November 19, 2007

Rising fuel costs are forcing us to increase the fare for ALL 33-MAN OFFSHORE SEA BASS TRIPS SAILING IN 2008.

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, THE NEW FARE FOR ALL 33-MAN SEA BASS TRIPS SAILING IN JANUARY, FEBRUARY AND MARCH 2008 IS $170 PER PERSON.

Rod rentals remain the same at $10 additional.   A sleeping bunk is included with your fare.   Our galley will be open on all Offshore Sea Bass trips.


October 13, 2007




It's Official!   On October 9, the New Jersey  DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife announced that the
18 POUND, 7 OUNCE GRAY TILEFISH
caught aboard the VOYAGER on September 9 by JOE SANZONE of Pompton Lakes, NJ is a NEW STATE RECORD fish.   Congratulations Joe!

Joe was using a St. Croix rod and Penn reel with 65-pound test braided line, and the bait was a butterfish and squid combo.   The fish taped out with a length of 35-inches and a girth of 24-inches.

The new State Record Gray Tilefish (Caulolatilus microps), also called a Blueline Tilefish, was caught offshore at Tom's Canyon.  The old record of 10 pounds, 9 ounces was set in 2001.

The fish just missed being an IGFA World Record by three ounces!



Click here to see some photos of the NJ State Record Gray Tilefish.







October 2, 2007

Tuna fishing picked up quite a bit last night.   We caught both Yellowfin and Longfin, and many anglers had two or three fish.    We caught tuna throughout the night on both bait and jigs.   Anglers dropping down to the bottom in the morning also caught a few Tilefish.

Vinnie Faiella caught three Longfin and a 20-pound Tilefish and Andy Variano had three Longfin.  The water looks good and the fish seem to have settled down in one area, and we hope to see good catches in the next few weeks.





October 1, 2007

For the week ending September 30, the fishing has been, in a word, sporadic.   On some trips, we see fish on the sonar for hours, but they don't bite.   While on other trips, we don't see them often, but when they come under the boat they bite well.  On some trips, they don't come under the boat much and when they do, they still don't bite.  The result has been catches ranging from poor to 25 tuna on different days in the exact same spot.

The best trip of the week was last Wednesday night, where we had good tuna fishing during the night and good fishing for Tilefish in the morning.

Jimmy Kim (photo on left) had three Tilefish between 30 and 40 pounds.  Andy Dzikowicz (photo on right) combined with his friend, Steve Pietropaolo for six Longfin, two Yellowfin, and five Tilefish.  We hope that tuna fishing will be more consistent as we move away from the full moon.


September 12, 2007

Tuna fishing this past week was up and down.   We had one very good trip, a few fair trips and one slow trip.  The catch has been a mix of Yellowfin and Longfin tuna and swordfish. The Yellowfin have been larger this year, up to 80 pounds, so they have been tough to land.  Live squid baits as well as jigs have been working well.


We have also been catching some nice sized Tilefish on our Wednesday TUNA/TILE TRIPS.   We caught a Blueline or Grey Tilefish (Caulolatilus microps) that beats the current New Jersey state record (10 pounds 9 ounces set in 2001.)   Our Blueline weighed 18 pounds 7 ounces on the certified scale at Fishermen's Supply.  Unfortunately, a pending IGFA record beats our fish by three ounces.

Lots of squid and other bait are in all of the offshore canyons, so things look good for the upcoming trips.   We are sailing every day to the canyons.  If you want to check out what dates we have available, please visit our Trip Calendar page.








August 26, 2007

Fluking was a bit slow on Saturday August 25.  We caught a few Fluke wherever we went, but not enough.  We fished the reef and some other rocks, hills and offshore lumps.  However, we did have quite a few nice Sea Bass mixed in with the Fluke.

Doug Kay (photo on left) of Union Beach won the pool on August 25 with this 8-pound 2½-ounce Fluke.   Doug also had one other keeper and four nice Sea Bass.   On our August 19 charter trip, David Kwiecinski (photo on right) won the pool with a 8-pound 10½-ounce Fluke.





August 25, 2007

















We started our 2007 tuna season on the VOYAGER with a BANG!

We headed out Thursday evening and arrived at the canyon around 10:00 PM.  After anchoring up on small marks of squid, we waited about 1½ hours for our first bite and then landed a nice 65-pound Yellowfin.

We had a few other bites over the next two hours and landed a few more tuna as well as a nice swordfish weighing around 125-pounds.  At about 2:00 AM, the fishing really turned on and for the next 3 1/2 hours, we had a steady pick with one to six tuna on at all times.  Many people made limit catches.

We spoke with some friends on a private boat in a canyon about 20 miles to the south and they had good tuna fishing too.   There appears to be a nice spread of quality fish around, so it looks good for our upcoming trips.  Starting on September 4, we will be sailing for tuna every day.  To check availability on our tuna trips, see our Trip Calendar page.


August 16, 2007

Just a reminder... We have several charters and offshore trips scheduled for the remainder of August and this will affect our normal daily routine as follows:

We have a morning charter on SATURDAY, AUGUST 18.
There will be NO 8:00 AM FLUKE trip, but the 2:00 PM trip will sail as scheduled.

We have a morning charter on SUNDAY, AUGUST 19.
There will be NO 8:00 AM FLUKE trip, but the 2:00 PM trip will sail as scheduled.

There will be NO 8 AM or 2 PM FLUKE trips on MONDAY, AUGUST 20.
The VOYAGER will be offshore on our last Tilefish trip of the season.

We have an afternoon charter on WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22.
The 8:00 AM FLUKE trip will sail as scheduled, but there will be NO 2 PM afternoon trip.

There will be NO 2 PM FLUKE trip on THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, but the 8 AM morning trip will sail as scheduled.

There will be NO 8 AM or 2 PM FLUKE trips on FRIDAY, AUGUST 24.
The VOYAGER will be offshore on our first tuna trip of the season.

We have a full day charter on TUESDAY, AUGUST 28.
There will be NO 8:00 AM FLUKE trip and NO 2:00 PM FLUKE trip.

There will be NO 2 PM FLUKE trip on THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, but the 8 AM morning trip will sail as scheduled.

There will be NO 8 AM or 2 PM FLUKE trips on FRIDAY, AUGUST 31.
The VOYAGER will be offshore on our second tuna trip of the season.


August 13, 2007

















The Voyager was out on the Tilefish grounds again this past Monday and Tuesday.   The fishing started out slowly as many spots proved unproductive. This may have been due to spot selection but more likely to the lack of any drift.   After a couple of hours of searching, we started to catch some fish.  Most anglers averaged between two and five Tilefish with the average fish weighing about 15 pounds.  We boated about 20 fish over 20 pounds.  Of the fish over 20 pounds, seven were over 30 pounds and three were over 40 pounds.  The high hook on the trip was Mike Paras of Lakewood, NJ with eight Tilefish from 12 to 39 pounds and the pool winner was a 46 pound 1.5 ounce monster caught by Jake Rypkema of Montville, NJ.   Dave Arbeitman of the Reel Seat in Brielle, NJ also deserves honorable mention for his 43 pound 1 ounce Tilefish.  We will be making one final Tilefish trip before the end of the summer on 10:30 PM Sunday August 19.  Unfortunately, the August 19 trip is already sold out.

Fluke fishing has been up and down depending on weather and drifting conditions.  After a good week, the storm on Friday sidelined us and killed the fishing for Saturday.  Fluke fishing bounced back Sunday morning with many keepers caught around wrecks and reefs.   Pool fish have been in the 4 to 6 pound range.  The fishing close to the beach is just starting to come back from the weekend swell, but there have been smaller fish biting in the shallows with just an odd keeper mixed in.

Night Bluefishing has been consistently good.   We have been fishing only about an hour from the dock.  The Bluefish have ranged in size from 3 to 12 pounds and many limit catches have been made.  We will be night bluefishing on Friday and Saturday nights through the Labor Day weekend.

We start tuna fishing on August 23 with the first of our annual Thursday night early season tuna trips.   The August 23 trip is sold out, but there are still spots on the August 30 trip.   After Labor Day, we will be tuna fishing daily.


August 4, 2007

We did some maintenance on the VOYAGER earlier this week and installed new convertible seats in the cabin.   These aluminum framed and cushioned seats are the same type you see on offshore crew boats and are very comfortable.


The neat part is that the seatback flips up and you get two sleeping bunks.  We have enough bunks for everyone on our overnight trips including our offshore Sea Bass trips.



August 3, 2007

Captain Tracy reported very good Fluke fishing this morning.   Anglers aboard the VOYAGER caught loads of shorts with quite a few nice-sized keeper Fluke mixed in.  The pool fish was around 5½ pounds and there were a decent number of other Fluke between 2½ to 4½ pounds.   We fished north of the Manasquan Inlet in water depths from 30 to 70 feet.  All depths produced Fluke and some rough bottom spots yielded nice Sea Bass up to 3½ pounds.

Earlier in the week, Fluke fishing was okay most of the time and very good when we had decent drifting conditions.  On August 2, Al Thomas from Mantoloking, NJ won the pool with a nice 6¾-pound Fluke.

Our August 5 Tilefish Trip is sold out, but we still have a few open spots on our August 19 trip.

Good reports about tuna fishing at the canyons have been coming in and our tuna trips will be starting soon.   Our first Canyon Tuna Trip of the season on August 23 is filled, but we have open spots on our August 30 trip.


August 1, 2007

Attention Tuna anglers - Due to the continued increase in fuel prices, we must raise the fare for our 22-hour/24-person tuna trips by $10.   The new price will be $295 per person.  We will honor our current fare of $285 throughout the month of August, but starting September 1, anyone booking a trip will pay the new fare of $295.

The fare for our 30-hour trips and our Wednesday night Tuna/Tilefish trips are not affected.

If we cancel your tuna trip because of poor offshore weather, we will honor the original price you paid on any rescheduled trip.


July 29, 2007

Fluking was okay this week with a good ratio of keepers to shorts.   We have been fishing off the beach on the reefs with decent catches of quality fish.

During the past week, Gary Kobstead (photo on left) from Aberdeen, NJ caught a 7¼-pound Fluke on Wednesday July 25 and Mike Martyn (photo on right) from Bronx, NY caught a 8¼-pound Fluke on Thursday July 26.






July 28, 2007

Our AUGUST 5 TILEFISH TRIP is SOLD OUT, but...

We still have OPEN SPOTS on our 10:30 PM SUNDAY AUGUST 19 TILEFISH TRIP (the trip is 21-hours and is limited to 22 anglers.)  This is our FINAL Tilefish trip of 2007.

Because of the Tilefish trips on August 5 and 19, and a charter on August 7, we will NOT be running our morning and afternoon Fluke trips on Monday August 6, Tuesday August 7 and Monday August 20.

See our Trip Calendar page for details on our scheduled fishing trips.


July 24, 2007

We will be performing scheduled maintenance on the VOYAGER on Monday, July 30 and Tuesday, July 31 and will not be running our half-day Fluke trips on those days.

See our Trip Calendar page for complete details on our other scheduled fishing trips.


July 21, 2007

Chef George has a new Galley Special for those attending our 30-hour Extended Canyon Tuna Trips this fall.   With the special, you won't have to worry about the hassle of buying, preparing and packing food and drinks for the trip - Pay ONE PRICE and get ALL of your meals in our Galley.   See our Galley Page for details.


July 18, 2007

Our last offshore Tilefish trip was very good.   We had great weather, flat seas, good drifting conditions, and the Tilefish were chewing.   We posted about thirty trip photos and you can see them on our 2007 Photo Gallery page.

By popular demand, we added a NEW TILEFISH TRIP on SUNDAY NIGHT AUGUST 5 at 10:30 PM.   We only have 13 spots left, so make your reservation soon.


June 29, 2007

Fluke fishing has been very good lately.   Joe Burdge (photo on right) from Jackson, NJ caught a 5-pound 10-ounce Fluke on June 29.

We have been fishing both north and south of our inlet.  Throwbacks still outnumber keepers by about 15 to 1, but there are days when it is only 10 to 1.

The good thing is that anglers are catching 20 to 40 Fluke per trip so they are going home with a few fillets in the cooler.




Our DEEPWATER WRECK AND TILEFISH TRIP this past weekend was very good.   We had a number of nice Tilefish with a couple of Wreckfish and Barrelfish mixed in.  On this trip, we fished in especially deep water, which at times was over 900-feet.  Most of the Tilefish were large; more than 25 Tilefish weighed over 20-pounds and six of them were over 40-pounds.

The pool winning Tilefish was a 46-pound 9-ounce monster caught by T.J. McNally from High Bridge, NJ and he is on the left in the photo.  On the right in the photo is Frank Artiglere from High Bridge, NJ and his Tilefish weighed 40 pounds.

By popular demand, we are adding TWO MORE DEEPWATER TRIPS.   We will be sailing at 10:30 PM SUNDAY NIGHT JULY 8 AND JULY 22.

We will be making a FIREWORKS CRUISE on JULY 4TH from 8:00 PM to 10:30 PM.   After a sunset cruise, we will be viewing the fireworks off Long Branch.   It is BYO for food and beverages.   The fare is $30 for adults and $20 for children.   You can purchase tickets in advance at the Fishermen's Supply tackle shop, by mail/check, or at the boat.


June 24, 2007

Fluke fishing has been good to very good during the past few days.  We had a nice northwesterly breeze, which made for good drifting conditions.   Many folks have been catching upwards of 20 fluke on a 1/2 day trip and keeping anywhere from 1 to 5 fish.

On the Saturday afternoon trip, Tommy Salerno of Keyport, NJ made a limit catch and threw back more short fish than he could count.  We are also catching some nice Black Sea Bass mixed in with the Fluke when we fish over rough bottom.  Regular boat supplied squid and spearing baits worked very well along with 4-inch "Gulp" swimming mullets in pink or chartreuse and Spro bucktail jigs with squid strips.  Most of the Fluke fishing has been less than 20 minutes from the dock.


Night Bluefishing was super Saturday night with many people catching limits.   We fished about an hour from the dock and made only two drifts for the entire night.   We would have made only one drift, but our chum slick attracted a large Blue Shark that shut down the Blues.   We had a light crowd so there was plenty of elbowroom for adults as well as kids.   Captain Tracy's young son Joshua tried Bluefishing for the first time and ended up with eight nice blues from 3 to 8-pounds.   (Pretty good for a 10-year-old lad.)

Try to take advantage of the good fishing and light crowds next Friday and Saturday night.







June 15, 2007

The VOYAGER was out at the canyons on an overnight DEEPWATER WRECK AND TILEFISH TRIP this past Sunday night.

The trip started out slowly with the first fish being lost.  Bill Bushnell from North Haledon, NJ got the second bite, and it turned out to be a 48-inch Bluefin tuna (and he hooked it on a bottom fish rig 600 feet down.)

After a number of unsuccessful drifts, we managed to find some Tilefish.   While the numbers were not impressive but the size certainly was.




Tom Wardlaw from Hewitt, NJ landed a Tilefish that tipped the scales at 50 pounds when we weighed it back at Fishermen's Supply Co at the end of the trip.  We also got a 44-pound Tilefish and four others weighing between 25 and 35-pounds.

Later in the trip, we moved to a deepwater wreck where we caught a couple more Tilefish and one Gray Tilefish.  We also landed four rare Barrel Fish, a species of fish that we've never caught before.

The big attraction for everyone was the excellent fishing we had for Wreck Fish.   The Wreck Fish were all between 10 and 25 pounds and there were many times when we had as many fish on as we had lines in the water.  Mike Paras from Jackson, NJ was high hook with 13 Wreck Fish, a large Tilefish and a Barrel Fish.


The VOYAGER will be sailing on its next special DEEPWATER WRECK AND TILEFISH TRIP 7:30 PM SUNDAY NIGHT JUNE 24 and for the moment, there are still a few spots available.

On the inshore grounds, we have seen excellent Fluke fishing whenever we've had favorable drifting conditions.   Throwbacks are outnumbering keepers by at least 10 to 1, but some anglers have been lucky and landing 4, 5, 6 and even 7 keepers on our half-day trips.  While 6 or 7 keepers is not common, most anglers have been catching one or two for the dinner table.  Most of our Fluke fishing has been near to the beach and anywhere from Mantaloking to Long Branch in depths up to 35 feet.


June 9, 2007

Fluke fishing was about as good as it gets on both our morning and afternoon trips on June 9.   The action was continuous.

Lou Wines and George Gasparik (photo on left) did very good on the morning trip.  Lou was high hook with five keeper Fluke.







Alex Short of Ohio and Chip Glynn of Brooklyn, NY (photo on left) also got some nice keeper Fluke on the morning trip.

Doug Karkosza (photo upper right) caught a 7½-lb Fluke on the afternoon trip.

Will still have some room on our DEEPWATER WRECK AND TILEFISH TRIP on SUNDAY JUNE 10.  We expect to see Wreck Fish (Polyprion americanus) mixed in with Tilefish on this trip.





June 8, 2007

We were out on the morning trip with a light crowd and a heavy fog.  We fished the about three miles north of Manasquan Inlet and as predicted, the Fluke fishing continued to improve.  Most of the fishing is still in the shallow water in depths of less than 35 feet.  Even with a slow drift for part of the trip, we had more action and more keepers than yesterday.   Today's high hook honors went to Eileen Fishkin of Marlboro, NJ who out-fished her husband five keepers to two.   Eileen also won the pool with a 3½ pounder.   Fluke fishing is getting better and better by the day and should continue to do so as the water warms up.


June7, 2007

Fluke fishing today showed quite a bit of improvement.   We fished just a short ride to the north of the Manasquan Inlet.   The water temperature was about 63 degrees and was relatively clean.  We had decent activity with short fish throughout the morning trip with some keepers mixed in (a few guys had two or three keepers while others had one or none.)   It seemed that anglers caught anywhere from 6 to 15 shorts and the above mentioned keepers.   While not the greatest fishing, it is a good sign of things to come.  Hopefully, the fishing will continue to improve as the water warms up.


June 3, 2007

Fluke fishing is still slow because of the cool water temperature, but these hot summer-like days will eventually warm up the water (and the Fluke.)  We had a charter bottom fishing trip on Friday June 1 and the highlight catch of the day was a large Monkfish.

Will still have room on our DEEPWATER WRECK AND TILEFISH TRIP on JUNE 10.  Again, we expect to see Wreck Fish (Polyprion americanus) mixed in with Tilefish on this trip.

Just a reminder, our half-day FLUKE trips on JUNE 11 and JUNE 12 are canceled (because of the Tilefish trip and a private charter.)

Our OVERNIGHT CANYON TUNA trip on SEPTEMBER 7 is sold out.  Be sure to book early to get on board the trip you want.


May 26, 2007

Saturday morning was our first Fluke trip.   There were signs of fish but the water is still a bit cool.  There was also virtually no wind which translated to poor drifting conditions.   We managed some throwbacks and a handful of keepers for a light crowd.   The pool fish was caught by Andrew Morrissey (photo on left) of Beachwood, NJ and weighed in at 4¾-lbs.

We still have room on our upcoming DEEPWATER WRECK AND TILEFISH TRIP on June 10. We expect to see some Wreck Fish mixed in with the Tilefish on this trip.






May 25, 2007

We just wanted to let everyone know that we start our summer schedule on the VOYAGER this weekend.   We will be NIGHT BLUEFISHING EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY from 7:30 PM until 12:30 / 1:00 AM.   This weekend, we will also be BLUEFISHING SUNDAY NIGHT AT 7:30 PM.

WE START HALF-DAY FLUKE FISHING ON SATURDAY.   We will be sailing EVERY DAY from 8:00 AM until 12:30 PM and again at 2:00 PM until 6:30 PM.   Please note, we will not be Fluke fishing on Friday June 1st (we have a private charter.)  The weather looks great for the weekend, so come on down and enjoy the holiday with a fishing trip.

On May 24, we made a private offshore wreck trip and put together a decent catch of Cod, Pollock and Ling, and everyone on board had a great time.  Visit our Photo Gallery page to see the trip shots.


May 15, 2007

The VOYAGER was on an offshore WRECK & TILEFISH trip this past weekend.  We fished on some wrecks from 190-275 ft while it was still dark and managed only a few Pollock.   By sunrise, we were at the edge of the Hudson Canyon in an area where we usually catch Tilefish.  The weather was perfect with a flat ocean and virtually no wind.

The first drift saw only the "endangered" spiny dogfish, so after a half an hour, we moved a few miles south to another spot where we normally see Tiles.  After drifting for about 15 minutes we caught our first one mixed in with some more dogfish.   For the next hour and a half, we had a slow pick on Tilefish, but again, excellent dogfish action.  The wind started to pick up earlier than expected and it got tougher to hold bottom, but we kept catching dogs and an odd Tilefish.  We then tried to catch some Tilefish while anchored, but only caught a couple as we were again overrun by dogfish.

The edible bottom fish pool was won by Mel Deak of Perth Amboy with a 25 lb. Pollock and the Tilefish pool was won by Peter Christoforou of Port Washington, NY with an 18 lb. specimen.

We probably would have ended up with a decent catch of Tilefish, but it was almost impossible to keep a bait on the bottom for more than five minutes before you had to reel up and remove a dogfish (the ever increasing breeze didn't help much either).   It didn't seem to matter whether we fished in 400, 500 or 600+ foot depths, we found dogfish everywhere.   Hopefully, the dogs will have left the area by our next Tilefish trip on June 10.

On the way home, we stopped at a couple of wrecks and caught some nice Pollock, Cod and Ling.  We ended up the trip with about 20 Tilefish up to 20 lbs, 18 Pollock up to 29 lbs, a dozen or so Codfish up to 15 lbs and about 125 Ling.   Our next two offshore WRECK & TILEFISH trips are on JUNE 10 and JUNE 24.


The VOYAGER will start HALF-DAY FLUKE TRIPS daily on SATURDAY MAY 26 and will also run HALF-NIGHT BLUEFISH TRIPS at 7:30 PM every Friday and Saturday starting FRIDAY MAY 25.






NEW!   CLICK HERE to SIGN UP on our MAILING LIST.   We periodically email newsletters, fishing information and other goodies.   Get on board now!


May 2, 2007

Our LING & SEA BASS TRIP ON FRIDAY MAY 4 IS CANCELED.
Sorry for any inconvenience.


May 1, 2007

The April 27 DEEPWATER WRECK & TILEFISH trip was cancelled due to poor offshore weather conditions.  Our next scheduled WRECK & TILEFISH trip is 7:30 PM Friday May 11 and we still have some spots open.

Ling fishing was still slow this past weekend although there seemed to be a bit more activity up north.  By next weekend, we should start to catch some Sea Bass on our inshore Ling & Sea Bass trips.  We heard from divers that they spotted a bunch of Sea Bass over the weekend.  Ling fishing should also pick up as they move inshore to spawn.


April 23, 2007

We were out Ling fishing both days this weekend and the weather was beautiful.   You couldn't ask for nicer weather, but you could ask for more fish.  The Ling seemed to have lockjaw or were just not around at all.

On Saturday, April 21, we had a high hook of a dozen Ling, but Sunday, April 22 was worse with most people catching only a few.   There was plenty of Bergall life on most spots, but the Ling were tough to find.  We fished on the east and west sides of the Mud Hole in depths as shallow as 110 feet and in the middle in 200 feet, but to no avail.

Possibly, last week's storm screwed things up or the Ling are on the move inshore to spawn.  Hopefully next weekend will be better.

Just as a reminder, we will be Ling fishing next Friday, April 27 and Sunday, April 29, but not Saturday, April 28 as we have our first offshore DEEP WATER WRECK AND TILEFISH trip leaving Friday night.  There are still a couple of spots left for those interested in going.


April 7, 2007

We posted our 2007 fishing calendar early! You can see our open boat, tuna and offshore wreck trips on our Fishing Calendar page.   We are accepting reservations now.

Reports from other boats indicate that offshore wreck fishing for Black Sea Bass and Tilefish is decent now.   We have a few SPECIAL DEEPWATER WRECK & TILEFISH trips scheduled on April 27, May 11, June 10 and June 24.


March 19, 2007

Spring is here and its time to go fishin’.   The VOYAGER will start off the 2007 spring fishing season with LING & SEA BASS trips on APRIL 21, 22, 27, 29 and MAY 4, 5, 6, 11, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25.   These are open boat trips (no reservations needed) from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM and the fare is $50.  We look forward to seeing you at the dock.


March 10, 2007

We emailed our annual tuna newsletter today. If you didn't get a copy in your inbox, don't fret.  You can see a copy on our Newsletter page.

Our open boat tuna schedule for 2007 will be posted on Sunday April 15.

We are currently accepting tuna charter bookings ('entire boat' charters – not individual reservations).   If you are interested in chartering the VOYAGER for a tuna trip, we encourage you to book early to ensure getting the date you want.


February 26, 2007

We ended up getting a short weather window this weekend and got in one last offshore wreck trip, but the fish did not cooperate.   To start, we fished down to the south about 80 and found just a few sea bass on each wreck and quite a bit of current.  Another Point Pleasant party boat was there and found the same poor results as we both leap-frogged around on different wrecks.  By about 10:30 AM, it seemed as though the fish were not going to bite in that area, so we steamed an hour and a half to the northeast to try a different place.  However, we only found a few ling and a handful of sea bass.  Needless to say, it was a very difficult trip, and not the way we hoped to end our season.

We are going to the boat yard for some painting and other maintenance next week and should be back sometime in April.  We will probably start out our spring season making inshore ling and sea bass trips.


February 21, 2007

Sorry, but we are forced to CANCEL our Wednesday 2/21, Thursday 2/22 and Friday 2/23 inshore trips for ling and blackfish.

Weather permitting, our offshore wreck trips this weekend will sail as scheduled.  Anglers can check by calling 732-295-3019 after 5:00 PM Friday night.


February 19, 2007

We added another OFFSHORE WRECK TRIP on 1:00 AM SUNDAY FEBRUARY 25.
In addition, Kenny Namowitz will be running the VOYAGER during this week for ling and blackfish at 6:30 AM, but anglers should pick one of the nicer days forecast for later in the week.

If bad weather forces us to cancel our SATURDAY FEBRUARY 24 Offshore Wreck Trip, the VOYAGER will try to sail inshore for ling and blackfish on Saturday.   Anglers can check by calling 732-295-3019 after 5:00 PM Friday night.   These will be our last trips before going to the boatyard for the next month or so.



January 16, 2007

We got in two more offshore wreck trips during the holiday weekend.  The January 13 trip was about as good as it gets.   The offshore weather was flat calm and we fished some southern wrecks.  We only caught sea bass, but they were good sized and the action was non-stop.

We returned to the southern wrecks on January 15, but this time the offshore weather was against us.   The ride out was nice, but it got very windy as soon as the sun rose.   It was hard to feel the sea bass biting as the boat rode on the seas and we wound up with a slow pick throughout the day.


January 1, 2007

We had two offshore sea bass trips this past weekend and the weather finally cooperated.

On the first trip on Friday December 28, we had many limit catches of jumbo sea bass plus a few ling.

We had two fish that were close contenders for the pool, so the anglers decided to weigh their fish at our tackle shop, Fishermen's Supply, when we got back to the dock.  We weighed the fish on the shop's certified digital scale and the biggest one weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces, and the second place fish was only 1½-ounce less.   These really were jumbo sea bass.

On our second trip on Saturday December 30, we fished a different area, and found a mix of giant porgies up to three pounds and sea bass over six pounds.

We also had a few dozen ling and even a blackfish.

Many people had limits of sea bass and could easily have had limits of porgies if they used smaller hooks. 

The pool winner was Charlie DeHart of Staten Island with a 6 pound 8 ounce sea bass.





We took a bunch of nice photos on the last two offshore wreck trips.   Be sure to check them out in our Photo Gallery.

The VOYAGER is sailing offshore every Saturday morning at 1:00 AM (boarding at 11:30 PM Friday night) through January (and maybe February if the fishing holds up.)

WE STILL HAVE SOME SPOTS AVAILABLE ON OUR
JANUARY 6 TRIP.   If you are interested, please call our office at 732-295-3019.

Starting on JANUARY 5, the VOYAGER will be running LING MARATHON TRIPS EVERY FRIDAY from 6:30 AM to 4:30 PM.


December 28, 2006

Our SATURDAY DECEMBER 30 OFFSHORE WRECK TRIP is now SOLD OUT!

We still have AVAILABLE SPOTS on our

1/06, 1/13, 1/20 and 1/27 OFFSHORE WRECK TRIPS.


December 27, 2006

We had to cancel our last few OFFSHORE WRECK TRIPS because of bad weather conditions offshore and we added another trip on FRIDAY DECEMBER 29 at 1:00 AM to accommodate those folks that wanted to reschedule.  This trip is filled, but for those that are going, boarding will start 11:30 PM Thursday night.

We still have a few AVAILABLE SPOTS on our OFFSHORE WRECK TRIP boarding 11:30 PM Friday night and leaving SATURDAY DECEMBER 30 at 1:00 AM. If you are interested in going the 12/30 trip, call Captain Jeff at 732-757-5109.   (If you call on Friday, please call 732-892-2058.)

For those of you that BLACKFISH with us, on FRIDAY DECEMBER 29 Captain Kenny will be running his boat, the MIMI, for anyone who would normally sail on the VOYAGER.   He will be leaving from his normal dock by Spikes Fish Market at 6:30 AM and returning at 4:30 PM.

The VOYAGER will be sailing our NORMAL BLACKFISH SCHEDULE on NEW YEARS EVE DECEMBER 31 and again on NEW YEARS DAY JANUARY 1.
 
Starting on JANUARY 5, the VOYAGER will be running LING MARATHON TRIPS EVERY FRIDAY from 6:30 AM to 4:30 PM.


December 15, 2006

On Sunday December 10, Neil Socarras (photo on left) of Wanaque, NJ caught a monster 14-pound 1-ounce blackfish.   Along with winning the pool, Neil had a limit catch which included a 5-pound and 8-pound specimens (photo on right.)   Fishing was good with a number of limit catches and over twenty-five blackfish that weighed 5-pounds or better on board.







Blackfishing remained good all week and many 8 to 10-pound fish came over the rails. On Monday December 11, the pool winner weighed just over 12-pounds.

On Friday December 15, blackfishing was slower than during the past few days.  There was plenty of life on all the spots we tried, but we came up with mostly short fish.   However, we did get some bigger fish too, and Don Henriquez (photo on left) won the pool with a very nice 8-pound Tautog.  You can see larger photos of Don and Neil’s blackfish on our Photo Gallery pages.




December 3, 2006

The weather was chilly on our December 3 blackfish trip. The strong winds from yesterday were gone, and in its place we had a light and variable breeze that made for tough anchoring over our southern drops.

The blackfish only bit in spurts all day and the catches were not up to par.   Several nice sized fish came over the rails and today’s pool winner weighed 9-pounds.




November 26, 2006

Our first offshore wreck trip on November 25 started with a rougher ride out than expected, but the seas started to lie down just before we got to the grounds.

We anchored up on our first wreck and started to pick away at some porgies, jumbo sea bass and small bluefish.   Within a half-hour, the fishing improved and for the next 1½ hours, we caught giant sea bass and porgies all around the boat.   We shifted the VOYAGER a bit on the wreck and caught some more fish.








We then tried another wreck and found more sea bass and porgies, as well as some school cod and medium to large pollock. Jack Decker (photo upper left) won the pool with a 30-pound pollock.

We then tried a couple of other spots that produced more sea bass than anything else, and for the day, many people made limit catches of porgies and sea bass.   The porgies we caught were very large, up to 3-pounds, and the sea bass weighed up to about 6-pounds.






You can see more photos from our November 25 offshore wreck trip on our Photo Gallery page.

Our next offshore wreck trip on December 2 is sold out, but there are still spots available from December 9 on.

On our Sunday November 26 blackfish trip, we had good action despite poor conditions.  We fished the southern blackfish grounds again, and found some good spots and some duds.   We did notice that more large fish are starting to show up.   We had a fair number of 3 to 5-pound blackfish fish as well as a few 6 to 8-pounders.  A couple of blackfish close to ten pounds also came over the rails.   It looks as though blackfishing down south is turning on as the sea cools down.  Look for better and better fishing as the season progresses.





November 21, 2006

The conditions were absolutely perfect for blackfishing on Monday November 20.   The swell we had during the weekend laid down and there was a nice 15-knot northwest breeze to keep the boat steady at anchor.   Unfortunately, the larger blackfish did not realize this.  There was plenty of action with small blackfish, but only a few nicer ones.  Some folks managed five or six keepers, and some had less.


November 20, 2006

Our weekend blackfish trips on November 18 and 19 were decent.   We had good anchoring conditions and the blackfish cooperated on most of the rocks, wrecks and artificial reefs we visited about an hour or so to the south of our inlet.

The action was very good, and many people had limit catches of nice 2 to 5-pound blackfish (and a few folks even had to toss back up to another eight keeper fish since they already had their limit.)   Pool winning fish on both days were about 8.5-pounds.   There were also plenty of small blackfish around on almost every spot, and there were times when your crab bait would last less than a minute before you got a bite.





November 16, 2006

Our first blackfish trip of the season on Wednesday November 15 was not as good as we had hoped.   Blackfish were biting on just about every spot we tried, but poor anchoring conditions made it difficult to stay directly over any one spot for long.   We should have better conditions this weekend and we think the fish will cooperate.


November 12, 2006

Our final tuna trip of the season on Friday November 10 was a success.   Despite our feeling that there are still plenty of fish at the Hudson Canyon, and having good weather in our favor, we decided to head further south.   We anchored up at about 2:00 AM on the northeast corner of the Baltimore Canyon.

At about 3:30 AM we caught and released a small swordfish.   At 4:30 AM, we hooked our first tuna and soon after that, we hooked a second.  We then lost a couple of fish and landed a longfin and a bluefin that taped out at 180-pounds.   We then had a lull until around daybreak, when large schools of tuna would come and go under the boat and we started to pick away at a mix of longfin and yellowfin, plus another bluefin.  We hooked up with a fish or two every ten minutes or so, but quite a few were lost due to the large size of the fish.  Even the longfins were exceptionally large and weighed in at over 60-pounds.  We caught fish on jigs, deep lines, and flat lines.   Sardines were the best bait, but butterfish and butterfish chunks worked well too.

Later in the trip, I decided to try my luck by flat lining a sardine.  After about 20 minutes, I got a bite.  About half way through fighting the fish, it suddenly got very easy.   I reeled in the last 100 feet of line to find that a shark had bitten off the tail of the longfin.  We then saw a brief glimpse of the shark, but it quickly sank down out of view.   About three minutes later, we heard our mate Joel yelling for another gaff.   Apparently, the shark had reappeared next to the boat and Joel free-gaffed the 150-pound mako.   We quickly got four gaffs in it and pulled it in through the transom door.   Back at the dock, we cleaned the mako and passed out steaks to everyone on board.   It was a real pleasure to end the season fishing in T-shirts in November, and with plenty of tuna bites to go around.

While we have finished tuna fishing for the year, there is still a beautiful body of warm water far to our east, and if it comes close enough, we might try to put together one more special trip for some Christmas tuna.   If you are interested, just e-mail me so we can put you on a call list in case this happens.

On behalf of the crew and myself, I want to thank everyone who joined us during this tuna season and helped make it a success.   We hope to see you again next season or possibly on one of our winter trips.  Captain Jeff


November 8, 2006

Fishing was slow overall during last weekend's tuna trips on November 4 and 5.   On Friday night, we had fish under the boat from 5:30 AM until we left, but the bite was not very good.   We caught a handful of albacore tuna and had a number of large bluefin tuna on.   We got our limit of bluefin tuna and then cut some off at the surface.  Other fish were lost before we got them to the boat.

Saturday night's trip featured perfect weather, but less tuna action.  Nice schools of albacore showed up under the boat, but they didn't stay long or bite well.   Only a couple of them were landed and a few were lost and/or missed.  There were also fewer bluefin tuna around and we only hooked into one.   The full moon, which was bright in the sky well into the morning hours, attributed to the finicky nature of the fish.   However, we did catch some nice tilefish as we drifted along.  The thumbnail photo shows Frank Artiglere with a decent tilefish.   This Friday, November 10, will likely be our last tuna trip of the season and we currently have nine spots open.


October 21, 2006

Saturday night's trip was a tale of two trips.   The ride out was supposed to be nice since the wind was supposed to lie down.   (The NOAA offshore forecast called for winds of 10 knots or less late.)   Well, 'late' turned out to be about 6:00 AM.  The ride out was not very nice even with the sea behind us and the fishing was just as bad as the weather.   We only managed to catch a single swordfish for the entire night, and it was a throwback.

At 7:15 AM, we were just getting set to move the boat when we got our first tuna hookup.  By this time, the wind and seas had finally calmed down and we stayed a bit longer, the tuna started to bite.  It was not a slaughter, but we steadily picked away and ended up with about 30 tuna in the fish box.   (A 55/45% mix of Yellowfin and albacore.)   We still read tuna on the fish finder around noon, but they were not biting that well and we called it quits and headed for the barn.  It was a lucky for us that we left when we did since the wind picked up from the SW during the last couple of hours of the ride home.   The thumbnail is Jay Benson holding one of his three tuna.

The tuna are here, so be sure to book your trip today!   The season will be over before you know it.


October 18, 2006

Fishing was slow overnight at the Hudson Canyon with just a few yellowfin and a couple of swordfish in the fish box.  At around 7:00 AM, we picked up the anchor and moved about four miles.  After fishing for about ten minutes at the new spot, the tuna started biting and we enjoyed a very good pick of 80% albacore and 20% yellowfin tuna.

Al Johnson made the highlight catch of the trip, a 120 pound bigeye tuna (Al also bagged two albacore.)  Many anglers caught three, four, five and up to seven tuna (Billy Rowan from the Canyon Runner) and some made limit catches of yellowfin.   The tuna responded to deep baits at first, then jigs and deep baits, and finally on flat lines where you could watch the tuna take the bait.  Many thanks to Captain Mike Rosenburgh of the charter boat ALLISON RAE for calling us in on the bite.





October 15, 2006

We went back to the Hudson yet again.  The wind from the previous day was gone, but the boat still swung at anchor and fishing lines were still running towards the bow.  We put about fifteen Yellowfin and Longfin tuna into the fish box during the night.   The highlight catches of the trip were three swordfish weighing 80, 125 and 150 pounds, and Frank Artiglere from High Bridge, NJ bagged two nice Yellowfin tuna.




October 14, 2006

We fished at the Hudson canyon again.  It was a breezy night and the boat was swinging at anchor, and the current was taking anglers lines towards the bow.  We caught about eighteen Yellowfin and Longfin tuna in the less than ideal fishing conditions.  A bunch of Mahi stayed around the boat for a couple of hours during the night and many of them wound up in the fish box.







October 13, 2006


Today we went to the Hudson canyon after getting reports that another body of warm water arrived.  Sure enough, the tuna are back at the Hudson and we enjoyed excellent fishing for Yellowfin and Longfin tuna.

Squid were plentiful and most tuna were caught using them for bait, but jigging worked well for those who tried.   Quite a few anglers got their limit of tuna and we wound up with a great big load of tuna.







The tuna season is still going strong and the new body of fish bodes well for continued good fishing through November!   We still have openings on our tuna trips during the rest of October and November, so call us and make your reservation.


October 12, 2006

We returned to the far south canyons along with the rest of the fleet.   We found the warm water again, but the tuna fishing was below expectations for everyone in the fleet.


October 10, 2006

Our last 30-hour tuna trip of the season started with very good weather for a change.  Last weekend's storm pushed the warm water we had been fishing in far to the south and we went after it.

After a long ride to a southern canyon, we found plenty of small Mahi and everyone loaded up.  We anchored up just before sundown and started chumming for tuna.   We caught Yellowfin in spurts of three to six fish every hour.  When a bright moon finally rose, the tuna fishing slowed down.   After midnight, the wind and current picked up dramatically and shut down the bite.   By dawn, the current finally slowed and we put another half dozen Yellowfin and Longfin into the boat.   We had a bumpy and rainy ride home, but there were over three dozen tuna in the fish box.


October 4, 5, 6 and 7, 2006

A nasty bout of weather offshore with winds up to 40 knots forced us to cancel four trips.   Rats!


October 3, 2006

We had bluebird skies and relatively gentle seas for this 30-hour trip.  We couldn’t find any Mahi, but we did locate some nice Tilefish before setting up for the night.  Our first Yellowfin tuna came into the boat shortly after dark and we steadily picked at them until dawn.   After sunrise, large Longfin tuna came into our slick and we boated several of them.   We wound up with a respectable catch of about three dozen tuna.


October 1, 2006

We canceled this trip because of problems with our anchor winch.


September 30, 2006

The offshore weather turned out poor on Friday night with pouring rain and 30-knot winds with higher gusts.  However, the tuna fishing was a different story!   We caught one fish shortly after we anchored, but had to wait until 1:00 AM for the second one.  From then until 4:00 AM, the bite was on, and we put 47 yellowfin tuna into the box.


September 29, 2006

Another nice night weather-wise with gentle winds and calm seas.   We read tuna under the boat all night long, but they generally weren't interested in our baits or jigs.  We picked at them all night long and wound up with 20 tuna in the boat.


September 28, 2006

The seas were calm on the way out and we fished the same southern canyon again.  The first Yellowfin came aboard only five minutes after we set anchor and started chumming.   The tuna bite lasted all night and everyone on board made a limit Yellowfin catch!   The ride home was a little snappy with an increasing breeze, but our fish boxes were full.


September 26, 2006

We enjoyed perfect weather on this extended 30-hour trip with cloudless blue skies and flat seas. We decided to fish at a southern canyon and we spent the afternoon fishing for mahi-mahi at nearby lobster pot buoys.   While many of the mahi-mahi were small, the action was good fun and anglers boated some larger specimens too.

Before sundown, we dropped anchor for the night and started chumming.  The tuna fishing turned out to be slow compared to the last few trips, but we wound up with seventeen Yellowfin plus a few nice sized Longfin.   Mel Deak from Perth Amboy, NJ made a limit catch of Yellowfin, all caught on live squid and Frank Artiglere from High Bridge, NJ bagged a respectable 80-pound yellowfin.




The highlight of the night was swordfish.  We boated several keepers up to 120-pounds plus a handful of throwbacks.   After sunrise, we drifted for tuna and read them well under the boat.  We caught a few of them (all longfins), but they generally didn't seem interested in feeding.   While we were drifting, a few anglers tried going down to the bottom for tilefish and managed to get three nice specimens over the rail.  Overall, this was a very pleasant trip for all aboard.





September 23 and 24, 2006

We cancelled these trips because of poor weather conditions offshore from the remnants of hurricane Gertrude.


September 22, 2006

We went out to the same place we fished on the previous day even though the forecast was less than great.  We hoped we could get out, catch a bunch of tuna and then get home early to beat the worsening weather.  Fishing was excellent and things worked out just as we had hoped.  The entire boat was limited out by 4:30 AM and by 5:00 AM, the anchor was on the way up and we were on our way home, barely beating the bad weather.  Our sharpies from Connecticut were aboard and they jigged all night in the bow along with Dave "The Mad Jigger", and Captain John Hawryluk (out on a busman's holiday.)   The boys in the bow jigged over forty tuna, although they could only keep three yellowfin tuna apiece.  The hot jigs that night were the Yo-Zuri Hydro Metal, AKA "The Squish", and the Shimano Butterfly.   Squid and sardine baits also worked well.


September 21, 2006

We had excellent fishing at a southern canyon on this trip with many anglers catching their limits of yellowfin.   We also had a large swordfish estimated at 200-pounds break off after an hour-long battle.   The hot baits were the live squid that the crew were catching.  We always urge our customers to help catch bait because when the bite is on, it is hard for one or two mates to catch enough for the entire boat.   Dave DeGenarro was high hook with ten tuna, all caught on squid.  Dave only kept his legal limit of three yellowfins and we passed around the rest to other anglers.


September 19, 2006

On this extended trip, we spent the afternoon trolling along the east wall of the Hudson canyon and put six yellowfin into the boat.  We anchored up for the night in snappy 20-knot SW winds and started fishing.   Heavy rain started after dark and persisted all night long.  In spite of the driving rain, the tuna bit our squid baits very well.   A cold front came through before dawn, and the wind swung around to the NW at thirty knots and the bite slowed down.  Peter Bardes from Newark, NJ caught the highlight of the trip in the worsening weather, a 47-pound Wahoo.  We boated over fifty tuna before heading home in the bumpy seas.





September 17, 2006

The weather was beautiful and because of it, the boat traffic at the Hudson canyon was excessive.  Consequently, we decided to fish at a more southern canyon.  We had a slow start, but a good bite started around 4:30 AM.  Many fish were lost due to the conditions and the size of the fish.  Most of the fish were bigger 65 to 80-pound yellowfins, and many were lost because of break offs.  We ended up with far fewer than we should have because of the lost fish.   In fact, Dave Schreckenstein, a regular on our sister ship, the ANGLER, actually managed to single-handedly loose eight tuna.  Let's see if he can redeem himself on his next trip.


September 16, 2006

Despite a marginal weather forecast and a left over ground swell, we caught twenty-two yellowfin tuna up to 75-pounds and a few mahi-mahi.  Lots of bait were around the boat all night with squid being the top producer.  Captain Barry Goldman got into a big Yellowfin, but after an hour fight, lost the fish along with his mojo.









September 14, 2006

We had only fair tuna fishing at the Hudson Canyon on this trip with about 18 fish.  The catch was mostly yellowfin, but also included a couple of albacore plus a small bigeye.


September 2, 2006

We canceled our second tuna trip of the season on Thursday, August 31 because of poor offshore weather conditions.  (We have been plagued with high northeast winds, rain and big seas all week.)  Our daily trips for Fluke and Bluefish concluded this weekend and were a washout because of the winds and rain from the remnants of hurricane Ernesto.

Our next tuna trip is Friday, September 8 and it, along with the following six tuna trips, is sold out.  We do have openings on the rest of the September trips, but they are going fast.  If you are interested in hooking up with a tuna, give us a shout.


August 26, 2006

Our first offshore tuna trip of the season on August 24 was a success.   We arrived at the Hudson Canyon around 10:30 PM and looked around for some bait to stop on.   After we anchored, we read squid and large balls of what looked like anchovies on the fish finder.   Throughout the night, large schools of squid came to the surface and we netted them ten at a time.  At times, we could fill a five-gallon bucket with squid in two or three scoops.

After about 35 minutes, we read a bunch of tuna under the boat and quickly hooked up with five or six of them.   We then had a few shots of multiple hookups over the next hour and a half.  The fish were nice yellowfin weighing between 50 to 70 pounds and many were lost.

After a bit of a lull, another school of yellowfin, this time 35 to 40 pound fish, came under the boat and stayed there.  We had slaughter fishing from 2:30 AM to 5:30 AM with many people catching limits and many fish released.  Mel Deak from Perth Amboy, NJ, Chris Hempstead from Fairhaven, NJ, Joe Prohaska from Union Beach, NJ, Steve Frka from Staten Island, NY, James Kim from Forest Hills, NY and Chang Lee from Forest Hills, NY all had limit catches of yellowfin tuna.  Rolando Torres dropped down for tilefish at first light and quickly caught a 20+ pounder before we headed home.




On the way home, we saw acres of surface feeding yellowfin and stopped for fifteen minutes to take some pictures and enjoy the sight of 40 to 50 pound tuna jumping out of the water only yards from the boat.  If all of our trips are just half as good as this one, we'll have a super tuna season.

We still have a few open spots for our next offshore tuna trip on Thursday, August 31.


The Friday, September 1 fluke trip is canceled.  Our last open boat fluke and bluefish trips of the season are Saturday, September 2.





August 12, 2006

The VOYAGER is fishing for FLUKE every THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY and SUNDAY and for BLUEFISH every FRIDAY and SATURDAY EVENING.   Captain Jeff Gutman is running the fluke trips and Captain John Hawryluk is running the night bluefish trips.  See our Fishing Schedule page for details.

Good fluke fishing again today with lots of shorts and some nice keepers mixed in.  Lou Wines (photo on left) from Freehold, NJ got a nice 3½-pounder and Ed Konkowski (photo on right) from Fords, NJ got five keepers including a 6¼-pound beauty.

For more photos including larger versions of the ones you see here, visit our Photo Gallery pages.









August 10, 2006

We had good-to-excellent fluking all week long.  The best day was Tuesday August 8 when we had perfect drifting conditions (a NW wind and an ebb tide.)   Many people had between five and eight keepers along with 20 to 40 shorts.

Yesterday and today were a bit tougher conditions (NE on Wednesday and wind against today), but some anglers still managed three or four plus many shorts.

Today, we had some nice fish in the 4 to 6½-pound range. Chris Seaman from Brick, NJ, John Spock from Bridgewater, NJ and Kurt Grimm from Raritan, NJ (photo upper left) caught a nice brace of fluke.  Herb Johnson (photo upper right) from Boynton Beach, FL caught a nice fluke too.

August 5, 2006

Friday August 4 was our first day of fluking on the VOYAGER and the fishing was good.  We had a tremendous amount of action as well as some keepers.  We found plenty of fluke everywhere from Manasquan Inlet to south of Seaside Pier in 25 to 70 feet of water.   Lou Wines was high hook with four fluke up to 3¾-pounds plus about 30 shorts.   We also had plenty of big bluefish mixed in.

On Friday night, Captain John Hawryluk had slaughter bluefishing with fish up to 14-pounds.  Many people made limit catches.  Lots of squid came in to lights around the boat and stayed there all night.  Anglers also bagged two Mahi-Mahi weighing from 12 to 14-pounds.

June 23, 2006

The CAPTAIN JOHN is NOW the VOYAGER - A DIFFERENT NAME, but the SAME BOAT, the SAME CAPTAINS and CREW, and the SAME GREAT FISHING TRIPS!

We just finished installing NEW Lugger® turbocharged diesel engines, and NEW Northern Lights® power generators.  As part of this significant project, we renamed the boat the VOYAGER.  We are making some final touches now and will be ready to start fishing in early July.  Click here to see photos of us installing the new engines.

March 5, 2006

We packed it in after our last Blackfish trip on February 26.  We are now in the process of re-powering the CAPTAIN JOHN with new Lugger turbocharged diesel engines, and we expect the boat to cruise between 18 and 19 knots with the new engines.   Aside from the confidence of knowing we have new machinery, we will be saving an hour of riding time to the tuna fishing grounds each way!  Another change is the addition of both heat and air conditioning to the bunkroom.  Everyone will now get a comfortable rest while we travel to the fishing grounds.

We posted our 2006/2007 FISHING SCHEDULE, and you can see our TUNA and WRECK schedule pages for details.  

The CAPTAIN JOHN 2006 TUNA FISHING schedule includes sixty-one overnight canyon trips departing every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening from September 8 through October 10.   From October 11 through November 19, we will be sailing seven nights a week.  The fare will be $275 and the trips will be strictly limited to 24 anglers.

We will be bringing back our special 30-hour extended offshore tuna trips.   We will only be making FIVE of these special trips in 2006 (Tuesday September 12, 19, 26 and October 3 and 10.)   These trips, limited to 22 anglers, will depart at 9:00 AM Tuesday mornings and return about 3:00 PM Wednesday afternoons.   The fare will remain the same as last year at $350.

The CAPTAIN JOHN 2006/2007 DEEP SEA FISHING schedule includes a number of offshore wreck trips plus marathon bottom fishing trips.

Our 18-Hour Offshore Giant Sea Bass, Cod and Pollock Trips leave 1:00 AM every Saturday from November 25 through January 27, 2007.  Trips are limited to 35 passengers and the fare is $150.

Our 10-Hour Giant Blackfish Trips leave 6:30 AM every day except Saturdays from November 27 through January 28, 2007.  Open boat, no reservations needed.

Our 10-Hour Blackfish, Ling and Cod Trips leave 6:30 AM every day from January 29, 2007 through the end of February.  Open boat, no reservations needed.

We will start accepting trip bookings on April 15, 2006.   You can call our office at 732-295-3019 on weekdays between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM, or you can e-mail us.   Leave a phone number and time when we can reach you.

We will start accepting trip bookings on April 15, 2006.   You can call our office at 732-295-3019 on weekdays between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM, or you can e-mail us.    Leave a phone number and time when we can reach you.

February 3, 2006

ATTENTION - THE 1:00 AM SATURDAY FEBRUARY 4 OFFSHORE WRECK TRIP IS CANCELED DUE TO POOR OFFSHORE WEATHER CONDITIONS.

WE WILL INSTEAD SAIL AN OPEN BOAT LING MARATHON TRIP AT 6:00 AM SATURDAY FEBRUARY 4.

We intend to fish through February 20, so check out our OFFSHORE, BLACKFISH and LING WRECK TRIP CALENDAR for details.

Just a reminder, the CAPTAIN JOHN Galley is open during ALL of our trips and we are serving up hot food as well as hot and cold beverages.


January 22, 2006

Note - The SATURDAY JANUARY 28 open boat Ling Marathon Trip is CANCELLED.

Gale weather offshore forced us to cancel Saturday’s 18-hour Offshore Wreck Trip for the second time in two weeks.   We are rescheduling the trip for 1:00 AM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4.   Note – We are canceling our February 4 Ling Marathon Trip because of the rescheduled Offshore Wreck Trip.


January 13, 2006

A nasty offshore weather forecast forced us to reschedule our January 14 18-hour Offshore Wreck Trip to SATURDAY JANUARY 21.   Note – We have canceled the January 21 Ling Marathon Trip because of the rescheduled Offshore Wreck Trip.


January 10, 2006

Our Ling and Blackfish trips both suffered this weekend from the bad weather earlier last week.  The residual swell knocked them down and they just weren’t biting well.   Blackfishing in particular was tough and we only got bites on a couple of the many spots we fished.   However, we did get a few fish that weighed over five pounds.   Some nice weather this week should snap things back into shape.

Just a reminder, our Ling Marathon trips are open boat.  We do not limit the number of passengers on these trips.


December 30, 2005

The CAPTAIN JOHN will be sailing an abbreviated schedule on Saturday December 31.  The Ling and Cod Marathon trip will sail at 6:00 AM and return around 3:30 PM.  We reduced the fare for this trip to $55.

Captains Jeff and Kenny will be running another OFFSHORE SEA BASS, COD and POLLACK WRECK TRIP on SATURDAY JANUARY 14.   Boarding will start 11:30 PM Friday night and the boat will leave at 1:00 AM Saturday.

Call the office at 732-295-3019 to make your reservation.  The fare is $150 and payment in full is required.

Note – We have canceled the Saturday January 14 Ling Marathon Trip because of the added offshore trip.

Blackfishing this past week was a little slow.   While we are catching some quality fish in the eight to ten pound range, there hasn't been enough of them to go around.  Similar reports have been coming in this week from all along the shore.   George Bachert captured a 12-pound Blackfish this week.


December 19, 2005

Our marathon Ling trip on December 17 was good.  Some anglers caught 15 to 25 jumbo Ling while others had a few less.  We fished the Mud Hole in depths ranging from 125 to 240 feet.   There were also a few Sea Bass and Cod mixed in with the Ling.  Spiny Dogfish were not as bad at the Mud Hole as they were on some of our offshore trips.  We will be sailing for Ling every Tuesday and Saturday, except Christmas Day.  You can see a few photos from the December 17 trip in the Photo Gallery.

We've had plenty of good fishing during the previous two weeks.  The marathon Blackfish trips have been very good with the entire boat limiting out each day that we fished.  Pool fish were in the 8 to 10-pound range with many keepers in the 3 to 5-pound range.  The December 10 offshore trip only produced a dozen or so Cod and Pollock up to 15-pounds.   The December 3 offshore trip was good and the catch was mostly jumbo Porgies and giant Sea Bass up to 6-pounds.   Our offshore trips are over for the remainder of the year and we will be focusing on our inshore trips for Blackfish, and Ling and Cod.  We may add one offshore trip to the schedule in early January.


November 29, 2005

OFFSHORE WRECK TRIP REPORT - We still have plenty of room on our upcoming offshore wreck trips and the fishing has been good.   The migration of Black Sea Bass to the offshore grounds is just starting and we expect the fishing to really pick up as the inshore waters cool.  The amount of Cod we found was also quite surprising.  We caught Cod on every wreck we fished during the two days we were out during the Thanksgiving holiday.  This too should hold up and get even better.

We will start our weekday, inshore Blackfishing trips ONE WEEK EARLY on the CAPTAIN JOHN.  On Monday December 5 through Friday December 9 we will be Blackfishing with Captain Kenny Namowitz at the helm.

On the offshore wrecks we fished Sunday, November 26, we found many more Cod, but slightly fewer Black Sea Bass than on Saturday’s trip.  We ended up with about 60 keeper Cod up to about 18-pounds.  High hooks were Don Babbit of Belford, NJ with seven Cod, and four Sea Bass, and Chris Frka of Staten Island, NY with eight cod and five Sea Bass.   Almost all of the Sea Bass weighed between 4 and 6-pounds.

Saturday’s fishing trip was good with a nice mix of large Black Sea Bass, jumbo Porgies, Pollock, and a good amount of Cod.   Frank Wagner from Avenel, NJ had a 25-pound pool-winning Pollock, as well as six Black Sea Bass from 4 to 6-pounds, three Ling, and ten giant Porgies from 2½ to 3½-pounds.   Chris Melton from Avenel, NJ was high hook on the Cod with eight keepers plus some throwbacks.
November 17, 2005

We have one more canyon tuna trip to go on Friday November 18 and we have ten spots remaining.   We have been catching Albacore, Yellowfin, and large Bluefin.  The results of our past few trips have been sporadic.  On some trips, we catch ten or fifteen tuna and the next night only one or two.   On our Friday November 11 trip, Frank Artiglere caught a 150-pound Bluefin tuna and a Yellowfin tuna, but the Saturday November 12 trip was poor with only a couple of fish on.  There may be some warmer water moving in from the East, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.


October 23, 2005

We had good fishing on our October 20 trip.  We fished around the Carteret canyon.  All tuna were caught after 7:00 AM and we left them biting at the end of the trip.  Chris Hempstead of Fair Haven, NJ was high hook with seven tuna (four Longfin and three Yellowfin).

The other star of the trip was Dave DeGennaro who fought a swordfish for over three hours during the night and followed the beast almost twenty times around the boat.  The fight was long because we later found out that the fish was snagged in its side fin.  Its weight is estimated between 200 and 250 pounds and you can see a photo of it on our 2005 Photo Gallery page.

We sailed again on October 21 and went back to the same area, but the fishing was tough because of the worsening weather.   We got just a handful of tuna for those who braved the wind and rain.

We recently posted our 2005 Photo Gallery.  We have over forty photos from the tuna trips so far, and we will be adding more as the season progresses.

We are pleased to announce that George Gasparik will operate our galley for ALL of our Tuesday 32-hour trips.  George will offer a full menu of BREAKFAST, LUNCH and DINNER choices at reasonable prices during these extended trips (see the Galley Menu page.)


October 8, 2005

Our trip on October 6 was slow with only a handful of tuna boated.   The annoying thing was that tuna were jumping full body out of the water almost underneath angler's rod tips.  (They were chasing squid and the squid were jumping up to two feet out of the water.)   They just didn't bite right and it was hard to catch squid because they were skittish from the many dolphins and tuna that had them pinned against the sides of boat.   We then spent some time fishing for Mahi-Mahi and caught about forty, but many of them just looked at us and didn't bite.

We caught twenty-one tuna and two swordfish on our October 4 trip.   We lost quite a few tuna due to their large size.  We had one tuna that weighed 111-pounds dressed (no head or guts), so that was probably a 130-pound fish.   We also lost three keeper swordfish anywhere from 5 to 20 feet from our gaffs.

On our October 2 trip, the weather was about as nice as you could ever want.   We fished south of the Spencer Canyon and had tuna under the boat all night long.   Many of the tuna bit funny and we lost quite a few of them, but we landed twenty-two Yellowfin tuna ranging from 60 to about 100 pounds.


September 24, 2005

We fished the southern canyons again on our September 21 trip.   We fished at the same spot we fished last Sunday, and like last Sunday, we caught another 18 Yellowfin and Albacore tuna plus a few Mahi-mahis.  We also got into something quite large, but lost it after a 25-minute battle (it might have been a swordfish.)  High hook was David Mackie (the Mad Jigger) of Hopewell NJ with two Yellowfin and two Albacore.   Dave only jigged and never even bothered to tie up a bait rig.  It just goes to show that if you can jig night and day for the whole trip, you will probably out fish everyone.   He also had a few other jig strikes that he missed.   As usual, sardines and live squid were the bait of choice for those that didn't feel like jigging.


September 22, 2005

On our September 20 trip to the southern canyons, the weather was lousy on the way out, but it improved slowly as the trip went on.   Frank Artiglere, Glenn Kauffman and Bob Knemoller all caught large Albacore tuna (Frank's weighed over 60-pounds.)   The trip total was 13 tuna and about 50 Mahi-Mahi.


September 19, 2005

The last two tuna trips on Saturday, September 17 and Sunday, September 18 were slow, probably because of the full moon.   As it turned out, we were high hook in the party boat fleet each night, which isn't saying much.   We had 8 Yellowfins on Saturday night and 18 Yellowfins Sunday night.  On Saturday's trip, anglers caught Yellowfin tuna weighing up to 100-pounds and Chris Hempstead of Fairhaven, NJ was high hook with 2 Yellowfins and 4 Mahi-Mahi up to 20 lbs.  On Sunday's trip, Dave Degennaro was the high hook with 4 Yellowfins (he caught two of them on a kite rig.)  Most fish were caught using live squid or sardine baits.   We were fishing in the southern canyons on both trips.


September 17, 2005

Exceptionally good weather and decent tuna fishing marked our first 32-hour trip of the season on September 13 and 14.  The CAPTAIN JOHN arrived at the Lindenkohl canyon in the early afternoon and we picked away at small Mahi-Mahi we found hanging around some pot buoys.  We also tried our luck at trolling, but didn't raise any fish except a couple more Mahi-Mahi.  Just before sunset, we anchored up in the southwest corner of the Lindenkohl and started our chum slick in the 78-degree water.   Before long, lots of porpoise, pilot whales, flying fish and other tropicals were swimming around the boat.   After dark, we tried to catch squid for live baits, but they were very scarce that night.  Except for a short lull around midnight, we caught tuna all night long.  No big bite, but just a fish or two every so often.   At daybreak, tuna were rolling on the surface, but the current died and we could not drift our baits out to the breaking fish.  We spent the rest of the morning hours fishing weed patches and caught several dozen additional Mahi-Mahi.

The trip total was 36 Yellowfin tuna for 17 anglers.   Bill Gamache, Tony Cavallaro and Bill McLaughlin got their limit of Yellowfins.   Frank Artiglere, Hank Arujo, Mel Deak, Bob Kneudler, Keith Walters and Don Drummey captured two tuna apiece.   (Don also hooked up with a 100-plus pound Alison.   He had it up to the boat twice, but the fish got the upper hand and escaped capture.)  Captain Barry Goldman was aboard for the trip (he operated the OL' SALTY from Belmar, NJ for many years.)   He was mumbling something about losing his mojo, but he captured one Yellowfin anyway.
September 10, 2005

Last night, the CAPTAIN JOHN fished between the Tom's and Carteret canyons and had good fishing in 77.4-degree water.   Many squid were milling around the boat at night and they were the tuna bait of choice, but sardines also worked well.   Our catch was mostly Yellowfin tuna with a few Longfin mixed in.

The trip total was 34 tuna plus some Mahi-Mahi for 16 anglers.   Joe Prohaska of Union Beach, NJ had his limit of Yellowfins, and Millie Arzuela of Connecticut and Carlos Elinon of NJ had two Yellowfins apiece.   Millie and Carlos also caught a bunch of valuable squid baits that resulted in fish for other customers.   Captain Tracy Rothenberg of Slidell, LA had two Yellowfins and a Longfin.   Captain Jeff also jigged a Longfin on his first cast!   (He should have stopped there since he had no other bites during the trip.)


July 24, 2005

Offshore fishing has slowed a bit because of the recent full moon.   There seems to be plenty of warm water around both inshore and offshore.  The water temperature this past week at 17 Fathoms and the Farms was in the low 80's, which is really warm for this time of the year.  There is also plenty of good tuna bait, including squid and anchovies, swimming around all the way from the inshore grounds out to the canyons.  A good number of Bluefin tuna are being trolled from the Oil Wreck out to Chicken Canyon and several good catches of Yellowfin tuna have been made.   Things are shaping up for a good fall run.

We are pleased to announce that George Gasparik will operate our galley for ALL of our Tuesday 32-hour trips.  George will offer a full menu of breakfast, lunch and dinner choices at reasonable prices during these extended trips (see the Galley Menu page.)  We will start posting his Tuesday night dinner menus in September.


June 27, 2005

Warm Gulf Stream water has finally started to move into our offshore canyons.  Local charter boats are now venturing offshore and making decent trolling catches of Bluefin tuna in the 20 to 40 pound range.   A few Yellowfin are also mixed in the catches.

We are pleased to announce that George Gasparik will operate our galley for ALL of our 32-hour trips.  George will offer a full menu of breakfast, lunch and dinner choices at reasonable prices during these extended trips.   We will post his menus for the upcoming week starting in late September.