RFA-NJ 4th Annual Fluke / Seabass Fish A Thon Trip

[LeftyReeler]

Dales and Fran thanks again for putting together a great day of laughs and fun even though the fishing wasn't the greatest but low and behold we still managed to bust chops all day in the stern. Congrats again to all the wins, I ended the day with three nice keepers and an open boat on my man Gansta Freddy's Andreas Toy. Also won a thirst and my boy flanagan won a open monger trip.

Few things worth mentioning, first Doug sorry to hear about your hand bro lucky your alive to be honest, but I wanted to let you know that crab you mistakened the other week could have been a turtle...(still funny) as I actually did see a sea turtle out there and also a jimmy swimming by, and there is no way you could mistaken the two.. Hopefully that spill you just took cleans up your eyesight.

Jonny tomatoes might have the sexiest pair of star wars storm trooper boots I have ever seen, Shrimp and i had the soundtrack going (dun dun dena dun de dun dun de dun) and I swear I thought the Evil Emporer was going to come out of the wheel house... Pics to follow

Tropics thanks for the Cuban, nothing better than cigar and a buttered bagel for breakfast.

Fran actually caught a keeper today, it went in my cooler, and also caught quite a sizable bluefish as well, but after that I'm certain he didn't wet a line the rest of the day.

I've never targeted Ling with buck tails before but I'm sure at one point we were all fishing for them whether we knew it or not.

Shrimps thanks again for bringing the trusty satellite tunes, I swear if we didn't have that radio there might have Been a coup on the boat...

Gents although the turnout wasn't the greatest and the fishing well... Vinny coved that already, I still manage to have a blast on these trips rockin out to tunes, smoking some stoagies and busting horns all day.. Really no other way id rather spend an afternoon than with such a pleasant group of fishermen..

Thanks again for everything the Rfa does for us and you can bet you will have my continued support..

[Mikey topaz]

Fran and dave id like to thank u guys i think you guys did a hell of a job arranging and setting up this trip its alot of work as we all know. I mean 90bucks for trip plentey of fishing room,food,tip,and a great time and laughs,and a chance for wonderful raffle prizes com'on cant beat it ! Slow day with the boat constantly moving evrey five mins. would have deffinetly liked wen i got done tying my ling set up to hit bottom before capt. blew the horn to move. owell i got the pool fish with one other fluke and some sea biscuts and had a blast, looking forward to fishing with all u guys.

[hofnodinstructor]

Thanks RFA guys for putting on the trip. Vinnys and Sams comments were absolutely on point. Seems like every time we started to catch fish the horn went off and we were moving again. If this is the way the Star runs charters they should be tied up at the dock for the rest of the summer. Send the Capt. up to Waterway-I'm sure he could do a good job ferrying people across the Hudson River! I will definitely enjoy the trip on the Touch I won today--the only bright spot we had all day.

[tropics]

Thanks Capt. Fran, Dave for setting this trip up. I couldn't agree more with the comments that were made, I was disappointed with the boat ride, I really thought we were going to see the Statue of Liberty.
I was able to box 4 keepers, had lots of shorts, lots of laughs fishing my my buddy Fin Reaper.Congrats to every one that one any of the raffles, I won a set of custom T shirts.
Mikey congrats on the pool.
Ron thanks for the Bagels they were good.Look forward to fishing with all of you again. Also enjoyed meeting some new people.
Thanks to the mates Joe and Rick

[dales529]

We cant THANK you guys enough for the continued and solid support of RFA-NJ. There is no other group of fishermen I could think of spending THAT kind of day with than the crew assembled on this trip. It seems no matter what is tried, either the weather, fishing or boat gods never seem to align for us on the day of the trip but yet somehow these trips are always a success in my mind due to YOU. Lots of fun , laughs, some fish caught (actually more than I thought when the cleaning station got going) and if nothing else some great "Karma" with who won the raffle prizes.

The positive:
Some nice fish were caught and congrats to Mikey on the Pool, Lefty with a couple of nice keepers, Tropics and Fin Reaper with some quality fish. Fishing with Vinnie, Shrimpman, Lefty, Johnny T, Billy, Gerry and Joe Z, Jimmy Madman, Mikey Topaz, Jimmy Live Bait etc around the back of the boat was worth the price of adnmission alone.
Hey and FRAN broke his northern waters PB "Fluke" Cherry with some keepers, (thats right Fran caught keepers).

Also great hanging with Long time supporters Kurtis B and brother Mark, Larry Hartattack, Sam the one and ONLY Sinkerman, Mark (Quanman) and great meeting OasisTony S, Big CC Fishteacher and the other new faces. As stated we couldnt have asked for a better crew.

The other stuff:
As Vinnie stated we had strong crew of known pullers who deserved a better chance to show their stuff. I am sorry you didnt get that chance.
I will say that it appeared to be a tough day all around for most of the fleet out there and it was one of those days where I guess you either had to:
A) Stick with the "short" life and hope for the occasional "big" Inshore game.
B) Commit to the "deep water" 60-75 feet plan and take what was available and accept the conditions.
C) I learned its possible that having a Plan B isnt always the best choice. Either there was a lack of communication on my part or a lack of commitment to what I thought was the game plan but that will be handled "Off" the board and in private with the Captain.
D) I will no longer be picking the date or the boat for the trips

Again THANKS to all of YOU. After the work that goes into these trips it always seems worth it after spending the day on the water with you guys even if the fishing doesnt always co operate.

If we decide to run another trip this year I hope you all will stick with us and return once more for another shot at the fish. Good luck to all of you for the rest of the season.

[hartattack]

Great RFA trip again - it's always a blast !

Highlight for me was seeing a free swimming Mako (< 100 lbs) when we finally made an off-shore drift. Would've been interesting to toss my offerings to him, but the Captain moved the boat AGAIN.

[shrimpman steve]

it's all been said. Dave and capt. fran did a fantastic job setting this trip up! My thanks to them. Also thanks to ALL the sponsors who donated prizes that I didn't win.

Now for the fishing, all I can say is, if not for the company, I wish I was home with a broken hand because I fell off a roof! A plan was set prior, and thrown out the window the minute we left the inlet. 35 peeps, 100 fishing rods, and high expectations. The captain treated us like a boat full of tourists! Not once did the captain alternate the drift, no matter how many times we yelled at him. We were told the boat wont drift well in the NW wind if he alternated. I can understand this if he tried once or twice, but he did not. I was under the boat all day. Number two, we ALL wanted to fish the rocks in 50 or so feet. we spent the morning in 25 feet of water right off the beach, this was not a half day trip with googans, we were all ready with spare bucktails and lead to fish the deep stuff, but I guess the captain figured we were not good enough.

I am not in the business to trash talk any captain, but truth in reporting stands, good, bad, or ugly! I have not fished a "jamaica" boat in 10 years, and probably won't for another 10. Now to keep the truth in reporting, I had 0 keepers and only a hand full of shorts, but this is NOT sour grapes. This capt. did not show his face once on deck, moved the boat like clockwork for no reason (it's not like he was alternating the drift) every 10 minutes. and when we finally begged him to take us offshore a bit, he blew right through the fleet and took us to the flemish cap where we started to pick at ling. He finally found the fish in 50 feet of water at the end of the day, where we should have been all day.

With all that said, the company and laughs could not be beat! Always a pleasure fishing with all of you and the RFA trips can count on my support for the future!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Thanks Fran and Dave again for setting this up and for all the 2 of you do in supporting our rights to fish.

[snapperbluefish101]

Glad it was a successful trip for the most part. I hope to join you guys next year. I would like to show my support.

SNAPPERHEAD

[Fin Reaper]

Oh...BTW, the food was great and the donated prizes were first rate as well but I must have had the same numbers as Shrimpman
Thanks again to Dales and Fran and everyone else who set this up!!! I will be on the next one