It was a bit chilly at 6:00 am when Capt. Dave pulled the Queen Mary out of her slip. The cold didn't bother me as my mind was all about tangling with some mini-tunas.
About 5 minutes after the boat was anchored I hooked into and landed the first fish on a doctored AVA jig. It was a decent bonito of about 4 lbs. Here we go, I thought to myself. I started thinking back to the best day of bonito fishing I ever experienced, which was on the Queen Mary almost 6 years ago to the day.
http://njsaltwaterfisherman.com/forums/index.php?topic=3180.0Unfortunately, the glory of catching the first fish didn't last long, as it proved to be the one and
only fish for me.
Usually, as the captain pointed out, bonito (and albie) fishing is either feast or famine. Neither was the case for us. The first couple of stops saw only one or two bonito caught, as the fish were on the move, and didn't want to stay in our chum slick. At each spot quite a few fluke (and some keepers too) were caught by anglers bouncing metal on the bottom. Naturally some sea robins and skates were in that mix as well.
As tough as the fishing was, Captain Dave and the crew worked hard, moving from lump to lump and anchoring over different areas in an effort to put us on the meat. And they were successful in putting a decent catch together. By the end of the day almost everyone had at least one bonito.
High hook was four bonito, and was accomplished by a guy fishing near me. He was using a Viking style jig. He also caught the only false albacore we saw. It was a tiny thing that might have weighed about 3/4 of a pound. A few frigate mackerel were caught as well.
Overall, although there weren't a ton of fish caught, it was a successful trip. Seeing the return of the bonito fishery after a long absence was encouraging.
The Queen Mary will be running a few more open boat trips for bonito and false albacore. The next is tomorrow, Thursday 9/26. I can't make that one, but I'm hoping to get on board for the trip on Thursday, October 3rd. I look forward to getting out there again. Hopefully some of you can join me for that one.
Here's the link to the captain's report.
http://www.njqueenmary.com/reports.aspx
