NJ fishing reports

[RobboNJ]

I'm curious, obviously you carry enough fuel to run to the Canyon. How much of your 250 gallon capacity do you use on the trip? I have 207 gallons on my Sailfish, and am skeptical if I can make the run and still make it back. I run out of Barnegat Light.

 

[SkunkBoat]

I average 1.5 -1.6 mpg on a typical Hudson canyon trip. Generally I'm burning less than 180 gals. It can be done on 150 gals. I'm generally not going directly there or directly home. Stops at Resor, AP, Texas Tower, Glory hole pots or Chicken canyon pots. Sometimes we go to the Toms Canyon.

Hudson tip from BI (not your dock) is 86 miles(statute). West Wall would be 100 miles. You can start at the tip and troll pots to the west wall and save gas.

If you have 4 strokes you probably have the range. From BI you are roughly 90 miles from any canyon..Hudson, Toms, Lindenkohl, Spencer, Wilmington.
Lots of great stuff short of those to stop at. Don't have to go to the canyon to catch tuna and mahi.
Start working your way out. Get your boat geared up. Pick a FLAT day/All Day forecast.
Have fallback plans to shorter spots. Make the run if the forecast pans out. Don't overstay your welcome.

 

[RobboNJ]

Thanks for the information, and the advice! I'm running twin Yamaha 250s, 4 strokes (2008). I haven't nailed down my exact mileage, but it is in 1 to 2 mpg range, and probably less than 2. I am working my way eastward already, havng gone to the inshore reefs, and then out to the Barnegat Ridge. Will probably go a bit further east this month. Then again, it depends upon the weather and the fishing! Thanks again.

 

[SkunkBoat]

I checked the Garmin from that last trip. We had filled tanks and reset trip. We went fluking after gassing. That was 10 miles. 230 miles on the Trip meter/136 gallons burned
Avg 1.7mpg

 

[SkunkBoat]

Did an overnighter to Hudson Canyon. Caught a bunch of daytime mahi on pots and a weed line. We got nothing overnight. It was slow for everyone. Just a single bigeye, couple yft and a longfin reported over radio. Lots of moaning... Morning caught a few more mahi. Guy next to us trolled up a small blue marlin.
We started tilefishing. Handcranked up 14 from 500 feet. Limit was 16 but we couldn't crank another one. We reached "our" limit. Charter boat next to us was tilefishing. 300 pound mako ate one near the boat and went airbourne.
Tried the NOAA 44066 buoy on the way in looking for a big mahi. It was covered in skipjacks and blackfin tuna. Never saw blackfins up here before. They make a nice plate of sushi. Got more mahi coming in thru Chicken canyon

 

[RobboNJ]

Skunk, that's a nce trip! I was at the North Ridge on Friday for a few hours and caught one spanish mackerel. Tracked my gas usage and it looks like I'm getting 1.5mpg when crusing at 3600 - 3800 rpm, which is about 21knots.

 

[SkunkBoat]

With those motors I'd be very surprised if you can't get 1.5 mpg at 30-33 mph. 21 knts is too slow to make canyon runs. That would add an hour each way.
Do you have fuel sensors connected to an MFD? With my Garmin it will tell me my RANGE at the current speed.

 

[RobboNJ]

I have Raymarine electronics and just found the "page" where it shows distance travelled and fuel usage. However, I have to wait for my next fueling to reset the page so it can calculate MPG. I can get up to 30 MPH, probably around 4800 RPM, but the fuel consumption starts climbing fast as soon as I cross over 4000rpm.

 

[SkunkBoat]

I have Raymarine electronics and just found the "page" where it shows distance travelled and fuel usage. However, I have to wait for my next fueling to reset the page so it can calculate MPG. I can get up to 30 MPH, probably around 4800 RPM, but the fuel consumption starts climbing fast as soon as I cross over 4000rpm.

You have been looking at GPH? GPH goes up but you are travelling more distance in the same time. Forget about GPH. You care about how far you can go not how many hours you can run. Let the Raymarine calculate MPG and Range in real time.
Play with throttle and trim and find the sweet spot for MPG.
From what I've heard from guys here describing their twin F250s on similar or bigger hulls, you should be easily running 30mph at 1.5 mpg or better

 

[RobboNJ]

This is going to take a full tank of gas and a week or two to figure out. Thanks for your advice and I'll get back to you once I have more data. In the mean time, good fishing!

 

[RobboNJ]

I found the Performance Data from Yamaha for a 282 Sailfish with twin four stroke 250s. Looks like you were right, I should be able to run at 4000 RPM which is about 31 MPH and get 1.85 MPG. Of course these numbers are obtained in "optimum conditions", which I assume mean a smooth body of water and a clean hull. My hull is pretty clean (painted in the spring but kept in a slip all season) but the ocean is never "smooth". Still, looks like I should get close to the 1.5 MPG. More to come once I get some metrics from my electronics.

 

[paydaze77]

Anyone get any credit reports recently

 

[SkunkBoat]

Re-opening day seabass today. We only got 15 keepers with 4 anglers at Shark River reef. Inshore spots were all small fish. Finished the day at the Arundo We caught zero ling there! nothing but small bluefish and a nice weakfish.

 

[RobboNJ]

I was at the Garden State North reef yesterday and was on top of all sorts of black sea bass. Caught 6 keepers and probably tossed back another 12 shorts. Also caught two small blue fish and one tiny fluke, which were tossed back as well. Good to be out on the ocean again after the last week of rain, wind, flooding and rough surf..

 

[SkunkBoat]

This morning on Mantoloking beach. 5 bass over 40" and a bunch of misses. Humpback whale eating bunker between the boats.

 

[RobboNJ]

Skunk, those are some great fish! Can I ask you what type of lure or bait you were using? We had bunker all over the place off our beach (Barnegat Light) yeterday and today, along with dolphin and a whale further out (I could only see its spout). I tried surf casting with poppers, yo-zuri minnow, sand eel lures and other lures but no luck.

 

[SkunkBoat]

snag bunker and then liveline them on a circle hook

 

[RobboNJ]

Thanks!

 

[SkunkBoat]

 

[SkunkBoat]

Another beautiful morning at Mantoloking. Stripers and a Humpback gorging on bunker
This time I got some GoPro video.