Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Finally, I took a trip up to NJ to fish with my cousin John. It had been a few years since we fished the Susky together with Capt. Dave Shnidler.

We met up in Beach Haven West and it was off to Freedom Boat Club to get the 23' Key West CC.



After taking care of some bait and tackle, it was off to dinner at the Old Causeway.



I was hoping for some nice seafood but Johnny said that the pork chop at this restaurant was superb!



He was not kidding. It was top notch...perfectly cooked. Juicy!

After a good night's sleep, we were ready to roll out of the canals...



This is a very cool, beach area!

The weather forecast said it was gonna be a nice day. Hmm...



But when we got out to the inlet, it all looked good!





We started catching fish right away...



...as John put us in the right spot, the spot in the spot!



He and his friend Paul know this water well!

I was using a Surface Tension lure and scored readily with it. This was a new lure to the NJ crew. They liked it!

The game here is to get close to the swell that goes over the rocks. Make a cast and back off. Some of the pics will show the rip.

The catching continued.



Then I noticed that it was sprinkling and we looked back.



Oh, oh! A storm was coming so we went back inside to ride it out. It was not bad, we just got a little wet so back out we went.

As we got to the spot, John and I chatted and I took over the wheel. Paul and John coached me as to what to do...get up as close as you can to the rolling waves and then back down as they made their casts! This became addicting to me!

Now, we got on some bait and it was non stop action for a couple of hours.

Paul was reading the conditions like a pro. If we threw our baits from the top of the school, we got very few hits. Once I re positioned the boat below the school, it was game on.

We also had a couple of boats come by and try their luck but they didn't score. Some might say that I was "blocking" them from trying to get too close to our school but we all played nice.



This pic shows John reacting to a fish that got off!



There were many that got off but many more were caught!









It was quite bouncy which was tiring out the crew so Paul decided to "couch" fish!



It had no affect on his catch rate!









The boat looked like aftermath of a mafia hit!



I think the boys enjoyed their catching...



...which was well over 100 blues! Lots of whooping and hollering! We pretty much stayed on the fish with very few slow periods.

Capt. Ernie was enjoying running the boat and got good feedback from the local crew. I think they will let me come back!

Around 11:30a, Paul and John declared that they done, "no mas"!



So off to a waterside lunch we went!





We had an excellent lunch of burgers and blackened tuna tacos (on romaine lettuce shells). It was delicious and I never even thought of taking a pic.

Here is the fishing machine again...



The fishing was off the charts today! While the blues were not the 7-10 pounders, most were caught on top water and it was a blast. It was mesmerizing!

Paul (he's a local) said that for August, this was about as good as it gets!

This is a memory that I will not forget. Beautiful area!