Intruder Fishing Reports

September 8th

We had the David Kusel Insurance Co. out for an overnighter on friday. Arriving at the west wall around 4 pm, we started trolling and put 1 longfin in the box before setting up for the night. I wanted to set up on the west wall but after looking around for a few hours, the party that night was at the 100 square. We drifted outside the fleet in 680 ft,75 degree water and had some nice yellowfins in the 70-80 lbs range. We went 5 for 8 on yellowfins for the night using live squid for bait and trolled up the east wall at first light. Two miles inside the tip, what we thought was a BlueMarlin hits an Intruder Bar and Dave the Insurance King had a nice battle/air show with a stubborn "Blue". Turns out it was actually a big white which we released around. It was estimated around 140 lbs. We were looking for some Swordfish and the bite was on, many boats reported a pick of yellowfins thru the night and lots of Swords boated. A few in the 200 lb class. Overall a Great overnighter in the Husdson with flat calm seas.

October 27-28

Capt. Mark took advantage of the small weather window on Thursday/Friday and made the run to the edge. Leaving from Barnegat, He had the choice of going south to the Wilmington/Baltimore area or north to the Hudson/Dip area. With no recent sat shots , He made the decision to run to the SW corner of the Hudson and look around from there. About 20 miles from the edge, Mark spoke to Adam Larosa and he informed him the one boat that fished the night before had been to the Wilmington/Baltimore area and had not had a bite. As he approached the edge, the temp hovered around 59 degrees. Glancing away from the temp gauge for just a moment, he was surprised to see 66.7 degrees on the gauge when he looked up . They were sitting on a 7.5 degree break pushed right up against the 100 fathom line. They read fish right away , but we could not get a bite going. The weather was surprisingly good for the night with winds around 5 kts, so they drifted. They managed 2 swords for the night , both in the 100 lb class. They kept one and another one released itself at boatside. They also had a few blue dogs and a few mystery bites. During the night, 8 headboats joined them in a very small area. Once the sun came up, they caught 2 longfin on jigs and 2 nice mahi on the chunk. They packed it in around 10:30 am and had a nice ride home. All in all , fishing was slow for everyone, with the headboats getting 5-8 fish each. There were a few bluefin mixed in with the longfin. Not what the fishing should be in late October. The good news is that there is still plenty of warm water pushing in from the east and the longliners out there are doing well. We hope to get a few more shots before its all over ...

October 1-3

The Intruder had back to back trips this weekend. I had the Billy Black charter from Manahawkin out to the Spencer early Saturday. The afternoon troll produced 6 good sized longfin. The chunk bite was slow and only produced a swordfish. Capt Ken was back out again sunday and went to the hudson. It seems the bite had shut down at the hudson and he ended up with 1 longfin on the chunk, and 2 on the troll.

On Sunday we had Joe OBrien and friends from New Hope, PA. We headed to the Hudson Canyon after the slow night in the Spencer. One longfin Albacore on the chunk and 2 longfin on the troll in the morning. There were at least 5 Squid boats around us on the east wall but no yellowfins. I heard that the bite turned on again in the Spencer. All in all a tough double trip.

September 9-10

Capt Kevin Wagner from Freeport NY and Desire Sportfishing Fame, (Fishdesire.com) ran the Intruder to the Toms Canyon arriving at 3 pm and trolled for 4 hours in heavy weeds before setting up for the night around 9 pm, due to the slow troll bite. The 3 man charter had a pick of yellowfins in the 60 lb range through the night and 2 longfins. Most of the fish were caught on live squid and 2 on 12 oz diamond jigs. They boated 8 tuna for the table and released a few in very calm seas. Sorry, we left the camera at the dock. We still have some open dates for overnighters.

The team fished Mako Mania out of Pt. Pleasant, N.J. Day one they battled hoards of bluefish for the whole day. The next day they took it a notch south to some other structure. At about 10am they had a 200+ class mako near the boat within minutes only to have him spit the bait. Shortly after we had another run off. This time Captain Ken took the rod and for a few minutes we thought it was the one we had lost earlier. The the fish took to the sky and we could see she was a good fish
An hour later she was boatside and the gaff was sunk. Back at the scale the mako dialed in at 297 which was enough to put them in the lead. Finally at 7:PM the wait was over and the Intruder Fishing Team took First Prize!

After watching the warm water eddy to the east for quite some time, Capt. Mark decided it was time to go. He quickly rounded up a crew of "Desire" regulars and Captains Brian and Jason from the Intruder crew. A bumpy 115 mile ride due east of Barnegat found us sitting on a huge temperature break at 500 fathoms of the Dip. Setting out the spread, we did not even have all the lines in before a nice bluefin crashes a green machine and the first tuna of 2005 comes aboard. We worked that area for a few hours of non stop action with bluefin up to 45lbs. With it getting late in the day, we decided to troll east , hoping to find some larger fish. We picked another few fish in small area SE of the Fishtails in 200 fathoms just before dark and decided to set up there for the night. We set up for shark and swords and over the chum goes. A few blue sharks kept the crew interested until about 1am when we had a solid hook up with a better fish. After 40 minutes or so we had the spectra back on the reel and knew we were close. Moments later a 400lb+ mako shows up off the starboard corner. We leader the fish and get two shots at the beast with the harpoon , but the dart pulls out and the fish is set free. The rest of the night was uneventful. Back on the troll in the am , we pick some more bluefin before calling it day at 11am. Final tally is 26 bluefin (25 released) and 1 near miss with a trophy Mako .. a very successful trip in my books ..

On Sunday the Intruder ran to the 28 Mile Wreck to attempt an early season Shark trip wth Captains Brian and Jason. We were covered up with Spiny Dogfish the entire day. No signs of any Mako or Blue Sharks in the 52 degree water. There were so many Dogfish, they were beating the Bluefish to the baits.

On Saturday we teamed with with Capt Bart on the Mistress Too for some Big Flounder. My brother Art, Al Colin and I kept 15 jumbo flounder, 2 were 8 lbs each and released another 20 shorts under 17.5 inches in 4 hours of fishing the south side. The brisk Noreaster and accasional 7 footer had us call it a day around noon. The bite just turned on this week which is about 3 weeks late due to the 48 degreewater. We have another trip this weekend.