April, 2009 Fishing Report -

Thursday, April 30th

The final spring day of togging here in NJ before the season closes, and we haven't even gotten to the best of the fishing yet! Aboard today were Al, Bob, Dennis, Frank, Gene and Matt to give it a go. The air temp. was in the upper 30's this morning, and with mostly cloudy skies, we made it into the 60's on the day, cooler on the ocean. Winds were light out of the East for much of the day, picking up to 10-12 knots out of the Northeast by day's end. Seas were good sized swells in the five foot range, left over from yesterday's blow, with a little chop on top when the wind piped up. The ocean surface temp. fell back to just below 50° F.

While it hasn't been a bad April for togging, it certainly hasn't been the banner fishing we saw last April, and we finished the month off with another kind of "meh" performance. On the day, we landed over 75 tog, but the majority were sub-legal, the keepers are really picking the days they want to bite, I'm thankful we got in a few very good days this month. Sea bass continue their inshore migration, we caught over a dozen on the day, split 50/50 keepers/throwbacks. For the day we had two dozen total fish in the box, mostly tog with some sea bass. Big tog on the day were around 5 pounds.

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Matt was high hook on the day, landing 5 legal sized tog. 3 others had 3 keepers apiece, while Al and Dennis each came up with the BIG GOOSE EGG for keeper tog landed on the day, at least Dennis put a couple of sea bass in the box. As usual, Gene provided the treats on the day, thanks for that.

On to the sea bass for next month, but tog beware! Just because we can't legally land you in NJ doesn't mean we can't catch you!

Capt. Adam

Sunday, April 26th

Another shared togging charter today, Bill, Brian, Dean, Jim, Joe and Mark made up the crew. 70° F. when I walked out my door after 5 am, it was another 92° F. record at Atlantic City Airport this afternoon. We had hardly any wind at all on the ocean, with some type of current that made anchoring manageable. Seas were about as glassy calm as they could be. The ocean surface temp. is now over 50° F., but the bottom remains colder.

The first 4 tog to come over the rail today were all keeper sized and decent fish. One of the next tog hooked was a really good fish that Joe had on, but that one we never got to see, spitting the hook on the way to the surface. After that, we had a series of up and down stops, with a fair bite followed by a stop or two of barely any bites. The results are not surprising for the cold water conditions, but with the season for landing tog coming to a close, it would be nice to see some more aggressively biting tog. But the fishing is good, and the anglers that are working at it are being rewarded, Mark and Brian both caught their limits today.

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Dean, on his first togging expedition (or so he claimed) caught 3 keepers himself, always nice to see new faces in the fishery. Dean's photo with a couple of his tog appears at right. Jim and Joe had 3 keepers apiece, as well, with Jim adding a nice ling to bring the total box of fish to over 20. Again, a beautiful day on the ocean escaping the heat, thanks for fishing aboard the Karen Ann II.

Capt. Adam

Saturday, April 25th

I hosted Alvin, Buck, Jim, John, Tom and Tom for their private charter today. Mother Nature has decided to give us an early taste of summer, as after a 52° F. air temp. when I left the house, we wound up with a record high for this date of 92° F. With little wind on the ocean, it was stuffy offshore, cooling a bit when a few knots of a Southerly kicked in later in the day. Seas were sizable swells in the morning of 3'-4' courtesy of a good bit of South wind overnite, bringing the heat with it. They did fall out as the day progressed. The surface temp. is going to have quite a climb the next few days with this weather, up to 48.9° F., but considerably colder on the bottom.

While we weren't lacking for bites today, the quality of the tog that did bite today was substantially less than what we've experienced on the past few trips. We scratched out a box of 15 fish, with a few sea bass. John was the bright spot of the day, landing his limit of tog along with a couple of the sea bass we kept. The food, as usual, was also a bright spot, and enjoying a nice day on the water instead of cooking inland with the heat wave is certainly nothing about which to complain.

Capt. Adam

Friday, April 24th

Today's shared charter included Bob C., Bob K., Brendan, George, Jeff and Keith. 34° F. to start the morning, and with plenty of sunshine, the air temp. was well into the 60's on land, in the low 50's on the ocean. Winds were light out of the South-Southwest for most of the morning, picking up to 12-13 knots (or more) out of the South as we headed for the dock. Seas were calm with a building chop. The ocean surface temp. on the grounds was 47.7° F.

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The tog catching was pretty good overall today, we had good numbers along with nice size, coming home with a limit tog catch with quite a few 4-7 pound fish. We were playing catch and release by the end of the day. Hard to say whom was high hook, both of the Bob's along with Keith were close to or in double digits for keepers landed (with a number subsequently released). Bob C. definitely gets the honors for big fish of the day, a pretty 7¼ male, his picture appears above left. George was out on one of his first togging trips and gets props for catching a personal best along with his limit, as well. It took Brendan ahwile to get in the game, but in keeping to form, he made a late showing of his tog catching prowess. We also had a bit of showing of some nice sized sea bass inshore, catching a dozen and a half to 2½ pounds. Pretty day on the water with some good fishing, thanks for fishing aboard the Karen Ann II.

Capt. Adam

Sunday, April 19th

Aboard for today's shared charter were Alan and son Michael, Bill, Jim "Legs" and Mike; Jack rounded out the crew. 50° F. to start the morning, and that's right where the mercury stayed all day under a cloudy sky. Winds were out of the East-Northeast at 12-13 knots to start, and had piped up to 15-18 knots by the time we headed for the dock; it was blowing a steady 20 knots by dinner time. Seas were chops of 2' that built higher, I measured a couple of 6' seas on the sounding machine before the day was out. The surface temp. was 46.3° F.

Different day, different fishing. Whereas we caught fish at each stop yesterday, today was either a hit or a miss. The places where they bit, they bit well, better than yesterday. The places where they didn't bite, well, they didn't bite! By day's end, we had nearly doubled yesterday's numbers for total tog caught, but the quality fish did not bite today. We made our 6-person limit, but only a single fish surpassed the 4-5 pound mark today. The majority of the day's keepers were from 14"-16" in length.

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Bill led the way in legal tog landed, with Mike (who landed an 8¼ pound tog, photo at right) trailing by a single fish. Jim "Legs" reeled up his limit on the day, releasing a nice female at day's end with the Captain's assistance. Alan and Michael did well on their first togging trip, each catching a couple of keepers and clearly showing improving skills through the day. Jack got off to a slow start, but contributed to the box by day's end.

Capt. Adam

Saturday, April 18th

After giving the ocean a few days to calm, it was back to the tog grounds today with Dennis Doriety and his party (Bob, Gene, Jack, Joe and Nof). It was a beautiful spring morning, a cool 38° F. with a pretty crescent moon hanging in the sky. Clear skies prevailed, and with a developing Southwesterly flow, the air temp. rose into the upper 70's inland, cooler on the water. Winds were light out of the West to start, building to 13-15 knots out of the Southwest. Seas were a left over swell of a few feet to start, before becoming a chop of the same with the wind. Prior to the chop, the conditions were just right to create quite an effect of mirages on the water for an hour or so. The beach (nearly 8 miles away) looked like it was in the middle of the ocean, and the appearance of breaking waves on it made it look like a tidal wave. A "fog bank" appeared to envelop Atlantic City and make it seem to actually rise off of the ground. A 100' party boat that approached had the appearance of about a 30' vessel. It was rather wacky. On a more concrete note, the ocean water surface temp. was 45.5° F.

It was a very good day to be on the water today, and an even better day to be aboard the Karen Ann II targeting tautog. With very little current and a bright sun, the bigger tog came out to play. We did not have a huge day for total numbers, we caught more keepers than throwbacks on the way to bringing home a limit catch. But the quality of fish that bit today was excellent. Back at the dock, I weighed a baker's dozen of tog weighing in excess of 5 pounds. The day's best hung the scale a hair shy of 13 pounds, and we also had an 8 and a pair of 7's. When you got a bite today, there was a good chance it was from a quality tog.

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Dennis gets to claim king for a day honors as he landed the 13 pounder, a personal best. His picture appears at left. Gene had his sights set on the crown with a personal best 8 pound tog along with another 7 pounder, a darn good day. I was tempted to give him the crown purely on the merits of the wonderful brownies he provides. Just a beautiful day on the water with some beautiful fish, a great day to be fishing aboard the Karen Ann II.

Capt. Adam

Wednesday, April 15th

We've got ourselves a nice spring Nor'easter here at the Jersey Shore to clear the dead wood out of the trees. Coastal waters saw gusts to near 40 knots out of the Northeast, and seas have built to near 18' on the ocean. It will take a couple of days for the ocean to lay down, but we're going to have a stretch of nicer weather into the weekend. Will have an updated report then.

Capt. Adam

Friday, April 10th (Good Friday)

Today aboard the Karen Ann II were Dave, Greg, Jack, Mark and Mike. Sunny skies and 41° F. to start the morning. Despite an earlier threatening forecast, we enjoyed the sun all morning before clouds set in by noon. Skies cleared again late afternoon before clouding up for good ahead of tomorrow's inclement weather. With the sun, the air temp. made it into the upper 50's today, cooler on the water. Winds were light out of the South before picking up to 13-14 knots out of the Southeast as the day progressed. Seas were calm, building to an approx. 3' chop. The ocean surface temp. has made it to 46.5° F.

I really expected a good bite today with tomorrow's approaching weather, the rise in water temp., and the good amount of sun we saw. Alas, it wasn't to be. Some combination of the current running up the beach along with the moon has the tog off the feed locally right now. We got bites everywhere we went (we tried from 50' out to 100'), but a good steady pick never materialized. You typically had to find a good hole to get bites, and that resulted in near instant hang ups, we lost a lot of tackle today. We did catch near 50 total fish on the day, mostly blackfish along with our first spiny dogfish of the season and some cunners. We also caught a handful of sea bass. 10 tog made it into the box along with a couple of the sea bass, we had some fish for everyone that wanted it.

Jack was high hook for keepers on the day, he might have had his limit but released at least one marginal tog. Greg had the season's biggest so far at over 6.5 pounds. Everyone landed at least one keeper.

Thanks for fishing aboard the Karen Ann II. With some not so nice weather coming, we will be tied to the dock for a bit. Wishing everyone a safe Easter weekend.

Capt. Adam

Sunday, April 5th

After winds of gale force (with gusts of near 50 MPH) and snow flurries in the Poconos yesterday, we managed to get back to the fishing grounds with Bruce, Greg, Joe, Ron, Stelli and Tony today. Winds were still strong this morning of around 20 knots out of the Northwest. It was warm, in the mid-40's to start. With sunny skies and decreasing winds (down to under 10 knots and backing to the West by noon), it was quite warm, near 70° F. inland. The wind piped back up out of the Southwest to 13-14 knots for the ride back to the dock, where the wind fell out entirely by the time I left for the day. Seas were in the 4' range in the morning, falling out to just a foot or two, then building again in the afternoon. The ocean surface temp. on the fishing grounds was around 45° F.

Fishing started out as a pick today, but got better as the day progressed with the bright sunshine almost assuredly getting the tog more active. Bites were aggressive on both hard and soft baits, a good sign for the tog fishing in the coming weeks. We came home with a limit catch, and finished the day releasing legal sized tog.

Joe and Stelli duked it out for high hook on the day, with Stelli getting the edge in numbers of tog he personally caught that went in the box. Bruce seemed to forget we were tog fishing today, as he didn't land a keeper sized tog. However, he did land a legal sized fluke, only 6 weeks too early. I'm predicting a good fluke season for Bruce.

Thanks for fishing aboard the Karen Ann II.

Capt. Adam