June 25, 2008

This week's Tilefish trip was a charter put together by Dave Arbeitman from the REEL SEAT tackle shop at Brielle, NJ, which included many veteran Tilefish anglers as well as a few first timers.  After last week's disappointing trip, we were hoping that this week's drifting conditions would be more favorable.   When we arrived at the canyon, we had about 5 to 10 knots of wind that was moving in the same direction as the current.   This situation actually had us drifting a bit fast at a little over one knot.   We tried a few spots from last season with very poor results, only one 25-pound fish.   During a 10 minute move from spot to spot, we put a few trolling lures in the water and John Tzannes of New York City caught a 50-pound Yellowfin tuna.

We stopped at a proven area and we started a pick even though we were still moving at almost a knot.   We caught about a dozen nice Tilefish before we slid off into the abyss.  We went back for another drift and the current started to ease.   At that point, we figured we would have a good crack at the fish.  We actually had two very good drifts that lasted over an hour each, putting about 60 fish in the boat from 15 to just under 44 pounds.

The conditions started to deteriorate with the wind and current at a ninety-degree angle to each other, and the lines were streaming to the stern.   The guys fought through the tangles and caught another 15 or so Tilefish.   Mike Paras of Lakewood, NJ was high hook again with eight Tilefish up to about 28 pounds.  Allan Sherman of Toms River, NJ (with two double headers) and Tony Puzzo of Middlesex, NJ both ended up with seven Tilefish.  Quite a few anglers had four, five, and six Tilefish apiece and Mike Saulley of Bloomfield, NJ won the pool with a 43-pound 8½-ounce Tilefish.   Overall, it was a very good trip with a great bunch of guys.   We hope that we'll have another good report next week.

The VOYAGER is sailing for Tilefish every Sunday night at 10:00 PM.   Most trips still have spots available.


June 18, 2008

Our June 15 Tilefish trip was very frustrating.    After two weeks of very good fishing, we had a slow trip.   We went back to the area where we left them biting last week.  Despite the weather forecast for an increasing breeze during the day, we had very little or no wind.   We only had a little current and it was running in the opposite direction of the wind, in what we call a "wind against tide" condition.   The boat just stood still with no drift at all for the entire day, and we covered very little ground.

The folks fished hard all day long, but we only ended up with 25 Tilefish (the pool fish weighed 22-pounds 9-ounces.)   We think there are plenty Tilefish in the area and just the poor drifting conditions caused our slow day.

Fishing for Tilefish is like Fluke fishing in that you do not catch fish when you are drifting too quickly or too slowly.  The photo of our LORAN unit shows our speed over ground (SOG) at ".0" meaning we were at a dead stop.

We hope that we will have better conditions for the Tilefish trip this coming Sunday and have a better report.


June 10, 2008


We made our second Tilefish trip of the year on Sunday night, June 8.  We fished two areas on the trip, both with good results.   At the first area, we had fish from about 10 to 15 pounds with a few bigger ones mixed in.  Our only problem was that we had to fight through quite a few Dogfish to get to the tiles.  The guys did an excellent job sticking it out because it was tough to let your line back down when you had just reeled up 600 feet with a Dogfish double-header.

Although we were still picking away at fish we decided to try a different area.  At first, there was only a very slow drift and just a few fish.   After about 45 minutes, we made a short move in the same area hoping to find a hungrier bunch of fish.  For about 25 minutes, fishing was slow with just a few bites but as the current picked up and we started to drift, the fish started to bite.  As the drift continued, fishing got better and better.   The drift continued for over an hour and the crew was busy gaffing and storing angler's Tilefish.   The nice thing was that this was "clean" fishing with no Dogfish.   The Tilefish were bigger than the first spot with a number of 20-plus pound fish.  We had a few 30-plus pound fish mixed in as well as some double headers.

High Hook was Mike Paras of Lakewood, NJ with nine Tilefish and one Pollock.   The pool winner was Leroy Armes of Washington, DC with a 37-pound 4-ounce monster.  Leroy also had a 32-pound fish as well as four others.   Dave Arbeitman of the Reel Seat in Brielle, NJ, Tony Puzzo of Middlesex, NJ, Peter Christoforou of Port Washington, NY, and Kevin Feaster of Downingtown, PA all had seven Tilefish apiece.   Many other anglers had five or six.

We are sailing for Tilefish every Sunday night at 10:00 PM throughout the summer.  Our next two trips are sold out, but we have availability starting on Sunday night June 29.   If you are interested in going, you can send us an e-mail message.  See our Photo Gallery pages for trip photos.


June 3, 2008

After being blown-out by the weather on every Tilefish trip in May, we finally made it offshore Sunday night, June 1.   Our trip started out uneventfully as we tried several areas that produced for us last year, but with little or no success.   We finally found some hungry fish around mid-morning and started to pick away.   When we went up the slope for our second drift in the same area, we only caught a few.   We then moved a short distance and made a few drifts with nothing but Dogfish for our efforts.

With nothing biting where we were, we gambled on a spot about 40 minutes away.  Soon after the lines hit the bottom at the new spot, the rods started to bend.  For more than an hour, we had between three and six fish on at all times.  We even had a few double-headers mixed in.  The fish were nice sized with most weighing between 10 and 20 pounds.

Gregory Humbert from Staten Island, NY caught the pool fish and it weighed 40 pounds.   Gregory also had three other Tilefish.  High hook honors went to Ernest Collins of New York, NY with eight Tilefish.  Honorable mention goes to Whey Sung An of Plainview, NY with six Tilefish, and Cheol Min Park of Parsippany, NJ and George Hanakis of Perth Amboy, NJ with five apiece.  Many other anglers had three and four Tilefish.  See our Photo Gallery pages for trip photos.


April 27, 2008


















On Friday night, April 25, we sailed to offshore Cod and Pollock grounds.  Despite increasing easterly winds during the day, we wound up with a good catch of mostly Cod and Ling with some big Sea Bass and Pollock mixed in.

The 'endangered' Dogfish were a problem at times and we believe limited the Cod bites.   We caught most of our fish during the first 30 minutes at each stop and then the Dogfish took over and made productive fishing difficult.

Despite the Dogfish, we landed over 70 Cod up to 12 pounds, 100 Ling, 30+ Sea Bass up to 5 pounds, and 15 Pollock up to about 30 lbs.

Due to the good showing of Cod, we are going to do another SPECIAL OFFSHORE COD AND POLLOCK TRIP.   We are going to give the wrecks some time to rebuild and we will be departing at 10:00 PM THURSDAY NIGHT, MAY 15.
If you are interested in going, please call our office at 732-295-3019 and leave a message or send us an email.

NOTE:  Our GALLEY will be OPEN starting MAY 2.   Chef George will be back in action for our Tilefish Trips and 20-40 Mile Wreck Trips.

NOTE:  You can confirm the VOYAGER is sailing on our 20-40 MILE WRECK TRIPS by calling 732-295-3019 (select menu option 4) any time after 6:00 PM on the day before the trip.   Our 20-40 MILE WRECK TRIPS sail open boat and leave at 7:00 AM on MAY 2, 4, 9, 11 and 23.   The fare is $80.


March 24, 2008


















On our offshore trip this past weekend, we saw a good variety of fish.   We had a mixed catch of Sea bass, Ling, Cod, Pollock, Whiting, Porgies (which were thrown back because the season was closed) and even some Mackerel.

Rudy Fristachi of Queens had 16 Ling, 3 Cod, some Sea Bass and twenty jumbo Porgies which he tossed back.  Lee Stuckey had a good day with 8 Sea bass, 8 Ling, 3 Cod, and some Porgies and Mackerel.  Pat Hillas was high hook on Cod with five, as well as a bunch of Ling and Sea bass.

We will be sailing this coming FRIDAY, MARCH 28 at 6:00 AM for a 12-hour COD TRIP.   We expect fishing to be good since the inshore wrecks have had two weeks to rebuild.

We will also sail 11:30 PM FRIDAY, MARCH 28 and 11:30 PM SATURDAY, MARCH 29 to the offshore SEA BASS grounds.  This will be our last weekend of fishing for the next three weeks for annual maintenance and painting on the boat.

When we return, we will start off with an OFFSHORE COD AND POLLOCK SPECIAL 10:00 PM FRIDAY night, APRIL 25. We may offer a special offshore trip a week earlier depending on our painting and maintenance schedule.


March 8, 2008

Our Friday Cod trip on March 7 was slow with just a handful of Cod, Pollock, and Ling to show for the day's efforts.   Weather and sea conditions were poor to start with and got worse during the day and made fishing very difficult.   Next Friday, March 14, will be our last Cod trip and we will only sail if we have nice weather.

In lieu of our last Cod fishing trip on Friday March 21, we are adding an OFFSHORE SEA BASS TRIP that will depart 11:30 PM THURSDAY NIGHT MARCH 20.  Reservations are required.

We start our annual maintenance chores on March 23 and will not sail again until April 25.

Our 2008 spring, summer and fall trip schedule is posted.   See our Fishing Schedule page for Trip descriptions, fares and other information.  See our Fishing Calendar page for trip dates and available spots.


February 26, 2008

Our last fishing trips are on FRIDAY, MARCH 21.  We will be performing our annual maintenance chores on the VOYAGER between March 23 and the third week of April.   We will NOT be sailing during this time.

Our 2008 spring, summer and fall offshore trip schedule (Tuna, Tilefish and others) will be posted on or about March 8.

Going on one of our Friday 12-Hour COD Trips?

Call 732-295-3019 after 6:00 PM THURSDAYS and press menu option #4 to make sure that the weather is okay to sail.


February 25, 2008

















This past Saturday night the Voyager sailed offshore for Sea Bass.   After catching mostly Porgies and Ling last weekend, we decided to fish further south and in deeper water this weekend.   For most of the morning, a very strong current made fishing quite difficult and anglers needed between 20 to 24ounce sinkers to hold bottom.   We managed to catch a few nice fish as well as some small ones.  As the day progressed, the current eased up and the fish started to bite better.   The catch was mostly medium to jumbo Sea Bass with a few Ling, Porgies, Bluefish and even a Blueline Tilefish mixed in.

Braydon Niper had a limit catch of Sea Bass, Gary Pinel had 20 Sea Bass plus some Ling and a couple of Porgies, and Al Johnson had 18 Sea Bass with a couple of Ling and Porgies.  Many anglers ended up with between 8 and 15 fish.

The water temperature offshore was still 45 degrees, so we expect large sea bass to continue to bite for quite some time.  The VOYAGER will be sailing offshore for Sea Bass every Friday and Saturday night though Friday March 21.   Our Friday Cod Marathons will also continue through Friday March 21.


February 19, 2008

















On February 15, we sailed on the first of our 12-hour Friday Cod marathons.  The weather conditions were less than perfect and the winds were blowing at 20-25 knots out of the southwest.  Moments after anchoring on the first spot, we had our first Cod on, a 10-pound fish caught by Adam Kaye of Chatham, NJ.   We quickly caught a couple more and then picked a few more.

With the weather being so poor, we decided to work our way inshore a bit and we picked a couple of Cod on each drop along with some Ling.  We ended up with 25 keeper Cod and a couple of throwbacks.   Steve Yu was high hook with four Cod and some others had two or three.  We hope that the weather will be better this Friday so we can get further offshore.

















On Friday and Saturday night, we sailed offshore for Sea Bass.   We found good fishing overall with plenty of Porgies, Ling and even some Whiting mixed in with the Sea Bass.  Kevin Kovach of Hillsborough, NJ was high hook on Saturday with a combined 56 fish including five whiting and an 18-pound Pollock.

We will be running our Offshore Sea Bass trips every Friday and Saturday night through the third week of March.  You can see more photos from our recent trips on our 2008 Photo Gallery page.


February 4, 2008

















On our February 2 trip, we started fishing at a wreck about 75 miles to the south.   The weather was beautiful with virtually no wind at all.  We also had enough current to make anchoring conditions okay until the last part of the day.   Despite the decent fishing conditions, the fish did not bite well.   No matter how we adjusted the boat, anglers fishing in the bow did better than the rest.

Kevin Kovach had 14 Sea Bass and a Ling but also said he missed a good number of bites.  Bob Foppiano had 16 Sea Bass, 4 Ling and a Cod, but those were the exceptions.   Folks in the forward part of the boat wound up with 6 to 12 fish and those in the stern did not fare as well.   We did have a number of nice size fish, but not enough overall.  On our next trip, we will be fishing some deeper spots, hopefully with better results.












January 21, 2008

















Except for Friday night, we canceled all of our offshore trips this past weekend due to bad weather.   In spite of a marginal forecast for Friday/Saturday, the weather ended up nicer than originally predicted as you can see in the photos.  The fishing was good for most anglers on the boat; many caught from 10 to 20 Sea Bass and a few had more.  We caught mostly Sea Bass and they were generally medium to large/jumbo size.   There were also a few Pollock and Porgies mixed in the catch.  From what we understand, a couple of other boats will not be Sea Bass fishing in February, so this should give the wrecks more time to replenish and we should see more limit catches.

We will be Sea Bass fishing every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night at 11:30 PM through February and possibly into March.   For reservations, please call the office at 732-295-3019 and leave a message - we will get back to you.

















The VOYAGER is running full-day Ling trips every Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 AM with Captain George Bachert of the ANGLER running the boat.   Last week we had choppy conditions with a lot of current and fishing was slow, but Ling fishing is generally good throughout the entire winter.  Hopefully, it will bounce back after this week's full moon.



Just a reminder, The SAVE THE SUMMER FLOUNDER FISHERY FUND will be holding a
PUBLIC MEETING 7:00 PM MONDAY, JANUARY 21.   The meeting will take place at the

MANASQUAN ELKS LODGE #2534
17 STOCKTON LAKE BLVD
MANASQUAN, NJ

The VOYAGER supports the SAVE THE SUMMER FLOUNDER FISHERY FUND.  We encourage you to make a donation and attend this important public meeting.


January 13, 2008

















Fishing was not as good on our Saturday trip as it was a couple of nights earlier.   We fished the same area as Thursday, but the fish just wouldn't bite.   We read fish under the boat on all of our stops, but they were not in a feeding mood.

We picked away at Porgies and Sea Bass for a couple of hours on one spot, but a strong current suddenly developed and shut the bite off completely.  We also had some Cod, Pollock and Ling mixed in the catch.















January 11, 2008

















Our January 9 Sea Bass trip was much better than our last trip.  We fished a different area and found mostly Sea Bass along with some Ling.  The fish were a mix of small, medium and large fish with the pool winner going about 5½ pounds.  Many anglers made limit catches or near limit catches of Sea Bass.

Next weekend, we will be sailing at 11:30 PM on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night (Monday, January 21 is the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.)  We still have room on all of these trips.  If you are interested in going, you can call the office at 732-295-3019 and leave a message or you can e-mail us.


January 10, 2008

Starting January 15, Captain George Bachert from our sister vessel, the ANGLER, will be running the VOYAGER on bottom fishing trips for LING AND BLACKFISH EVERY TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY.   These are open boat trips departing at 7:30 AM and returning at 3:30 PM and will run through the end of March.  The fare is $55, $50 for seniors and $30 for children.


January 1, 2008

Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year!

Offshore Sea Bass fishing was good again on Sunday, December 30.   Many people had between 10 to 20 fish along with some limit catches.  We also had good Porgy action at times as well as some Cod and Pollock mixed in.   The Sea Bass were larger on Sunday and many of them weighed between 3 to 6 pounds.

The weather forecast for this coming weekend looks good and we still have spots left for the Offshore Sea Bass trips departing 11:30 PM Friday night and 11:30 PM Saturday night. If you are interested in going, please e-mail us.


December 29, 2007


















The Wednesday Ling Marathon trip on December 26 was only fair.   We picked away at Ling early in the day and then it was just a slow pick for the rest of the day.  The weather also deteriorated during the day which may have influenced fishing.
Our next Ling Marathon trip is 7:00 AM Wednesday January 2.

Thursday morning, December 27 we had a Blackfish charter.  We were greeted by a monstrous ground swell that had built up overnight.  Ground swells are usually bad for inshore bottom fishing and this was no exception.  We managed only about 40 keeper Blackfish and twice that many shorts, but one angler was lucky enough to catch a 13-pound 6-ounce fish.


















During the past couple of weekends, the offshore fishing was slow for Sea Bass and Porgies.  On Friday morning, December 28 we had good fishing for both.  While the fish were not all jumbos, some people had limits of Sea Bass.  For those who fished for Porgies, catches of 15 to 25 were common.   Chris Frka of Staten Island, NY had the biggest Porgies we've ever seen measuring over 19.5 inches and weighing about 4 pounds.  Hopefully, this is the beginning of the Sea Bass migration that we have all been waiting for.


December 20, 2007

Wednesday's LING MARATHON was good with almost everyone catching between 15-25 Ling and a high hook of about 35 Ling.  We also had some Sea Bass and a Cod mixed in with the catch.

We are adding a LING MARATHON trip on WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26 at 7:00 AM.


December 13, 2007

Our offshore trips during the past weekend saw very different fishing on each day.   On our Thursday night trip, we had good fishing for jumbo Sea Bass up to 6½-pounds as well as for giant Porgies and we had a few Pollock mixed in.   About a third of the boat had limit catches of Sea Bass or at least very close to limits.  Anglers who used smaller hooks and concentrated on Porgies had limit catches of 50 fish.

On the Friday night trip, we had excellent fishing for Porgies with many anglers making limit catches, but we had fewer sea bass.  The high hook for Sea Bass was probably in the mid to upper teens.   Again, we had some Pollock, Ling, and White Hake mixed in.

Saturday night's trip was the toughest fishing wise, but nicest weather wise.  We caught some Sea Bass with the high hook being around 15, but many anglers had only a handful.   The Porgies did not bite as well as they had during the prior two days.  We managed to catch a few nice Pollock and a bunch of Ling to fill the coolers for the trip.

It appears that the major migration of Sea Bass has not started yet, but we anticipate it starting any day.  The new moon was last Sunday and sometimes that helps to get the fish moving.

The VOYAGER is sailing to the offshore wrecks every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night at 11:30 PM.


December 10, 2007



Summer Flounder (Fluke) stocks are in good shape and the biomass is at the highest levels ever recorded.   However, we cannot say the same thing for the fishery.   In spite of great progress in rebuilding Summer Flounder stocks, another round of federal quota cuts are on the way for 2008 and the National Marine Fisheries Service has threatened to ban fishing for Summer Flounder in 2009.

In 2005, the federal Summer Flounder quota was 30.3 million pounds; for 2006, the National Marine Fisheries Service cut the quota 22% to 23.6 million pounds and for 2007, they cut the quota 38% to 17.11 million pounds.    

The proposed 2008 federal quota for Summer Flounder is 15.77 million pounds, an 8% reduction from this year's 17.11 million pound quota.   This doesn't sound too bad, but when you consider that environmental zealots are urging the fisheries managers to reduce the Summer Flounder quota to 11.7 million pounds, it is a whopping 46% reduction!

We all want sustainable fisheries so that we can continue to enjoy fishing and ensure that our kids can do likewise when they grow up, but this situation is ridiculous and the time has come to stop it.

You can help by supporting the SAVE THE SUMMER FLOUNDER FISHERY FUND.   It is a non-profit organization made up of party and charter boat owners, tackle and bait shop owners, tackle distributors, bait wholesalers and others whose livelihoods are dependent on a healthy and vibrant recreational fishing industry.  For plenty of additional information, visit the organization's web site at www.SSFFF.net.

The SAVE THE SUMMER FLOUNDER FISHERY FUND has two important goals:

1. Support HR 4087, which is an emergency legislative intervention that will enable fisheries managers a reasonable level of regulatory flexibility.   The organization will work with existing angling lobbying organizations and public sport fishing advocacy groups such as the Recreational Fishing Alliance who have the structure and contacts already in place, along with the proven ability to get things done in Washington.

2. Generate private funds for a comprehensive scientific stock review.  The organization will hire independent marine scientists to generate the data needed to prove that the current summer flounder population targets and stock rebuilding deadlines, are dangerously punitive, ridiculous in their intention and truly unnecessary.

Right now, the organization needs your financial support to fund these political and scientific goals.  Please send a donation to:

SAVE THE SUMMER FLOUNDER FISHERY FUND
PO Box 86
Brielle, NJ  08730

The SAVE THE SUMMER FLOUNDER FISHERY FUND will be holding a
PUBLIC MEETING 7:00 PM MONDAY, JANUARY 21.   The meeting will take place at the MANASQUAN ELKS LODGE #2534
17 STOCKTON LAKE BLVD
MANASQUAN, NJ


The VOYAGER supports the SAVE THE SUMMER FLOUNDER FISHERY FUND.  We encourage you to make a donation and attend this important public meeting.


December 3, 2007

Fishing was good on our Saturday night offshore trip.  The catch was still mostly giant Porgies but we started to see better numbers of  larger Sea Bass mixed in.

We also found fish on some wrecks that did not have much life the week before. This indicates that the fish are still migrating to the offshore wrecks and that the fishing should be getting better each week.

Along with Sea Bass and Porgies, we had a few Ling mixed in, a half-dozen Pollock between 15 and 25 pounds, and a monkfish.

























Mike Terry of Staten Island, NY won the Sea Bass pool with a 6-pound specimen.   Gary Kobstad of Matawan, NJ had two nice Pollock to go along with his catch of 30 Porgies and 10 Sea Bass.

There are still a few spots available for this coming Thursday and Saturday night trips.   The VOYAGER will be sailing to the offshore wrecks every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night at 11:30 PM from now through March 2008.


November 26, 2007




This past weekend marked the start of our OFFSHORE SEA BASS TRIPS.  Overall, the fishing was good.   We found a couple of spots that were holding large Porgies up to three pounds as well as Sea Bass.  Some people had limit catches of Porgies and some had limit catches of Sea Bass.   The Sea Bass were mixed in size from throwbacks to jumbos and averaged between 1 to 2 pounds.

It seems that the main body of the jumbo sea bass has not arrived yet.   We think they should be arriving in our area within the next couple of weeks.   Last year, we had big fish from the end of November onward, while the year before, they didn't show up until December 10.   We also had some nice Cod up to 22 pounds and Pollock up to 31½ pounds mixed in.

The VOYAGER will be sailing to the offshore wrecks every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night at 11:30 PM from now through March 2008.

On Saturday November 24, Daniel Knoefal from Williamsburg, Brooklyn had the pool winning Pollock at 31½ pounds.  13-year old Thomas Morgis from Stafford, VA caught the pool winning 6 pound 8 ounce Sea Bass.  See our Photo Gallery pages for more trip photos.

















For earlier fishing reports, see our Fishing Report Archive page.