The weather has kept me side lined for the past couple days. Heavy winds from the East and Northeast will keep us from fishing. Another major storm system will arrive late Sunday night into Monday forcing me to postpone my double on Monday. Hopefully the weather forecast for Tuesday changes.
5/08
X Marks the Spot!
For the first time, I am willing to give up my secret spot. For those that fished yesterday on the bay, I guess you know where I am fishing - hehehe!
All kidding aside, the last few trips have been good for bass and of course the blues. The bunker were easy to net too. Each morning, I have been drifitng to a couple fish here and there but with the marks I am seeing under the boat, I was not catching the way I should have. Once I got back on the marks, I began to drop the hook and chunk. This seems to be working for me in my boat right now. It is a game of patience but the bass will appear. Over the course of a trip, you will get your shots at bass.
The morning trip on 5/07 was flat calm and fishfull! By 1 PM, the wind came from the SE and kicked up the bay. My afternoon trip with Outdoor writer, Dale Machesic was interesting. Cutting across Round Shoal at 2pm was downright brutal as we were taking 4 footers on the chin. It never really laid out for us so we called it by 6:30pm as they had their fill with bluefish and one big bass for Turkey Camp.
Trips for Thursday and Friday have been called off on account of high winds, T'storms and potentially heavy rain.
5/07 afternoon trip
Tom from Central PA
Mike - Morning Trip 5/07
5/06
5/07
5/06
Joe, Joe and Bob joined me today but Joe # 2 only caught the blues. Bunker was easy today. two throws and over 100 bunker. In and out of the harbor in 5 minutes, maybe less. We rolled to my grounds and only got one strike which joe connected with. We hits some spots to nothing and went right to the chunk where I got some yesterday. As the tide slowed, bass began hitting. We did miss some but we got some too. My friend Lou called me into a bite but my guys were content with the action they had so we stayed put and picked away at bass and killed the blues.
Please Note: I will be working double trips on 5/07 and 5/08. I will not be able to update reports!
Kim O' Lantern
5/05
A Day for the Toothless Critters
5/05 raritan Bay
Dave Metz's 1st Striper - 5/05
5/02
Ron Mroz and Kevin joined me today for my last river outing this spring. We began the day with an incredible herring bite at the terminal. 40 herring in half an hour. We got into fish right away and found a really good pod of low to mid thirty inch bass. It didn't take long for people to see us catching and of course, like old Trenton fashion, ALL COURTESY WENT OUT THE WINDOW!
Before I knew it, I had a mid 20 foot cabin cruiser dropping anchor right on top of the fish and in my line of drift under the bridges. My first thought was that if I wanted to anchor, I could have done that! However, the fish wanted baits on the drift, not the anchor so I was drifting. Thanks Mr. Courteous guy in that big fiberglass striper boat!
Finding fish the rest of the day got tough but we managed a little action here and a little action over there causing two bait runs for the day. I guess this guy in the big boat was prepping me, my manners and my professionalism for Raritan Bay adn NYC.
5/01
I put my ocean boat in her slip today at Morgan Marina. Ready to Roll!
Nice Catch Andrew - He Beat his Dad!
4/29
Tim and Andrew Wilsey experienced tough fishing today. The wind was blowing hard downriver making it hard to drift. The water rose and was off color but not muddy. More importantly, the herring bite was down the tubes. I caught herring but forgot my downrigger to load the trophy teasers into the water. When I called my guiding friend into the herring bite, he put his trophy teaser herring chain down and stole my herring (that Rat Bastid). Anyway, his teaser system drew enough herring in for he and I to fill our baitwells. Our first drop yielded several major run-offs and fish hookups but broken line got the better of us. We ended the day with several striped bass and run-offs but the overall action was off for some reason. Visibility was a foot or two and the afternoon flurry of strikes/boated fish left us herring free and time to hit the trailer.
Dean Ween Himself
4/28
Jimmy Wilson and the Brownie Troop Meets Downtown Trenton Striper Action
Mickey (Aka.. Dean Ween, Jimmy Wilson) from the rock band Ween joined me today for some striper action in the rocks of Trenton. In usual fashion, Trenton greeted them with an array of side show antics. First it was a fire. Later it was police activity on route 29 followed up an hour later by other sirens of some sort. Mickey was looking to shoot fishing video for his band website and his new raw and off the cuff fishing show, The Brownie Troop Fishing Show. Mickey intends to place music and acoustic guitar jams behind fishing scenes. When I get the link to the fishing website, I paste it here!
www.ween.com
The herring bite started off very slow under heavy clouds and intermittent rain. After placing 15 herring in the livewell, we headed to the striper grounds. At first, the fish were picking up the bait and dropping it. Once the heavy rains came, the bass were more aggressive. I kept telling Mickey that the heavy stuff wasn't coming down for awhile so we kept at it. We finally landed 5 bass by 11am, broke two cameras due to rain and lost a microphone.
Rich #1
Sunday 4/27
Just A Raw Day
The bite today was tough for Rich #1 and Rich #2. Lots of runs and drops but we connected with 4 bass including one heck of a catfish. Ran through 40 baits
Rich # 2 followed up with a bas or so but also this big catfish. It hit a live herring.
4/26
Horst and Mike did well for themselves despite loosing fish on circles. They landed 12-14 stripers with some being around 28 inches and others that were 12-15 pounds. They also landed a Mega Catfish but I forgot to get a picture. They were so happy with their day they asked to pull up to a friend for a beer and he had zero. Instead, they took me for a burger and a beer! The highlight of the day was watchinga nd trying to catch spawning carp in the 15-30 pound range. We had one on but lost her. I even have video if I could only remeber my you tube pass words and usernames.
Double Headers Are Good For Business
Friday 4/25
Ron and Alan joined me once again for river action. Although the bite down south has been good, they asked to fish the rocks. We did alright for ourselves!
4/25
Ron and Alan from North Jersey travelled down to fish the river in Trenton. They did not want to fish south so we hit the rock gardens of Trenton. We managed to boat several 15-22 pound bass but most were 7-12 pounds. The highlight of the day was a 5-6 pound smallie trying to eat a live herring. This bass was twice the size of a herring and FAT! He was not successful nor were we when we threw plugs at him. I guess even the smallies want live herring right now. I'll update double header photos over the weekend of 15+ pound fish from today's trip.
Raritan Bay is on Fire with Bass and Blues. I am out of the river after Friday's Trip on the river.
4/22
4/22-4/24
I have been running pretty hard and unable to catch up with the reports. The herring are biting very well in Trenton and the bass activity picked up with some larger fish moving upriver.
This three day period produced a good number of fish throughout the region. I found success in live lining over chunking but I know both is working. Bill and John enjoyed some double header action while the Gulbicki's came in to fish the river for the first time. Both parties faired well. On Thursday, my customers were joined by Saltwater Sportsman Magazine's, Glenn Law. Glenn cranked out photos all day but our largest fish was only 22 pounds (39 inches). We even tagged and released fish this week with Glenn photographing two males today (I am not tagging females). Above and below are some photos of our fish. We caught some smaller fish but plenty of fish the size that the pictures reflect. I did not take pictures the day Glenn from the magazine joined us.
I want to thank Bill and Eric of On A Mission Fishing Charters for helping me with the Saltwater Sportsman Magazine Shoot. These guys helped me catch and keep bait, ran the camera boat and assisted Glenn on certain photos, information on the river and the like. On A Mission is a new guide service for the river and salt, really looking to kick into high gear over the summer. Plus, they are friends of mine and they all work at Harry's Army Navy in Bordentown, NJ.
As they begin their business, their website will grow but here it is:
The action today was better eventhough we only boated one fish. Terry of Leidy's Pork Products was an invited guest of the Wealth Plan Advisory company from Doylestown, PA. Together Mike and Terry had around 15 fish on and run-oofs only to boat one. Some were small fish but several had some weight and steam to them.
4/20
The Shimano Tour made a stop at the Tackle Direct and the Ocean City Tuna and Marling Club's event in Somer's Point on Saturday. It was really nice to meet new friends while seeing some old friends. It seemed that the hot topic for the entire event was Jigging for bass and tuna, specifically Butterfly Jigging.
I am back on the River, running this entire week.
4/17
The Good News - Then the Not So Good News
Good News
My Mercury Optimax and Pacific Skiff should hit the bay next week some time. I can't even tell you how happy I am to get that white motor off my boat and get outfitted with a Mercury. I am very excited to be apart of the Mercury Saltwater Pro Team too. Now, I am with a company that TRULY belives in Customer Satisfaction before and after the sale. After owning Mercury Jets now and in the past, I say this with my name and credibility on the line.
The Not So Good News
The river fishing is terrible. I have been cancelling trips due to lack of fish in the river. At first, I was running in anticipation of the fish turning on. Now, I am holding people off and stacking like airliners on the runway. When it busts open, I'll be working double trips. Once the bay turns on, outta here baby!
I am catching herring but no stripers. Noone is catching stripers above the Burlington Briostol bridge that I am aware of. Looking at 20-30 boats in an area and they are not catching either. I am not even getting any run-offs! Maybe a few small fish here and there but that is even off. I am hoping the moon and warm days change this. If not, well I'll discuss that after another 10 days.
4/17
Here is that New Quickrig Bait Bridling System. This is how it lays a hook on a herring. I wish I had bass around to say it works but I can tell you this. I can't cast the bait off my hook. Last week when I had nice fish in the river, I did not miss a one with this rig system. No inverted hooks or fouling at all.
4/14
Craig brought Bob to experience the Delaware River Striper bite today but it was tough. WE had around 6 or 8 takers but only managed two bass. The action overall was slow and the fish were smaller than what Craig had on his trips before. However, we managed to pick a couple bass, including Bob's first striped bass ever. We even watched an 8 or 10 pounder nail a bait near the boat only to come unbuttoned. In all a slow day but we covered ground and scored when we needed it. Thanks Bob and Craig for a great time on the water!
Bob's 1st Bass - Ever
4/14
4/12 & 4/13 - Delaware River - Cat is Out of the Bag
For the first time in my fishing business life, I am taking some weekends off. This is one of them!
The striper bite in Trenton is tough but the herring are everywhere and have been all week. Shad fishing in Lambertville is off the charts compared to recent years.
space
space
4/11
You Get Cocky & You Get The.......
space
space
4/10
There's Five Thirty...There's Dark Thirty...There's Beer Thirty
Then There's Bass Thirty
Dave and Jim came to learn all about herring and bass. Once again I converted shad guys to the dark side, the line side.
Today was the first good push of herring that I have seen, catching double header herring and filling the livewell quick for this time of year. I knew the fishing would be good when I saw cormorants everywhere. Then I splashed down and read warm water and knew it would be great.
We placed a school of Trophy Teasers Herring Tri Chains behind the downrigger ball and proceeded to catch herring consistently. The best part was that we were the only boat. We put thirty herring into the livewell and went bassin'
The adjacent picture is Farrier Dave's first river bass.
4/08
Joe Carlin was looking to learn all about herring and stripers on the river. Fishing was tough as the river was 45 degrees and we were under cloudy skies. We managed to boat one herring and no bass. We did catch a sturgeon of which I took a picture for the state biologist. I wanted him to see the size and health of the fish. The sturgeon was released unharmed.
Please know that it is illegal to handle sturgeon. I only did so because I wanted the biologist to see the fish.
