Post up up your 2019/2020/2021/2022 Blackfishing Pix/Reports/Adventures/Musings

[missberylcharters]

Happy Holidays! We were out Fri, Sat and Sun..... Fishing was ok for us. We saw some bigguns come up, Fridays trip had a 10, two 9's and a 7, Sat. had a 7 and Sunday saw an 8.5#. Numbers of keepers pretty good as well.
I want to thank all that sailed with us this past year, and wishing all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and Happy New Year. Until next time, Adios and keep em tight.

 

[MOJOE]

Happy Holidays! We were out Fri, Sat and Sun..... Fishing was ok for us. We saw some bigguns come up, Fridays trip had a 10, two 9's and a 7, Sat. had a 7 and Sunday saw an 8.5#. Numbers of keepers pretty good as well.
I want to thank all that sailed with us this past year, and wishing all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and Happy New Year. Until next time, Adios and keep em tight.View attachment 14039View attachment 14040View attachment 14041View attachment 14042View attachment 14043

merry christmas happy holidays to you capt and your crew,,, nice tog my friend,,,thanks for sharing all your fishing days and great catching with us,, all stay well,,,,,,,,,, ><))):>
><))):>

 

[JoeBfishing]

Thank you, and to you and yours too...Beautiful fish. They look much larger than posted.?I’m going to stop using Rocko’s scale!?

 

[Leprechaun]

Very nice Rick!

Merry Christmas, my friend!

 

[Leprechaun]

So that's it for 2019, for me. Overall a fairly disappointing season. From the late start of my local ocean fluke fishing, to the never-ending winds this Fall (up until this weekend that is. Figures . . .), just not one of our better seasons, on my boat, at least.

We did have our innings on the fluke, and my blackfish season was salvaged by fishing out of Southold with my long-time buddy Capt. Mike/The Captains Table. That Eastern Sound tog jig fishing Mike has out there in less than 20' of water is truly AWESOME! But my own rig never left the dock between Oct. 18th and yesterday, December 23rd. That's never, ever happened in the 24 seasons I've been fortunate to own the Lep. Every late Fall weekend a near-gale or torrential rain storm, and on the very few days that the weather backed off I was slammed with business, family or social obligations. Talk about timing. Geeez.

Yesterday was the day for my haul out. Got down to the boat and was greeted with this scene. Ugh!:

Now skim ice is something we're familiar with, we have to deal with it nearly every late season. But this stuff - definitely NOT skim. Hard as heck - and at least an inch thick. It took a good 20 fwd/rev motions to get the bow turned into the ice and on my way. Very crunchy, definitely NOT something that makes a boat owner warm and fuzzy. VERY slow fwd progress, letting the weight of the boat break it up and push it aside. Nasty-ass sounding stuff.

We finally got down my narrow sub-canal and into the Hudson Canal, which was free of ice. Made the left turn and ran toward and up Freeport Creek at flank speed - just to gauge how badly the bottom was fouled by my 2 month lay-about non-fishing season. Not a problem, she jumped right up on plane and ran her usual 24mph @ 3150. Great - a BIG relief! God bless Interlux and their ACT ablative paint. That stuff never disappoints!

Of course my hauler Chris/HippyChik has been slammed with work, the recent horrible weather has NOT been his friend. So an hour's wait at the Freeport ramp gave me time to do a bit of tidying and the such. I actually enjoyed putzing around with some minor stuff. Owning a boat is like that. You look for stuff to do, because you enjoy it. Well, sometimes anyway. . .

Chris did finally arrive, backed his rig under my boat and up she came. What a great thing a hydraulic trailer is. Makes a world of difference.

That Freeport Town ramp is pretty shallow, particularly at mid-tide or less, so having the hydraulics lift the stern high is a huge plus. Protecting the inboard running gear and rudder is a must. I have to give Chris a plug - great guy, super-professional and will treat your boat like his own. If you have the need for a hauler, why not give HippyChik a try? Office phone 631-543-0444. Speak with Suzanne, who does the scheduling. You won't be sorry.

And so now she sits in my side yard. Pressure-washed the heck out of her this morning, in preparation for Squiggy's Shrink Wrapping's arrival, later this week.

Plenty of work on the agenda for this coming early Spring. New manifolds and risers, new starter, new transmission cooler, return of the FWC heat exchanger to Lenco/Amityville for boil out and subsequent evaluation. All in addition to the usual Spring commissioning "joys" - cleaning, polishing, waxing, teak work, bilge washing and tune up. Once I get into it, no doubt I'll find a good bit more to do, that's ALWAYS the case with any boat. But especially so with one on the far side of 32 hard-running seasons old. Let's look forward to 2020, and a solid uptick in the fishing off JI!

 

[MOJOE]

So that's it for 2019, for me. Overall a fairly disappointing season. From the late start of my local ocean fluke fishing, to the never-ending winds this Fall (up until this weekend that is. Figures . . .), just not one of our better seasons, on my boat, at least.

We did have our innings on the fluke, and my blackfish season was salvaged by fishing out of Southold with my long-time buddy Capt. Mike/The Captains Table. The tog jig fishing Mike has out there in less than 20' of water is truly AWESOME! But my own rig never left the dock between Oct. 18th and yesterday, December 24th. That's never, ever happened in the 24 seasons I've been fortunate to own the Lep. Every late Fall weekend a near-gale or torrential rain storm, and on the very few days that the weather backed off I was slammed with business, family or social obligations. Talk about timing. Geeez.

Yesterday was the day for my haul out. Got down to the boat and was greeted with this scene. Ugh!:
View attachment 14060

Now skim ice is not something we're unfamiliar with, we deal with it nearly every late season. But this stuff - definitely NOT skim. Hard as heck - and at least 1.25" thick.. It took at least 20 fwd/rev motions to get the bow turned into the ice and on my way. Very crunchy, definitely NOT something that makes a boat owner warm and fuzzy. VERY slow fwd progress, letting the weight of the boat break it up - or at least push it aside. Nasty-ass sounding stuff.

We finally got down my narrow sub-canal and into the Hudson Canal, which was free of ice. Made the left turn and ran toward and up Freeport Creek at flank speed - just to gauge how badly the bottom was fouled by my 2 month lay-about non-fishing season. Not a problem, she jumped right up on plane and ran her usual 24mph @ 3100. Great - a BIG relief!

View attachment 14061

Of course my hauler Chris/HippyChik has been slammed with work, the recent horrible weather has NOT been his friend. So an hour's wait at the Freeport ramp gave me time to do a bit of tidying and the such. I actually enjoyed putzing around with some minor stuff. Owning a boat is like that. You look for stuff to do, because you enjoy it.

View attachment 14062

Chris did get finally get there, backed his rig under my boat and up she came. What a great thing a hydraulic trailer is. Makes a world of difference.

View attachment 14063

That Freeport Town ramp is pretty shallow, particularly so at mid-tide, so having the hydraulics lift the stern high is a huge plus. Protecting the inboard running gear and rudder is a must.

View attachment 14064

And so now she sits in my side yard. Pressure-washed the heck out of her this morning, in preparation for Squiggy's Shrink Wrapping's arrival, later this week.

Plenty of work on the agenda for this coming early Spring - new manifolds and risers, new starter, new transmission cooler, return of the FWC heat exchanger to Lenco/Amityville for boil out and subsequent evaluation - all in addition to the "usual" Spring commissioning - cleaning, polishing, teak work, and tune up. Once I get into it, no doubt I'll find a good bit more to do, that's ALWAYS the case with any boat, but especially so with one on the far side of 32 hard-running seasons old. Let's look forward to 2020, and an overall uptick in the fishing off JI!

View attachment 14065

merry christmas lep,, happy holidays,, stay welll,, the lep will be back in the water before you know it ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ><))):>
><))):>

 

[JoeBfishing]

Great read Lep. Happy it all went well...??

 

[missberylcharters]

Happy Holidays my Friends! Had another comm tog outing last Sat. 12/28. Fishing was hot with limit catch and some jumbos in the mix. We had a blast.

 

[missberylcharters]

More of the same yesterday 1/3. Had the ocean to ourselves. Rain never really materialized, ocean was beautiful with rolling 4 foot swells.

 

[missberylcharters]

Here's an oldie for ya. Propeller John and I were toggin on the good old Capt. Al many years ago, John decked this beast !! He forgot a camera so I volunteered to shoot some pics.

 

[PropellerJohnII]

Here's an oldie for ya. Propeller John and I were toggin on the good old Capt. Al many years ago, John decked this beast !! He forgot a camera so I volunteered to shoot some pics.View attachment 15522View attachment 15523View attachment 15525

Holy moly Rick. i remember that. Was on a cold, rainy day in January at 17 fathoms when we had longer tog winter season. Still my personal best. Thanks for stroll down memory lane and the pictures.

 

[Leprechaun]

O.K., here we go with 2020's tog-hunting!

First trip scheduled for this Wed - about freakin' time, too!

 

[Chinacat]

O.K., here we go with 2020's tog-hunting!

First trip scheduled for this Wed - about freakin' time, too!

On the "eastern grounds" ??

 

[Leprechaun]

Yepper!

 

[movetheboat]

I'll be hitting the west wednesday

 

[movetheboat]

I'll be hitting the west wednesday

all quiet on the western front....5 shorts BF

Will try again tomorrow

 

[live bait]

I was all set to go in the Eastern sound this AM & then punked out when it was NW 10/15 with gusts, going to hit it Thursday morning.
John

 

[Leprechaun]

First Trip of The Season a BIG Success!

Took the drive out East to fish with Capt. Mike and his friend Paul, aboard Mike's "The Captain's Table." You never know with these "early" tog trips - they could turn out pretty mediocre. But not this time.

When I got to his marina at daybreak it was blowin' pretty darn good. He said not to worry, he had a plan. Mike had decided to brave the WNW wind this morning, fishing up in the Sound on his beefy Albin 28. A bit bouncy out there, but this ain't Fluke season any more, that's for sure. Time to buck up and fish thru.

So we ran down the Bay and thru the Gut, and kept on going, right to one of Mike's pet spots. Well, it was one-stop shopping, an easy boat limit to 6lbs+, fishing a mid-depth drop on the slack. Bingo, bango, what a great bite - a real chew!

Once we got to the C&R portion of the trip Mike suggested that we might want to give the shallow water jig bite a shot - for which I was all in. He got right on his favorite piece - but unfortunately, no one told the fish we were there. Pretty slow fishing for one decent 5lb fish for him (returned, of course - Mike is a strict rules-player), and one real bulldozer of a fish for me that took me for a ride right under his favorite rock - and an eventual break-off. I would like to have gotten a look at that one, it had to have been an impressive specimen. Oh well, that's black fishing.

In any case, not really a quality shallow bite - which was a bit surprising, as we had a great chew in the deeper water. Sometimes you just gotta say, "hmmm. . ."

Too bad, because I REALLY wanted to put a good fish in the boat on my new BH Charter Special spinner. I did give the spinner a shot in the deeper water on the slack - and caught a few that way, but no fish was large enough to really put it to the test. Eh, next time, I guess.

Anyway, it was still a tremendously satisfying start to Mike's togging season, and his big smile back at dock in the mandatory "deck dump" pic says it all. A very nice average size to the fish this trip.

Man, I hope my first run out of JI ends up half as good as Mike's was out East. I'll be more than satisfied.

 

[movetheboat]

Hit the western sound again today...life all day....had 25 shorts but only one keeper....I could go where they are bigger but the west sharpens me up as I progress to eastern and northern locations.

So my baby brother Capt. Steve nailed the pool at the end of the trip....he lost a bigger one early.

He outfished me but I'm cuter

 

[movetheboat]

hit the west again....a dozen shorts.....broke off a biggun on a jig. Guy next to me had a limit on jigs.....I'm ready to move up to more fertile grounds.