July 28 2007 – Bree Zee Lee Fluke Tournament

The entry fee for the tournament was $50 per boat and I think there were 12 boats signed up for the tournament. The tournament was for the biggest fish, with payouts to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

Dave M and Chuck on the “Tiramisu” headed to the Old Grounds and ended up coming in second place. They ended the day with five keepers. The second place fish was in the 4lb plus range. They caught three of their keepers within 2 minutes, and much like the circus they were working with out a net when the 2nd place fish was hooked. Congratulations!

I was on board “Just One More” with Randy and Jim. We headed back out to the 9 and 10 Buoys, with a lot of other boats. The drift was terrible for most of the morning on an outgoing tide. Around noon we finally got a decent drift. Capt. Randy hooked into a fish that probably would have been a money fish, but was heart broken when we lost it at the boat. We ended the day with only one 18 inch keeper. We had a few through backs and a bunch of skates and sharks as well. Conditions were calm, wind from the South West and it was a 98% waxing moon, with an outgoing tide most of the time. We also saw a few sea turtles but as usual they would dive each time I tried to snap a photo.

I’m not sure who came in first and third place, but I know it wasn’t us.

July 14 -22 2007 – A Week in Review

Sat – Old Grounds, Seas were Flat, 1-Keeper Fluke and some Sea Bass

Tues – 9 and 10 Buoys, Foggy, Fished with Dave M. 3- Keeper Fluke, Skates and Sharks

Weds – Harbor, Fished with Anthony, Anthony had a few shorts

Thurs – 9 and 10 Buoys, Nice Weather,1-Keeper Fluke, Skates, Sharks, Bluefish. First Time out in the boat on my own.

Sat – 9 and 10 Buoys, Bay was rough to start but improved, Fished with Bill, 2 – Keeper Fluke.


I spent the week in Cape May aboard my palatial yacht, well that might be a slight exaggeration but it worked out and the price was right. For the most part the weather was good all week, and it never became unbearably hot. I thought I was going to knock my head on the head (a.k.a. toilet) when some idiots blew through the no wake zone at night a few times.

On Saturday, since the winds were right, Jim and I headed to the Old Grounds. It’s called the Old Grounds because that’s where all the restaurants dump their old coffee grinds, and the fluke are all jacked up on caffeine. Must have been Decaf because it was a slow day at the Old Grounds. We only had one keeper.

One of the days I replaced the thermostat on the boat. It had been running cool. The problem was that the thermostat wasn’t seated properly (it was sitting Indian Style in there.) I put in the new thermostat and that did the trick.


Monday was too windy.

Dave M. called on Tuesday morning and asked if I wanted to fish. I said yes and the fog was lifting in the marina. Dave got to the marina and the fog started rolling back in. Once it started lifting again we decide to go out on “The Tiramisu”. We headed in the direction of the 9 and 10 buoys. We fished from about 8 – 2 and then the fog started rolling back in, so we decided to make like a banana and split. We ended up with three keepers for the day. Luckily Dave has radar because we needed it on the way in. We were going slowly due to the conditions. Once we got to the inlet it cleared up.

Wednesday I fished with Anthony in the harbor right in front of the marina. We fished while the tide was going out, and we got some good drifts. Anthony was using extremely light tackle and picked up a few shorts. I got a sea robin.

The weather was perfect on Thursday so I decided to take “Offshore Bites” out on my own for the first time. I headed back to the 9 and 10 Buoys again. I actually saw two pelicans sitting on the number 9 buoy when I first got there. These are the first pelicans I’ve ever seen in NJ. There was no drift when I first got there and all I was catching were skates. My arm was getting tired from reeling them in. I also caught a 3-4 foot shark later in the day. I only ended up with one keeper for the day. When I got back to the marina I got the boat into the slip on my own on the first try and it was blowing at about 13 knots at the time.

Friday I helped Capt. Randy install his Sirius Satellite radio receiver in his boat. Bill came down Friday evening.

Bill and I headed out Saturday morning in some rough conditions; there was a strong wind from the North. It took us a while to get out to the 9 and 10 Buoys but we made it out there. We were drifting at 3-4 knots and using 16 oz sinkers. I didn’t think we had a chance of catching anything but Bill pulled one in that was just short of 17 inches on the first drift. Resetting the drift took a while because we had to head right back into the North wind. The seas calmed down once the tide started coming in. We ended the day with 2 keepers. Bill had one early and I had one later in the day.

June 30 2007 – Reef Site 11 and Ye Old Grounds

We started off at Reef Site 11, Capt Randy and John were on board “Just One More”, and Jim and I were on “Offshore Bites”. We weren’t having much luck at Reef Site 11, a few shorts and a couple of Sea Bass. So we called Capt. Dave and Chuck on the radio to see how they were doing at the Old Grounds. At that point they already had 4 in the box.

We headed over to the Old Grounds, which is a fairly large area. We didn’t see Dave and Chuck so we set our lines out with the rest of the fleet. Nothing! We finally ran into Dave later in the day but we weren’t catching anything. Dave and Chuck ended up with 8 in the box for the day. The water temperature was in the 70-71 range, and it was overcast all day.