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VOYAGER TUNA NEWSLETTER - March 8, 2008

Dear Fellow Offshore Fishermen,

As spring approaches, it is time to recap last year's offshore season as well as to tell you about all of the exciting trips for the upcoming season.

Last year, we started our offshore season with some Tilefish trips in April and May.   After a tough first trip with only a few Tilefish and many Dogfish, we looked to the southern canyons for some fish.  We fished as far south as the Wilmington Canyon and found some truly monster specimens.  Tom Wardlaw caught the largest Tilefish and it weighed in at an even 50 pounds. (www.voyagerfishing.com/html/2007_46.html)

As the season progressed, we fished anywhere from the Hudson Canyon to the Wilmington Canyon with good success on large Tilefish.   We were even fortunate enough to catch some exotic fish like Wreck Fish (www.voyagerfishing.com/html/2007_44.html) and Barrel Fish (www.voyagerfishing.com/html/2007-2_11.html)  With such good fishing for quality fish, we ended up fishing for Tilefish every other week throughout the summer.

This year we will be running Tilefish Trips almost every week.  In the spring, we will be sailing at 10:00 PM Friday night May 2, 9, and 16.  From June 1 through August 10, we will be sailing every Sunday night at 10:00 PM.  These very special trips will be targeting Tilefish in depths ranging from 400 to 1,000 feet.   Please check the fishing schedule on our web site for specific dates (www.voyagerfishing.com/html/fishing_schedule.html)

Last year's early season Tilefish trips were combination trips where we fished on a couple of deepwater wrecks during the night targeting Pollock and Hake.  Some anglers enjoyed the Pollock fishing as well as some of the Cod stops we made during the daytime.   To that end, we have scheduled one Special Offshore Cod and Pollock Trip departing at 10:00 PM Friday night April 25.  On this trip, we will start fishing around 4:00 AM for Pollock, and then move on to some Cod spots after sunrise.   This trip will be limited to 30 anglers.

Last year, we started our tuna season during the third week of August with our 'Early Bird Tuna Trips'.  For about a week prior to this, we had been hearing of fair catches of Yellowfin tuna from the Hudson to the South Toms Canyon.  This was a relief, since the summer had been very slow for tuna up to then.  Our first trip proved to be one of the best of the season and we landed about 55 Yellowfin.

Water temperatures were good and there was bait around, but there were very few well-defined temperature breaks to hold the fish.  As the season progressed, we found inconsistent fishing.   On some days, we would go out, catch 20, 30, or 40 tuna, and then on the following day, go back to the same spot, mark the same bait and water temperature, but only catch 10 or 5, or even 1 tuna.  It was as frustrating for us as it was for anglers.

We still had good trips scattered throughout the season with some good fishing during the middle of October.
On some of our longer trips, we had decent action trolling Albacore tuna, but then poor action chunking tuna at night.   Some trips were the opposite with no trolling bite at all and then decent fishing overnight.   Even the Mahi-Mahi fishing was off the mark last year.  We would see 10-20 fish around a pot buoy and only hook a couple or sometimes not even one.

The most consistent thing we noted was that boats that arrived on the fishing grounds earlier got more tuna bites.   This was true at least in August and September.  It did not seem to matter whether the bite was at midnight or 3:30 AM, the boats that were set up before 9:00 PM did better than the boats that set up after 10:00 PM.  Many of the early arrivals would start chunking at sunset and gather up the tuna even if they were not on the feed yet.  When they finally turned on, they ate their way up the slick to the hooks.   Another reason most party boats had difficulty making good catches last season was that the weather was too nice.  With such nice weather, there were many private boats fishing at the canyons.  The more boats, the more the fish are divided up and the canyon becomes one big chum slick.  It was a case of 'too many restaurants in town'.   We would always hear about the private boat that caught 30 tuna, but little mention of the 30 boats that only caught one tuna.

Another trend we have noticed has been the good Yellowfin tuna fishing in August during the past few years.  We consider October to be the best fishing month, but some of our best trips have been in August.   We have made a few changes this year to take advantage of this early fishing.

This year, we will start our tuna season with the first of three 40-hour Tuna and Tile (TNT) combination trips.  These trips will sail on August 17, 20 and 24.   On these trips, we will leave at 10:00 PM and spend the first day fishing for Tilefish and/or trolling tuna as the weather permits.  At sunset, we will start chunking and fish all night for tuna and Swordfish.   On the morning of the second day, we will make a couple more stops for Tilefish, jig some Mahi-Mahi, troll or just head home.  These trips will return to the dock at about 2:00 PM on the second day.  This schedule allows us the best chance for a good tuna catch as well as plenty of time to fish for Tilefish.  Our TNT trips are bound to be very popular, so if you are interested, please book early.  For a complete description of the TNT trip, please go to www.voyagerfishing.com/html/fishing_schedule.html#tuna-tilefish and pay specific attention to our 'bad weather' policy for these trips.

We will be starting our regular Overnight Canyon Tuna Trips on Saturday night August 23.  After that, these trips will sail every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night from August 28 through October 19.   From October 20 through November 15, we will be sailing every night except Wednesday night.  The August and September trips will depart at 4:00 PM and return about 2:00 PM the following afternoon.  Please note that this is one hour earlier than last season. The October trips will depart at 5:00 PM and return around 3:00 PM the following day, and the November trips will depart at 6:00 PM and return around 4:00 PM the following day.   We think these new departure times will give you more rail time during the prime fishing hours.

In 2008, we will be bringing back our special 30-hour Extended Offshore Tuna Trips.  We are scheduling only six of these special trips and they will depart at 8:00 AM Tuesday mornings and return about 2:00 PM on the following day.  Please note that this is one hour earlier than last season.  The Extended Tuna Trip dates are Tuesday September 2, 16, 23, and 30, and October 7 and 14.  The fare will remain the same as last year at $350.  Our Extended Tuna Trips offer anglers more fishing time than any other trip except the TNT trips and represent one of the best values going.   Upon arriving at the fishing grounds, we will spend the afternoon fishing for Mahi-Mahi or Tilefish and possibly do a bit of tuna trolling if there has been hot trolling action.  The decision on what to fish for will be a 'captain's choice' depending on conditions.  We will then fish for tuna during the 'sunset bite', the entire 'night bite', and the 'morning bite'.  This works out to between 12 and 15 hours of fishing time for tuna alone.   For those of you who made the extended trips last year, Chef George will be back in the galley serving his tasty meals and goodies.  For a complete description of our 30-hour tuna trip, please go to www.voyagerfishing.com/html/fishing_schedule.html#30-hour-tuna and pay specific attention to our 'bad weather' policy for these trips.

Also returning this year will be the Wednesday night Limited Tuna Trips.  These trips are limited to 18 anglers and offer you the most room on any party boat in New Jersey.   Last year we spent a couple of hours in the morning fishing for Tilefish.  Due to our earlier departure and return times, we will no longer be Tilefishing on these trips.  We will include Tilefishing only on the TNT trips and possibly on the Tuesday 30-hour trips.

Just as last year, sleeping bunks are included in the fare and the choice of bunk and your spot at the rail will be in order of payment received.

In the fall and winter months, we ran a number of Offshore Wreck Fishing Trips and had good results with giant Sea Bass and jumbo Porgies, as well as some Cod and Pollock.   While the fishing was not the slaughter fishing we had in 2006-2007, some people had limits of Sea Bass up to seven pounds and buckets of Porgies up to three pounds.  This year, we will be running offshore Sea Bass trips starting the third week of November and continuing through March 2009.  The trips will leave every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night at 11:30 PM.  This departure time ensures that we will be the first boat to arrive at what we consider the best wreck for that day.   It also allows you to get a better night's sleep for the day of fishing ahead.

Like last year, all trips will sail from our berth at Fishermen's Supply Co., 69 Channel Drive, Point Pleasant Beach, NJ.  Fishermen's Supply is one of the largest tackle shops in New Jersey and carries a full selection of lures, jigs, hooks, high-quality monofilament and fluorocarbon line, rods, reels, knives and pliers as well as some of the best prices on boots, foul weather gear and other outdoor clothing.  The tackle shop is just a few feet from the boat dock, so you don't have to worry if you forget anything.
 
For those of you interested in chartering our boat for a summer Tilefish trip or fall tuna trip, we suggest you contact us early to ensure you get the date you want.   You can find our 2008 charter rates at www.voyagerfishing.com/html/charters.html.

We are currently accepting charter bookings and will start accepting open trip bookings on March 17, 2008.
You can call our office at 732-295-3019 and leave a message, or you can e-mail Captain Jeff at info@captainjohnfishing.com.  (Leave a phone number and time when we can reach you.)