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Great day of fishing with my grandson. Started slow with a try for triggers at a few of my favorite spots. Unfortunately, the previous few days of wind seemed to push the fish off the couple wrecks I usually target. Water was very dirty and I didn't see anything on the fishfinder. After a really good effort, I decided to head to the FI reef. Went to a favorite rubble spot and slowly had a pick of mediocre fish. With the wind against the current, our 3 ounce jigs couldn't cut it. I decided to deploy my trolling motor and stem into the wind while trying to figure the drift direction. It didn't take long and we had a near vertical jig and were able to drop to 2 ounces while our SOG was .8 kts. The drift was short and gramps was constantly lifting the motor (no it's not an auto-deploy/stow but I do have one on my 24' Carolina Skiff). They don't make an auto-deploy in 84"/36volt. The fish were there, but the previous presentation was off. Once I found the direction I needed to motor, it was constant action as we worked over a small area. A lot of fish to cull through but we did wind up with our limit of mostly 18 1/2" to 20" fish. My grandson won the pool with a nice fish. What a blast fishing with him. He's thirteen and boat smart. Once out of the canal, I can turn the boat and navigation over to him (of course, I monitor). I taught him early on due to our canyon trips. If I croak, I don't want to bloat while he searches for Fire Island Inlet. It was another great day on the water.

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13 years old and he gets to drive a 30 foot Contender! Wait till he grows up and takes his grandpa fishing on his 50 foot Freeman! You’re doing it right! Positive incentivizing is a powerful motivator!
 
Thanks, Lep. I'm very proud of my grandsons. Thanks to their moms, screen time on phones and computers is very regulated and they are out doing things we used to do when we were kids. I feel boating/fishing is a great tool to teach kids many hands-on abilities and responsibilities. My guys are my fishing buddies and they are becoming responsible boaters/fishermen and men with the ability to think ahead to avert a potential problem.

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For me, it doesn't get any better than this.
 
Thanks, Lep. I'm very proud of my grandsons. Thanks to their moms, screen time on phones and computers is very regulated and they are out doing things we used to do when we were kids. I feel boating/fishing is a great tool to teach kids many hands-on abilities and responsibilities. My guys are my fishing buddies and they are becoming responsible boaters/fishermen and men with the ability to think ahead to avert a potential problem.

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For me, it doesn't get any better than this.
Wow.....................a breath of fresh air! Love hearing stories like yours!
 
You are not only a great fisherman, Crabman, but an outstanding parent as well!
Way to go. Those boys are lucky to have you and your wife show them how to really excel in a challenging world filled with far too many distractions.

In my case, although I have no grandchildren of my own, my favorite retirement job is running the Kids Camp Trips on the Orient Star. Nothing better than teaching the kids how to fish and learn to love the outdoors.
 
You are not only a great fisherman, Crabman, but an outstanding parent as well!
Way to go. Those boys are lucky to have you and your wife show them how to really excel in a challenging world filled with far too many distractions.

In my case, although I have no grandchildren of my own, my favorite retirement job is running the Kids Camp Trips on the Orient Star. Nothing better than teaching the kids how to fish and learn to love the outdoors.
Well said Capt Mike!

If you want to give grand parenting a try, I can certainly make Dan available for you LOL :p:p
 
Second day for Nantucket Fluking was a wet one but a good one. Limits for most and again more Sea Bass than I've ever seen on the shoals. My buddy got the big one today, 9 lbs. This year the bigggies showed in August, June was not as good as in past. If you're going up there you've gotta try the best seafood restaurant ever - anything on menu , as much as u want, $45 except King Crab. They definitely lost money on us....
 

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Second day for Nantucket Fluking was a wet one but a good one. Limits for most and again more Sea Bass than I've ever seen on the shoals. My buddy got the big one today, 9 lbs. This year the bigggies showed in August, June was not as good as in past. If you're going up there you've gotta try the best seafood restaurant ever - anything on menu , as much as u want, $45 except King Crab. They definitely lost money on us....
THANL YOU!

My daughter has a graduation party and then will be spending a few days up there before grad school. Just sent her a screenshot, she is very appreciative!! :)
 
Went up to Massachusetts Friday on a 6pk. They have a 5 fish bag limit. Crew limited by 10:30 am and added some nice seabass....big tides....tough drift...but still got em.

Fished LBI Aug 1 on a party boat with 40 people....regs are super stupid in NJ. I had zero keepers.....wife had two keepers...one the winner of a nice pool.
 
Headed out this morning with The Chef and new crew Kevin/Longcast, straight to my usual offshore office, as the ocean was super calm. Once there, as suspected - zero drift. We moved maybe 100 feet in the first hour. No worries, as we brought the spinning gear.

Lots of casting by the three of us put a goodly amount of heart breakers on the deck, along with a couple of keepers. I searched around all morning, looking for a pod of better fish - and finally found one tight to a pot buoy - which drop we hit hard, with 4 or 5 more for the box to 4.5lbs. Thank goodness for the spinning gear today!

Anyway, once the tide changed the drift improved, and though the current was going under the boat (because the slight breeze was just enough to hold the boat in opposition), it was no big concern, as we were getting a quality bite going. In not much more time the South breeze picked up a bit and we were forced to 4oz jigs on the bait casters. The bite really did come alive in the 2:00 - 2:45 time period and we (mostly Ken, actually) finished off our boat limit, allowing us to skedaddle back to the dock for the boat cleaning/fish cutting ritual.

All together, a very nice day, one that really taxed the skills of both the Capt. and crew. No real "sea monsters" this trip, but it all worked out nicely with quality results in the end. And our run of boat limit catches remains intact, which is important to me!

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Headed out this morning with The Chef and new crew Kevin/Longcast, straight to my usual offshore office, as the ocean was super calm. Once there, as suspected - zero drift. We moved maybe 100 feet in the first hour. No worries, as we brought the spinning gear.

Lots of casting by the three of us put a goodly amount of heart breakers on the deck, along with a few keepers. I kept moving around all morning, looking for a pod of keepers - and actually found one tight to a pot buoy - which drop we hit hard for maybe 4-5 more keepers to 4.5lbs. Thank God for the spinning gear today!

Anyway, once the tide changed we drifted a little better, and though the current was going under the boat, it was no big concern, as we were getting a quality bite going. In not much more time the South breeze picked up and we were forced to 4oz jigs on the bait casters. The bite really did come alive in the 2:00 - 2:45 time period and we (mostly Ken, actually) finished off our boat limit and then skedaddled back to the dock for the boat cleaning and cutting ritual.

All together, a very nice day, one that really taxed the skills of both the Capt. and crew - but it all worked out with a full quality limit in the end. Pic attached.

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Great day, thank you Pete!

And yes, Ken had the hot hand today.
 
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Fished early today at the north west end of Rattlesnake. Slow .5mph drift to start. 3 of us picked away for a limit of black sea bass and 4 fluke 3 slot amd one over.
The best part of the day and most frustrating was a move I made to an area where no one was fishing and in ten minutes we had another 6+ keeper sea bass but these were all big 17-19 inches. No fluke there so we continued the hunt until the early afternoon before heading in.
Lots of fluke today just too small.
We saw a large shark early chasing something on the surface close to us. It arched out of the water almost like a dolphin. It was easily over 6 feet long just based on amount of body that was out of the water.
No fluke pictures today.
 

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Headed out this morning with The Chef and new crew Kevin/Longcast, straight to my usual offshore office, as the ocean was super calm. Once there, as suspected - zero drift. We moved maybe 100 feet in the first hour. No worries, as we brought the spinning gear.

Lots of casting by the three of us put a goodly amount of heart breakers on the deck, along with a few keepers. I kept moving around all morning, looking for a pod of keepers - and actually found one tight to a pot buoy - which drop we hit hard for maybe 4-5 more keepers to 4.5lbs. Thank God for the spinning gear today!

Anyway, once the tide changed we drifted a little better, and though the current was going under the boat, it was no big concern, as we were getting a quality bite going. In not much more time the South breeze picked up and we were forced to 4oz jigs on the bait casters. The bite really did come alive in the 2:00 - 2:45 time period and we (mostly Ken, actually) finished off our boat limit and then skedaddled back to the dock for the boat cleaning and cutting ritual.

All together, a very nice day, one that really taxed the skills of both the Capt. and crew - but it all worked out with a full quality limit in the end. Pic attached.

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Nice job capt and crew!!
 
Enjoyed a special birthday celebration for my oldest friend Ron by taking him to Montauk for Fluke yesterday. Weather and ocean conditions were absolutely perfect, but someone forgot to tell the fish to show up!

First drop on the Frisbees, which has been very consistent this season, looked like another good day. We start out with a fat 20” keeper then a couple of shorts. Next 2 drifts produce a 4.5# and then a nice 6# fish. Everything was on schedule. Then it seemed like someone threw a switch and the bite started getting very scratchy and soon after totally shut down.

I got a call from a friend who said he was doing OK at Cartwright, so we started a search pattern out to the deeper drops with some solid spots hit along the way. Regardless of our efforts it seemed like we were fishing in a desert the rest of the day. No Sea Bass, no trash fish, what a total surprise.

Still, I have been around the fishing game long enough to understand we all have to pay some dues occasionally. Next trips to Montauk, hopefully later this week after current blow, will be much better.

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Met Capt. Mike and George at the boat at 0530 this morning and got underway shortly thereafter. Mike had run a full-day Montauk charter on his boat yesterday, and so I honestly don't know how he crawled out of bed to drive to Freeport from Calverton and then put in a long day of Leprechaun calisthenics with me, just a handful of hours later. Honestly, though I work hard to not "Ahab it," I am not all that easy on my crew - but Mike, man, he is a true "Fluke Fishing Ironman," and pretty much immune to my near-constant verbal jabs. The best fishing buddy you could possibly ask for.

Anyway, we had a comfortable ride out into a slight swell/chop, straight to my home away from home. The drift was a little funky, as we were moving counter to the weak WSW breeze and outgoing tide. Just a bit confusing, but we made the necessary adjustments and the fish soon responded - shorts at first, but better ones as the morning progressed.

The bite came on strong for an hour before the change and carried on thru into the first hour of the incoming. The result was a full boat limit to 7lbs, with George bagging the two best fish at 6 and very close to 7lbs. Beautiful job there Georgie with that little spinning outfit!

All done by 12:15, with a full limit of plus-sized fatties, probably the best quality I've seen all season.

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Met Capt. Mike and George at the boat at 0530 this morning and got underway shortly thereafter. Mike had run a full-day Montauk charter on his boat yesterday, and so I honestly don't know how he crawled out of bed to drive to Freeport from Calverton and then put in a full day of Leprechaun calisthenics with me, just a handful of hours later. Honestly, though I work hard to not "Ahab it," I am not all that easy on my crew - but Mike, man, he is a true "Fluke Fishing Ironman!"

Anyway, we had a comfortable ride out into a slight swell/chop, straight to my home away from home. The drift was a little funky, as we were moving counter to the weak WSW breeze and outgoing tide. Just a bit confusing, but we made the necessary adjustments and the fish soon responded - shorts at first, but better ones as the morning progressed.

The bite came on strong for an hour before the change and carried on thru into the first hour of the incoming. The result was a full boat limit to 7lbs, with George bagging the two best fish at 6 and very close to 7lbs. Beautiful job there Georgie with that little spinning outfit!

All done by 12:15, with a full limit of plus-sized fatties, probably the best quality I've seen all season.

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Nice job guys!!
 
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