On Saturday, September 15th, the Arlene Ann overturned in a wind storm and sunk to the bottom of the bay.  The accident occurred at the dock while the boat was tied up.  No one was on the boat at the time of the accident which is the most important thing, however, the engine and all of the electronics and wiring were totally lost and will need to be completely redone.  I was not down the shore at the time of the accident.  Apparently, a strong storm front came through the area around 1pm with wind gusts of 50mph.  The wind somehow got under the t-top and rolled her on her side.   This allowed bay water to come flowing in faster than the bilge pumps could keep up.  It was just a freak accident.

 

Needless to say, I will not be running trips out of Sandy Hook this fall.  I will be back in the spring with either a newly restored Arlen Ann or a different boat.  I was really looking forward to the fall striper run but these things do happen.  I will keep everyone informed and up to date as to the status of the vessel and my future plans.

Just as the fishing started to improve this past week, the fluke season will be closing on Monday, September 10th.  We put some nice fluke in the box, up to 6lbs, this past weekend.  We have been using fresh peanut bunker and spots for the larger fluke.  The fluke have been in deeper water-NOT on the reefs which took a while to figure out.  Usually by this time of the year they are just off the beach in 30ft of water, however this year they have stayed offshore.  Perhaps the inshore fluke have been scooped up by the draggers.

 

The "Arlene Ann" will be coming out of the water next week for some general maintenance before we move up to Sandy Hook for the fall striper run.  We will again be offering striper trips out of the Ocean View Marine in Sea Bright beginning mid October.  I will have more details in the following weeks.