The end of the season in Cape may was fabulous. We had days at the end of November and the 1st 2 weeks of December that were unbelievable! We stopped fishing up the Bay around December 1, and fished the rips and the ocean. Days with 40-80 fish were very common. We had them on metal, and bucktails and the guys were just worn out with the action. Birds on them, bait all over, and bending rods with smiling faces. I do love it. Most of the fish were throw backs but we usually had some to take home and I heard nobody complaining. The drum will be starting around the end of April and the stripers should be snapping from April 15, when I put the boat back in the water. If you want to get in on the early season action on these fish, you have to get in touch ASAP. Many days are already gone. I will be at the NE boat show in Boston from Jan 11-15 and then at the AC show in the second week of February. Look for me at the Raymarine booth. Be sure to stop and say hello. Let's go fishing together!

November 16, 2007

Well, I gotta tell you, this fishing is as good as it gets. No lie. I fished last Sunday, Monday Tuesday, and Wednesday which was a total of 2 1/2 hrs dock to dock, with limits and bonus fish I guess that I don't really have to say too much since the pictures seem to say it all. And, you know, it should be like this until I pull the boat in December. More to come.

November 9, 2007

I fished both yesterday and today and I just wanted to say that the bite is improving every day! Yesterday, Mike Robinson and his crew jumped on and we had several Stripers up to 20 lb or so. It was not great but we did catch some fish. Today, Don Wagoner and 4 guys from his company decided to test the waters of Delaware Bay. The test came off very well! We left at 6:00 A.M. hoping to catch the last of the incoming and we did.  The tide quit sooner than I expected. We waited out the turn and as soon as we swung around with the wind, the #4 rod folded and we were on! Tom had the fish and after he beat Tommy up for a while, I dropped the net , grabbed a gaff, and threw the fish into the boat.
The fish weighed 38 lbs and was the biggest that Tom had ever caught.  Shortly thereafter it was Gordon(A.K.A. "Liddy")hooked up.  He was actually there and awake for his turn, and he caught a gorgeous bass that weighed in at 28 lb.
Matt was next and he caught his biggest bass ever-a 28 lb beauty Then it was Ian's turn and he boated his first ever striper. After that fish, it was finally Don's turn since everyone else had caught a fish so when the next rod folded, Don latched onto the rod and proceeded to kick some major bass a#@! Don released that fish and we had 3 more that we released as well. Overall we had 8 bass that we caught, 7 of them being 25#+fish, kept 4 and released 4. It turned out the we had 3 guys that caught their largest bass ever and another who caught his first bass. What a great time I had fishing with this group of guys who love fishing almost as much as I do!

November 7,2007

Today was supposed to be unfishable but Bob Hamilton, ChrisDo Molina, Bill Jones, and JR King from the retail part of Raymarine came down all the way from Massachusetts to try our Striper fishing in Delaware bay. I was glad that they did.Cat Bob Cope, A.K.A Captain Kill s#@t, jumped on board and off we went The weather was beautiful though the wind was blowing but that was no real problem for the downeast hull . We ran out toward the 60 ft slough and set up. We shortly had a bite and Bob boated a nice 35" bass. As time went on, Bill had his as well and it was about the same size. They were nice fish but I had told Bob that we had some big fish and they did not measure up to my expectations. Though the weather swamis told us that the wind would die, they lied as usual and it picked up a bit. Inany case, a rod folded and Chris grabbed it and Game on!. After a great fight, we slid the net under a fat 40# bass. i did not measure the fish since we wanted to release it but Chris is 6'2" or so and you can see from the pic that it was a gorgeous trophy bass.  It was also the first striper that Chris had ever caught, and it was a heck of a way to start, wouldn't you say? Unfortunately, we were unable to hook JR up with a bass but then, he is just a rookie and will get another shot I am sure.  When the tide slowed, the wind just would not let us fish easily so we slid home at 17 kts in the slop. All in all, we had a great day and it was a treat to see the guys again.
 
 November 1, 2007

Forgive me for not posting for a while but we did get offshore the first week of October and catch some very nice fish including a swordfish that we released due to the fact tha he was an inch short, some yellowfin tuna, and longfin albacore as well.  I moved the boat to Cape May for the fabulous Striped Bass fishing that exists there. Due to the water being too warm, I decided to cancel my first 7 trips down there since I did not want to feel like I was taking away people's money. Wednesday of this week I did a little scouting expedition with my friend Bob to see if , with the water temp dropping, The fish were turning on. They Are! We fished for a few hours and moved a couple of times and had a beautiful day to do it. We had a couple of bites on the incoming and made a move on the beginning of the outgoing where we caught a very nice fish. We released the fish after we discovered that it was 46" long and 35+ lb. A very nice fish in anyone's book but both Bob and I have caught these beauties before and it made us feel great to see the fish swim off to be free and able to be caught again by some lucky angler. I will be fishing out of Cape May through the middle of December and I have a few dates available if you would like to get in on the action on board a big, wide, seakindly boat- the Free Spirit. By the way, here is another pic, this one from last season, that shows one of my anglers with a 66 lb striper, the largest ever caught by hook and line in Delaware Bay, that he caught with me last November. Be sure to visit my website for more pics . Pictures don't lie. Give a call, or drop me an email and we can catch a few "biguns" together.

September 25, 2007

We have been offshore several days this week. Every trip has produced fish. The latest trip was with a 2 man charter consisitng of John Baker and Dave Neamand. We ran off and before evening came we were able to catch some very big squid that we might use for bait. The water temp was 76 degrees and it was as pretty blue as you have seen. We did not fish the Canyons since I figured that there would be a mass of boats there and I like to be alone when chunking. Instead I set up on the true 100 in about 70 fathoms as a start to our drift. The first bite ate a sardine as I was setting the line out and we figured that it would be a nice yellowfin tuna. Wrong! The fish ran us around the boat and when we got ready to gaff the fish we discovered that it was a huge Wahoo! It is very unusual to even hook one of these toothy critters with mono but my circle hook was hooked right in his lower jaw. This was a heck of a fish! This was a complete surprise and measured 67" and when we weighed him at the dock weighed in at 84 lbs. What a start! Shortly thereafter, I saw a fish thaT I thought was a dolphin in the slick and I set out 1/2 a sardine to catch him. Wrong again, this turned out to be a 65 lb. Yellowfin. Not bad and we were just beginning. After catching the 2 nice fish John decided that a nap was in order and Dave stayed in the cockpit. As time went on we were able to put 2 more fish in Dave's hands and he did a fine job kicking tuna butt. Finally, at daybreak, a rod went off, and John, now well rested, proceeded to put the irons to a longfin tuna that I believe was very close to the world record for this species. We really didn't bother about an official weight since we were all tired and getting ready for the trip home. That trip proved to be a very rough one since the weather swamis screwed up again, but he downeast hull on the Free Spirit ate it up and at the dock, smiles were every where. We will be running trips offshore for the next 2 weeks and then I will be taking the boat to Cape May for that great striped Bass fishing for the next 2 months. Be sure to call and get a date to catch these great eating fish.

September 20, 2007

We have started to run a special trip off shore in addition to the day troll and 245 hr overnighter we have always had. We leave late in the afternoon, run off, and chunk all night. Then, run in just after daybreak. We are at the dock by 10:30. Yesterday, after I heard the report, we ran this trip. Good idea! I spoke to Len Belcaro on the sat phone as we ran off and he mentionesd that there seemed to be an edge of warm water that extended from the Lindy to the Baltimore. Sounded good to me so we went looking for the edge and found it 13 miles inshore of the edge. We had a 4 degree jump but I pushed off hoping to find even warmer water. Good move. I did not find any warmer water but i did find the YFT and they were very hungry. There was a swell but only 10 kts of wind and the night was beautiful. We had our 1st bite at 11:30 on a jig and caught him. Then the jigs did not work untill 3:30 but the bait sure did. We used Sardines until the squid overran us, then went to live and dead squid. For the rest of the night with 1- 45 minute lull, we hammered them. We fished until about 6 A.M. and we kept 10 and released 16 more between 60 and 80 lbs. Most were on bait down 0- 100 ft with about a 2 oz weight but we did catch some on jigs as well. It got a bit hectic at times. Bloody but still catching- They came so fast that at times we could not keep up. Capt Bob and I were very busy making sure that the chumchucker had chunks and collaring tuna. At times we had 2 or more on. We could have caught more but at 3:00 A.M., I stopped fishing bait and the guys just jigged them. I have not seen the sign on the ff like it was this whole season.I would say that we probably had 40+ shots and the guys had a ball.We were blessed with good anglers who actually knew what they were doing and they had a ball catching and releasing these fine fish. By the way, I do have a couple of dates open for anyone who would like to put together a group and beat up on these tuna.

September 17, 2007

We are still catching some great yellowfin tuna offshore . The bite is best chunking at night and the troll bite is pretty much dead. It will probably stay that way until the inshore water cools some and we get a real temp change along the 100 fathom curve. We have been off there as much as Mother Nature allows us to get there and have caught tuna every trip. I will be fishing there until the 2nd week of October and still have a couple days open. By the way, I have started a new trip this year for this fishing.  We leave late in the afternoon to arrive at dusk, chunk all night,(and catch) and then run home when the chunk bite stops.  We are not trolling on this trip but we do get the best of the chunking.  Of course, I also have a day troll trip and the 24 hr. overnighter as well.  The inshore fishing is also excellent.  Even though the fluke season is closed, we do have sea bass, bluefish, weakies, croakers, and some huge trigger fish on our bottom fishing trips.  This will get better as the water starts to cool.  I do have some dates for this fishing as well.  It is not too soon to get your dates set for that great striper fishing out of Cape May.  I will be down there for this fishing starting around Oct 15, and will be there until the 1st week of December.  This fishing is as good as you will find anywhere.  Be sure to check out my photo gallery for some shots from the past year or 2.  As of now, about half the available dates are gone but there are still som prime times available.  I would not wait too long to call, however.  I will be offshore for the next few days and I will try to post a report and some pics as soon as I can.  Tight lines to all. 

September 5, 2007

Capt Bob Cope and I set out with a group led by Joe Kennedy at noon on Tuesday. We ran off toward the Lindy looking for the break but it had moved so we swung down and set up on the troll at the Spencer where we found the warmer water. The trolling sucked. I spoke with Capt Bill Garrison, Capt. John Sowerby, Capt.Trey from Over under charters, and John Brooks, a friend of mine on a 38 Henriques. Nobody did much on the troll at the canyon. However, we all kept in touch and set up for the night along the 100 line from between the Lindy and the Wilmington. It was really great to work together with a group of good captains for the good of all. We set up in 70 fathoms and for several hours, there was no chunk bite anywhere. At 10:00, we had some squid show up and shortly thereafter we hooked and caught a nice YFT. Great! The bite is on! Wrong! We stayed there for a couple more hours netting squid and having our baits chewed up by them, so decided to move off the edge and see if there were a few denizens of the deep willing to do battle. We set up in absolutely oil slick seas with a drift of .2 Kts and set out our lines. We set out 4 lines: 2 unweighted w/ sardines, 1 weighted w/ sardine, and the last we set at 75 feet with a large daichii 13/0 circle hook in one of the squids we had caught and a cyalume lightstick above it . This was suspended away from the boat under a balloon. I figured that in combo with the Hydroglow light, we might find a sword. We drifted without spreader lights with just the Hydroglow lit. At about 12:45, something grabbed the sardine on the unweighted line nearest me and we put another nice YFT in the boat. Great start. The water was so clear that we could see the Cyalume light down under the balloon. At about 1:15, we saw that the lightstick was moving off on the surface so John reeled out the slack and Game On. We had the fish on a Rogue 80 lb. Standup stick with one of the new Fin-Nor 50 wides that we are field testing for them. What a great combo That Fin Nor is really sweet with the slickest drag yoo have seen. I spoke to Capt John and he wished us luck with the fish, mentioning that we probably should call back in an hour and a half or so with a progress report. Anyway, John, my angler, prceeded to kick the fish's butt, or maybe the fish kicked his butt for 2 hrs. There was no doubt what we had, and no doubt that it was much better than the minimum size. John finally had to give it up so in order, Mike, Joe, then Capt Bob, who whipped the fish to the boat but the guys got in the way when I tried to get to the fish with a gaff, and finally, Dave took their turns. Thankfully, Dave got the fish to slide by the boat and I slipped a gaff into his shoulder followed closely by Capt Bob with the flyer, and it was over. What a frickin fish! 9'+ and absolutely beautiful. Mike and John with the prize. It took 4 of us to lift him into the boat. Everyone was beat and so we did not even try to get in on the great tuna bite that was happening to evertone up and down the 100. Capt John, Bill, Trey, and John Brooks alll loaded up but my folks said."Let's go home" so we did. We sailed back on gorgeous seas and weighed the fish at apt Andy's in Margate. He was a shade over 200 lb. [Capt Bob with the new Fin Nor Reel By the way, that circle hook absolutely did the job. i do believe in them. The trip was unforgettable for all of us involved and there was plenty of meat for everyone. A happy group of tired anglers By the way, I still have this weekend open if anyone wants to get in on this fantastic fishing. You have to be there to understand how good it really is!. Give a call and let's go catching.

August 20, 2007

The past week or so has really been excellent fishing. Inshore the croakers have shown up as well as the fluke, blues, sea bass, weakies, bonita, and false albacore. That is a load of great catching! Offshore the big bluefin are in force as usual. This is fantastic fishing and we are catching every trip! The new Fin Nor reels we are field ted=sting are really working well. The fish are good sized and are great eating as well. We ventured off to the Spencer Canyon and we had 2 shots at white marklin. We released one and broke the other off.

In addition we had a couple of very nice Yellowfin tuna. By the way, September has a few open days for either inshore or offshore fishing. Also, it is not too early to reserve your dates for the great striper fishing from Cape May starting in October.

July 31, 2007

I am really amazed with the fishing that we have had over the [past 10 days. What do you want, tuna, flounder, more tuna? Hey, no problem!. We have been fishing the Bluefins along the 20 line and here are a few pics to whet your interest. or this one or even this one Or if you want something tasty and a bit closer, Here is Ryan- 9 yrs old with a 5# + fluke. It does not get much better than what we have now! The tuna are being caught on rigged ballyhoo back about 200 yards, yes yards behind the boat. The fluke are within 4 miles of the beach. We are using the new Evolution Rods and they have been absolutely kicking tuna butt! The unexpected is also occurring. Dave Morris and his buddies Otto , Fritz, and Dave came down for a fluke trip. We fished for fluke with little luck and so I made a move to see if we could do a bit better. We were fishing Quantum Cabo rods and CBC30 casting reels with 40 lb. mono leaders for these fish. All of a sudden, my rod with a Tsunami Fluke Ball, doubled over and I hooked a big one. I gave the rod to Otto and 1 1/2 hrs later we boated a 9', 125 lb. thresher shark! On a casting rod that we use for sea bass and weakies? Yep. Here is a very tired Otto with his prize. Not a great start to a fliuke trip but a heck of an ending! I have only a few dates open this month but a call will get you hooked up.

July 21, 2007

The fishing off our Southern NJ coast has continued to provide some great times for folks on board the Free Spirit. Small bluefish are just the ticket for young and old. This past week, kids from 5 to 65 have been catching these fine eating fish and having a blast. Smiles abound and it is easy. A small Clark spoon behind a rod planer is the ticket. the action takes place within a mile or 2 of the GE Bell. Offshore the bluefin are really coming on. Mixed with them are some very nice Dolphin. These fine eating fish are fun to catch and probably one of the prettiest fish we catch, as well as being excellent table fare. ( Mahi-Mahi) The bluefin are hard fighting, good eating fish but the rules are strict and you must release some but who cares? The fun is in the catching. Of course, there are some that really get our attention when they hit and fold the rod up. If all goes well, we catch some up to 70 lb. or so. Check out the smile! The fishing is great but the catching is better. We now have 2 boats that we can run from Cape May for the southern waters, or Margate for the mid coast. Be sure to call and get in on the action.

July 12,2007

We have been fishing the inshore bluefin for a couple of weeks and have caught them every trip. They are not big but we have had fish up to 40 lbs. We are using light tackle to fish for them and they are a blast on the 30 lb tackle we have on board. Also, the chunking for Bluefin of the larger variety is turning on as well as the jigging for these fish. We now have 2 boats available , one from Margate and 1 from Cape May so we are close to whatever actioon is taking place. In addition to the inshore fish, our first trip to the edge this week produced some nice dolphin and Yellowfin to 60 lbs. Of course, the inshore trolling for blues and bottom fishing has been excellent as well. It is time to get on board and enjoy some of this great fishing. Please call or email me for rates and dates available. I still have some dates open including a couple of weekend days.

June 25,2007

May 23, 2007

Wow! It has been a lot longer than I thought since I made a report. I am truly sorry that I did not make one Sooner because a load of good fishing is happening and has happened.  April and early May has been fantastic.  First, loads of Striped Bass and as the time went on, Black Drum.  This fishing is fantastic right now and should continue for a couple more weeks. Some of these drum are better than 70 lbs and those brutes can really pull!  We have had some great days and most of the fishing is now in the afternoon and early evening.  Most charters are catching as many as they want to and keeping enough to eat.  Here are a couple of pics from last week.fish. As you can see, the fish are big and the anglers are all smiles! I still have a couple of dates open between now and the first week of June so give a call and come on down.

March 11, 2007

It is really starting to look like Spring even with the 3" of snow that fell this past week. Of course, I was not there for the snow and cold. I spent a week or so in Stuart FL where I did some fishing for snappers and grouper, and played a whole lot of golf. I am now back in the northern climes and ready for the new season.  This week will be the start  of getting the boat ready and Friday - Sunday I will be at the Somerset Saltwater  Show in the Quantum-Sufix booth.  Please stop and say Hi if you attend.  This is a pretty darn good show by the way  and well worth the bux.  The stripers are already in the Delaware Bay and should be starting to eat very soon.  As I mentioned, I will be in the water in plenty of time for the early stripers and the drum that will follow.  The Captain's weekend at Cabelas over the 23-25th  should be excellent .  I will be doing a seminar there and will have my own booth as well.  I will have my charter book at both shows if you are interested in hooking up with the Free Spirit this year for some fine fishing.  Remember that this has to be 1st come 1st served so email or call me ASAP to save your date. I will have an underwater camra on the boat this year.  That should be really neat when the fish get alongside the b oat and we can add that to the recording.  Don't you love this technology thing?  Anyway, call or email me and let's go fishing together.

March 2, 2007

Well, the winter is getting over pretty fast and the big boat shows have just about ended. I will be at the Somerset Saltwater Show at the Quantum- Sufix booth, on the weekend of March 16, and at Cabelas in Hamberg, PA for Captain's weekend,the next weekend. As soon as they are done, I will be getting the boat ready for the season, which from all indications should be a great one!  The fluke regs are in place and theyt will allow up to 8 fish 17" or larger per angler.  The sseason will begin the last week of May and end the first week of September.  I will be launching the Free Spirit on April 15, and the stripers should be snapping right out of the box.  The drum will not be far behind.  If you are interested in this fantastic fishing, please don't wait to call or email me since many of the dates are already taken. In addition, the season is booking well already and if you are considering taking a trip for tuna , dolphin, marlin, etc. either day or obernight, it would be a great idea to call was well.  these dates are very limited and go away in a hurry.  This year I have kept the rates the same as they have been for the past 2 years in spite of higher fuel prices.  I have added a dvd recorder to the repertoire to save DVD's of your trip if you desire.  That should be great as long as we keep the sound down, if you know what I mean. In any case, I hope to hear from you and let's bend a rod or 2 together.

January 27,2007

The winter(?) seems to be moving along and the boat show season is upon us again. I will be working the Raymarine booth at the Atlantic City Show next week and the Bostson Show in the middle of February. If you are at either show, please stop and say hello.   Now is the time to get the dates set for the coming great fishing that will be starting in April.  I will be fishing Stripers and drum from the middle of April until the first week of June.  That fishing is wild!  Imagine anchored in 15 feet of water catching 90 lb. fish! Of course, the rest of the season is available as well and the fluke, weakies, croakers, tuna, wahoo, dolphin, bluefish, marlin, and many other species are waiting to do battle.  Please call or email me and select whatever dates you wish to have.  I look forward to fishing with you!

December 1, 2006

I am really sorry that i haven't kept up with my reports. I have been fishing nearly every day since the last report and it has been fantastic. We caught stripers every trip.  The average size was around 39" which is 20# plus!.  I spent the entire month of November up the bay chunking and the fishing could not have been better.  Most folks who fished with me this year caught the biggest striper they have ever caught.  We had a load of fish over 40#, and many more in the 30's as well as plenty of 20# + fish. I guess I could post the pics of all the trips but truthfully, there are just too many and I would not want to leave anyone out.  The highlight of the year was on Nov.23, Black Friday.  We had 9 stripers that day but the clincher was the one that Mike McCall caught.  Now Mike had never caught a striper in his life and the 5th fish of the day was his.  The fish hit and tore off line as it ran away from and then toward the boat but I finally gaffed the fish. The fish weighed in at 66lb. and was 54" long with a girth of 30".. That's a heck of a first fish!  It is also the largest reported striper caught on the East coast this year and the largest that I know of weighed in Cape May ever!  Compare it to the other fish in this picture , some of which were 38# and you can see what a fish this was. Needless to say, it caused quite a stir. I presently have no more dates open this year but the fantastic drum and striper fishing will begin again in the middle of April so be sure to make your reservations for the best dates available.  I do hope that you and yours have a Mery Christmas and a Happy New Year.  By the way, I will be at he Raymarine booth at the New York, Atlantic City, and Boston Boat shows so feel free to stop and say hi.

October 17,2006

My buddy Bob Cummings and I ran down from Margate to Cape May today. We worked our way down hitting the bunker schools in legal waters though several guys were beyond the 3 mile limit. I guess it is starting early this year. We snagged some bunker and swam them down but had no takers. We ran through the Canal and off toward the 60 foot slough. We saw some marks and dropped the hook. Within 15 minutes, Bob was on. After a great battle, I netted the fish and it was a beauty. I guess 43" is OK huh? Anyway, we set her free to fight another day. Then it was my turn. A nice 42" fish. Sure was great to see the bass are there. The next fish was small- 32" but should eat great. Then it was my turn again. This time a fat 36"er. This was the first bass on the new Fin Nor offshore reels, and it performed great. All stainless in the guts and 4 sizes. Anyway, the Bay was gorgeous, the sunset was even prettier, We only fished for 3 hours and we had 4 nice fish. Not bad in 63 degree water. I still have a few dates open in the next few weeks and I believe that you can see that it is well worth a shot. Give a call and let's go fishing.

October 14,2006

Wow! I did not realise that it has been so long since I made a report so here it goes. Since the last report, the wind has been absolutely unbearable. We did get off overnight and had a load of nice dolphin before the wind and storms blew us out. Day trips included several nice days with Yellowfin and Dolphin as well as a wahoo or 2.  Inshore the bottom fishing has been excellent when you could get there.  The seas have been so big that the fish have moved several miles off the beach but there are nice sea bass, croakers, and some keeper weakies as well. I added a satellite phone as well as a 6 man offshore raft to the boat in the last 2 weeks.  I guess that there are not too many toys( AKA SAFETY DEVICES) I can buy now, but it does make me feel good to know that we are as safe as possible.  The big news is that as of this coming Wednesday, I will be running out of Cape May for those great eating, hard fighting Striped Bass.  As usual, i will be sailing daily from Utsch's Marina and as of today, I still have some dates open.  With the dry, warm wheelhouse,and the huge cockpit  this fall fishing is really a blast.  As soon as I start the charters, which will be this Friday, I will keep you up with what is happening down there.  i will be there until the middle of December so giva a call or drop me an email and we can catch some nice ones together.

September 22, 2006

Brian and Joe Connely and their buddies Rod and Joe jumped on board the Free Spirit with me and Capt. Bob Cope, yesterday at noon and we set off for the edge. The inlet was, to say the least, very interesting, but the boat ran right through it quite easily. I was not sure just where to go but I figured that, with the water I saw on the satellite shots, they could be anywhere. From what I heard offshore, they were everywhere. We ran off and decided that we would start to fish as soon as we found 74 degree water. It was 69 or so for most of the trip but we did find some nice weed filled water and decided to start to fish about 3 miles inshore of the edge. We set up and pushed off to the edge on the troll. As soon as we cleared the 50, the weed thinned and the bait was all over the screen. Still, no takers, so off we trolled and with the best sign I have sen in a while, we had our first hit. We boated a 65# YFT, and all the baits were out of the water as I looked at my E 120 and saw fish 60 feet down. I shouted back, "get some baits in the water!" and we slid 2 back. As soon as I hit the trolling speed, another YFT of the same size jumped on. YES! We caught a couple of dolphin and then set up for the chunk. Conditions were perfect with a .5 kt drift to the south that slid us right down the edge from 60- 90 fathoms. We had not been drifting more than 20 minutes when the first fish hit a sardine 60 feet down. As we set out the lines, we were only able to get 2 in the water before we were smacked again. What a shame! Wayne and the rest of the men were quick learners and they soon had fish on the top lines just feeding out unweighted sardines. We were mobbed with squid and we caught 1 and set him out live, Why, I am not sure since we were basically roping the tunas on sardines,but what the heck. He disappeared under suspicious circumstances but it didn't matter since we were still on fire with the other baits. Heck we even missed one on a butterfish. We had about a 15 minute lull, and then I saw fish 100 feet down on the E 120, dropped a bailt down and GOTIMON! That seemed to draw the fish up and we finished our charter's limits of 50-75 lb fish by 9:30 P.M.. It was so busy that we did not get a chance to try a couple of things like fishing hi-viz line and jigging( I tried but got 2 sweeps in before the bait rods went off) and most important, we had no time to fire up the grill and do some tube steaks. Ah well, the concessions we have to make... It was also impossible to clean the fish or the boat for a while, but I guess that was O.K. As Capt Bob says, "Ther is nothing like killing stuff and getting the boat bloody". After i collared the tuna and got them packed in the ice, we realised that there was no place to put any more fish so we sailed home on glassy seas. There was a lot of snoring going on from the tired but happy crew. It just doesn't get any better than the fishing we had.

September 12, 2006

Doug Dallmeyer, an old friend and customer called last night. He had booked today and drove down from York PA before he called. We decided to meet at the boat even though I knew that we could never fish in that slop. We slid down the channel and looked out the inlet-Washing Machine! However, with the tide up 1/3 and incoming, the rockpile looked passable and beyond it, there was no breaking swell. What the hell, let's give it a shot. We slid right out without a single problem and after we cleared the rocks, we ran off at 16 kts. Love those downeast hulls! The wind was kicken at about 15-20 but the swells were not breaking in the ocean and they were a ways apart. Now Doug and I had not fished together in 3 years, and he really wanted to "wet a line" We stopped in 50 feet about 4 miles out,and found some great marks. We dropped down and immediately we were whacked. Weakies! Yep, 6 foot swells and weakies eating bait and metal. What a great combination!. To make a long story short, we roped them! All were small but great fun. We probably caught 80 or more. I caught 6 while he was opening a pack of smokes! We decided to get in before the tide turned and started out against the swell and we ran back at 19 kts and sailed right around the rockplie. Who would have thought that we could fish even today. I guess that it is a tribute to the hulls they build up in Maine. Truthfully, it was very comfortable fishing in the swells. The boat sat there and simply rose and fell with very little rocking. It was quite fishable and it was great to get a chance to fish with a good friend. We got back to the dock and had our traditional lunch to end a great day. By the way, i will be in Cape May for those Striped Bass starting the 3rd week in October so give a call and let's go catching.

September 11, 2006

Well, we have had a chance to fish since last week but not much of a chance. On Monday Lee Novick came on and we went to do a bit of bottom fishing.  remember that I mentioned that the fish had moved off due to the swell?  Well we caught croakers, weaks, and blues.  We had spike weakfish 15 miles off in 80' of water.  We did have a great time  and I look forward to his viisit every year.  Martin Gasper and crew ran off to the edge last Friday morning. It was supposed to be an overnighter but the day troll has been so good that we decided to save some bux and beat the tuna up on the troll. I saw some real pretty water between the Lindenkohl and the Carteret Canyons so off we went. I searched and found a 6 degree temp break and the water was ALIVE! Al the signs were there. We had 50 foot finback whales, porpoises and dolfin of all kinds, weed lines, flying fish, in short, the conditions were excellent! The only thing lacking was tuna. I fished both sides of the break for hours and caught 1 small Dolphin and a couple skipjack tuna. Nobody was doing a darn thing and there were 2 other boats out there with me who were dieing alaso. I finally found a few dolphin at a pot in the cooler water and we broke out the light spinning gear and had some fun catching some up to 8 lb. It was dead from the Toms to the Baltimore that day. I was suppopsed to go again Sunday and today but Florence has seen fit to make it too nasty to be there. As I write this, I am watching the trees sway in 20-25 kt NE winds. This should calm down in a day or so and I am sure that the fishing will be even better than it wa before the blow. By the way, I will be moving to Cape May during the 3rd week of October and it is not too soon to book the dates you want for that great striped Bass fishing we have every Fall.

September 3, 2006

Well, after the big blow, we are back in business. Ray Lopez and his group jumped on this morning for a biyt of LSWWB fishing inshore. That would be (Let's see what will bite fishing). The inlet was a bit dicey on the bottom end of the outgoing but this hull is made to run in a sea so it was pretty smooth getting out. As soon as we hit the bell, the sea was very calm. there were swells that sometimes were 5' high but they were long period and we ran right through them at 18 kts. I ran off to a reef in 50-60 feet of water since I figured that the fish would not be on the beach, where they had been before the 15' seas but would move deeper. I was right. We set up on some structure and started our drift. Sea bass came on board but they were small so we let it slide and soon, the croakers and weakies started to fill the fishbox. Most of the weaks were short but we had a load of moby croakers. They were 14-16 " and a blast. We cut the trip short because Ray's bro-in- law got a bit queasy. They ended up having a fine time and took home a 50 qt. cooler full of fish. The fluke should turn back on as soon as the heave goes away and I looked at a satellite shot of offshore and the canyons should be overrun with tuna. i will be fishing inshore tomorrow and then offshore 6 of the next 8 days including 2 overnighters. Keep an eye on the reports. By the way, it is not too early to book the trips for those stripers that we will be fishing out of Cape May starting in the middle of October. If the Spring is any sign, this Fall striper fishing should be excellent and the dates will go fast.

August 26,2006

On Thursday,Harry Boyer and friends came down to Margate to do some light tackle fishing We started out by absolutely smashing the weakies on metal out in front of the beach. The fish were not big, though we were able to keep some, but they were very willing. In addition, the 2 lb blues showed up under birds and mixed with sea herring, The blues are great eating that size, and the herring are like little tarpon that jump all over the water. On top of that they make great flounder strip bait. Then we saw more birds offshore and dropped some metal down only to find that they were big croakers! We loaded up on the variety of fish and then went off to catch some flounder. It was great fishing and I was relly pleased to see Harry again after many years. I hope we will be beating up on the stripers this Fall. This inshore fishing is excellent now and getting better.

Friday came next, and so, as we have done for 13 years, my buddy Howard and I jumped on his new 33 Rampage to go offshore for ther elusive yellowfin tuna. My good friend Capt Bob Copr.e joined us and we set off at 3 A.M. for the area of the 30 line. We arrived at the spot just as the light got good enough to see as we set out the lines and we threw our 9 line spread out and throttled down to 6.5 Kts. in very calm seas. As we trolled, we spoke to a couple of boats including Capt. John on the Hooked up and Andy on the Little Debby. We were all working in the same area and John had seen some small BFT so we slipped out to try to catch 1 since we can keep 1 per boat under 47" until mid September. We are out of GE Inlet and officially part of the northern zone. Of course, we found none but as we turned back to the direction i wanted to go, I spotted a "Dolphin Hotel" from the mini tower. That is a piece of flotsam, in this case one of those plastic orange and white drums that they use to block off my road as they tear up the neighborhood, that may hold these delicious fish. As we trolled by the structure, 2 dolphin hit and we decided to back up to the piece with bait and spinning rods, and have some fun. We did. Howie caught 10 on 1 -hand Quantum spinning outfits that he had just put on board that morning. After we beat them up, it was back to trolling. I beleve that we had about everything covered as far as selection goes. We had skipping and swimming hoos, including 1 down on wire on a z wing, splash bars of 2 different sizes, 2 birds with green machines, and a daisy chain or two as well as a cedar plug clipped down to the transom. Ah yes, variety is the spice of life. Until 11:30, we did not have a hit except for a 25 lb dolphin that we found in a very nice weed line inshore in 78 degree water. Bob said that dolphin were nice but he wanted to "get the cockpit bloody with tuna". Then at 11:45, as we were trolling down the sea which had built to 4-5 feet even though the weather swamis were telling us that the sea were 2 feet, I looked down at the E 120 digital sounder screen and there they were, huge red marks at 60 feet. I shouted down. "get ready ", and then, 4 fish climbed on. Quite a sight. Bob and Howie down in the cockpit and me on the tower trying to get down and clear lines while the sea tried to turn us sideways. They each caught the first fish which i leadered and gaffed, and then got another rod from a holder and caught that one! What a BLAST! High fives were everywhere and they cleared and reset all the lines while I swung the boat around to get back up sea since it was very sloppy fishing the trough. It took some time to get ready and get the blood washed off but we did get back and get back above the fish. Bob was all smiles but told me that we had to do it again since the boat was now clean. I turned back down the sea and as I looked back 6 or 7 rods went off. Same results but we only got a couple and as we trolled back up the sea, we hooked and lost 2 more. I turned and started down again and 7 rods folded again. This time we caught 5 and since we had plenty, we released some and ended up taking home 8 tuna and 13 dolphin. Bob and I had to get a pic before we cleaned up the cockpit and Howie shot it for us. You may see that the sea was a bit dicey but the fishing could not have been better. The tuna were small (25-40 lb.) but fun, and they do eat good as I am told since I don't eat fish. When we got back to the dock, I had to shoot one pic of the day's results from the tower just because. We have been field testing the new Quantum Aruba reels that are in the picture. They are 30 wides with 2 speeds and dual drag. They handled the fish well and are going to be excellent reels when they are introduced. It was a great day with great friends and we were on the way home by 1:00. That Rampage 33 really handles the sea well and the Raymarine A/P had us on the straight and narrow all the way home at 23 kts, but that was in the "2-3 foot seas" That were really 4-5'. This fishing will last through October offshore so give a call.

August 23,2006

After the trip on Monday, it was offshore again on Tuesday with John Keikth and his wive Elyse. The day was quite different and was almost slick calm. I started off a few miles inshore of where we had the fish on Monday and within 15 minutes had a double header YFT. Ww boated 1 and I released one , though not on purpose, at the boat we continued to troll and the day was very slow. I watched Capt John catch a couple tuna and he mentioned that he had a couple of shota at wahoo so I put a wire rigged hoo down deep on a z wing and kept on. and then we had another tuna climb on. O.K., 2 in the boat and a small dolphin. Not great but sure beats a sharp stick in the eye. We worked the Monday hot spot--- nada. I decided to move inshore a bit and we saw some skippies breaking and some Yellowfin as well. I swung in and the wwb bird took off and as I started to clear rods, the deep line took off. Now, if you have ever seen a wahoo go on that 1st run, you will never make a mistake knowing when another eats. hie line ripped off and I yelled, WAHOO! We caught the tuna and that pretty blue tiger striped fellow got close enough for Bob to stick a gaff in. We ended up 3 for 5 on tuna, though no monsters like the day before, 1 dolphin, and the Hoo. John and Elyse had a great time and the day was absolutely beautiful. I was really glad to get a little nap on the way home with Capt. Bob at the helm. I can't wait till Friday when we go again.

August 22,2006

A.D Mitchell and his group of buddies climbed on board this morning at 3:00 A.M. and we set off for the deep. The ride out was as smooth as silk and most of the guys slept or just dozed even in the sea that was behind us. The weather swamis said that it sould be fine and the NW wind would quit When we got offshore, the wind was more North and tooting pretty good. Well, we were there so we might as well fish and we did. We started trolling and the first rod went off and Steve grabbed it. The seas were probably 4-6 but we sat in the swell and kicked some butt. Shortly he had the first Yellowfin inthe boat. Not too long after that, AD hooked up and we had another. Then, after I made the turn to get back on the fish, JB hooked up and as he was fighting his fish, something large ate a skipping hoo on the long rigger. After 3 guys and a bit over an hour, we boated a 63" Bluefin. That fish was really , as JD said, 'A real man". He was as tough as any i have caught and gave us fits in the seas that were running. We drifted and boat handled for over 1 1/2 miles as we tried to get him. Eventually we did As I started toward the beach, we caught several more YFT and ended the day 8 for 10 on yellowfin and 1 for 1 on the big bluefin. The smiles are lacking in this pic simply because they were worn out by the fishing The fish ate hoos and green machines behind a bird and spreader bar. Oh gee, I have to do it again tomorrow. Oh well.

August 17,2006

I took Jim Brown and his group offshore yesterday for some trolling. We left at 2:00 A.M. and headed for the Spencer. I knew that there had been fish there before the blow and the wind was supposed to ne NE so it sounded like a plan. We started trolling in the wake of some rainstorms that produced enough wind to make it a bit sloppy and worked out to the tip , the east wall, and saw nothing but grey, 74 degree water with no birds, slicks, and most important, no hits. I decided that I could go south or north and decided on south since the latest reports from the north were for the same conditions that I found in the Spencer. As we trolled down the 100 and then across the 60 toward the east wll of the Wilmington, the water temp slowly improved and we found 76 degree water in the Wilmington. As we approached the tip, we had a mystery bite that dumped about 150 yds of line off a 9/0 with the drag set at 26 lbs before the hook pulled. It was a welcome hit but it sucked that we did not see the fish. we trolled down the edge on the east wall, and it was alive with birds, slicks and acres of skippies. We had a double header hit and did catch a 40 lb. YFT. We trolled for several hours and went by 15 or so pots until finally a dolphin climbed on. We pulled in all the lures and broke out the spinning gear and bait. GAME ON! We ended up with 15 nice 4-8 lb dolphin and ran home in a smooth sea with 5' swells behind us. I never saw or heard another boat all day. I believe that if I was going to fish offshore, I would give the Wilmington a hard look. Water was much nicer than above canyons and the temp was good as well as the activity that was happening there. I have not seen as many schools of Skipjack in the canyon in years.  Meanwhile, inshore the fishing is excellent.  Carl Beck and his sons Brian and Timmy came on board Monday along with Carl's friend Jerry and Carl's brother Franny with  his son Ryan.  We started out with small weakies on metal and some nice blues-2 lb fish as well as some herring all on metal.  It was a blast!.  They caught a load but nobody was counting.  There were acres of birds on the fish and it was really a great time.  Then we ran out and caught some flounder and on the way found bigger blues with birds on them.  All in all, it was a great day and a real pleasure to have Carl and his group on board again.  He has fished with me since 1978 and to have his sons, who are 6 and 12 on board is fantastic.  Brian is one of the neatest kids I know and his attitude and smile make me feel great.

August 9,2006

Today, i took Dr. John Capelle fishing. This is something that we do pretty regularly and have for 14 years. Usually we take his 35 Egg but today we decided to take the Free Spirit since he had a problem that might not have ben fixed in time. anyway, we set out around 7:15 and stopped on the weakies that are thicker than flies but small. i guess we caught 40 or so and kept none since they were all short. It is a blast on small metal jigs since we take the trebles off and use a single hook so that we don't tear the fish up when we release them. Works great and save the fish. Anyway, he mentioned that we were,"Catching a lot but not keeping anything." That is code for , "This is fun but i sure do like to eat fish. Do you figure we a can get some we can eat?" We ran off and hit some structure that I have saved on my C/P. As soon as we got there he caught a double header of 11" fish. Still no eating fluke. I set up on more structure and the big ones started to bite. We had 2 at once and that made everyone smile. By the time we were through, we caught probably 30 fluke and kept 14. That was 2 away from our limit but he decide that since it was the best day he ever had on these fish, that was enough. Heck, I didn't even have to troll for blues to get some meat. It appears as if the fish are definitely on the structure and the fishing should get better and better. I can't wait! Give a call if you'd like to catch some of these great eating fish. I actually have a couple weekend dates open as well as 2 or 3 weekdays this month.

July 31, 2006

The small weaks are all over the beach and eager to eat metal. They are mostly 12" or less but great fun for anyone and good practice for jigging metal. I have removed the trebles from my lures and fish all single hooks so we don't kill these small weakies. In addition, there are a load of small blues- up to 15" eagerly waiting for us . Jay Vederman and his son Benton hit the weaks and blues Sunday morning and caught a mess of blues that are bound for the smoker. On Monday, Ken Bolis and his son and 2 friends climbed on board and we set out to troll inshore again. I went to the same place as last week, and we had much the same results. We were trolling along minding our business on a beautiful day when we saw a BIG king freejumping. I swung over to where he was and the starboard planer rod started to sing. Of course, it was not the king that ate but a nice Bluefin. Zach's face tells the story. By the way, the tuna was lip gaffed and released unharmed. Tyler had fun with the kings We ended up with 8 King mackeral, some bonitas, and the tuna All fish were released except for the 1st King that was bleeding too heavily. There seemed to be some fish showing up offshore with some albacore being taken as well as som yellowfin. I heard several boats off on the edge reporting the fish today. i still have a few dates open so feel free to email or call and let's go fishing!

July 30, 2006

The fishing has been rather interesting, to say the least. On one trip this past week, Tom Miller and his Grandson, Kyle along with Tom's buddy Jerry and his son Jeff went off to catch a few blues.  We caught no blues but 12 miles off we had king mackeral, Dolphin to 5 lbs, bonita, and a 40" bluefin tuna. Go figure.   Then, today, we had blues and bonita on another charter.  Meanwhile, the weakies have shown up along the beach and there are some nice blues from 2-3 lbs there as well.  Bait seems to be everywhere and birds are on them.  Casting bucktails or metal to these fish on light tackle is really a load of fun.  The flounder are pouring out of the bay into the ocean and there are some fish being caught that are 6+ lbs!  I actually have several days open during the next few weeks including some weekend days.  Oh, the Bluefin tuna chunking has really lit up with fish that are in the 100+lb. category.  This fishing is truly amazing and the fish are excellent eating as well.

July 23,2006

I did not make a post for the past few days since I was waiting for some pics to come. We took some with my camera but the battery was dead. Go figure. Anyway, the inshore trolling for bonita and blues to 3 lbs is excellent. When there is no drift, we fish them and when we hook up, small jigs on spinning gear work well. These blues are just the right size, from 12-18" and a blast on light tackle. The bonitas are very nice sized as well. When the drift is on, flounder have been snapping with a lot of shorts and some nicer fish as well. The inshore sea bass spots have been beat up by about everyone, but we do have a couple of spots that yield some keepers.  Mary Johnson and friends ran off to do some inshore tuna fishing last week but the inshore trip turned into a trip to the Wilmington Canyon. Nobody had ever caught a tuna but by the end of the day, they had each caught tuna as well as some nice dolphin.  
Sunday, Al Ayers and his party ran off to the Wilmington to take up where we left off  and by the end of the day they had caught a couple yellowfin, some dolphin, and a nice white Marlin.   I do have some dates open this coming month so, give a call and let's go fiishing.

July 5, 2006

June 12, 2006

March 20, 2006

Another season is upon us. This one promises to be even better than last and it will take a lot to beat that out. The boat will be in the water as of April 15, and all the signs point to a tremendous Spring start on the drum and stripers. The water should be warming and the last 2 weeks of April and the month of May in the Delaware Bay will be filled with Striped Bass and BIG Black Drum. You have to try this drum fishing. You anchor up in 15 feet of water and do battle with fish that can weigh upwards of 90 lbs! Not a bad deal. Some folks say," Heck they are like pulling in an old boot," but if you ask the folks that caught them on the Free Spirit last year, it just ain't so! Ask Steve Fannon or his son Sean. They each had 80+ lb. fish and when it was done, they both sat down and " Let someone else have a chance." Mixed with the drum are stripers that push 50 lbs. at times. John Capellle can tell you how it feels to put a 48" bass in the boat. This year we will have a new E-Z Anchor Puller on the bow. As my good friend Bob Cope said," Hey, you're 60 years old, you don't need to run up and and pull that by hand, unless you are either dumb or crazy" Well, I don't think I'm dumb, and crazy... I'm not sure, but it will be a joy this year when we are fishing the big Mud Puddle A.K.A. The Delaware Bay. Of course, the striped bass bonus program is in affect this year again so we can keep a few more of those good tasting , hard fighting monsters. The inshore fishing from Margate wa excellent with BIG flounder, croakers, weaks, blues, bonita, shark, Bluefin Tuna (to 30 lbs), and loads of other fish as well. Offshore wqas about as good as it gets and the overnight trips to the edge were all more than good with Yellowfins over 100 lbs. I just can't wait for it all to start! if you want to be a part of the action, call me or email me and we can get it together for a great day of fishing on the Free Spirit!  By the way, I will be doing a seminar on Deep water fluking at Cabelas in Hamberg PA this Saturday, March 25.  If you are in the area, stop in or stop by my booth and say Hi!