It's been quite the week. It started off with me and my two friends trying to get out for some flounder. We launched the boat, cranked her over, and realized there was no water coming from the engine indicating that it was pumping cooling water through itself. We trouble shot it at the ramp, but no luck. I tried trouble shooting it at home without any luck. I ended up going up to South Jersey Boatworks where Matt took time out of his busy day to swap out the pump. She's working great now. Memorial Day, Andy and I launched for our second attempt at chasing some flounder. Engine fired up and pumped water like a champ. We had some frozen spearing that we wanted to thaw out. Tossed it into the live well and hit the pump switch, dead. Tried the hose, also dead. Went to turn on my electronics and realized my house battery was dead. Great. So, we fished old school. Boat, motor, and gear. No electronics. We had about an hour and a half of incoming tide remaining and the ICW all to ourselves. We drifted along some ledges, got some hits, and missed quite a few. Finally, Andy broke the ice with a fat 20 inch flatty. Shortly after he landed a doggie and a skate. Then the tide slacked. Around this time a dozen boats moved in and joined in on our drift. The outgoing tide excited the bite from the shorties. We pulled in two 16-17" flounder each and missed a bunch more. Most of the boats in the area were catching and releasing short flounder. We saw two keepers taken. All of this during the first hour of the outgoing tide. We tried a few other areas and missed more fish. Called it a day about half way through the tide. Andy shared his flounder with me and Lisa turned it into a delicious dinner of flounder milanese. If you know, you know. If you don't, try it! You will not be disappointed. I took my battery back to West Marine where I purchased it. I explained how it was suddenly dead, wouldn't charge, or accept a charger being attached to it. Gave bad readings. They said their warranty for batteries is one year, mine was two. Out of curiosity they asked to keep the battery to test it out. Why not? They called the following day and said that it was in fact defective, and that they will be replacing it. They stand behind their products! Thank you Weat Marine. Hopefully, that's the last of the issues with the boat. Today, I had a surf fishing trip with a favorite family that comes back every year. Christopher and company met me on the very chilly, and windy, beach at 6am. I set out the rods in hopes of finding some stripers, kingfish, and maybe some blues. What we got were a bunch of little smooth doggies, croakers, a spot, and a little ling. Not the day I was hoping for. The wind, and chilly, dirty water conspired against us. On the plus side, they had a blast despite the conditions and lack of quality fish. Hopefully the wind takes a break for the remainder of the summer. Wishful thinking I'm sure. Finally, night time bridge hopping has been fairly productive. Some nights are better than others. But it's always fun! Looking forward to more adventures as the fishing season heats up. Tight Lines!

Decided to get out and fight the wind tonight. For whatever reason, I enjoy fishing on stormy nights. The water is rough, casting is hard, retrieves are difficult, and the fish usually bite. I enjoy the challenge. So, I went to a sod bank and battled the northeast wind. The flood tide was a bit much, making the current run even harder than the nearly full Moon already was. And of course it pulled every bit of grass off the sod banks and I to my casting lanes. Regardless, I managed to catch a nice weakie. Of course it popped off the hook as I lifted it. But, it was all good. I would've released it anyway. It would've been nice to get a photo though, it was a nice weakie. A few casts later I got another weakie that spit the hook as I reached for the leader. Just not my night it seemed. The bite died out and the grass got thicker, so I took a walk. I found a crazy Eddie that was swirling and rough. As luck would have it, a striper popped right in the middle of the maelstrom. I cast a bunch of times trying to present the bait just right. After about twenty casts I must have got the presentation correct. I got hammered by a nice striper that peeled off drag in the heavy current. We battled back and forth, both giving and taking line. I finally got it close and grabbed the leader. She measured out at 31 inches. Snapped a quick photo and released her back I to the churning water. No other takers. I took a ride and tried a new area. It seemed quiet at first, but then a school of bait erupted in the surface. I cast and something swirled on my jig. A few casts later I came tight to another striper that put up a fantastic fight. This one measured out at 27 inches and was fat. Another quick photo and release. And again, the action died. Took another ride to search another area for any willing brawlers. Found loads of bait, even had it exploding on the surface, but no willing predators. On the plus side, I got to watch a pair of otters chase each other around. Cuteness overload. But no fish. I tried one final spot, but it too was devoid of any willing takers of the scaled persuasion. So, I called it a night. And it was a good night. The windy conditions did not disappoint. Tight Lines!

Ran a fun trip in the back yesterday with Justin onboard for the ride. We poked around a favorite bridge to see if anything fun might be hanging around. As we cruised through we noticed a pigeon sitting on the cross beams of the ice breakers. Seemed to be an odd place, but, to each his own. We cast around with a variety of lures, and soaked some baits. Little fish were the catch of the day for the outgoing tide. Sea bass and pinfish were destroying our baits. Tried for tog and sheeps, but no takers. While fishing we heard some awkward splashing. Then we saw the source. The pigeon we passed earlier had fallen into the water. At Justin's insistence we rescued the flopping, sputtering pigeon. He became our mascot for the day, hanging out on the bow watching us fish. Once the tide turned and began flooding the little fish bite dropped off. We began drifting for flounder. Justing landed the first keeper of 18.5 inches. We missed or dropped quite a few other bites. We had schools of mullet swimming past us now and again. And up on the flats there were peanuts being harassed by snappers. There were quite a few big boils and splashes here and there too. It was quite the show. When the bite slowed we made a move and drifted some deeper water. The wind made things interesting. Suffice to say, the motor was used quite a bit for positioning. We made a few drifts along a sod bank getting sporadic hits. On what was supposed to be our final drift I got hammered by a 20 inch flounder. So, it wasn't our final drift. We tried another area, but the boat traffic and wind with the tide made the drift unfavorable. We made another move and worked over a normally productive area, but only got short flounder and pestered by little sea bass. While drifting along near so.e houses our pigeon feiend decided he had overstayed his welcome. He flew off to the nearby docks and never even said goodbye. Justin was crestfallen. He had hoped to take his featherwd feiend home to his beloved, as she so loves birds (kidding). So, with the wind continuing to increase, the bite dropping off, and our feathered mascot gone, we called it a day. Had a great time, as always. Given the amount of bait showing in the back waters, the Fall bite should be solid. Looking forward to it. Tight Lines!