Went out yesterday( Wednesday 8/26) and as soon as I cleared Jones Inlet I put out a feather bird rig and trolled for 2 hours for Bonito , False Albies and Spanish Mackerel. Not one hit . I trolled out to the Hempstead reef and maybe a 1/2 mile South of there and around that reef and trolled back to Jones Inlet . Massive fleet of boats at the Hempstead Reef , bottom fishing and Fluke fishing. Didn't see many rods bent . Water was yellow/green West of Jones and Nice Clear water the further SE I went. Thought about drifting for Fluke at the Hempstead reef but didn't because I didn't wanna turn off the motor and go into safe mode. I read my Outboard Diagnostic program and it said Throttle Position Sensor fault- check Control cables. So I loosed the Throttle cable tension knob on the tiller arm and it didn't go into safe mode the entire trip even after shutting the motor off multiple times later in the day. Keeping my fingers crossed ! Went back to Jones Inlet and got there right at Slack tide and 1/2 hour later another 10-15 boats showed up near me to drift. When I saw that I realized there must be good Fluking at the beginning of Incoming. Sure enough I had great Fluking and lost count of how many fish I caught. Caught 4 shorts on 1 drift. All shorts.
Beautiful day out there, less than 2 foot seas. Top water trolling is usually poor when it's flat as a lake , but that's the only time I'll feel safe going out there alone in my 25 Foot Panga Boat. Launched at Wantagh Park, went all the way down to Jones Inlet and trolled for 2 hours out to the Hempstead Reef and Back , drifted in Jones Inlet for 2 hours plus and went back to Wantagh Park and all I burned was 3 gallons of gas. Left the dock with 6 and a half gallons !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My 32 Foot Downeaster BHM burned 12 gallons an hour traveling 15 miles.
Beautiful day out there, less than 2 foot seas. Top water trolling is usually poor when it's flat as a lake , but that's the only time I'll feel safe going out there alone in my 25 Foot Panga Boat. Launched at Wantagh Park, went all the way down to Jones Inlet and trolled for 2 hours out to the Hempstead Reef and Back , drifted in Jones Inlet for 2 hours plus and went back to Wantagh Park and all I burned was 3 gallons of gas. Left the dock with 6 and a half gallons !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My 32 Foot Downeaster BHM burned 12 gallons an hour traveling 15 miles.
