August 28th UPDATE 

While the yellowfin is getting repowered with new zuks...I had the chance to get out with Adam and his friend Marty on "The Fever", a very sweet Viking 55...like a house that goes 33 knots!

A good day, we went 4 for 5 on the Bluefin, best at 80 pounds....I sleep better on other peoples boats! especially with the AC cranking! Should have the yellowfin up and running after laborday. With Earl and Fiona tracking this way...not a better time to repower!
 
Will have more to report!
 
 
capt. Chris


August 20th UPDATE 

Well, bailed from the cape with strong tuna reports back down in our waters...(wife and boys a few extra days at the cape). Ran out about 70 miles to find nice fish, Had Brian, his father in law and and friend Roger out. Bite died a bite so we headed north and East when we hear a loud bang!? Port engine blew....ugh....ran back on one engine, took a little while but every one got back safe with some good fish. 2 new engines delievered tomorrow and up and running real soon...looks like weather will keep us off the water for at least this week and see how the new hurricane tracks the next few days... will report with 2 shiney new motors!!!!
 
 
Capt. Chris

August 10th UPDATE

Been on on the Cape, in Chatham, have not fished as much as I would have liked...blowing good...same back down in the NY waters. Did get out with Capt. Jeff Beez, we ran to Crab Ledge, too foggy to see anything so we turned north to the BC buoy. Found big fish busting on the surface...no interest in skirted bally or spreaders...found some birds working bait so casted big yo-zuri bull plugs. Had to crank super fast to keep the birds off the lure...big BANG, a nice fish missles out of the water crashing on the plug!! WOW...started screaming line so fast that the klicker busted...taking mucho line...had to put the boot to it...finally slowed...then slack line....reeling like crazy, got tight again...then pop......ugh! happened twice....big fish here. During the blow outside...been running CJ and Nichol around the inside looking for seals...they had a ball. The third day we were out the, Harbor patrol comes over and blows on the horn...spotter plane saw a 14 great white near Tern Island...alll beachs are closed on the inside and outside up to Orleans...Tern isl. only has 13 ft of water around it....big bad fish....Will  be on the tuna again early in the week...hope to report something good. The swell does not look to sit down until later in the week...maybe running with clients off shore at the end on the week back in ny... The latest video should be up on the the  MF site real soon...be sure to check it out!!!
 
Capt. Chris




July 31st UPDATE

The fishing has just been epic! Blutfin to 110lbs and larger on the inner Canyons and some anglers have done well enough to get both bluefin and yellowfin in 20 to 30 fathoms. Every time we have a visual on skipjack and or cow nose rays the lines start to sing at blistering levels! decent mahi in the mix to 18 lbs too.

Had Kevin and his team from Bloomberg out Saturday...best BFT this season, 58 inches and maybe 110 to 115 lbs...fierce battle for 23 minutes! will have video up in a day or 2 (need to convert it from DVD). Kevin and the BFT gave each other a real working over !!! amazing...will be running this week and then heading to Chatham with family. Coming back down to run charters here on bluebird days...the bite is that good. Logistically, its tough for some of my guys to run to the cape to fish and get a place to crash during peak season and not very $ friendly on a per nite basis either... Running Tuesday and Thursday, weather permitting...more to report. There a few openings so, if you want to get into the harness? give a shout!
 
 
Capt. Chris

July 24th UPDATE

Outstanding BFT action Friday!, after 10 days of bad off shore weather and only having a few days to run...but FRIDAY MADE UP FOR IT BIG TIME!!! Hit the Compass Rose  area and starting hitting BFT right away, pulled up 5 respectable fish that were released. Moved to the 30 fathom line to find a body of larger fish were Ken went 2 for 3 on some very nice fish, best at about 85/90 pounds and 53 inches...followed by a "fat" 46 ich fish in the 70 lb area...nice have fish like this with in 2 hours when you can run 40 knots !!!!
 
 
Capt. Chris

July 20th UPDATE


Got a window on Friday (15th) from 3 am to about noon (weather all week has been crap)...stayed out till 2pm and got spanked in in 4/5's with an occasional 6/7 in the mix! running northeast with a southwest wave wind....long story short, rode the trough's all the way for 60 miles, running between 25 and 35 knots. Stiff drink and a hot shower was all that was needed (and sleep). Worked the Chicken Canyon with a great client ...Bob H. this weather kept many off the water but Bob will always run it there is a shot at tuna. The Bluefin are definitely in our inshore canyons with yellowfin tuna further east to the Larger Hudson canyon. These bluefin are running 30/40 up 100 class fish and the yellowfin from 50 to 80 lb class. Got covered up in skipjack tuna, which on light tackle can be a ton of  fun!...rippin line! Had 2 BFT's on...landed one, a very nice fish...much larger tuna will and are moving north through our waters...need more flat water!
More next week....
 
Capt. Chris


July 10th UPDATE

After hitting the yellowfin offshore, I had an inshore run with Mike, Bob and Neil, the water has been really warm inside and was thinking the bass action would be very skinny at best, or a ton of blues...made it around Breezy and the temps dropped to around 70, then we got visuals on what looked like acres of bunker. Casted snaggers to live line but the crazy part was these pigs crash on the snagged bunkers before we could even get'em to the boat to live line!! it got to be just nutty...every cast that snagged a bunker, we had keeper size and up. This went for 3 hours...I guess resheduling with Neil last year was a good omen for hittin'em!
The next day I was back out there and it was the dead sea...80 degree water, all bunker had moved on...Sometimes these cold water eddies hold along the beach and you can find bass in them later in the summer...always good to check the sat sea temp charts...Rutgers has a pretty good one for free online. Be running off shore for the balance of summer and even into Sept in search of the tuna and other Pelagics... tight lines...



July 8th UPDATE

Got out to the Hudson Canyon with awesome reports from prior 2 days... left at midnight and got out there about 4am...nowind/nowaves. Many small chicken mahi, than about 6am see a massive Great White Shark, maybe 17 feet in lenght, we nudged up to her to get a better look....spooky, could see those black eyes... happend so fast my only other picture is one of the deck but we got right next to her...finish trolling the west wall and made our way over to the East wall where we heard our favorite song...screaming reels...70 lb yellowfin on the deck! warm clean water and so much life. My buddy Danny was fighting a white marlin, Chris was on blue marlins...saw a couple of hammer heads...just awesome eye candy out there...every couple of hundred yards we would see something happening with the flat water, MolaMola suning, sharks finning, ended up being a 20 hour day...cant wait to get back out!

Capt. Chris



June 28th UPDATE

Made our second off shore run on Friday, headed for the west wall of the Hudson Canyon. Ran at almost 40 mph and got there in a little over 2 1/2 hrs. Lots of life, too many whales to count, the prior Monday, Chris on the Chicken of the sea tapped 2 eye balls, 207 and 209 in the same area and a bunch of yellowfin, he had some warner water, low 70's...by weeks end when we got out it was in the high sixties and gin clear...one solid run off...then gone. Heard some chatter on the VHF, so we headed over to the Chicken Canyon, as we approached the area one boat pulled up a 58 inch BFT...sweet, however, our gear got mauled by bluefish, wolf packs would desimate our gear...after 18 ballywhoos used up, we headed back to the barn....220 mile round trip in 14 hours. The big eye/yellowfin and bluefin are in our inshore waters...need a weather window, maybe weeks end.

Report at weeks end.



Capt. Chris

June 20th UPDATE

Got out off shore friday with a great weather window...ran to Resor wreck, found many, many monster bluefish shredding up our gear. Hauled it up and ran to the Glory hole, found 71 degree water, tuna chicks, whales lots of life, looked promising...found 2 large pods of tuna feeding on the surface....GOT STOKED, ran closer and they were just puppies, maybe 25 to 28 inch BFT. left for another day when they would be much larger...
 
Pretty hot tuna action down south, Toms, Poor mans canyon, they are limiting out on yellowfin tuna, bluefin tuna and some eye balls (big eye tuna)....They are a week away. Right know the best offshore weather looks like thurs/Fri/sat (subject to change). boat is running great, did 145 miles friday and burned 107 gallons....pretty good. Its going to blow up any day now. keep u posted.
 
Capt. Chris



June 14th UPDATE

Glad to say the water temps have dropped and its back in the upper 50s... can only chalk it up to that last full moon and and a strong blast of warm water.... it really shut the bass action down hard for a while.... The afternoon spring tide and been good...fast moving water and a lots of bait. Plenty of bass back in and running in the 28-31 length. i think that water temp blast was really an anomaly, we should see these temps for the balance of the month with plenty of good bass action.

The tuna reports are coming trickling in from the south and some very respectable fish been caught. If some decent temp breaks show up this week or some strong intel, we will be making a run for it. Its not long know. I have firm interest in the Cape Cod run for Bluefin. we have filled 4 charters and would like to fill 4 more...we can take up to 4 anglers and i will have a local mate (important) running with us. those dates are Aug 7th to the 24th. Give me a shout at 917 531-4783 with interest and or questions... otherwise, sorry for getting the report out late...running nutty between camp/soccer/swimming classes and getting the boat tweaked for off shore! more action to report in the coming week.

Capt. Chris


FYI - CHASING TUNA REPORT

Aug 7th through the 21st I will haul the Yellowfin to Chatham Cape Cod for Bluefin giant fishing. I have some clients that have expressed interest so its a go. Chatham tuna fishing is world class...period. Last August one run we hooked in 8 200 lb fish...just awesome. I will be shooting emails out to current clients and if you have interest please let me know. Its a 2 week window so I will be limited probably to about 10 runs, do not have to run far however...thats the great part. I can take 4 anglers per run ( also a mate) and the runs will be 10 to 12 hours at 300.00 per angler. Please give me a shout if you have interest in fishing Chatham for giants...otherwise, starting the 15th I will be chasing em here.

Thx,

Capt. Chris

FYI - REPORT

From 3 different sources....BLUEFIN TUNA !! 60 to 90 pound class seen chasing bluefish!
As of the 15th of June I will be ready to start running for 'em!

Capt. Chris

May 30th UPDATE

Amazing.... saw this water go from 43 to 65 in the last 2 weeks! as mentioned bass action was great first half of the month then it got real tough with the full moon and the blues moved in. During the moon, ran all over and no signs of life except for the bait...worked hard but no luck. Turned yesterday with massive schools of bunker in our area and fat bass to 30/35 pounds lurking on the bottom. They would not cooperate one bit...whats worse ...knowing they are there and not hooking or not seeing 'em and trying to hook up? with this moon phase moving I think we should get going in a big way. Big fish being taken on the troll with wire past the EEZ...which is so wrong. (have to stay within the 3 mile limit and out of Federal waters). Many tickets being written. They never learn. Out the balance on the week with more to report. Have a few dates for June left....let me know.


tight line,

capt. chris.


May 24th UPDATE

The water temps have popped about 8 degrees, from the mid 40's to 54...
 
The action the last 2 weeks has been very good. We had bass to 27 pounds and upwards of 37 inches...fly and spin!  bait by the metric ton out there! vast amounts, which has brough in a fin back whale, maybe in the 50 ft range,  its been hanging around for some time now, no need to leave with all this bait. Saw this last body of fish move on and things have been a bit skinny  the last 2 days with just some blue fish shredding lures and flies...As I mentioned earlier, I believe more bodies of fish will move thru, peaking in mid late June with great action to be had....still have a openings for June, which, I think is really the best bass month... most common charter is the 6 hour, which works great to time with each 6 hour tide cycle to maximize each charter with moving water...
 
tight lines...
 Capt. Chris

May 10th UPDATE

Bass action is off to a great start! however, there is some serious water temp flux out there, super cold mini eddie along the beach east of Breezy, 46 degree water, warms up to 52 going into Ambrose channel...best action was during a peak tide off, shut down at slack and picked up again. Bob had a sweet bass to 34 inchs, popped the line at the boat. I think we will see bodies of fish move through on and off until we roll into June when the action becomes very consisitant...gotta snap of the ICAP money boat too. Will be out the next 3 days...more to report!
 
 
Capt. chris



April. 27th UPDATE

Captain Ken's guys are on the "hookup" in the J-Bay area... very nice.

Waiting on one part for one of the Suk motors, $39.00 bucks for the part and it feels like its holding up my world! All things said and done, probably May 1st.

And to add to the itch....I preped the last of last seasons tuna for my wife (Eva)....IT IS TIME !!!



First half of May is pretty busy but check in...I get cancelations, otherwise the second half of May and June, still have spots open...

Tight Lines,
Capt. Chris

Gearing up with some very sweet attire for the new season...working in tandum with PELAGIC GEAR, we came up with a sweet design...dig it. Some thing our off shore clients can look forward to.



This warm air really starting to get me stoked... some bass being caught around the Sandy Hook area on clams now. With all this run off, I am sure that the lower harbor will have some pretty chocolate looking water for a bit but the season is underway!
 

Capt. Ken Jones

I would like to introduce Capt. Ken Jones, Capt. Ken will be running the TOPAZ 24 this season  out of Gateway marina and we are looking to launch the Topaz around the end of March, the Yellowfin will follow the first week of April. Ken is a great guy and knows his waters and fish! When I found out Ken had put in almost 80 days recreationally !! I was like, I gotta hire this guy!. Keeping the Topaz with Ken in the J-Bay area will sure prove to be an awesome start! he knows all the nok and crannies where the slobs hang in his neck of the woods. Ken is with out question a "light Tackle guy", working best with fly and spin, knows his way around the heavy stuff too. It will be great to have Ken  on board!!
 
On the other boat, yellowfin 34, she is fully rigged to run offshore with a load of new hardware on her, 10 new custom made pinnicle rods, 4 of them are bent butts 50's, then 4 30's and 2 jig rods making for a full quiver of gear...all loaded with Avet reels, also have 2 twin spin tuna casting rods...all custom gear. so we can jig/cast and troll for the big boys. Best was the enclosure I have enstalled for those not so nice weather days...dry and warm...
 
I am starting to book for April and May inshore bass runs. Please join us for some really awesome fishing this year aboard the "SWEETPEA and "REVENGE".
 
Tight lines...
 
Capt. Chris





END of 2009 SEASON


Dec. 13th
The following blog by Pete McDonald basically says it all.
http://www.fishingjones.com

Thanksgiving
Big tuna inshore after the last 2 noreaster's have pushed vast amounts of sand eels in, that coupled with warm water 54/55 degrees, has made for some amazing sights!. Sluggos in white, 9 inches have been working. Out Sunday, off Sandy Hook, 150's busting on the surface. These fish are being caught but not easy, the blow ups last about 15/20 seconds, a small window to throw into...however, its being done. The tuna begin to leave the cape cod area once the water falls below 50 degrees and start moving south...over the last 2 weeks the tuna have been getting closer and closer to shore and bigger! One guy was trolling in 50 feet of water and his 50 wide got spolled trying to back down...a mongo toon! Will chase them again on Wednesday. Yes, there are bass around but the tug on these pig-beasts is simply amazing. I will wait till the spring for those guys, this tuna action is incredible. Probably about 3 weeks left to chase them, 1/2 that time if you include poor weather. If you dont mind the chill, give me a shout.

Capt. Chris

Nov. 20th UPDATE

The last blow kept me away from the off shore action. hit the bass hard the last 3 days in ocean conditions that averaged six foot rollers. Many big bass, what November should be...had Rob out and tapped about 18 bass on the jig to 37 inches...very nice. Rob is having a good year, bluefin tuna, albies and nice stripers. Sandy Hook north to the Ambrose channel, there were huge bodies of fish moving through. The last blow from the east pushed a ton of sand eels inshore...they were piggin hard. All bass taken on jigs, they were stacked heavy on the bottom and mid water colume. The strike rate was fast and furious...would have 4 anglers hooking up simultanously!! some very good action. Will be focusing back on the tuna with better offshore condtitions the next 2 days. will have more to report...catch'em up...

Capt. Chris

Nov. 11th

The inshore bass action in most definitely in the "on/off" cycle...one body on bass and blues move in and its good for a two then it thins out. As the water temps continue to drop, the bigger bass will move through. They largest bass we landed are always in Nov/Dec.

Offshore, which is really very near inshore....know that the tuna have moved in closer, we were on em probably 5 to 10 miles off the beach. Has been impressive...Sunday/Monday and Tuesday we were chasing Bluefin  around any where from 40 to 150 pounds. Sunday and Monday were difficult, it looked like they were crashing on tinker macks and sand eels.
They would not hit ballyhoo way back, squid bars, cedars, jigs, bull plugs...you name it! I know that sluggos up north are very popular. So on the heavy tuna casting rods I set a weighted sluggo (13 inch with 4 oz. egg sinker)) and put a  blue and white bally skirt in front to cover the egg sinker, then a crip to keep it from sliding up and down as you cast. Both with weight or no weight are effective...weighted are just easier to cast cause, nothing worse than being 10 yards short on busting tuna! Had 2 decent maylays around the boat...first one was so close you could throw a fly at em,  but no hook up. Second maylay about 10 yards away...chucked the  the 13 inch sluggo, as soon as it landed, what looked like 2 80 pound class tuna crashed on it and missed...a third 80 zoned right in on it hard too. Fantastic animal !! had em on for a while, unfortuately, we lost it at the boat.... 70/80 class fish. Frustration in overdrive for a while after that, i think the term is PISSED!

Crap weather for a few days...swell upwards of 12/13 feet near off shore...hope it does not disturb what we have going on out there right know. I sure know where I will fishing the next 5 weeks! Any interest, I dates open after Thanksgiving...

Catch "em up...

Last Weeks of October

Capt. Chris
Dragged myself to write this report because I knew it had to be done... After the albies thinned out the weather became absurd, it washed out most weekends in Oct, making it almost impossible to look for the bass. Had a few good weekday blitzes,  usually on monday/tuesdays, when no one could get away from the office. Had one decent off shore run near the Ledge, counted about 35 boats on a Wednesday out there all jigging after a decent report that really was not backed by any photos (???), anywho, ran past all the  jiggers about 10 miles south east and found 63 degree water ran hit a  bunch of football bluefin tuna on the troll...not big, upwards of 33 inches but a good find...The most recent off shore run was yesterday with step swell in the AM, which flatttened out and found in the PM about 11 big marks down the  water colume about 50 to 100 feet...no hooks ups.

Running near off shore every timeweather allows! Let me know if you have interest!!

Capt. Chris


First Week of October

Missed a few days with the blow that came through and when I did get out there, it was bait by metric tonnage...everywhere. Managed do do well on schoolie bass upwards of 29 inches. Since the blow the Albie action has  moved a bit south...not to far. Had to reschedule a couple of off-shore runs do to crappy weather (starting to get really old) and a couple of spots I'v heard from the big boats is starting to heat up ! and not far !!! Shooting for Sunday again if it doesnt crapp out. Big bass on bunker to the south our waters too. Just need a very slight change in the jet stream to make things good again...

All yours,
Capt. Chris

Third Week in September.

Shot out to the Atlantic Princess Sunday in search of BFT, about a 60 mile run, flat like a lake and no wind, just fantastic weather, encountered many, may boats out there...cruised at 40 mph on the way out and i gotta say Wylie Nagler, the designer over at Yellowfin has just dialed in so well the design of the 34, it is a fantastic ride! even in the slop, you can take on a head sea with 3/4 footers and the yellowfin just climbs right up on top of 'em and really moves. Anyway, back to the report, the BFT fishing on Sunday would be best defined as "picking". Fish from 40's to 120 were being taken through out the day every10/15 minutes, it wasnt the bite of the last few weeks that was just explosive. Reports came today that it had picked up a bit and there has been some inshore BFTsightings as well. Breezy today was blowing up on albies. We struck out on the BFT but the skippy and ablie action was decent and they were fat, in the 8 to 10 pound range so we broke out the light tackle and went to town on these guys! Got a couple of runs off shore this week will keep you posted.

Say tight!

Capt. Chris

Second Week in September.

The blow that came through last week put a decent dent in the fishing, turning the water a coffee brown for a day or two, since cleared and some gator blues showed up. That last body of albies that went through were a little small but who's complaining? Hope the next one has larger fish. Boat is running sweet and will run off shore this coming Sunday, maybe sooner if weather allows, decent tuna reports out 30 miles....tight lines.

Capt. Chris

September 8th

Albie action is outstanding right now! better hook up rate on the incoming than the outgoing, yet out going still very good. Even some bonito being taken here and there. On the off shore side out 20/30 mile great pelagic action w/ skip jack and more albies, bonito, mahi and smaller bluefin. Further out bigger bluefin. Setting up some off shore runs next week on the Yellowfin...this boat is fast and a very well laid out deck...pictures soon.

Capt. Chris

August 31st

Swells off shore just to large right now to chase the BFT...however, the shore line is producing decent albie action. Very clean green water, blew in from the East. No blues to speak of and no lay over bass but there will be plenty of time for that! Out yesterday on the albies w/ Dave and his 2 boys, lots of fun...Jeff Lawson was out in his boat and we were hunting the green machines, forgot to mention a couple of weeks back in my report. Jeff was fly fishing off Breezy with a red clouser and he hooks up with a 4 1/2 ft. mako! on the fly! how cool is that! The balance of this week should have decent conditions along the beach for the the albie hunt but I think the week off shore will be a bit bumpy. All thing go right, new rig at the end of the week.

catch'em up!

Capt. Chris


August 17th

Got on the tuna out at monster Ledge in in my neck of the woods, 50/60 pound class fish, larger further South East...since then,  the 15th, got up to Chatham w/ the tribe to visit the waters where my folks ashes are scattered in Pleasant Bay. Did squeeze a day near off shore for some tuna action and it was HOT! Jigged Crab Ledge w/ Capt. Jeff Bees, EAST RIPE CHARTERS, if you planning on heading up here, make sure you reach out to him...he knows these waters!
Hooked up on seven toons and landed a real brute @ 150 on 80 lb test spin rod, battled for an hour. A very fine tuna!! Getting the paper work done on the new rig, so...will report the local waters when I get back!
 
Catch'em up!
 
Capt. chris



August 10th

Made another run on it on Saturday...one very hard knock down and all the skip jack and bonito you want! 5/13 pound range, assertive little guys banging on the spreads all morning. Had to keep an eye on the gear...they don't even put an arch in tuna rods...would had been huge fun on light spin gear! Lets get to the good stuff, I went ahead and posted the snap of the new rig.



A 34 Yellowfin w/ 2 250's on her...very, very clean boat! Waiting for engine analysis before the full commitment, yet I was confident enough to go ahead and post the photo. So it looks like delivery in early Sept., a 400 mile range, radar...all the good stuff and SAFE! Still very practical inshore, draws 19 inches and a massive casting deck forward, I can put 3 fly anglers or four spin guys up there...PLENTY OF ROOM and she will move, cut the 3/4 footers at 35 knots like a knief through butter...very smooth, go where the really big fish are! Wylie, the president and owner of Yellowfin Yachts, has a indepth racing background. So you get a great fishing platform on a high speed hull. A great combo! I will be crawling all over it!

The current Topaz will be on the market very soon...out side of that, I will be at Chatham for the week of the 15th to 22nd, chasing tuna for a couple of days and having great family time...

Catch'em up!!!!!

Capt. Chris

Third Week of July 2009

Got out and worked the grounds between the Mud Hole and the Glory Hole on Saturday, got down there about 5:30 AM after running for a couple of hours into a southern with big swells...4 to 6 's but they were soft with a 8  second spread...topping out and no more than 23/4 knots. Lots of traffic out there. My buddy Rob Reni sailed out JI  Inlet at 2 AM for the Chicken Canyon...Rob hits the honey hole and I got skunked !! he had 3 BFT to 50 pounds and 2 bull mahi mahi at 15 pounds,....very nice. Would have loved to push deeper into the Glory but a huge fog bank was moving up and out off NJ...that just gave me that feeling...so we surfed big swells all the way home. Seriously looking to size up the rig next season for further off shore runs...something in the 31 + with radar will fit the bill. A properly rigged 31 + can take to amazingly far destinations, so until that happens, The Glory Hole will be my goal line and there is plenty of action there!
Keep you posted!

Capt. Chris

Second Week of July 2009

Ran off shore again...warmer water but still room to move up. 2AM Sunday departure...talk about running without headlights! wow! pitch black once open water... really need a high powered beam out there. Regular lights just make it more difficult to see so I just shut'em down. Set the spread about 4:30, covered Shark reef, south to the Little Italy out to Monster Ledge and the Mud Hole. Green water and very clear, good amount of life, 6 Fin back Whales and 4 turtles and plenty of bait...alot of peanut bunker on the surface. really need the water to turn cobalt blue from this light green. Did manage to get the "stink off the boat" with a decent sized Bonito. Radio chatter was below average. Reports came in in the afternoon some large fish in 150 class were taken about another 20 miles southeast, thats the next stop given an opening in the weather...that will be about 140 miles round trip! and even more incredible! gas, at my marina came down 30 cents! a good omen!.

Capt. Chris

First Week of July 2009

Covered about 110 nautical miles yesterday! Ran to "Little Italy" looking to confirm a report of large sand eel schools. Water temps dropped about 5 degrees since Saturday's wind ... found clear blue water ... 4 fin back whales. Got hammered by 2 gator blues. One was taken at the boat by a 7/8 foot mako. A violent explosion of blood and foam ... pretty wild! There were small groups of sand eels with nothing on them, scattered here and there. No sight of the huge school of tuna reported. Then ran to HA buoy 10 miles west of "Little Italy" past the Mud Hole and Monster Ledge, the water climbed a few degrees ... no sightings.

I think the wind from Saturday changed things up a bit ... it was 25/30 knots out there with 5/7 footers. Yesterday the conditions were pretty sweet with a 5 knot breeze and flat. I will make another run by the weekend if weather holds and I try to get some more solid reports.

Capt. Chris


Last Week of June 2009

Delayed with crazy stuff with this report...The bass action continued strength lasted till about the middle of the month, then someone hit the kill switch...at least for the fly/spin guys. Just East of Breezy, the area was invaded by snapper blues and they moved in like locusts, just everywhere! gorging on sand eels and silver sides.

Decent bass are still attainable with live lining bunker, where the is no shortage of by a long shot. Huge schools of bunker off NJ and north in my area...bass to 30/35 pounds can be taken but it is a wait...can be live lining for hours....not terribly exciting for those of us who like to sight fish. I am sure there will lay over fish for July but for the most part, I hate so say...the action is kinda done till the fall. Last week some pulled up a 50 pound Back Drum, which was massive, maybe we will see some schools move in like last July.

The real NEWS started over this last weekend, when reports from the shark guys came in about the tuna! Out around the120 ft. line, Tuna (BFT) have taken 30/80 pound range! VERY EXCITING NEWS! The HA Buoy, Glory Hole and other areas have had sighting of large schools of Bluefin have been seen feeding on sand eels. Perfect timing to get a boost of excitement after the recent slow down. Forecast looks like a bit of wind and chop over the 4th. I will be running near off shore after the holiday, about 35/40 miles to search 'em out. I have the boat fully rigged for this kind of fishing (safety Gear too). Departing at 3:30AM and usually getting back in early mid afternoon. Have some buddys with larger boats making a run of it on the 4th...will report. We need a summer like 05 when we had those schoolie BFT all the way inshore! TOOOOOOONA.................

Capt. Chris

June 8th 2009

June is rocketing out of the gate! six hour charters are averaging 30/35 bass!, sometimes by 9 AM! We have had crappy weather which is fine w/ me...that cloud cover sure helps on keeping the action going! About 20% of those bass are 33 inches + and up to 23/4 pounds...very fat and clean!  The new moon phase is just going to confirm even better action! those super pigs south of us, will hopefully start to show!, gear of choice...six inch storm shad and chartuse and white flies, 4 to 6 inches...then there is the bazooka of lures, Frank Crescitelli's  "Bunka Boy" lures, pretty sweet action on these. Incoming tide has had the bigger fatties, out going has also had a respectful yield of bass. Fish finder screen is red with marking the bait...tons of it!

3 boys under 5 and little sleep...gotta get while the gettin is good!

Capt. Chris


May 20th 2009

A bit of a late start waiting for a couple of boat parts and REAL busy w/ 3 boys under 5!

The bass are around in a big way...if you can get the coffee brewing very early, you can get em. first light around 4:30 to 5:30 sun up some big bass are attainable, balance of the mornings have yielded all the blues you want and plenty of schoolies. The weakfish are here too in the J-Bay area. June has always been my best bass month for the last 4 years on the outside and hope to see a repeat of that this June! (on the light spin and fly). I do have some dates open so please don't hesitate to give me a shout! I have added a few more Van Staal 100's to the quiver (6 now!), so it wont be for a lack of great gear.

Tight Lines!

December 8th 2008

The Bluefin tuna are in near shore in a big way! my last 4 runs we found them in 70 to 90 feet of water. Nothing on the sonar...just explosions on the surface every 5 to 10 minutes. Large fish too,in the beginning some of the fish were as small as 30 lb class fish, as of Saturday, nothing under 150, some  of them could have  even pushed 200 lbs! massive fish in so close.
Thats the good news! The weather has not helped...blowing hard most of the time, have not been able to get on the water more than two times  a week and thats the good news. Even thought these fish are busting in pods of 5 to 12 fish on the surface, they are like chasing ghosts, very, very difficult, they seem to be eating only what is directly in front of them, they will not bank off to either direction to chase something. 3/4 times I had these fish run right through my spread...soooo frustrating to watch!!! only one way to hook up (as how it happened last year), is to put the lure, small, 2/3 feet directly in front of the pod, there is a better chance of them hitting it if they dont have to change direction. The craziest was on Saturday, out with Robert Lynch and Pat Quinn. We had a pod of maybe 15 150's come with in 6/7 ft of the boat...feels like you could hand feed em! Gonna keep chasing them till the new year. If you want to chase submarines, let me know and  dont forget you ski goggles...gets nippy out there!

November 17th

Well, here's the Nov report...second half of Oct was pretty beat, with poor weather most of the second half really did not get much done.
So, lets move on to better things! The Lower NY bay offered more schoolie bass from 23 to 27 inches than you could imagine!, I mean 60/70 fish day! loads of fun but tough to find any slobs. Last week 3 fish in 40 plus pound range were taken, so there are a few around. It was this time last year I hooked a 41 pound hog on the Ballyhoo on the outside while searching the toons. Speaking of, I was out with Chris Roe and we went to the Mud Hole and found 4 pods, each holding 6 to 8 fish, probably in 40/80 class. 2 fish breached within 10 feet of the boat!!! really nuts! we were on them for maybe 30 minutes then they vanished. 2 days later I get a report much closer to shore (within sight), one guy I know, said they were busting on the surface for 4 hours!!  60/150 (class fish) too bad he could not hook up. The thing that I have noticed the last few years as the fish are moving south. They are sipping on tiny rain bait, they will not hit squid bars or chains, NOTHING LARGE... Every time that I have hooked into one of these giants, it has been with very small lures. 1 & 1/4 oz. or less, inch and a 1/2 at the  most. That means then, lighter tackle too. They are here and its time to get at em! There is about 6 maybe 7 weeks for these guys and then subtract 50 percent of that time for foul weather and there might be a window of 15 to 20 days to chase these giants!

SOOOO...if you have some interest, give me a shout!

Capt. Chris

3rd Week of Oct.

Very disappointing...nothing but wind, wind and more wind! There have been a few high pressure  systems tracking through the region making  for crappy conditions.  Not a westerly either,  these 15/20 knots blows are coming in  from the north and east, really mucking everything up! Very annoying because just before the blow their were some great tuna reports coming in from the "Monster Ledge". Most of the fish have been in the 40/60 class, how ever an incredible 300 pound Blue'fin was taken in the area!!!!  a massive beast!
Looks like a pretty stiff blow for the balance on the week except for a few mornings, afternoons look ugly all week. Hopefully more to report later on...

Later,

Capt. Chris

1st half of Oct

The Albie action started in the late part of Sept and halted by 2 weeks of rough weather from the East. Picked up again in the first week of Oct and thinned again! Urrr...The Albie action seemed to have started strong...there have been a trickle of sighting here and there from the Highlands to the Coney Flats. I dont think we even did 20% of what we have last fall, however,  the  new moon cycle starting Oct 14th should get those  currents and tides starting to rip, so, look for good moving water, that should bring in the bait ( not there is huge amounts now, start seeing 1 acre lots of redish nervous water) and get thing fired up. The Bass action has been best on incoming tide or at sun up on the out going tide. Found larger bass on the incoming.  One of the more interesting sights out there on the outgoing tide by Breezy is the crazy amount of really big sturgeon breaching, sometimes you would see then 8 feet in the air! I would bet some of these were well in to 50+ pounds. A couple of crazies throwing Bucktail jigs at like mad hoping for a hook up?...didnt see that happen.

Lets hope for one more surge of Albies in the balance of the month!

Capt. Chris

Week of Oct 5th Report

After almost 2 weeks of huge swells and blowing East/South and some crappy fishing, the REAL Albie run  begun! Saturday was epic, bass blowing up in the AM early then the Albie run really reached blistering levels by 8:30 AM. Frothing pods in every direction and these were nice fish, 10 pounds plus in some cases. This lasted till about noon, then a bit of a lull, so  I bail with my Client, Jim Percell, had to head back to the city. What happens? John MacMurray  calls me...DUDE!  Going OFF!!!!!  He says, this is so crazy...did like 20 Albies on the fly! afternoon action made the AM run look like kid stuff. Go figure... the action was awesome, looked like there were washing machines all over the place! no gun and run here. There fish were banging all sorts of flies and my new favorite light spin lure, YO-ZURI Jig Minnow, if anything looks like a healthy Silverside, this is it! aint cheap @ 9 bucks but effective. Like to see this last the duration of Oct.

Next week,
Capt. Chris

September 24

"ROLLING THUNDER" thats the only way to describe the conditions out there! Had Albies all last week until the weekend, then it shut down after it started blowing from the East...getting worse after this high pressure system pushed down from Canada. Tomorrow will be the worst (25th) with a easterly sea swell between 10 and 15 feet!!! Out last Sunday and tried the humps just off Breezy, that was nuts! gun it in between the rollers, 8 to 10 ft., hook a bass, soften the drag and punch it about 200 yards to get out of the way from the thunder, then pull in the fish. Did that a couple of times till I saw the transducer on the bottom of a boat next me, or I should say above me! Then I asked, why are we out here? lets bail! had enough excitement for one day...does suck because I had to reschedule 5 charters, better safe than sorry...usually a major weather events can really turn things on out there, so...high hopes for next week!
Hope to report good things...


Capt. Chris

September 15

Hard tails are HERE!!!!!!!, for a while there I thought it was going to be like the 06 season, which had no Bonito and just a few Albies. We boated 9 fantastic speedsters after a little scouting, hook but lost another 4, incredible fun!!!  and these  machines were feeding on some of the largest silversides I have every seen,  some  of these albies puked up 5 inchers! and that was the frustrating part the last 2 weeks, there has been a ton of bait in the water, clearish green water with a ton of jellies around...perfect conditions were set up. With all this bait, will stay peeled for Bonito and maybe even some schoolie B'fins.

Sept is pretty booked with a day here or there, however, do have opening s in Oct.

Tight lines,
Capt. Chris

End of July and through the first weeks of August ...

Well, to continue with reporting more of the same...poor conditions along the shore line with this continued southerly thats bringing the brackish water and weeds, I have been running out to the Mud Hole and Monster Ledge. Along the inshore, it has been...at best, cocktail blues. Pretty crummy. Getting passed the 20 fathom line its a different world and yes, the hard tail search continues...yet so worthwhile when you get to  cobalt. Ran to Monster Ledge yesterday and had sights of things you would only see on Blue Planet or Nat Geo if not getting out there. Gas?, well thats just part of the game, dropped a bit too. Not a bad run with a blow less than 10, about 50 minutes. We hung with in a few yards of a mother Fin Back with her calf for a good half hour, giving her a little distance...so cool! then along come around 120 (last count) ocean going dolphin and these guys are not shy, hanging around the boat and riding the bow. You could reach over and touch the dorsal fin. They sound like the are breathing through a plastic cone...Big 'ole Mola-Mola and a bunch of Leather Back turtles...speaking of turtles, Capt. David Azar was out the prior day and witnessed a Mako making brunch of a turtle...wow! Something the folks over at PETA need to see after recent crying and bitching about fishing...spare me, they have no clue.
Yes, the toons are in our thoughts but this is one hell of a cool diversion while on our search, there was the usual chatter a bit south and there are hook ups. Sights like these can give you a larger perspective of the blue stuff, puts you in awe. The weird part, is being on the Subway 4 hours later!

Next week,

Capt. Chris
Manhattanfly

3rd week July...

Bertha moves out...Cristobal moves in, had a window today and jumped on it. The next 2 days will be snotty. Shot for the 20 fathom line early, water turned a cobalt blue, a real change from Saturday. Once at the line, we dropped our spread, working south east, wind 2 to 4...sweet,  like a lake!  40 minutes into the troll... we see a big jumper! start to get stoked!, another hour, 3 decent bait balls, nothing on them, starting to bum a bit...when off my bow, about 200 yards... an awesome sight! a Fin whale around 60 feet or so, just huge!! Tried to get a bit closer for a photo, submarined, waited around for  twenty minutes or so...gone.  Continued on, next, a massive sea turtle, just a ton of awesome life out there!

Slows down a bit, then we see two more jumpers...50/60 range, stoked again! Then all silent. Tough... third run out there and have had visuals each time...dont know if its better to see them and hope for a strike or not see them and pray for a strike? Got reports of Bonito at RI and some Skip Jack headed north along NJ. Just to much life out there not to try again...out Friday.



The water has warmed, however, I did not take into account that southern swell pushing the warmer water in would also bring in the "dirty water", very silty, green/brown. The CI flats and Breezy, all the way to Ambrose Tower is pretty brackish. On an up note the small half dollar clear jellies are in here in mass, a good indicator to the Bonito, the timing was about the same last year, I think once the water starts to clear a up we will see the action. Made a run out to clear water Saturday, about 8 miles pasted the BA buoy again, water was a sweet 74 and real clear. A little bumpy with 2 to 4's. Once in clear water we marked some of the largest marks I have seen on my Garmin, real big! down about 130.  We ran an 8 spread in a southeast direction along the north side of the beginning of the ridge down to Monster Ledge, the end result, one very solid knock down. I heard the day before one Capt. had a B'fin on and there was the usual positive chatter on the VHF.



They are definitely pushing through, however, not easy but always worth a shot... weather allowing! Probably see some Mahi around the traps too.
Praying for the "Bones" inshore and the "fast fish" near offshore! Lots of dolphin around too.

Next week...

Capt. Chris

2nd Week of July

Went out Friday for the initial near off shore scouting run with Rob Reni and Bret. Water started out cold in the low 60's...the southern sea swell action we have had for the last week or so has pushed the cooler water inshore. The temps shot up pretty quickly once we were out about 8 miles, hitting about 72. The water looked fishy, a pretty clear blue with a tint of green and lots of jellies, and real flat. Ran to the tower, dropped an 8 rod spread and headed east to the NA buoy....nada, ( except for the wolf packs raiding our spread!) turned south after hearing some chatter on the radio,  about 15 miles south east on the BA. Finally saw some birds working the surface, Rob shouts 2:00  o'clock!  saw a pretty good sized back roll on the surface twice...medium sized tune...then the birds vanished. Punched it back so Rob could go chase some bass and got back by noon. Probably covered 45 miles or so.  Looking good out there...running out there again second half of the week.

See what happens next week.

Capt. Chris

1st Week of July

Shallow water bass action has continued to be decent with schoolies and good sized blues in 8 to 10 lb. range. Surface plugs and fly poppers have performed best. 

Going through a bit of a transition period as the water warms up...dont get me wrong, I love watching the stripers/blues b$%&h slapping the surface action...Now the mind set is on the pelagics.  Tuna reports scattered here and there, a bit of a waiting game. Just got B'fin report not to far off...near offshore, even though the water is still pretty green out there. Its tough wanting to make a scouting run out there with 5 bucks a gallon! and of course, that warm water eddie is still sitting out there spinning away...just out of reach. The upside might be if Bertha tracks towards the Carolinas and pushes all that really warm water up over the shelf into our neck of the woods. The last few seasons the palegics really were the show, so if the bait and water currents have doing what the have the last few years...we should have a great season!

More next week...
Capt. Chris  

4th Week in June

These waters never fail to surprise me...Hitting my usual haunts, we ran into a amazing sight, Black Drums and they were monsters! these fish were well into the 40 to 60 pound range. Fining on the surface in large schools, maybe upwards of 50 to 100 fish! and they are not black! The waters were calm so getting a visual was not difficult.  I was sitting on the bow with my binocular  looking around then looked down to  my right and saw 4 huge drums cruise by ...At first glance,  I thought they were sharks ...they almost have the same body locomotion.



Chucked storm shad...not go, shot a green bucktail (2oz.) at 'em, did the trick, ran like a steam roller and snap!... just wild. A few guys got'em to the boat. saw Ricky Fink out there, the day before he hooked into...get this! a 66 pounder on an 8 weight fly rod...It is just really cool how each season something new cruises in...in the past there have been a hook up here or there but these were big schools of em. On the bass side, still getting our fill of large schoolie bass, Breezy, Coney Island flats have had plenty of bass on em...probably get a few more weeks of this action, longer if you can find some cooler water pockets.



 As usual, I am still watching that eddie move ever closer in this direction, just coming over the shelf and still holding together...T-U-N-A!!!!!!!!!! maybe less than hundred miles now...

Lets see what happens next week...
Capt. Chris

3rd Week of June
On/off...on/off, the action has changed from day to day. Bass action was decent in early part of the week early 4:30 to 8ish or so and then the blue fish would come in by the acre, you could hear slapping and flopping all around the boat on baby bunker and silversides, fun on the 8w/9w. The early week bass were schoolies for the most part. Second half of the week noticed temps dipped a bit the the action surpassed the first week June! Like Montauk! without the traffic, well, sort of...Thursday we boated about 18 bass to 27 inches and 1 to 33 inches, still had the blue mixed in. Saturday was huge!, Had Steven  Beasley out with  his buddy and they did very well...somewhere around 25 bass to 27 inches, 1 at 33 inches and 15 lbs. The days beast came in at what we though was around 24/25 pounds and long! after a lenghty tug, Steven got this fish to the boat and during the reach it popped the leader! a really nice fish! Probably the largest bass this spring. All this action was on the fly...funny thing, could not mark any of these bass...they were all on the surface! After 5 hours of tugging on bass we tossed in the towel and Steven headed to the ball game with his son...Saturdays dont get much better than that!

I'm still watching that eddie move a bit closer and its hasnt broken up...we will see. Also getting some small B'fin tuna reports here and there...just cant say exactly where!

I do have to say, this  has been a really good bass run (except during the heat wave),

Much better than last year.
Just gotta get out there!

2nd Week/June
The crushing heat wave we experienced over the last weekend slowed the action considerably,

I saw water surface temps go from 46 up to 60 degree's since the beginning of the month, spiking in the last few days. aAso not much in the way of cloud cover either. (Those good bass days always have plenty of cover).



It has been all blue fish (with only a couple 30+ in. bass) since the last report, not that the bass have left, they have just gone deep. Those wire line trolling guys and live liners are still doing very well. I think with some cloud cover and getting the temps back to normal will bring some improvement, we sure made due with what we had!  watching those blues trash surface plugs and fly poppers is always fun!

Again, Chuan, picked up a very fine bass...very healthy, most of the bass have been this season. "Clean Fish".

While waiting for this air and water to get back to normal, I have been watching a huge warm water eddie that has been spinning in this direction for about a week...this thing is large.
Last July it was when the bonito came in I saw something like this (see attached).
A good sign.

Also attached, a photo of John Macmurray holding what looks like a 40+ lber! He was cruising along and he sees this thing belly up in the water, reaches over and pulls it up, what does he find, a huge flounder caught in its throat! this thing choked to death...thats crazy.

More to report next week.

Early May/June
I am always excited in early May to to get the rig in the water, all the gear in order and get my charters lined up only to discover (as usual) that the rain/wind blows out my runs for a good portion of the month...This has been a consistent factor every spring. That being said... you would think I would learn to wait for the bass on my favorite areas.

May on the outside brought the blue fish and they were not bad this spring, upwards of 10 pounds and about a hundred bucks in trashed lures...had one put a 90 degree bend in a Hopkins # 6 hook...pit bulls. Some record Weak fish taken in Raritan bay and some massive bass with the live liners in J-Bay.

First week of June the afterburner's kicked in hard! with outstanding bass action in the Lower NY Bay. Had Mike Carissimo out the start of the month and he scored huge with a 20 plus pounder on the fly, handled it like a real pro... Chuan Wong hit the bragging board with a real good looking bass...light tackle (4  new Van Staals 150's on lite rods) using the 6 inch storm shad, sink to the bottom and a slow jig back up, slammed 'em!!!

However, the epic day out, was with Sheridan Reilly and Lonnie in from Austria. Getting out there at 4:45 AM was the plan, then getting a read on increasing air pressure incoming tide and a breeze from the East...I thought for sure some one would put the switch in the off position...I could not be more friggin wrong! IT WENT OFF!!! by 10AM my guys slammed about 40 bass! actually complaining about sore for arms! HA! how awesome is that!

These fish were about 25 to 35 inches with full bellies and they were still piggin out...

A few fish that Lonnie hooked into were two handed haul outs... I mean, a soft ball could fit in their mouths. Really great stuff...

Sure hope this is an indication for the balance of June...and getting stoked another awesome skippy, albacore, bonito and blue fin (December) year. Last season set the bar.

Have a few spots open the second half of the month, if you have some interest...give me a shout. New report next Friday...

Get out there!,