Fish Report 8/27/11

Fish Report 8/27/11

Be Ladylike Irene! 

Sea Bass & Flounder 

 

Reservation Service Closed Until Sunday Afternoon For Irene.

Fishing Resumes Wednesday 8/31/11.

 

Labor Day Special Trips: Saturday & Sunday, September 3rd & 4th, 2011 -- 10 1/2 Hour Sea Bass -- 5:30 AM to 4 PM -- $150.00 

Monday, September 5th -- Traffic Beater -- 5:30 AM to 1:30 PM - 8 Hour Sea Bass/Flounder - $100.00

 

(Save Hurricanes) Fishing Nearly Everyday -- Sea Bass & Some Flounder -- Reservations Required.

 

Please arrive 1/2 hour before scheduled departure with food, water, beverage & a medium-sized cooler w/ice for fish. We often -almost always- leave early. Show up late and you'll see the west end of an east bound boat.

 

Many have pre-paid for boat t-shirts -- They're in and available to all.

 

 

Hi All,

Weaker tree branches already litter roads, some quite large; Offshore buoy report has gusts to 40, its wave height device on the blink, not reporting right now: Irene's on her way.

 

Many boats have hauled out, There's more on the hard in our marina parking lot now than in February.

Others have left their boats as they were - risking fate.  

I moved the Morning Star to an architectural strong-point where she now lies at the center of over 2,000 feet of 5/8 nylon rope, every cleat along her waist carrying as much line as it can. These 37 dock lines are timed to take wind in unison, synchronized so the wind-load is divided, not bearing too heavily on any one cleat.

Timing really is everything. Think what happens when you grab only one handle on a thin plastic grocery sack, grab both and you're good to go; double bagging ups the odds further.  

From stem to stern, long lines run to dock pilings & dolphin (a cluster of three pilings banded together.) I hope to have enough scope to handle storm surge, the wind driven high water, especially given a new moon..  

Test coming soon..

 

Some amazing sights since my last report: Menhaden have been thicker & larger than I've ever seen in summer. On the outside edge of the bait I've seen humpback & fin whales; heard reports of giant bluefin tuna feeding on them too--or at least appearing to.

Ever see stripers or blues feeding on the surface? The tell-tale swirls and splashes of just 10 to 15 pounders can be breathtaking. Imagine that with 150 to 300 pound fish.

We saw it on 8/17/11 -- Huge Splashes, Fantastic Speed, Incredible Agility -- Giant Tuna Feeding Within Sight Of Assateauge Island. Amazing.

 

My thought: "Is this what restoration will look like?" 

 

Did a lot of fishing too.

Some very good fishing.

One long day was about as good as I've had this year.

Others not so much.

 

A local tackle dealer fishes with me from time to time provided I take her out of cell range -- ain't a day off if the phone rings.

"I need a net for this one" she says.

Next drop too.

Does that a lot.

With moments to go in the day I get my first keeper flounder. Cbass bit better, would have made a fine mess, but Noooo....

 

Next day George goose-eggs on keeper flounder - everyone else has plenty of sea bass. 

Distracted; He'd seen her fish the day before..

 

Thursday, August 25th was a bit saucier, rougher, than I'd have thought to start with. Forecast had winds increasing South 20--25 by afternoon. Its 10:00 AM and my new wind gauge is reading 23 & already switched South.

In early; Some had enough cbass for dinner, Some wouldn't be hungry again until dinner: All had 1/2 off another trip & a new perspective on Dramamine..

Mate Tucker is fishing 60 miles offshore same day -- No Wind - Calm.

(As I write Saturday evening the buoy now shows gusts to 48.6 knots.)   

 

Heading offshore Wednesday, a pod of dolphin accelerate so as to join with my bow-wake. Sometimes effortlessly riding along for miles, its a sight to see. After a few moments a very large bottlenose sky-jumps higher than my bow's handrail -- Life is good.

 

Roger Payne's work "Among Whales" has a description of heavy weather drowning whales, of great & labored leaps from the face of waves to get a breath.

In very high winds the water turns to something resembling thick smoke. I saw it once in a small storm, a small thunderstorm: You could not tell where the 'surface' of the water was because everything was one whitecap. My old anemometer broke at 74 knots.. 

 

Friend to reef building, Fin Chaser Danny tells me the Morning Star is riding fine on this evening's high tide.

Weather reports have Irene's wind speed decreasing -- though still dangerous.

The buoy -- http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=44009 -- has gusts to 54.4 now.

Irene will be here at low tide.

We'll clean up and get back to fishing before long.

Fresh sea bass then..

For now, three fingers of VO in a broad-bottomed glass will work just fine. 

Regards,

Monty   

 

Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@siteone.net
Party Boat "Morning Star"
Reservation Line 410 520 2076
http://www.morningstarfishing.com/morn