WEll after heading out this morning with a front coming in and winds of 15-25 knots the day turned out pretty decent.  WAter temp was roughly 70 degrees and the target species was the bottom dwelling Fluke.
After ruling out the ocean due to the weather we decided to stay in the protected area of Merrick bay.  IT looked like we would get skunked but we didnt (sort of)  
I missed 3 hits on the first drift but Roger managed to reel one in to make up for my incompetence.  The next few drifts were a fish here or there due to the quick speed we were moving.  The weather didnt help out because the low pressure makes the fishs gas bladders inflate and causes them to take on a less aggressive feeding stance.
All in all we had about a dozen or so fluke but none of them were the legal size limit.  These were the smallest fluke I have seen this season with the fish averageing 11-14" instead of the usual ones that are just shy of the legal limit.
Hopefully some better reports in the coming weeks

I miss my boat [>(], why didn't you guys talk me out of selling it???? I have a feeling I am going to be walking around Freeport looking for one soon, like tomorrow.

go to Frank Hunter at the Very end of the Nautical mile in freeport.  Hell of a nice guy and he had a few decent looking used boats. (No Bayliners though )

Frank let me know if ur serious , will bring u to my guy

7/18 No Hoplite today, pussied out on me

hit the ocean for 12 fluke 3 keepers
1 huge skate and a monster sandshark

How come you don't like Bayliners,  I loved mine. I just did not use it a lot. But now that it's gone I miss her.

Bayliner = Hesse

Quoted: Bayliner = Hesse

Thats what I hear, it's too bad because they are REALLY nice looking boats!

BTW, heads up. The fish are starting to move around a little. If you haven't hit any blues yet then you should start hitting them now down on the south shore.

All the fish are small in general this year because of the absence of SQUID, which is the bottom of the food chain for a lot of LI species. I have had less then 1000 lbs of fresh squid on my wholesale stand in the past 3 months! Just to give you an idea, we typically sell 1000 lbs a day! Cold water temps are thought to be the cause of the lack of fish and their movement.

Quoted: Quoted: Bayliner = Hesse Thats what I hear, it's too bad because they are REALLY nice looking boats! BTW, heads up. The fish are starting to move around a little. If you haven't hit any blues yet then you should start hitting them now down on the south shore. All the fish are small in general this year because of the absence of SQUID, which is the bottom of the food chain for a lot of LI species. I have had less then 1000 lbs of fresh squid on my wholesale stand in the past 3 months! Just to give you an idea, we typically sell 1000 lbs a day! Cold water temps are thought to be the cause of the lack of fish and their movement.

where is most of the squid come from?  a lot of the bait packaged stuff is marked cape may NJ

The stuff from Cape May is probably a year old, nothing wrong with that. It could be local squid (NJ, NY, RI, CT) or most likely from Peru.

BTW, the Cape May stuff comes from Lunds Fisheries. The place has an automated freezing facility that can sort, package and freeze hundreds of thousands of pounds of fish a day. Its really cool. Their biggest product right now is sea scallops. I buy a measly 6-700 pounds a week from them but they say that they are packing up to 100,000 pounds a day! I can't believe it but they are all shucked by hand!

about 1 dozen fluke and close to that # in sea robins today.  was in about 50 feet of water drifting squid/spearing combos.  tried for stripers but got nothing on the troll

Got out a little after 0800 today. Still no weaks in the mouth of the canal. (in Massapequa) Beginning to think they will not be here this year at all. Tried for fluke with term. rigs, spearing etc. at West Is., 2nd Wantagh, Haunts, JB piers, 3rd Wantagh, Mass Cove and just had a Sea Robin to show for it! Decided to try one more stop before giving up and went back to general area where I started. Crabs (hope they weren't keeper fluke!) were picking away at my wind against tide offerings, so I picked up my silvery Creek Chub rattlin' popper, one cast, and a 26" plus blue made my day. Took me at least 5 minutes to boat him. 2 more very slow drifts followed with 2 stripers, about 22 to 24" each. A little boat traffic and no more fishies, but it was worth putting up with what I thought was becoming nasty weather, considering the dream the forecasters had come up with. Cloudy and a SE wind and I dressed to work on my tan! Couldn't help but realize again how much pound for pound a bluefish outfights ANYTHING.