Aug 24-25 2007 – Congratulations Island Girl

I took Friday off and got down to Cape May by noon. The Mid-Atlantic $500,000 tournament had been running since Monday, and Friday was the last day of competition.
On Weds our friends on the Island Girl weighed in a 524 lb Blue Marlin and that was the only one weighed in up until Friday. I called Capt. Andy’s cell phone and Sonya answered. I asked her if she could let me know when Island Girl would be hitting the scales. Five minutes later she called me back, Capt. Andy had called on the Satellite phone to let her know they had another Blue Marlin on board and it was about the same size as the first. We expected them to pull up to the scales around 6:30 but they were coming in a little earlier. Luckily I had my VHF radio on and heard them coming in. I went to get in the car and drive up to the Canyon Club, only to discover my car battery was dead. Luckily I was able to get a jump start and get up there in time.

Another boat came in with a Blue Marlin, before Island Girl came in. The other Blue Marlin weighed in at a measly 414 lbs. When they pulled the Marlin out of Island Girl and weighed it in, it was a whopping 536 lbs. putting the crew of the Island Girl in first and second place in the Blue Marlin category. With the prize money and Calcutta bets the Island Girl won a staggering $327,000. Congratulations.

To add to the excitement of Friday I headed out with Capt. Randy on “Just One More” back out to the Cape May Reef on Saturday. We ended up with 3 keeper fluke, and a nice sea bass. We also had plenty of short throwbacks. Capt Dave and Chuck had been at the reef also and had 1 keeper.

On Saturday evening we all went to the Harbor View to celebrate our big catches.

Aug 18-19 2007 – The Reef turns on

Saturday the 18th we had a strong wind from the north so we didn’t make it out fishing. That was expected based on the forecast. I ended up putting some snaps on my springer lines, fixing the bulb on the spreader light, and verifying the bilge pump was working. Based on the forecast Sunday sounded like it would be a good day with low winds, and I hoped to go trolling for tuna. Of course the winds kicked up again and it looked like rain was moving in on Sunday morning, so the trolling yet again was put on hold.

Joe came down Saturday evening, with the thought that we would be leaving early to go trolling. We had a few beers and sushi over at the Harbor View before calling it a night. Got up at 4:00 AM and the flag at the marina was moving pretty good, and as I said it looked like rain was moving in, so we decided to go Fluke fishing at the Cape May reef. The reef is only 8-10 miles from the marina. We were out of the slip by 6:00 AM and one of the first boats at the reef. We fished until about noon.

We ended up with 5 keepers and I would say 15-20 shorts. Capt. Dave and Chuck were out there as well and had 2 keepers. We all lost a lot of rigs in the rocks and rubble. There were a ton of boats out there. The water temperature was about 75 degrees and we had a good drift going mostly from south to north. I wouldn’t say any particular rig was working best, because none of them were lasting that long.

The wind kicked up as we were getting ready to come in, so the ride in was a little choppy. It also rained as we were cleaning the fish and boat. Overall it was a good day. Joe had 3 keepers and I had 2 keepers.

Aug 4th 2007 - Fish 1, Capt Chris Negative 300

The weather report looked good all week, and we were planning to leave the dock at 4:00 AM on Saturday morning, hoping to go trolling and see if we could catch the elusive Blue Fin Tuna. Well they are still elusive. I got down the Bree Zee Lee marina a little after 8:00 PM on Friday and the winds had kicked up and were blowing between 15-20 knots and the Offshore Forecast was for 3-5 footers. So I cancelled the trolling trip, which meant we didn’t have to get up too early.

Saturday morning the winds had dropped down, and Jim and I decided to hit the bay for flounder. Capt Dave and Chuck headed back to the Old Grounds trying to capture more of the glory from last week. We took Offshore Bites just off the point and trolled from the point past the F4 Buoy. Jim caught a little shark and that was it. I decided to move out to the 10 Buoy. We drifted from the 10 buoy all the way up to Brandy Wine light and didn’t catch a thing. Next I decided to move over to the Anchorage. There were a lot of party boats over there. On our first drift we didn’t get anything. On the second drift I hooked into what I believe was a Great White Shark, or a large croaker. Anyhow I wasn’t paying all that much attention and the tug pulled the rod right out of my hand, and it was the good rod. The rod hits the drink and I was a little in shock, but it floated for a few seconds. I jumped down on the swim platform and went to grab it, only to see another tug and the rod submerge. I should have jumped in after it immediately, and was kicking myself all day for not doing so. We ended up catching a bunch of croakers after that but none of them had a $300 lip ring hanging out of its mouth (the cost of my replacement rod & reel).

Chuck and Dave ended up with 5 keepers out at the Old Grounds. The water temperature in the bay was around 74-75 degrees. Maybe we’ll get to troll next week, if not I can break in my new rod and reel.