Fish on the move

Sunday was a great day out on the water.  It was a little cloudy which took away some of the hot sun and the breeze was very light.  The breeze was not a good breeze for drifting.  We set out early Sunday to make sure we could get the incoming high tide and the out going high tide later on.  We first tried the same spot we hit the blues last week off of Union Beach, but there were not to be found.  After several trolling passes in that area without a hot we moved across the bay to the channel along the shore of New York. we fished there for a while with only a couple bites and no takers.  The water was 55 feet deep and we fished the max depth, the drop offs to the channel and the flats on both sides without any fluke.  We did see a few shorts caught on other boats, but we caught none.  We worked our way back onto the flats in 25 feet of water where we finally did start getting some nice hits only to find out it was spot and grunts.  I finally hooked up and it turned out to be a dog fish. 

we decided to work our way back across the bay with bucktails trolling behind.  By the time we reached the #1 can we were amazed at no takers.  This time of year we usually have great luck trolling for the blues.  As we continued our voyage back to Keyport Harbor I hooked up just at the mouth to the harbor.  It was a nice blue that fought hard, jumped, and shook his head so many times I though he would surely spit the hook.  In any case I got him close and Blue netted him. 

It was a nice fish at about 30".  Not the monsters we were catching last week, but still a good fit.

We called it a day around 2:00pm and headed back to our mooring in Keyport Harbor.  We will have to get out and give it a try again next weekend with great hopes of catching some nice fluke.
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August 4, 2013 Fishing Report In Raritan Bay

Fishing in Raritan Bay has always been exciting for me.  Though I can catch more fish, in most cases, fishing fresh water, the size and fight are totally different.  Sunday we packed everything on board for a day of fishing.  We headed to Ambrose Channel to try our luck and were only catching short fluke.  We headed along the Staten Island shoreline following the channel occasionally stopping to try a drift.  After hours of doing this and nothing making the way to the cooler, we decided to try a different approach.  We setup or poles for trolling. All that I can say is OMG!  KABOOM!  Once we found the Blues we were catching some big fish.  One after the other.  Using bucktails sweetened with a spearing and trolling about 5 knots seemed to be the magic ticket.  Most of the fish were caught in 6' of water off Union Beach.  After losing lures, popping lines, catching fish too big for the net, and getting cramps in the arms, we called it a day early, 1:00pm.  It isn't too often you run into days like this. Outgoing tide, sunny day, good breeze, and plenty of bluefish to keep the excitement coming.

  These fish were all around the same size and hungry.  OK, so when isn't a bluefish hungry...  There were a couple that were bigger than this and we either broke the line, straightened out the hook, or jumped and spit the hook.  It was a great time to say the least.

Raritan Bay offers some good fishing.  The problem is finding out where to go.  The forums and bulletin boards do not allow you to say where you were fishing which is just crazy to me.  Why not share in the fun? I can understand those secret fishing holes, but if it is one of the known fishing holes, why not be able to say it?  This has be thinking of starting a forum where people can share there fun with others.

This fishing trip caught most of the fish at 40° 27' 30.42"N, 74° 9'46.13"W, off Union Beach.  As soon as we broke 5 knots, we would have another fish on.  A great day of fun. We did this until low tide and headed back to Keyport Harbor and the trip hope.  We did not keep any of these fish.

So get out there and try your luck, the big blues are here.