Hi guys, the weather outside is miserable, cold and rainy, I’m just getting over a nasty bout of the stomach flu, which absolutely ruined my Christmas weekend, and I've exhausted my interest in all the DVR’d TV material I’d recorded. So, I guess it’s as good a time as any to give a recap of our 2018 adventures on the Lep. We’ll get there in an indirect, somewhat disjointed fashion – because that’s how my mind works. Perhaps a bit too stream-of-conscious for some, but it is what it is, so bear with me.
First, because of the draconian (and needed) regulations imposed on the Spring flounder fishing, and in association with the general degradation of our early-season bay bass clam chumming efforts, I no longer see a need to have my boat prepped and floating by the first week of April – which was always my target. This was SOP, even before my owning the Lep, having learned to fish, navigate, and turn wrenches on my Uncle’s Wellcraft Airslot 24, the best ocean-running small boat I’ve ever been aboard.
As an aside, with its twin 4-cyl MerCruiser 170hp engines that boat could run like the wind in any sea - bow, quarter or aft, and fish with the best of ‘em. What that boat lacked was any sort of engine/drive reliability – causing, no, requiring me to learn the ways of the marine mechanic. I never reached full MerCruiser Jedi status, but partly because of that boat I can diagnose and repair with most any non-industry-trained private boater.
Electrical - boy did I HATE adjusting those Merc ignition shift interrupter switches – not to mention the absurd water-cooled Voltage regulators on those engines. Steering, outdrive, changing bellows, R&R’ing gimbal bearings, changing trim cylinders, pulling LUs, numerous water pump repairs, constant FW-cooled manifold crack repairs. You name it, I did it. Naturally I didn't know it at the time, but as it turned out, this was good training for what was to come down the waterway later on – my Shamrock 26, of course!
No one touches my baby, I do it all myself – well maybe one or two of my friends are “qualified” to help. But one is now living in the Florida Keys, enjoying the retirement fruits of his labors, and the other has dropped off the Earth over the past year – that reminds me, I have to call that guy! Where the heck did he go?
My circumferentially arrived at point is that because of the changes to our fisheries and the resulting regulations, I no longer feel the pressing need to jam all that that type of work into late Feb/March – in preparation for our April/May runs up into Raritan Bay, and later to Roamer Shoals for those beautiful Jersey flatties. So, these days I don’t get serious with the boat repair/upgrade/prep stuff until well into March. Much better weather that way and somehow all the needed work gets done anyway – in time for the fluke opener.
Wow, that knocks a solid month off my boat’s seasonal running time – no wonder my hour meter looks like it barely moved at the end of each season – despite many trips offshore for deep fluke and to the far West for tog. Just not putting the hours on her that fishing in the 90’s and early 2000’s called for. In a way that’s good, swinging another engine is definitely NOT something I’m looking forward to! Not getting any younger, and I no longer have access to the big gantry that I used last time I did this job – and that was 2004, if memory serves.
Nowadays I shoot for the second week of May, which seems reasonable to get her floating, shake her down and diagnose/repair whatever remaining bugs might still be present. This season’s prep and launch went as planned, zero issues; and so we were well prepared to put it to the fluke on the opener.
Just launched and ready to roll:
Unfortunately, no one told the fluke to arrive equally prepared to do battle. Unbelievably cold water was flushing in and out of the Bays, killing off what little bite there was. Our early season near-shore 45-50’ sand drops produced almost nothing for our first several trips – in sharp contrast to as little as 3 seasons ago, when we had really outstanding fishing in May and early June. I cannot recall ever pulling a huge fish in May, but always had a reasonable expectation of a boat limit to 6+lbs. Not this year, terrible Spring fluking was the rule.
This carried on right through June – poor trips a ‘plenty - until June 30th, when halfway through another slow trip I said screw-it, let’s run deep – a month earlier than any other season. It turned out to be a fairly successful maneuver, with a near limit to 6.5lbs in only a few hours. And we were the only boat on the grounds, too. Hah, now I knew where they’ve been hiding!
First good fish of the season that trip (KenScot scores again!):
And thus began our deep fishing efforts. Right after that we had to suffer through a few blown-out trips due to lousy weather, with the boat remaining tied to the dock. But by July 8th it all came together with an excellent catch to 7lbs3oz in a wild morning’s fishing – all done by lunch, with a “deck dump" pic to be proud of!
The infamous Freddy/CaptXXX and his son Steven were my guests that day:
The balance of the deep fluking season was excellent – not a trip without a limit, right through to the season's end. Some days were easier than others. Some days I had to sweat and swear a bit to get it together. But we always came home with a full cooler of nice fish – and what more can you reasonably ask for?
Some husky ones along the way:
One nasty setback was the late August passing of my much-loved Jigging World 200gram Silver Bullet. Its tip snapped under very suspicious circumstances. As careful as I am with my rods, perhaps it had taken a shot that I didn’t see. Who knows? Naturally, JW honored their 2-year warranty, but didn’t have a 200gram version to replace it. So I settled for a Trevala S MH and bunch of GULP 6” woims to make up the cost difference. Had to dust off my CN-built Hydra to take the place of the Silver Bullet – not a downgrade at all – I do love my Hydra, but that SB was a special piece – while it lasted. RIP, my silvery friend!
July and August passed into September, and true to form, every Sept weekend it blew a gale out there. Me and the boys really do like to hit the porgies and sea bass after the fluke season closes. But as in 2017, we never got off the dock, that’s how bad the weather was. Two seasons in a row of complete September blow outs. Unreal.
I did spend that time constructively, performing some much-needed mid-season repairs and upgrades. Put the Fall season gear and second anchor system on her, caught a bushel of crabs and was all set to go for the tog opener.
End Part One
First, because of the draconian (and needed) regulations imposed on the Spring flounder fishing, and in association with the general degradation of our early-season bay bass clam chumming efforts, I no longer see a need to have my boat prepped and floating by the first week of April – which was always my target. This was SOP, even before my owning the Lep, having learned to fish, navigate, and turn wrenches on my Uncle’s Wellcraft Airslot 24, the best ocean-running small boat I’ve ever been aboard.
As an aside, with its twin 4-cyl MerCruiser 170hp engines that boat could run like the wind in any sea - bow, quarter or aft, and fish with the best of ‘em. What that boat lacked was any sort of engine/drive reliability – causing, no, requiring me to learn the ways of the marine mechanic. I never reached full MerCruiser Jedi status, but partly because of that boat I can diagnose and repair with most any non-industry-trained private boater.
Electrical - boy did I HATE adjusting those Merc ignition shift interrupter switches – not to mention the absurd water-cooled Voltage regulators on those engines. Steering, outdrive, changing bellows, R&R’ing gimbal bearings, changing trim cylinders, pulling LUs, numerous water pump repairs, constant FW-cooled manifold crack repairs. You name it, I did it. Naturally I didn't know it at the time, but as it turned out, this was good training for what was to come down the waterway later on – my Shamrock 26, of course!
No one touches my baby, I do it all myself – well maybe one or two of my friends are “qualified” to help. But one is now living in the Florida Keys, enjoying the retirement fruits of his labors, and the other has dropped off the Earth over the past year – that reminds me, I have to call that guy! Where the heck did he go?
My circumferentially arrived at point is that because of the changes to our fisheries and the resulting regulations, I no longer feel the pressing need to jam all that that type of work into late Feb/March – in preparation for our April/May runs up into Raritan Bay, and later to Roamer Shoals for those beautiful Jersey flatties. So, these days I don’t get serious with the boat repair/upgrade/prep stuff until well into March. Much better weather that way and somehow all the needed work gets done anyway – in time for the fluke opener.
Wow, that knocks a solid month off my boat’s seasonal running time – no wonder my hour meter looks like it barely moved at the end of each season – despite many trips offshore for deep fluke and to the far West for tog. Just not putting the hours on her that fishing in the 90’s and early 2000’s called for. In a way that’s good, swinging another engine is definitely NOT something I’m looking forward to! Not getting any younger, and I no longer have access to the big gantry that I used last time I did this job – and that was 2004, if memory serves.
Nowadays I shoot for the second week of May, which seems reasonable to get her floating, shake her down and diagnose/repair whatever remaining bugs might still be present. This season’s prep and launch went as planned, zero issues; and so we were well prepared to put it to the fluke on the opener.
Just launched and ready to roll:
Unfortunately, no one told the fluke to arrive equally prepared to do battle. Unbelievably cold water was flushing in and out of the Bays, killing off what little bite there was. Our early season near-shore 45-50’ sand drops produced almost nothing for our first several trips – in sharp contrast to as little as 3 seasons ago, when we had really outstanding fishing in May and early June. I cannot recall ever pulling a huge fish in May, but always had a reasonable expectation of a boat limit to 6+lbs. Not this year, terrible Spring fluking was the rule.
This carried on right through June – poor trips a ‘plenty - until June 30th, when halfway through another slow trip I said screw-it, let’s run deep – a month earlier than any other season. It turned out to be a fairly successful maneuver, with a near limit to 6.5lbs in only a few hours. And we were the only boat on the grounds, too. Hah, now I knew where they’ve been hiding!
First good fish of the season that trip (KenScot scores again!):
And thus began our deep fishing efforts. Right after that we had to suffer through a few blown-out trips due to lousy weather, with the boat remaining tied to the dock. But by July 8th it all came together with an excellent catch to 7lbs3oz in a wild morning’s fishing – all done by lunch, with a “deck dump" pic to be proud of!
The infamous Freddy/CaptXXX and his son Steven were my guests that day:
The balance of the deep fluking season was excellent – not a trip without a limit, right through to the season's end. Some days were easier than others. Some days I had to sweat and swear a bit to get it together. But we always came home with a full cooler of nice fish – and what more can you reasonably ask for?
Some husky ones along the way:
One nasty setback was the late August passing of my much-loved Jigging World 200gram Silver Bullet. Its tip snapped under very suspicious circumstances. As careful as I am with my rods, perhaps it had taken a shot that I didn’t see. Who knows? Naturally, JW honored their 2-year warranty, but didn’t have a 200gram version to replace it. So I settled for a Trevala S MH and bunch of GULP 6” woims to make up the cost difference. Had to dust off my CN-built Hydra to take the place of the Silver Bullet – not a downgrade at all – I do love my Hydra, but that SB was a special piece – while it lasted. RIP, my silvery friend!
July and August passed into September, and true to form, every Sept weekend it blew a gale out there. Me and the boys really do like to hit the porgies and sea bass after the fluke season closes. But as in 2017, we never got off the dock, that’s how bad the weather was. Two seasons in a row of complete September blow outs. Unreal.
I did spend that time constructively, performing some much-needed mid-season repairs and upgrades. Put the Fall season gear and second anchor system on her, caught a bushel of crabs and was all set to go for the tog opener.
End Part One
