Great day Friday, had Dave, Anthony, and Danny on board for a blackfish trip. Beautiful day on the water, started in 40ft with only 1 fish, then hit a wreck in 85ft and never left. Had to reset a few times due to lack of wind. Easily had a four-man limit of keepers. Many were released as we had a cooler full. We took home 22 of the eaters and released most of the breeders. Most fish were 2-4 lbs; the biggest was weighed in at 9 lbs 8 ounces. Here is Anthony with the biggest fish and the days catch.

Managed to sneak out on Wednesday in the late morning to do some blackfishing. Light NE winds and decent temps, we headed to some favorite spots off Long Branch. Just 2 of us fishing, we started out with a few shorts and then the bite turned on. With only about 2hrs of fishing before the wind came up and the bite SHUT off, Dave and I boated over 20 fish releasing the smaller ones. Came home with enough fish to eat. The highlight of the day was Dave trying to keep a big fish from digging back to the bottom... he won and boated a 12 pounder which he released.

Had an open boat trip today with repeat customer Matt Buerke and regular 'blackfish' Dave. Stopped on some birds on the way up to the rocks and never moved. Sandeels everywhere, birds diving....more bass than bluefish. Had our limit of bass within 1 hr and the fish were nicer than we have seen lateley. Total tally was about 25 Bass keeping only our limit. Fortunatley we saved room for the big boy. Official wieght at Fishermans Den was 40 pounds taped out at 47 inches. Made a few drops blackfishing and put a few in the box along with some sea bass but it was slow bottom fishing. Great day on the water.

Had Glen Ptitzlaff, Dave Pyscatty, Fast Freddie, Vinny Ragusa and Barry Young on board for a Striper Bass & Bottom Fishing combo open boat trip. LOADS of blufish around and many short bass were caught jigging and trolling and all released. Then tried a blackfish pre-fishing mission. Inshore was dead so we headed out to a favorite wreck and it was drop and reel for about 2hrs! We kept our 5 man limit of 5 fish! Rough day but managed a few keeper bass, many bluefish and our Tog limit. The highlight of the day was Glen's fish - 12 lbs on the hand scale.

Had an open boat trip today in LESS than perfect conditions... hard North Northwest...downside of the moon and the day after heavy rains and a heave. I was not expecting much. I had Barry Young and Vinny Ragusa on an open boat combo trip for bass/blackfish.

Tried jigging on some good marks and TONS of bait off Long Branch but nothing. Headed to the rocks an pulled out the wire and shad rigs. Fish on within 20 minutes. The first hit was a triple header with 3 bass... hmmmm this could be good. Only 1 was a keeper. We proceeded to catch multiple double and triple-headers of both bass and blues. The charter had their limit but the fish were small. Most had to be measured. Must be a new class of fish that moved in with the blow. The fishing was good with the change of the tide around 9-10am and then it slowed.

After that we hit some inshore snags. TOUGH conditions for bottom fishing...it was like a washing machine and we were swinging all over. We managed about a dozen blackfish keeping our 3. It felt good to dunk a crab again!

The fall bass fishing is on...we will be running open boat and charters for combo trips for Bass and blackfish as long as the weather let's us.

Left the camera on the boat...will post pics tomorrow.

FINALLY some inshore tuna action. Set up on the chunk in the Mudhole. Temp 70 degrees clean green water. After about an hour on the chunk had some readings.. a slow bite started with a few run offs, got our 1 over 27inches (36 INCH FISH) released another, lost one. After that flurry of activity, 3 boats started trolling circles around us....readings disappeared and so did the fish. Caught some nice ling and released the BIGGEST winter flounder I have ever seen along with a nice fluke. Went on the drift for sharks but caught nothing. Nice day and good to finally see some bluefin in the hole!!!

We finally got started on our overnighters, after two canceled trips, so we headed to the Toms. After doing nothing in the afternoon on the troll, we set up on the chunk and put the first one in the boat at 8 PM. After a slow pick all night, and just two fish caught on the butterfly jigs we ended up with 6 for 8 on 80+ lbs yellow fin tuna. Up again on the troll in the morning produced the biggest Big Eye we ever caught! It tipped the scales at 250 lbs! This was also our third for the year! Once again the Young party put the meat in the boat! ~ Capt Tony

Set out early Sunday morning to target tuna in the Glory hole area. The weatherman was WAY off with the forcast calling for NE winds 5-10 seas 1-2. Add them up and you might be close. It was blowing 20 seas 3-5 with a few 6's and tight. We changed course and stayed within 25 miles. Not expecting to do much...all of a sudden a green machine/bird gets crushed..line screaming I thought the drag was loose but not the case. Eventually see color on the fish and couldn't belive my eyes... it was a wahoo. Finished the day with 3 of them. 29lbs, 36lbs, 52lbs. The wind layed down and we ended the day working the Glory Hole, nice water, one knockdown but nothing boated. Quite a surprising catch! Hopefully the fishing holds up. ~ Capt Mike

Up on the troll at 1st light I only managed to get one spreader bar and a ballyhoo out and the bally got crushed First fish in the boat at 5:45 was a 125 lbs Big Eye. We continued to work the area with no results so we headed to the Hendrickson where there was a water temp break and real nice water but, a ton of weeds. Working back up on the shelf we headed south toward the Carteret. After a long slow day I decided to work the flats were we put 4 more LF Tuna in the boat. Total for the day was one 125 lbs Big Eye and four 40-50 lbs class LFT and one gaffer mahi. Thanks go out to the Carson Party for putting everything we hooked up in the boat. Ray Sr. did a great job with the Big Eye! Thanks again! ~ Capt T-bone

Had the boat in Cape May for the past week and we were a little hampered by bad weather. On the days we could get out we picked up:

* 1 Bluefin Tuna 80 pound class
* 1 Wahoo - 30 pounds
* 1 Wahoo - 49 pounds

We also had a double header bluefin bite that almost spooled the 50's. Locked em up and pulled the hook on one immediately and the other had to the boat after about 30 minutes and pulled the hook with the fish 20 feet down...bummer. We had various other hits and bite offs. Overall, Cape May is AWESOME! Spectacular fishing within 30 miles of the beach. Most of the fish were caught on way back ilander/bally's and or the planer.

Once again we were up on the troll at 1st light in Toms Canyon. The morning was a little slow until we had a White Marlin hit a ballyhoo and never came tight. Around 9 am we had our 1st Longfin Tuna hit a green machine bar, the fish was a 40lber. Down the line a little we had a 3 bagger of 50 lbs Longfin Tuna and put them all in the boat, before we could clear the decks we added two more 40 pounders on the troll back. We had another White hit a ballyhoo and jumped us off almost instantly 0 for 2 on Whites... Just as we were ready to pick up we added 1 more Longfin Tuna to the box. A big thanks goes out to Rob, his son Chris (who broke his tuna cherry) and Barry for a nice job landing all the Longfins we hooked up. Thanks Guys. ~Capt T-Bone

We were up on the troll in the dark after a great ride out,making our way up the West side towards the 150 /050. After coming up the wall from the deep we hooked our 1st fish a 40 lb LFT on the bird with a Hi 5 lumo bullet.After we got the spread back out we had 4 YFT crash the spread and only one came tight a 50lb YFT.what turned out to be the last bite of the day was another LFT on the bird Hi 5 combo.The bite died as quick as ist started we worked the area for several more hours before trolling to the Tip without another touch... 3 for 3 2LFT and ! YFT,Thanks Dave and Bill for a great day!

The Lowrider took the Young party for a day troll in the Hudson. We arrived in the dark and set the spread out at the tip and started working the East Wall. The 1st fish was hooked and boated a 50 lbs YFT. A little futher down the line we had a 3 bagger and boated 2 more 60 lbs YFT and a 20 lbs YFT but dropped one. After the boat traffic, we put the fish down and headed across the flats to find the temperature break - it went from 73.8 to 75 degrees, the water was the nicest I've seen all year. Working the area we had a double header and put two 50+ lbs fish in the boat. A little further down the line we lost a single and got bit off by a Wahoo but still managed to put another 50+ lbs fish in the boat! The total was 7 for 10 on YFT and a couple of small Mahi, we left them biting. All the fish were on ballyhoo and Reel Seat Green Machine spreader bars. I would like to thank Barry Sr., Barry Jr. and Ron for a job well done! Happy Birthday to Barry Sr - who had the biggest fish. The bite is on!!

Left Shark River at midnight for an open boat day troll in the Hudson. Reports were not good but we were going to sniff out some fish. We had Dave Pyskatty and Norman Barret on the open boat along with some Lowrider regulars. Arrived in the dark after a nice ride out. Sun came up...wind came up, went to 4-6ft in no time. Had good readings on the East wall worked it until late morning and began to pick some fish closer the tip. It got green and that’s what they wanted. We boated 3 yellow fin tuna in the 40-60 lbs range and had a few more knockdowns. On the way home decided to troll through the Glory Hole looking for bluefin tuna. Guess what we found? A bally/islander got popped on the flat line but no hook up. Sent out another one and whoosh.... a big hole behind the bait and a 30 wide starts screaming. 20 minutes later the gaff and poon were sunk. No need to measure this one - although it taped out at 58 inches. Trolled for another 1/2 hour and headed in. A mediocre day turned great! I have not heard of many Bluefin in this class caught in this area 'yet' this year. Maybe the fish from down south are moving up!!!

We took the Diaz Family out on Sat for a Bluefish trip . On the way to the Bluefish grounds we trolled up 4 Bonita to add some excitement for Lou and his sons. After the troll we set up on the hook to chum up some Blues .We kept their rods bent for the rest of the day...We got several fish up to 12 pounds on chunks as well as on jigs.Thanks guys for a great day.

Shark Inlet Charters donated a trip to raise money for Jake Healy.
Jake is an 11-year-old Ocean Township boy who is fighting leukemia. We donated a charter to raise money and help the family pay for medical expenses. The winning bid went to Matt Buerk and friend Mike Regec. We put together a catch of fluke and sea bass. The highlight of the trip was when we came across a pod of bunkers. 2 seconds after snagging a bunker the reel starts screaming - 20 minutes later a 25lb brown shark comes to the boat and is released. Back to the bunkers another one snagged, another screaming reel. This one they worked for over 1 hour on a fluke rod with 20 lb test. Eventually we have at boat side a 125 lbs shark. I identified it later as a blacktip shark (rare for here) some say it's a spinner. Anyway we got him to the boat, grabbed the leader and released the fish. What a day!!!

We set up on the troll in the dark on the west wall of the Hudson Canyon. At first light we had a knock down and then came tight on a 30 lbs yellow fin and we managed to put 2 more yellow fins in the boat between 40 and 50 lbs, as well as, a couple of mahi. The real excitement came at 7:00 AM when 2 Bigeye crashed the spread one came tight and the other one missed the hook. After an hour and ten minute fight we put the approx 150 lbs. fish in the boat. Thanks go out to Josh Deitch and George Cox for a job well done!

Saturday we had the Juan Vernaza charter including Joaquin, and sons Emilio 13 and Eduardo 11 from Columbia. Their goal was to catch big fish. We tried for bass in the morning to no avail. We made a move to the bluefish grounds and had rods bent for about 3 hours. They had a blast keeping only a few fish for the table and releasing the rest. We finished the day fluking on the beach to spice up the action.

Sunday was a fun trip bucktailing fluke and sea bass on the rocks. Quality not quantity - 6 fluke to 6 lbs and 8 nice sea bass.

Lowrider had the Todd Mikolajczyk party out for a fluke trip on Tuesday. The rods were bent all day long, however, 90% of the fish were shorts. We probably released over 50 short fluke! We worked our way North and put together a catch picking through the shorts. Overall it was a fun day an the water. ~Capt. Tony

We Left the dock at 3 pm for an evening Striped bass /Bluefish trip.After an hour of trolling Pete Kemp (Happy Birthday) Put a 22lb Bass in the boat.After a couple more passes we set up on the chunk and put some monster Blues in the boat the largest around 13lbs.At 10 pm we pulled the hook and headed for the barn. Thanks again Matt can't wait to take you guys to the Canyon .. ~Capt. Tony

Another weekend... another shark mission. Fished both the Mako Fever and Mako Mania tournament this weekend. We made it to the fishing grounds after a bumpy ride out....It wasn't long before the blue sharks came knocking....all were released unharmed. The right one was hooked up around 11:00 am and brought to the boat after a nice fight. Although the fish was definitly a weighable fish (66 inch min.)...we gambled and released our first Mako of the day with the hopes of finding a bigger one. The released fish was estimated at about 130 lbs. Good Karma paid us back and we boated a better Mako later in the day. Made it back to Clarks Landing in time for the weigh in. The fished weighed in at 196 lbs. Nice fish, but not for the money board. Overall talley for the day was 5 Blue sharks and 2 Mako's....another great trip and great time!! Can't wait to just go fish for fun now that the tournaments are over!!

Capt. T-Bone put the LOWRIDER crew on the fish. Finding warmer water was challenging but we did some searching and found the right temps and lots of bait. Our tally for the day was 16 Blue sharks ranging from 80-250 pounds which were all brought to the boat and released. Angler George Cox boated a respectable 76 inch Mako that tipped the scales at 180 pounds. The blue sharks were so thick you could reach down and touch them. We even hooked one for fun on 25lb spinning gear...the fight lasted about 5 minutes before the line parted but it was nice to hear the reel SCREAMING!!!!! Although we did not place, WE HAD A BLAST!! It was a great tournament! We will spend the remainder of this week rigging new shark rigs and prepping for MAKO MANIA.

Fished the South Jersey Shark tournament down in Cape may this past weekend witrh Capt. Steve King on his boat FAT CAT. The 2 day event produced for us 3 Brown Sharks to about 80lbs, one of them on a bluefish rod. 1 Blue shark that was realeased (approx 150lbs)and one Mako that was weighed in at 135lbs. While fighting that Mako a money fish swam up to see whats up...the fish was in the 250-300lb range. He would not eat a pitch bait and then we had him hooked up on a live bait. We fought 2 fish for about 1 minute and pulled the hook on the big boy.....bummer...overall, great trip, great crew, and a fun tournament to fish. We will be gearing up for Mako Mania and the Jersey Coast Anglers shark tournaments in 2 weeks.

We left the inlet with the Carl Fischl charter on board in heavy fog. A slow ride out but as soon as the spoons hit the water, Rick Bastian put our first and what turned out to be our last bass in the boat. We trolled and chunked several locations and got run over by the dogfish on the chunk. The charter remained in good spirits all day, even under some tough fishing conditions. Thanks guys! ~Capt. Tony

We fished for bass on Saturday and managed 2 bass to 35lbs, and tons of bluefish on the troll with bunker spoons. All the bluefish weren't a bad thing, we loaded the coolers with fresh blues in preparation for the South Jersey Shark Tournament this coming weekend in Cape May. Hopefully the weather blows through we get a shot at a good fishing weekend. Sunday, the water cooled substantially so we stayed in Shark River and caught tons of fluke, only 3 of them made the size limit. Stay tuned for a Shark report from Cape May!!!

Canyon season and shark season are just around the corner. Lowrider made the run out to the 1000 fathom line in Toms Canyon and fished down to Hendricksons canyon in what was left of the first shot of a warm water filament. Conditions were great with a ton of life, whales, porpoise, and birds all over.The warm water had cooled down to 61 and we only heard of one Mahi being caught. Tough fishing conditions but a great day on the water,you can't catch em' from the dock. Water temps around some productive sharking areas looked good ,start thinking about planning your shark trips with Capt Mike or myself.We will be running open boat Canyon and Shark trips all season so contact us for more info .Catch em'up!

FISH HEAD was out today with a crew from Sanofi Aventis Pharmaceuticals. What a great day to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. Tony Busa, Mike Gammino, and John Kukulya spent the morning bass fishing. Bunkers were scarce although they put together a catch of 3 bass to 35lbs. Plenty of bluefish kept them busy reeling all day. The crew ended the day putting together a catch of sea bass. Banner day on the water.

Fish Head had Kim Mack and her crew from Enterprise for a day of Striper fishing - Live bait and Bunker spoons produced 4 bass to 25lbs and some slammer bluefish right off the beach. The Bass fishing is in high gear!

First trip of the year we did a shakedown bottom fishing mission hitting some offshore wrecks. That day produced a mixed bag of Sea Bass, Cod, Ling, Blackfish and the infamous dogfish of course. Overall a good trip, with some quality fish!

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