Great news!  I am donating $50-$100 of every charter and beach trip from October through December to help educate and fight breast cancer.  Keep-A-Breast Foundation is a group that I feel is fighting a great battle in making everyone aware of the effects of breast cancer, ways to help prevent it, and how to survive.  These guys are awesome!  I have seen how breast cancer can make a woman stronger and love life more, and I have seen how it can cause a terrible loss.  And I know we can help.  By donating money we help to keep people educated, and hopefully, save lives.

Please consider taking a charter trip out after Stripers, Blues, or Tog.  Think about a relaxing day on the beach chasing after Stripers, Blues, or even Kingfish.  It's all fun, and every trip helps raise money for a great cause.

Please also check out Keep-A-Breast's website:  keep-a-breast.org    Lots of great information.

As usual, I haven't been posting much.  But, the fishing has been pretty good.  I've been hitting the beach quite a bit lately, and the action has been solid.  There have been loads of nice Kingfish on real and artificial Bloodworms.  There have also been a lot of small Blues, puppy Drum, and occasional Blowfish.  Prior to the hurricane there were quite a lot of Spot around, but they have been scarce since the big blow.  Mullet have also been running along the beaches, and some Stripers have been around with them.  Tossing out Mullet or Kingfish chunks has produced Stripers of various sizes.  Also, tossing metals and bucktails into the wash has been producing.  With the start of October, beaches are now open for truck access too, which makes fishing a bit easier.

The back bays have been inundated with small Blues.  They are attacking everything that moves!  If you can get away from the little swimming razorblades, you can find a good amount of Stripers and the occasional Weakie.  Flounder are still around as well, but out of season.  Tog are holding on structure too, and readily taking clams and crabs.  Still hoping to see some Specks make an appearance this year...

The ocean wrecks are holding a lot of Tog now, but the limit is still only 1 until November.  Stripers should be moving this way soon and providing loads of fun and opportunities.  I've heard the offshore action has been great, but that's out of my league.

I'm trying to hook up with Keep A Breast to make a donation.  I'm hoping to donate a large part of each charter throughout the Fall to the Keep A Breast cause.  If you'd like to book a charter or just make a contribution, please let me know. 

That's it for now.  Fishing is good, so get out there and catch 'em up!

Tight Lines!

Here we are, already into July.  Summer fishing is in full swing.  There are loads of Flounder in the back and they are starting to show up out front.  Trigger fish and Tog are around.  Kingfish and Silver Perch are in the surf.  Blues are out front.  And there are loads of schoolie Stripers to be had at the right times.  There's a lot of fun fishing out there!

May is winding down, it's nearly Memorial Day, the beginning of our tourist season, or Shoobie time, as it is often referred to.  .It's also prime time fishing.  Fishing is good all over!  I've been hitting the back bays a lot from the bridges and sod banks.  Quite a few Stripers out there along with Blues.  Small plugs, and jigs are working well.  There are also Tog holding to the structure, but they are out of season now.  The Delaware Bay is starting to give up some nice Drum on our side finally.  I haven't targeted them yet by boat, but plan to soon.  The beaches and jetties along the Bay are also hot for Stripers and smaller Puppy Drum.  I've heard of Weakies starting up too.  Lots to choose from.  The ocean side is doing well too.  I've been hitting the beaches quite often and doing well.  I've landed 3 Drum so far, and many Stripers.  Most of the action is on Clam, with fresh being the best choice (though I've recently heard otherwise...).  There are also Kingfish and Blowfish in the surf, seems early, but I've seen them caught.
Flounder seems a bit slow.  I've tried for them half-heartedly and have only gotten shorts so far.  The wife has been on me, so I will be after them in the coming days.
On my most recent trip to the beach with John and Rich, we got into a quality Striper.  John had the hot hand on this night.  He landed a 34" and a 47" Striper, back to back, same rod.  Most of the action came from big Doggies.  Incoming tide was the best, all action stopped after the turn.  We used Clam and Bunker, with Clam out-producing the Bunker all night.  Some guys next to us landed two nice Stripers as well.  I had two single rigs, and a double rig out, and the double rig was the hot one for the evening.  The beach we were fishing has been a spot where I go hunting for seaglass with my girls.  They love finding the little frosted treasures.  So, out of habit, I usually search for them while fishing, and its become a bit of a superstition with me, if i find seaglass, I catch.  Now picture 3 grown men searching through sand for seaglass with headlamps at night, pretty comical.  The punchline; when John found a nice piece of seaglass, he landed a Striper, both times!  Guess who's superstitious now?  Rich got the showmanship award for the evening when his rod was pulled from his far to short sand spike and raced toward the suds.  He did a Superman dive and snagged the rod before it made it into the surf.  Great athleticism on his part!  Fun night all around, regardless of the abundance of Doggies.  They put up a nice fight when they are this big anyway, and a bent rod is always fun.
Hopefully the action continues and gets even better!
Tight lines!

May is here, and with it, some great fishing.  The beaches are heating up on the Bay side as well as the ocean side.  Stripers and Drum are being taken on both fronts, mostly on Clam.  Fresh being the better choice.  Stripers are also heading back into the Bay after spawning, and there are some big Cows being taken.  Bunker, Herring, and Clam are working for them.  The Back bays too are coming to life.  Stripers, Blues, Flounder, and Tog are back there now.  Unfortunately, Tog are now out of season, and not a moment to soon now that they are all over the structure in the back.  Stripers are cruising along the flats areas and can be targeted with small plugs, jigs, and bait.  Blues, well once you find them, they pretty much eat anything you throw at them.  And man are they fun!  Flounder season open up this weekend!  They should be in all of their usual haunts, and since the season is earlier this year we may have some nice shots at good sized fish.
On my most recent beach outing, I landed 2 nice Puppy Drum, one 27" and another at 31".  Didn't have a scale.  Both put up a great fight in the surf!  The 31"er broke my leader as I was pulling it into the shallows.  Luckily, Gunnar, my lab, pinned the Drum before it could swim off.  I snagged him by the tail and dragged him in, then tried to lip him.  Well, I forgot about the circle hook in his mouth, and as i started to lift him up, he flopped and drove the hook into my thumb.  Lesson for the day:  never lip a fish with a hook in it's mouth!  I know better, that's the bad part.  Anyway, the 27" was released, the 31" was dinner for my friend Lee.  Had to call it a day due to work.  And the hook backed out easily, thankfully.
Hopefully the fishing stays hot!  Good luck out there, and Tight Lines!


And don't forget, the Surf Casating Demo day is coming up next weekend (5/14) on the beach in Sea Isle.  See my previous post for details.

Well, here we are nearly mid way through April.  Fishing has been picking up steadily and would most likely be awesome if the weather would just stay nice.  Stripers are being taken along the Deleware Bay beaches, In the Bay, in the rivers, back bays, and even a few along the ocean front.  They are here.  I've heard scattered reports of Weakies being taken in some Perch nets in the Bay, but have no real proof.  That would be a nice sign of things to come though.  I'd love to see a solid return of Weakies.  Flounder season regulations have been posted and look promising.  Hopefully we have a nice run of doormats this year!  I just want to see a solid year of good fishing!

I have Brynnie-B ready to go.  Just waiting to finalize my insurance and I'll be running charters again.  Rates and times are posted on my web page, but as always, trips are fully customizable to meet your needs. 

I've taken a few trips into the back bays as of late.  It's been quiet so far, but I'm thinking that has a bit to do with the incoming tide and colder water.  There has been some Herring around though providing some excitement and bait for later use.  Eventually I'll catch the tide right and find some nice Stripers.

Still carving plugs too.  There is definitely a learning curve to this hobby.  Getting the lures balanced and swimming nicely, getting the paint on neatly and evenly, getting the wire through, tight, and straight,...  It is quite addictive though.  And fun.  Now I just need to catch some fish on my lures!

Guess that's all for now.  Stay tuned for my next report.  Feel free to e-mail or call for fishing info or trip information.

We caught our first Stripers of the year.  I've been hearing about Fortescue for years.  All these Stripers being caught off the beach on Bloodworms.  Well, I finally made it up there today.  My Nephew Matt and I made the trek up to Fortescue with our surf rods and Bloodworms at the ready.  Met my buddy Mike up there to get the scoop on what was going on.  The main beach was packed with guys using everything from 12' heavers to 5' fresh water kiddie rods.  Crazy assortment.  And I can tell you, I have heard some stories about a lot of the guys fishing up there, anything from guys crowding you to casting over you.  Suffice to say, I wanted nothing to do with the crowd.  So Matt and I back tracked to a vacant spot we saw on the way in.  We planted our sand spikes, rigged up our rods, impaled some Bloodworms, and heaved out into the Bay.  Out of boredom, we started poking around in the sand and found some seaglass.  We started hunting around to see who'd find the most when Matts rod bent over hard.  He hauled up a fat 16" Bass.  Granted, it's not big, but when it's your first fish of the season, it's great!  I realized that he was casting only about half as far as i was, so i brought one of my lines in tighter to the beach, and sure enough, I got the next Striper.  My first of the season.  Unfortunately, it came unbuttoned in the wash.  It looked to be about 16-18".  Still nice to get a tug on the rod.  Didn't have to wait long for the next Bass, same rod, same spot, about 18".  Matt got the next one.  I got another, then he caught the final fish of the day.  All shorts, but a load of fun.   
So, out first successful outing resulted in 6 Short Bass, pockets full of seaglass, and some wicked sunburn.  What a perfect day!  Hope it keeps getting better...

We had a plan.  It was all worked out.  I would pick up my Nephew Matt, pack some food, buy some Bloodworms, and head off to Fortescue.  I've been hearing for 2 weeks now about the Stripers being caught on a certain part of the tide, in a specific area.  Today was going to be the day!  Granted, there have been no keeper Stripers caught there yet, but who cares, I just wanted a tug on the line for the two of us.
My friend Mike went ahead as the forward scout team and called back with a damning report:  "Don't bother, they're shoulder to shoulder!".  Abort mission.  Time to switch up and replan our course of action.  We went ahead and purchased our Bloodworms and even some salted clam for back up.  Ya just never know.  We looked at East Point, figuring it's fairly close and similar in bottom structure to Fortescue.  The wind was howling right in our faces, choppy, and very dirty.  As an added bonus, there was a drunk guy fishing for 'Sea Bass' with his girlfriend using short, thick, boat rods.  He was making awesome casts of 8 or so feet into knee deep water.  We decided to pass on the comedy show and search out nicer waters.
We ended up at Reeds Beach.  One of my favorite haunts.  Nice place where I often take my girls for a nice day of fishing.  Anyway, the wind was still there, still choppy, and the beach was covered in grass and debris.  We decided to toss the rods out anyway.  This is what we planned.  No point in turning back now.  So, out went two rods with Bloodworms, and one with salted Clam.  The wait and hoping began.  Then boredom set in.  We started walking along looking for stuff in the debris.  We ended up finding a bunch of nice sea-glass.  More little treasures to add to my mason jar.
When we went back to check on the rods, they were as we left them.  Full of bait, and now, grass too.  We found no point in trying any longer.  The wind and conditions were stacked up against us, and better days lie ahead.  Prayers and offerings will be made to the Fish Gods.
It's early yet, but it should bust open very soon now.  I've heard of Bunker and loads of Perch in the Bay already, both great signs of things to come.  Stay tuned...

I'm still waiting for the water temperatures to climb a bit.  Still no solid reports of Stripers, or much else.  I keep saying I'll go out and look around, but I still haven't done it.  There should be some Herring around, at least there usually is.  One of these days...

In order to pass the time I have been carving wooden lures, tying flys, making rigs, and pouring sinkers and jigs.  I have an arsenal in the waiting!  Bring it on fish!  I know the flys, sinkers and jigs all work, they've been battle tested.  The lures, well that's another story.  I just started carving them over the winter.  I've always carved ducks.  Now, I carve both.  I have quite a few lures finished (carved), but I haven't really water tested them.  I've floated them in the sink, and the sit nicely, even wobble seductively when pushed.  But until I tow them along at the end of a line, I won't know for sure.  I'll end up having to tweak the ballast or adding lips.  We'll see.  So far four are painted.  I think I'll wait to paint the rest until I get them tweaked in and working.  I want them to catch fish, not just look pretty.

So the girls and I have been spending a lot of time in the garage lately making things.  They made me some nice signs today that I'll have to hang up.  And i came up with the paint scheme below.  Hope you like it.  When i get around to testing it, I'll let you know how it worked.  Until then, keep hoping for an early Spring, warmer water, and lots of fish!  Can't wait to be out in the boat catching again! 

Well, here we are into March already.  Striper season is officially open.  I've already heard reports of Stripers being caught too.  I'll be unwrapping Brynnie-B and getting her ready to go very soon.  I plan on starting up with charters by April.  Hopefully the Spring run will be going strong by then.