November 4-5, 2006 - Big Bass Open - South Jersey Marina

Team Young Guns headed out early Saturday morning into a stiff NW wind at 15-20 knots with the seas 3-4 ft. Making a run in those conditions was not an option so we decided to work the lower bay area. Our first spot was a little slow with only a couple of small fish and we had some reports of decent size fish caught in the south of us so we just slid down a couple of miles to fish out the rest of the day hoping to take something to the scales. We were able to put a 18 pounder in the boat but with the board already filled with a 57 pounder, a couple of 40's and plenty of 30's...we knew our chances would be slim to even place in this tournament.

On Sunday mother nature cooperated and gave us a light breeze and calm seas so we decided to make a longer run. Our first spot failed to yield the results we were looking for so we set back up just a bit south of that off of some structure where we fished previously on the outgoing tide. There were a few boats in the area but the action seemed slow. We continued to chunk away hoping for a decent fish and around noon during mid tide with a strong current, the starboard rod went running.

I took the slack out and set the hook and the game was on. The fish initially took about a 100 yard run and any time I tried to turn her head or put pressure on her, she only took more line. It was a stand still for a bit with the fish far away from the boat and down deep just hanging in that fast current. We still could not get her to the surface. She was about 20 ft down she took me back and forth behind the engines at least a half a dozen times, but the fish still remained down. I finally tried some short stroke power pumps to get her to the surface and when she finally did, the whole crew was speechless at the sight.

Next problem...how to get her in the net. The current was still ripping and the fish was not tired. She surfaced a few times before my captain had a decent shot at her with the net. He took the first chance he had to get the net underneath her, but had to lunge and almost went in the drink to ensure that the fish would not get away...what a relief when she finally plopped into the bottom of the net and we got her in the boat...even bigger than we thought.

She measured 51.5 inches and had a 30 inch girth. We packed her on ice and headed to the scales hoping for a heavy number. All of us were thrilled when she tipped the scales at 52.8 lbs to put us third place overall for the tournament.

A special thanks to the Riverfront Marina Team...This one was for you!

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September 9, 2006 - Liberty Landing Marina, Jersey City, NJ

The fall striper bite was not yet on and the local reports were grim. With most of the bait still in the backwaters and the water temps not that cold yet, Young Guns decided to work our way up the East River. We jigged some areas of structure with rips not too far up the river but were unable to get away from the bluefish. We continued to work our way up the river toward the Long Island Sound. We worked one point, casting plugs and jigs in the but no takers so we continued on to drag some spoons and umbrella rigs in the Long Island Sound.

The action was slow everywhere and we knew we were going to have to work hard to put a qualifying striper in the boat. No luck in the sound...our time and options were running out. Our final efforts were going to concentrate on the area where we started, back down the East river. There were to be no bass had for the Young Guns today.

We'll have to get'em next time. Out of a 40 boat fleet, only 15 boats caught any qualifying stripers. Hopefully the timing of next year's tournament will coincide with a hotter bite.

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