The Gambler has had good action on our half day trips recently, fishing shallower the last couple days, than we have most of the summer. We are catching lots of short fluke but there are some nice keepers in the mix, up to 5lbs. On Monday, Jim Aquilano caught an 8.75 llb fluke and is holding the monthly derby --but there are bigger ones out there. Last month, Sean Paine of Toms River took the derby with a 7.5 lber. We are still catching some mixed sized sea bass on our fluke drifts, which helps to fill the coolers.
Lately, some very big sea robins have been swung over the rails and we are encouraging our customers to save them. The fillets are nice, white meat and taste great fried or baked. In fact, Richie Wheels made some smoky dip out of a batch that he caught and it was delicious. This has been great fishing for newcomers as well as the pros the last few days. Plenty of action to keep the kids excited and enough big fluke to keep the old-salts looking sharp.
Our Nite Wreckin trips continue to do good on mixed sized ling. Not a lot of variety but the sharpies are catching 30 to 40+ ling in a night, which makes up some great fillet bags. I personally think ling is one of the best eating fresh fish there is. I like it breaded and fried but it is good baked too. If you decide to freeze some ling fillets, you can create fish cakes right through the winter.
On Friday and Saturday nights, the Gambler will be ready for anything. We would love to see the big bluefish roll in, but until that happens, our night fishing trips will be very similar to our Nite Wreckin Trips. Last week we anchored over some wreckage and caught ling. Some of the guys did catch some bluefish on jigs and teasers mid-water but the majority of the catch was ling. The bluefish that we did catch were very small, 1/2 lbers. The ling are not the fight of a big blue but at least there is something to bend the rod and put some tasty fillets into the cooler.
Shark in the Dark trip last Sunday had a couple big sharks take the bait but nothing hooked up for long. The big sharks are there and we are 2 for 3 on getting them to the boat for release. There is room on upcoming trips but don't wait too long to sign-up because they have a tendency to fill at the last minute.
The seas look rolly for this weekend. We fully plan to go out but we would ask you to take the proper precautions if you are prone to sea sickness.
