
Wasn't but ten
minutes later when we got to see the show of hits behind
the boat one more time. This time the big spreader bar
down the shotgun rigger got the bite. Good thing this
one was on the Shimano 80w. With the lines cleared once
again we were at work with another large eyeball. Jose
did all the work this time fighting the fish from start
to finish. When it was all said and done we dragged a
196 lb. big eye through the door.
With the tuna
bag filled, the huge bonar box occupied by two and the
day box with one and enough ice to care for these fish
properly night fishing was out of the question. We were
soon forced to head in anyway due to severe medical
emergency. This is one of those trips you will never
forget and only dream of seeing again
AUGUST 14-15, 2007
The weather and the
fishing offshore was good, so The BIG BOY was headed East
for her first canyon run of the 2007 season. Our crew ; Rich, Michael P ”Fish
Eye”, Doug and his son Dave , me and Rudy. Left the dock
around 2:30 pm in beautiful flat seas, destination 100
square of the Hudson. The ride out was beautiful and
we arrived on the fishing grounds just before sunset.
We set up for
the night in 560 ft of water. Wasn't long before we had a
bite, turned out to be a small manta ray. Luckily it
was small... those things get into the hundreds of pounds,
and guys spend the entire night fighting them. A half hour later we
had our first yellowfin in the boat. From 9:30 to 12 am we
picked at yellowfin and then the bait showed up. At times
the squid were so thick you could catch a half dozen with
one scoop of the squid net. We had the yellowfin visual
behind the boat twice during the night. Highlight of the
night was when our deep line went off. Rudy and I both knew
what this was a sword. He showed himself when he jumped
half way out of the water next to the boat, had to be 200
lbs. Well a few trips around the boat and under the anchor
line we had them under control, only to pull the hook 50 ft.
from the boat. We went to battle with another big sword just
before sun up. Off the ball we fought this fish for a good
40 minutes on 30 lb. standup tackle and after a long battle
the sword chaffed through the leader. We were headed home by
6 am. with no room for anymore tuna. 13 yellowfin 40 - 80
lbs. and one 40 lb. longfin. Great first trip of the season
to the canyon.
This is a great
letter that Dave sent to us, about his day spent on The BIG
BOY:
AUGUST 12, 2007
Back out on the LBB
with Rich and his neighbor Doug to the Rocks. Yes that's
right for fluke and fluke we caught. A banner day we had 10
fish weighing over 4 lbs. 6 3/4 was the biggest followed by
three 5 1/2 lb., four 5 lb., two 4 1/2 . Had our limit of 24
with releases.
AUGUST 8, 2007
Had Rich and Larry
from the marina out on the LBB for another shot at the fluke
up on the Rocks. Fishing was good with the heaviest going
5lbs.
AUGUST 6, 2007
Had a day troll
scheduled for the 7th but do to weather and sea conditions
we turned around 20 miles out. Thanks NOAA.
AUGUST 4, 2007
Rich was onboard and
he wanted to get back up to the Rocks for some of that great
fluke fishing. Conditions weren't exactly ideal and fishing
was a bit slow. Did manage some flatties and looked around
for some new spots away from the weekend crowd.
AUGUST 3, 2007
Ran out to the Sea
Girt Reef with a friend of ours who works at the marina.
Gave the Reef a try do to our time frame and to investigate
if there were any big fluke cruising around the wrecks.
Caught a handful of fish nothing over 5 lbs. though.
AUGUST 2, 2007
Had the Armstrong
charter out for a day of inshore fishing for sea bass.
Fished around the Elberon Rocks off the red church and found
the sea bass to be cooperative along with some small fluke.
Made a move a mile north to another sticky spot and put a
few more fish in the boat. It was then time to make a move
to the Rocks where we crushed the fluke a few days ago. I
told the guys the fluking here should be good and big fish,
so some switched over to fluke and others continued to sea
bass as this spot also produces that specie. Well I couldn't
help myself and dropped a bucktail down, jigged it twice got
hammered and pulled a 7 1/2 lb. flattie in. The charter
couldn't believe their eyes and soon everybody was flukin'.
Finished up the day with a great catch of sea bass and 18
fluke five fish weighed 4 1/2 lbs. a 6 1/4 lb. and the 7
1/2.
JULY 31, 2007
Well sure enough got
a report from my brother that the fluking was way good in
the Sandy Hook Bay and a favorite spot of ours the Rocks. We
( Rich, Rudy and myself) had the LBB out looking to fish the
channels up north for some big fluke but as we were passing
the Rocks the conditions looked to good to pass up. Well we
spent the entire day there catching our limit of 24 fish and
then releasing to boot. Average weight was 3 to 4 pounds
with the heaviest going 7 1/2 lbs. with numerous fish in the
5 lb. bracket and a couple 6 lbs. The bucktails out fished
the bait 5 to 1. With all the large fish hitting the
bucktails.
JULY 29, 2007
After a couple days
off and getting the boat squared away from our trip it
didn't take long to get that itch back. Did some inshore
fishing for fluke and some sea bass. Fishing was steady and
looked and sounded as if it was about to get real good.
JUNE 2007
The first proved to
be a good day with a successful bass trip. The next
day we fished The Hi-Mar Striper Tournament. This
event is run out of Twin Lights Marina in Highlands, and
only gets better each year. This is by far our
favorite. Great tournament directors, atmosphere,
food, and best of all- it raises money for kids with cancer.
The top 6 places paid out this year. Well, we got in
on the action finishing 5th with a 31.8 pound fish.
On the 3rd we had
The BIG BOY off of Island State Beach Park trolling spoons
landing only 1 bass going 25 lbs before the rain moved in.
Four days later Rudy
and I encountered some of the best fishing that we have seen
in quite some time. Fishing Shrewsbury Rocks, we
caught over 75 bass, all on live bunker. Most of the
fish averaged 30 plus pounds, with a couple 40's and a
whopper that Rudy caught weighing in at 45 pounds.
This fish was released, as were all with the exception of
one.
Had good action on
the 7th, and another banner day at the Rocks on the 15th.
The 16th turned out to be a disaster. We entered the
Pete Pauls Bass Tournament held out of Rumson. After
departing the 6am shotgun start, we headed for the
Shrewsbury Rocks, a we approached, I couldn't believe my
eyes. Word must have gotten out about yesterdays
fishing , because I now felt like I was in a scene from the
movie Jaws. There had to be 150 boats all trying to
fish one small area. What a nightmare. We caught
one fish here before getting away from the crowd. The
fish was 25 pounds and unfortunately didn't place us in the
top 10.
On a brighter note
we had The BIG BOY out for Fathers Day. Rich had his
father out as well as his nephew, Jonathan Higger, and my
father Bill. We did some fluke fishing since the
striper action came to a stand still. We put together
a fine catch by the end of the day. Happy Fathers Day
to all!
The 20th brought us
some bad news as we stepped onboard The BIG BOY. Right
away we realized the boat had been struck by lightning in
last nights storm! The boat survived, just some of the
electronics suffered. By Friday night we were up and
running after some hard work by Authentic Marine fixing some
of the damaged electronics. Good thing too, because
Mako Mania Shark Tournament was only hours away from
starting. For at least the past 4 years now, Dominic
and his brother-in-law, Tom, have chartered us for this
event. Also with them this year was Jose, Ralph, and
his son Mike.
Day 1 started off
sloppy as we made the 50 mile run in 4-6 ft seas. It
would only get better as it didn't take long for the action
to start. With a few blue sharks release d and a stray
bluefish here and there, Mr. Mako finally showed up.
We released the first mako that we estimated to be about
100-125 pounds. Not long after that we had another one
on. What an aerial show we got leaping three times out
of the water before finally spitting the hook. An
estimated weight of 150 pounds. With a lot of hard
work and patience , we hooked up another shark o, only this
time it was of greater size. After only 5 minutes of
getting some line back on the reel, the hook pulls. We
fish a lot of drag on our reels for shark, and this is
how we knew it was a good one. Well... that's fishing.
It was only a matter of time before we were hooked up once
again with a positive ID of a mako. The crew made
short work of this shark, getting him to leader in just 10
minutes. This one made its way back to the scales with
us weighing in a t 166 pounds. When the scales closed
that evening, our fish wasn't in the top 6. We knew we
would need a fish over 200 lbs tomorrow to have a chance at
the top.
On the way in we got
to witness something not too many people get to see in a
lifetime. Personally, Rudy and I have only seen it one
other time. A Great White shark. We were only 15
miles from the inlet when what appeared to be a fin caught
my eye. Out of curiosity, we turned back around.
As we idled down, it was evident, this was an enormous
shark. Driving up along side of the 20 plus foot
shark, The BIG BOY dint seem all that big anymore! The
guys came out to see what was going on , only to find
themselves staining their under shorts. We figured he
had to weigh close to 2,500 pounds or better. I
brought the boat to a full stop and would you know, the
shark swims over to check us out. As he came across
the transom, slowly swimming back down into the depths, it
was like he was telling us to take a hike.
Day 2, the seas had
laid down and the free chumming had come to an end.
Back in the same area a much different day was about to
unfold. We had bluefish all day in the slick, with not
much action from the toothy critters. Rudy and I both
had a feeling that a mako was g0oing to show up and he would
be of good size. Our first bite came sometime around
noon, with a small mako release. Not too long after
that, we had a screamer of a hit, we all know what that
means... YES MAKO!!!!! After setting the hook, Mr.
Mako decided to run across the surface, showing his dorsal
and tail. Nice fish! was yelled out, and the pressure
was on. In the net 20 minutes, Mr. Mako was subdued.
After all the high fives, we got an estimated length of 90
inches... this could be a winner. Anticipation,
excitement, and nerves were on order for the 2 hour run in.
Not hearing news of any fish caught within this size limit,
the scale was going to to determine our fate.
As the shark was
hoisted up onto the scale, it was said to see that his belly
was sunken in. Well, the thought of 1st place went out
the window, and when the numbers of 228 were called out...
put us in 4th place. We were all still very happy.
Turned out this shark had two commercial longline hooks in
his belly. As Rich would say, "What are you gonna
do..." hey , nice work to my crew, and especially
Rudy. By the way, Dominic and Tom have the boat
booked for this event for the next 10 years in advance...
SORRY!
MAY 2007
On the 8th we ran
the "LBB" (Little BIG BOY) up to Bahr's Landing in
Highlands. Here the boat would stay for the next six
to seven weeks. This time of year the Sandy Hook Bay,
Raritan Bay, and areas along Staten Island and Coney Island
tend to be the most productive. In the spring and
early summer we focus on strictly fishing live bunker for
bass, as long as it's available. The 9th & 15th proved
to be good only for the wrong specie. Yes, that's
right, the ravenous and annoying bluefish. Wasn't
until the 20th when we finally encountered the first pods of
bunker along the oceanfront beaches of NJ.
The morning looked
as if it would have developed to be good one, however the
action was short lived. Good thing we stuck it out,
found some bass just north of the Rocks. Here we would
catch and release 16 bass up to 25 lbs. The next day
Rudy and I took the big boat out for a sea trial.
The 22nd, and I had
the pleasure of fishing with my wife on my tin boat for
fluke in the Navesink River. Yes... fluke fishing with
light tackle and we bucktailed 10 fish in just an hour.
All were released as the season was yet to open, up to 3 1/2
pounds.
The following day
had my brother Max out with us where we got into some hot
action on bass. Out of 29 bass caught we kept one.
All nice size fish, the heaviest on the boga grip hand scale
was 31 pounds. Fished off of Asbury and Deal.
The 24th we got Rich
into some nice fish off of Elberon. With no live bait
we pulled out the wire. Dragging the spoons in 35 -
50ft of water proved to be deadly. I think we had at
least 15 bass up to 30 pounds and were back at the dock by
9am.
The 26th & 27th we
would be fishing the ASA tournament out of Highlands, where
we finished 2nd last year. This year we finished in
8th respectively.
Day 1, we got into a
bass frenzy. For the next 30 minutes we watched and
caught 25-30 pound bass engulfing bunkers on the surface.
It's days like these that stay with you for a lifetime.
Finished the day tied for 5th with a 27.3 pounder.
Day 2, we made the
long run once again to the same area. Here we found a
much different day than the previous. Dropping some
whole dead bunkers down under the birds was working and Rich
landed a 22 pound fish. This would be the largest for
the day. Nice work Rich.
The 28th, we had The
BIG BOY out for her first trip of the season. Rich
brought along some wonderful friends of his. Onboard
were the Vitali's, Doug and his son Dave, Fred "The Iceman"
(12 Time World Kickboxing Champion), and my wife Jen aka
"Seaweed Girl". Trolled some spoons around looking for
some bass. Unfortunately we couldn't get away from the
bluefish. Regardless... everyone had a great time as
usual.
APRIL 2007
We made our first
trip of the year on the 11th for winter flounder. We
fished in the area of the Mantoloking Bridge, on a cold and
cloudy day. Caught some keepers, but over all, the
fishing was slow. The water temperature was 44
degrees. A few days later, on the 15th, we ran out to
a favorite wreck of ours for tautog (blackfish or tog).
Here the fishing seemed to be just a pick, however most of
the tog were of good size. Both trips were on the 26'
Regulator... we often refer to as "The Little BIG BOY".
CABO - February 25, 2007
Rich, Captain Javier and Javier Jr
Bob O decided to
spend the day with our other buddies relaxing poolside.
Captain Javier, Javier Jr and I set out to the north for The
Sea of Cortez. Within a short period of time we
spotted a striped marlin. We had just picked up some
fresh mackerel and Javier Jr pitched it within a few
feet. A few more attempts... and no luck.
Captain Javier got a call from his buddy who told him that
the Pacific was jumping. We traveled 15 miles to the
south and began trolling. We hit a quick, and nice
size, dorado. Soon after, Captain Javier spotted a
marlin. He took the live mackerel, and 20 minutes
later we released an 8 foot striped marlin estimated at 125
pounds.
Within a few minutes
of trolling, "BOOM!" the second striped marlin even more
sizeable jumping 20 times before we boarded him. He
measured 9 feet and approx 135 pounds... we released him.
What a great crew, Captain Javier was the son of a captain
and his son is carrying the same passion as his ancestors.
I highly recommend anyone in Cabo to charter these guys -
their telephone number is: (624) 122-21-75.
|
