The next open boat will be Sunday, August 9th.  I had to move it from Saturday this week.  We are going to be going after fluke in a big way as there will only be about three more weeks left in the season.  I have been able to net some beautiful peanut bunker off the local docks which we will be using for bait.  I call the peanut bunker Fluke candy for obvious reasons.  This will be an ocean only fishing trip.  Call me at 609 577 2797 to hold your spot.

Capt. Dave

The sea bass fishing is clearly the best fishery right now.  We had lots of action this past open boat with sea bass leading the way by far.  We fished the GS South Reef and had near perfect conditions all morning and into the early afternoon.  The water was a nice bluish green and the clarity was very good with temperatures around 70 degrees.  A nice light easterly breeze kept the drift at a perfect pace.  The only issue was that the sea bass were mostly all about a 1/2 inch short.  We must have caught around 30-40 bass with only a few for the dinner table.  It was still a blast with several double headers.

The winds and seas kicked up around 1:00 so we decided to head towards home and make a couple of drifts by the OPT research buoys.  Good thing because we managed to put our first keeper fluke in the box with one short.  It was a great crew and we listened to the Grateful Dead channel all day on Sirius radio #32.  The fluke season should be breaking open soon as the water temperatures remain in the 70's.

 

I will not be running any charters this week nor the Saturday Open Boat because I will be fishing the Beach Haven White Marlin Invitational which runs Thursday -Saturday.  I will let everyone know how I do next week.

 

The next open boat will be on Saturday, Aug 8th.  We be fishing for the fluke in a big way. 

I still have a few openings for this Saturday's open boat.  The fishing this past weekend was very good as you can see by my report below.  This weekend the 25th, we will be going back to the Garden State South Reef and fish for sea bass and fluke.  We are going to leave the dock at 7:00am and return at 2:00pm.  I supply everything including a cooler, bait and tackle or use your own rod.  You will need a hat, sunglasses, camera, sun tan lotion, food and drinks.  Fish cleaning is extra.  Price is $125/person.

I have seen some of the worst and best fishing of the season this past week.  It is all about the conditions that mother nature is providing.  When she gives us a window of opportunity, it is a smart choice to take advantage of it and leave the chores for later.

On Thursday, July 16, it was one of those days we should have stayed home and worked on the boat.  I had the Bill Minick crew out for a 6 hr trip which turned out to be a 4 hr trip because the conditions were so bad. We were greeted in the morning with threatening thunderstorms and haze.  A strong west wind of 15 to 20knts blew all day and seas were 4 to 6 feet.  We tried fishing in the bay but the grass was a real problem and the water was a muddy green.  We decided to head out to the reef and were greeted with ice cold water of 59.5 degrees and heavy seas.  After taking quite a beating, we all decided to call it a day.

The weekend weather could not have been more beautiful.  It is amazing what a difference a couple of days can make.  I had Tin and Carlton out for a reef trip on Saturday morning.  A gift to Carlton from Tina, a very nice girlfriend.  We worked the reefs and eventually made our way out to the Kennebec Wreck and had non stop action with sea bass.  Most of them were on the short side until Carlton cranked in a 5.5lb beautiful blue humpback sea bass.  It was he largest one of the year and a quite a site.

 

On Sunday and Monday I captained Jamie Price's beautiful 35' Intrepid for his guys fishing weekend.  We spent both days fishing the GSS Reef and had non stop action pulling in sea bass with a few nice fluke thrown in.  Biggest seas bass was 4.5lbs and the largest fluke of 20" was caught on Monday by his son Madison.  The sea conditions were perfect with a light easterly breeze and water temp of 70.5 degrees.  

 

We have a beautiful bay front two bedroom 2nd floor cottage unit for rent the week of August 29th through September 5th 2009.  The view from the beautiful deck is spectacular and overlooks Little Egg Harbor Bay and all boating activity, including the historic Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club.  The apartment is fully furnished, includes sheets, towels, beach chairs, webber grill, ac, WiFi, cable TV, fully stocked kitchen, and beach badges.  The beach is only a short 10 minute walk.  A 30 minute scenic boat ride in the "Compass Rose" is included.  The price for the week is $1,850.00.  A $200 security is required.  A maximum of four tenants for the week is permitted.

Call Captain Dave or Arlene for more details

609 492 2517

609 737 7979

609 577 2797 

 

I spent the last week away from LBI so I do not have any fishing reports for the Compass Rose.  I was away in the outer banks of North Carolina and got to visit some of my favorite marinas.  Pirate's Cove and Oregon Inlet Fishing Center are easily in the class of two of the world's best marinas.  I had a chance to watch the boats return from their fishing trips and they were loaded down with yellowfin tuna and dolphin.  The tuna fleet of the outer banks only have to travel between 30 to 40 miles offshore to reach the fishing grounds.  I hope this is a good sign of things to come in our northern canyons as we begin gearing up for offshore trips in late July and August.

My next open boat will be on July 25th.  There are still a few spots remaining so give me a call and let's go fishing.  

Captain Dave

609 577 2797

www.captaindavescharters.com

 

The water temperature drove the fishing this weekend on the ocean reefs.

 On Friday, I had Mike Kirkup and his crew out for a tide trip to the ocean reefs.  The day started off a bit breezy and settled down by 9AM.  We rounded the southern end of LBI and headed 9 miles to the Garden State South Reef.  I was very pleased to see the water temps climb as we got further and further off the coastline.  By the time we reached the reef, we had water temps hovering around 70 degrees which is on the high side this early in the season.  We started fishing and had a steady pick of fluke and sea bass.  The wind dropped out completely around noon which makes for poor fishing conditions so we decided to make a move and headed towards the Little Egg Reef.  The reef was also slow so we moved again and this time ended up fishing the research buoys inside the reef site.  This was a good move and we once again had a very nice steady pick of fluke and landed a beauty around 22".  For the day we caught over 20 fluke( five keepers) and several sea bass with a jumbo blue hump back to top it off.

 

The winds on Friday night blew hard all night long out of the West and I knew this was going to be a problem for the fishing conditions.  Strong winds out of the West mean cold water.  The winds out of the West blow the warm surface offshore and are replaced by cold bottom water which up-wells to replace the less dense warm water.  We saw a five degree drop in water temperature from the day before and the fishing never really turned on for us.  We had slow pick for most of the day and managed to bring home two nice keeper fluke but it was not a very god catching day.  On the other hand, we had a great time telling stories and I had the honor of fishing with a true NYPD Blue detective all day.  There was no other place I would have like to have spent the 4th of July.

 

Sunday was another beautiful day on the water.  The water temperatures heated back up to around 67.5 degrees and the fishing was much better.  We worked the reef areas again once more and had fluke up to 24".  The winds were light and the humidity was very low.  It felt like a September Day.  I hope this is a good sign of things to come.

 

 

Open Boat-Saturday July 4-     3 spots remaining