Thought the flounder had begun in earnest.

Then sea bass would bite.

And knowing that bass are going to be the target - drop and catch flounder.

Brutally slow some days, others very satisfying. Mostly just scratch dinner up.

Nicked a few flounder last Saturday. Better than that perhaps. We've been catching some -a few- for a month; now we're focusing on them.

Oddly enough, with the size limit 2 inches bigger this year we've not had a boat limit yet.

More tagging opportunities though.

After a decade of tightening recreational and commercial quota management, I think sea bass numbers have declined to below their pre-nine inch federal size limit population.

A tough summer; tough if you expect to fill a box with sea bass. Not so bad if you want to enjoy a day on the water and don't mind just catching a dinner or two.. And every once in a while either having to go out to dinner - or buy freezer bags to put fish up!

If you're the type that likes their sea bassing to include a nervous period when you need to count your fish; make sure you aren't over the 25 fish limit; then maybe I'll see you in late fall.

Maybe.

Had some nice days of fishing early in the week - worst of the heat. Decent sea bass; numbers not too unlike last week's.

And then.. Struggle.

Sea bass are as 'here' as they are going to get. Some days are mighty fine, even a few limits this week. Other days - eh, scratch up a mess for a dinner or two.

Overall, averaging 12 to 15 keepers per person.

It's fishing..

Might have thought it was the first week of May. That's when we usually see some of the prettiest fish of the year.

Lost a couple days to weather early in the week.

Early in the week we cheated the weatherman out of some cancelations; got some days in that seemed iffy. At that point we were still scratching along with bass/tog/bass catches. Light rails - enjoyable.

Doubt I ever saw water this chilly in mid-May before. Checked the buoy Saturday morning;

Interesting start to the sea bass season. Hasn't been the jumbo front runners I have always seen come in first. Instead, a decidedly mixed run of sizes.

A rare opportunity..

The first deployment of the NYCTA rail cars is scheduled for Tuesday May 13th.

Reef building is not something easily scheduled. You haven't really met Mr. Murphy 'till you've tried to build marine reef..

Thursday; nice bass and tog mix, Friday almost all tog, Saturday mostly bass, Sunday a mix of bass and tog.

Transition.

Sunday's weather forecast of N 10 - 15 didn't quite pan out.

Brand new gigantic flag stretched taut by an ENE wind. Doesn't get worse than that. At least for 25+ knots

Arrived back at the dock early in the beginning of the week. Decent fishing.

Wednesday's action met the highest of expectations. Growing weary of huge stacks of tags to fill out; at first we only tagged tog of 16 inches or better. Then decided 18 was the magic number - then 20.

Nicked a few days out of it. Tight fog Thursday and Friday; go slow and make a lot of noise. As often happens, it took a big wind to push the stalled front out; cancelling Saturday.

I'm opening up the book for next week, Wednesday Thru Sunday, April 16th through the 20th and still have space for Monday the 14th.

Weather's slapping me around as if I'd stepped into a mixed-martial arts ring..

Rather just go fishing!

And will. Opening the 10th through the 14th - Thursday to Monday, April '08.

Saturday's weather doesn't look too sporty but south winds seem less predictable.

The weatherman has changed his mind about Sunday. If he's right, the forecasted NE 10 - 15 could make a fine day. Monday might play too.

We'll try it - April 6th and 7th.

Announcing trips to good weather works better when I wait for the forecast to firm up. Figured with all the wind early last week we'd get a break, so risked scheduling out in front of the weatherman.

Only fished 2 out of the 5 days. Friday's 20 to 30 knots of WNW wind had some put off, but we snuck a day out of it. A really good day. One stop shopping again. I'm pretty sure I can count the tog trips on one hand that I didn't have to move - nice when it happens. 67 tags and a rail limit..