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June 27, 2010
Well back at
it again with a few new faces onboard. Today Rich had Mike
Rose (fisheye) and two of his friends - Rich Palmissino,
Sean DeStasi along with Rudy. I don’t always like to run
back to the same spot mako fishing, but with us releasing
one, catching one, and seeing another in the slick it only
seemed necessary. We knew we would have some people
watching our course and playing tag so I ran off course for
quite sometime before heading on our correct path.
Was another
great day with good conditions and hoped we would have some
action again. I think we had our first mako within one hour
of fishing. Yeah it was quick and could only ponder on what
the day had in store for us. Mike Rose fought this mako
that looked to be about 125 llbs and did a great job on the
rod. Rudy did the honors of the release and off she went.
The rest of the day was a little crazy. We caught the same
brown shark three times, giving all on the boat a chance to
fight something. Another very small mako was caught and
released by the crew.
Well it was
coming near the end of the day and we had only heard of one
other mako caught that may give us a run for our money, but
I stayed confident as well did Rudy. I told the crew we
only had about five more minutes to fish and we would have
to call it a day due to the time limits of the tournaments.
Wouldn’t you know it Mr. Mako came out of nowhere and
screamed the far bait. Sean got to do battle with this one
as we prepared the cockpit for landing another mako. Sure
enough this fish was large, not as big as yesterdays but was
good enough for another position. In no time we had this
fish banged, gaffed, and tailed.
Wow, we had
another fish that would place, measurements showed the shark
to be in the 230 lb class. That was great however we had to
be in the Inlet by 7 pm or we wouldn’t be able to weigh the
shark. Underway the GPS showed us hitting the inlet at 7:06
pm. It was a nail biter the entire ride in. We did manage
to make up some time and get in the inlet by 6:46pm. We
called the weigh masters of both tournaments and told them
we would be coming to the scales yet again with another mako.
The mako
weighed in at 236 lbs and placed us in 5th in
Mako Mania and 4th in Mako Fever. This was the
first time in the 25 years of these tournaments that one
boat weighed in two qualifying makos and took two places.
Oh by the way we won both tournaments!
June 26, 2010
Where to go,
where to go? Well based on yesterdays info and knowing it
was going to be crowded out here today and tomorrow I wanted
to fish somewhere by ourselves if possible. Punched the
course into the GPS, put her on autopilot and hoped for good
things. Prior to our arrival I started getting a good
feeling and was very confident we would see some mako action
today.
Today’s
crew: Rich, Doug( the Marathon Man), Rudy, and my brother
Max. The water quality was very nice, the only thing that
bothered me a little was I didn’t see too much bait. With
the lines out and a great chum slick going all we could do
now is wait. Well it wasn’t long, I believe somewhere
around 10:30 we had our first bite. The hit was good and
smoked some line before Rudy set the hook on yes a mako.
Rich fought this one to the boat, where we released her.
Looked to be about 100 lbs. A sigh of relief was in the air
as we felt even better about this spot and better yet no
blue sharks.
It was only
an hour later when I spotted a 200 lb mako come cruising
into the slick and right up to the boat. From the bridge I
had a good angle on this shark, as Rudy tried numerous times
to bait the mako on the short flat line. We tried different
tactics to get this sucker to bite, when all of a sudden the
far line in the slick go piled on. Max happened to be right
there and set the hook. We fish a lot of drag at strike to
determine right off the bat if the fish has any weight.
When a shark can take this kind of heat in the first minute
and continue to take drag we know right away what size shark
we are dealing with.
This one was
taking it and the rod was lapped over hard. We fired up the
motors cleared the rods and got a belt on Max who was going
to work. As we were doing battle the 200 lb mako we were
originally trying to hook was following the boat. Rudy
continued to try and get this one to bite but wouldn’t take
it and I said lets not get greedy and try and get this one.
In fifteen minutes Max had the mako within eyesight and she
was big. It made two passes behind the transom before I
could leader the shark to Rudy, who was patiently waiting
with the bang stick. Rudy hit the mako two times and the
bang stick never went off. This wasn’t good and was getting
worried we may lose this shark. Finally on the third try
the bang stick went off subduing the massive shark. We got
the gaffs in her and Rudy banged her one more time directly
in the head sealing the deal. Once tail roped high fives
were flying through out the cockpit. We knew for sure we
had a fish that would place very well in both tournaments.
We squared
away the cockpit and prepared to drag the mako through the
door. Once in the boat we took some measurements that gave
us an estimate on the weight. Looked to be somewhere in the
280 pound class. The ride in was full of anxiety and
happiness. As we waited in line for the weigh in station
Rudy and I sized up the leader board and the other sharks
getting weighed. Looked like we had a great chance at
taking the lead for 1st.
As the shark was
hoisted up out of the boat the crowd that had gathered for
weigh ins sighed in amazement of how large our shark was.
The weight was in and as we waited to hear the numbers. 301
lb mako for the Big Boy was yelled out. After a few photos
and a couple of interviews we were on our way with big
smiles, from Mako Mania.
We also had
to weigh the fish over at Mako Fever, where it topped the
scales at 299 pounds. It would take the leader board there
as well.
June 25, 2010
Since its
Friday and we are fishing day one of the first tournament I
like to use this day as a prospecting day. This means I
would go fish an area that has some interest to me and most
definitely only come back if we caught some thing or had
very good signs this would yield a tournament placing
shark.
Off we went
54 some miles to the east, northeast. Onboard were Rich,
Chuck and his son Aris, our good friend Capt. Frankie, and
Rudy. I’m still waiting to catch a big mako out in this
area of the Rockpiles and Virginia Wreck, hopefully today is
the day. Upon arriving to the grounds we saw plenty of bird
life, bait, and some bluefin tuna in the area, all good
signs for a nice mako. The only thing we didn’t like was
the water color, it was a little green with only fifteen to
maybe twenty feet of visibility and a balmy 73 degrees.
Set up on
the drift and got the slick going and the rods out. A few
hours passed before we had our first bite. It was a blue
shark, just what we didn’t want to see. We released that
one only to get another one on a little while later. Oh
joy, these sharks can be of such nuisance. By the middle of
the we had five blue sharks swimming around the transom and
attacking the chum bucket, and had about ten releases. I
definitely had a feeling Mr. Mako was not going to show up,
as we now couldn’t even get a bait back in the water.
Have to say
we left a little early to come in, something we never do on
the Big Boy. Well at least now I know where not to go
tomorrow, besides who wants to catch a winning shark on
Fri., I rather do it Sat., or Sun., and win both
tournaments.
June 25 - June 27, 2010
Yes that’s
right it’s that time of year again. Time for the Mako Mania
and Mako Fever Shark Tournaments. Ok let me try and
explain this, the Mako Fever Tournament is held by Jersey
Coast Shark Anglers Club out of Crystal Point Marina in Pt.
Pleasant. You can fish any of the three days Fri, Sat, and
or Sunday. We fished all three.
Mako Mania
is held by Crystal Point Marina also in Pt. Pleasant. This
is a two day tournament and can fish any one or both of the
days Sat. and Sun. These two tournaments are held
religiously on the same weekend of each other every year.
So we fished both days in this one. The weather and sea
conditions for both days looks as if it’s to be very
comfortable.
June 19, 2010
Last minute
trip, nothing wrong with that. Had Rich, Mike White and Max
out looking to top our last trip. Somehow we ended up in
the same area we left off maybe just a mile or so to the
east. Anyway we had the spoons out and had a livewell full
of bunkers at the ready. Wasn’t much chatter on the radio,
sounded pretty quite all around. Talked to some captains
fishing way up to the north, they reported it to be slow as
well. We did mark some schools of bass on the machine but
no takers. Continued to work the area and finally got the
rod to lap over, and lap over it did. It took Max and Rich
both to get the rod out of the outrodder . I saw the bite
and the way the rod bent and the amount of wire come off the
spool and knew something wasn’t right.
We were into
the backing in no time and had to start backing down. I was
thinking we either had a fifty plus pound bass foul hooked
in the side or we had a Thresher shark. After three
minutes of getting nowhere it was apparent that this would
indeed be a Thresher. Sure enough we finally saw its tail
up on the surface slicing through the water and soon
realized we had two other problems. First we were fighting
this shark on a bass rod and second we only had a net
onboard.
Rich fought
the shark for a good twenty minutes with a tender hip. Rich
had hip surgery over the winter and was suppose to be taking
it easy. Mike jumped on and fought the fish for another
ten minutes, before Max put fifteen in on him as well ,
before we finally got to get a few good looks at this
Thresher. During the battle I remembered we had the
harpoons still on the boat from tuna fishing and managed to
rig one up. The fish was hooked in the tail, making life
difficult for all of us. I put Rich on the controls in the
cockpit, Max had to put the rod in the holder as I handed
him the leader and leader the shark up so I could put the
dart in him.
Job well
done, we stuck the fish and got a few tail ropes on him,
then dragged and bled the shark out before pulling him in
the boat. I stopped the boat so we could regroup, get a
drink and some food. Well at least that’s what Rich and I
did. No lie five minutes later Rich is telling me, as I ‘m
making a sandwich that Max was in the cockpit yelling he had
a fish on. I figured... what's the big deal he’s got a bass
on a live bunker, well by the way he was carrying on
something wasn’t right.
So Rich and
I go out onto the deck and he’s trying to tell us he has
another Thresher on and swears its twice as big as the one
we just caught. As Max is getting spooled on his live
lining rod he’s telling us how we missed the shark skyrocket
some ten feet out of the water. So back on the controls I
go and we are at battle once again with the wrong specie of
the day. With this even lighter fishing gear I told Max
this probably won’t last long, and within minutes the
estimated 300 lb thresher won this show down. Total bass
for the day zero. Thresher fishing for the day 1 for 2.
Scales tipped out at 175 lb, not bad on bass tackle.
June 15, 2010
Well we had
a late departure today and the weather was sunny and flat
calm conditions. I had a feeling right from the start that
the fishing wasn’t going to be all that great, its just a
feeling, it happens a lot. We had Rich, Gustavo, and his 3
boys - Kevin, Eric, and Jessie in from Texas. We also had
my brother Max filling in for Rudy today. After some
frustrating throws with the net we finally got it plugged
with bunkers and headed off up the coast towards Asbury
Park. We threw the trolling gear out around Shark River
Inlet and worked east and north. The bunker boats were out
having a field day netting pod after pod.
The day
slowly dragged on as we trolled around some pods of bunker
that appeared to be nervous. No such luck, no actually I
think we had a bite and yes you guessed it the hook didn’t
stay in. Max and I were up on the bridge trying to come up
with some ideas when we spotted some white water a few
hundred yards up in front of the boat. At first we couldn’t
make it out, I thought maybe it was a Thresher shark. Then
all hell broke loose the water erupted with bass exploding
on bunker. I yelled down to the cockpit to reel in the
spoons so I could get us up on the blitz.
As we pulled
up I instructed Max to throw a bunch of live bunker out
behind the boat with no hooks in them to draw the bass in
close and Rich to be ready with the surface popper. Well
it worked Rich was on in no time, Max and I put live bait on
the other rods and had fish instantly off the transom. For
the next fifteen minutes it was all mayhem in the cockpit.
We were netting fish, throwing more freebies out, rigging
hooks, and watching a breath taking surface bite all within
twenty feet of the boat.
As fast as
it started, it ended. The crew put eight fish in the boat
going 24, 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 36, and a 40 lb fish. Yeah
some feeling I had prior to today’s trip go figure. This
was the best trip so far for the year!
June 12, 2010
Fished up to
the north on Saturday off Asbury and had a very slow day.
Rudy and I netted some live bait in the morning hoping that
would be a good back up just in case however it wasn’t much
help. I think we went 0 for 3 on the troll and bait fishing
altogether. Rich reminded us how nice It was just to be out
fishing and said “ what are you going to do about it”.
June 9, 2010
Got the call from
Rich who had a few hours to kill and wanted to look for some
bass. I sure didn’t have a problem with that so we jumped
in the Regulator and headed out. As we were approaching the
inlet I got a call from another captain who told me the
fishing up to the north was good at the rocks. So with out
hesitation we put the hammer down and set the course. As we
were passing an area known as the Church it looked very
fishy and I had to look it over. There were gannets diving
on schools of bunker and as I glanced at the fish finder we
were marking lots of bass.
Rich and I
got the spoons out and on our second pass we had our first
bass on. The fish were mean today, smoking the drags and
taking lots of line. As I was reeling the other line in I
was working the spoon trying to get another fish on. Sure
enough we got a double header on. Rich was close so I put
my rod in the holder and put the gaff to a beautiful 40 lb
bass. Rich was quick to jump on the other rod and finish
that one off, weighing 38 lbs. As we put the line back out
I gave a call to Capt. Bob Pisano who was up on the Rocks
who said it was slow and gave him the report . In no time
we were on again and Capt Pisano was on his way. We kept
another bass that was 26 lbs and released two more as it was
time to get Rich back. On the ride back we stopped on a
massive school of bass exploding everywhere on bunkers. We
had enough time to try for a top water bite on a big surface
popper. The popper hit the water and immediately was piled
on by a huge bass. The hit was incredible and I would’ve
loved to have gotten him to the boat except we pulled the
hook( what a surprise). Was an awesome three hours of
fishing.
June 6, 2010
Back at it the
next morning and why not go back to the same spot you left
them biting. Well at least that’s what I thought!
Conditions were very sloppy with a strong south to southwest
wind blowing, made fishing quite tough. We stuck it out for
half the day getting three smoking hits only not to have a
single fish stay on. Talked to Capt. Mark who was fishing
same area and he had the same exact problem. Thank god
thought it was just me, never seen so many hits in a season
and not get the fish to stay hooked. And yes Rudy says all
the hooks were sharp.
June 5, 2010
Headed down
off Seaside Heights, in the area of Casino Pier to start the
morning troll. Despite the chilly and damp foggy morning
the fish finder was showing signs of life, lots of bait and
an occasional fish. Well it took a few hours and a change
of tide to get them snapping. Rich and Laurie did battle
with five bass weighing 30,31,36,38,and 42 pounds. Well
the sun finally came out and we didn’t lose a single fish.
May
30, 2010
Oh yeah a
wonderful Sunday morning with a gazillion boats out joy joy,
I know what am I complaining about. Anyway we had Rich out
for some bass fishing off Mantoloking. Fishing wasn’t too
bad, our only problem was trying to keep them on the line.
We ended up going 1 for 5 trolling spoons. The bass weighed
in at a respectful 35 lbs.
May
28, 2010
Finally
after a long snowy winter we got the grand master big boy
himself out, yes Mr. RK. Made a run up off Bradley Beach
and put the spoons out for a couple of hours. Fishing was a
bit slow however we finally got some wire pulled off the
reels. First bass was a 32 lb fish followed by a couple
losses. We did get another one to stay on and that fish was
of equal size to the last. Rich had a few quests on the
boat: Ben, Lucia, Nick Barbetta, and his girlfriend Ember.
May
23, 2010
Snuck out on
the Regulator for some late evening live lining action.
After throwing the net on a school of bunker off Sea Girt
and loading the live well we didn’t have to go far to find
the bass. The action was hot and heavy as we were
practically hand feeding 20 – 30lb bass. We made three
drifts and used every piece of bait in the well. Kept one
fish and released over thirty five. My brother Max and good
friend Jimmy DeBonis were onboard.
May
19, 2010
Both boats
finally made their way into the water, after going under
some cosmetic work and the usual de-winterization phase.
April 15, 2010
My wife
gave birth to a 7lb 10 ounce baby girl and yes she was a
keeper, Riley Storm Berry.
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Yes hello
everyone, the fishing reports are on the way. I do
apologize for such the delay, had some life altering events
take place. Hope everyone is well and enjoy the reports as
I bring you all up to date.
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