Catch of The Week

MR Charters 82lb Cobia

Details: Category: Great Catches; Published: Friday, 31 August 2012 08:23; Hits: 11010

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Captain Rich went back for some inshore yellowfin with Jimmy and Steve Wednesday night after having 2 nice fish last week on the night chunk. Things started off a little slow with trying to get live squid.. They manged to get some bait and sent them down.

Around 1:AM they were hooked up to what they thought was a brown shark with a cobia following him to the boat, then when they got him close to the boat they knew they had a big cobia on the line. Capt. Rich hit him with a gaff shot but the fish was able to pull out of it bending the gaff hook, Capt. Rich got a second shot and the fish went nuts. It took two of them to get him in the boat.

After having the fish weighed on a certified scale he topped out at 82lbs...just 5 pounds short of the state record.

82 lb Cobia

Matthew Ruggiero 18.5" 3.42 Lb Blow Fish

Details: Category: Great Catches; Published: Saturday, 21 July 2012 10:29; Written by Bob Maehrlein; Hits: 13290

matthews blow fish Congratulations to Matthew Ruggiero, age 7, for his fine catch of this smooth puffer fish! Young Matthew was fishing with his mom, dad and older brother Nico this past Wednesday, July 18 on their boat “Hook’m & Book’m”.

The family was fishing Barnegat Bay, near Waretown.   As Dad was cutting up the squid, and Mom and Nico were fishing off the stern, something big took Matthew’s bait. According to Matthew’s mom, Nicole, “Matthew gets hooked up and starts yelling, ‘It’s a big one!’ The line was pulling very fast and his drag was screaming!”

Once the fish was finally brought to the surface, and they realized how big it actually was, Dad reached for the net and expertly scooped it up.   “We couldn’t believe the size of the fish!” exclaimed Nicole.

It taped out at 18 1/2 inches and pushed the needle on the scale at L&H Bait and Tackle to 3.42 pounds.   At first, they thought they might have had a record blowfish, a.k.a. northern puffer. However, upon closer examination, it was determined to be a smooth puffer. To which Nicole remarked, “Not a state record, but pretty big!”

Just one look at the picture of the smiling, young Matthew holding his prize catch will tell you he agrees wholeheartedly!

5 Year Old Jack Rice. First Bluefin Tuna

Details: Category: Great Catches; Published: Wednesday, 18 July 2012 17:15; Hits: 10602

jacks first tuna The Jersey Devil headed offshore to the blue fin grounds at 0400 this past Saturday with Stevie, Paul, John, and Chris with Stevie, Paul, John, Chris and Captain Brian's 5 year old son Jack. After a sloppy ride out they arrived on the grounds just after 0600

Lines in and the first tuna hit the deck at 0700. The troll produced a few more bites but none came tight. After many long hours of trolling a call was made from Captain Freddy of the Andreas Toy to run down 13 miles to the SE as he was on the fish!!!!! Upon arrival the signs of life were all there so the guys started jigging to no avail trying to get Jack his first tuna. Buddy on the "Prime Coat" hooked up as the boats were getting ready to head in at 1600. So with that Captain Brian made a call to Captain Chris on the "Chicken of the Sea" and with that he calls the "Devil" into a good bite!!!! Out goes the baits and uncle Stevie hooks up Jack's tuna!!!! Jack got on the reel and never gave up and got him to the boat and to the gaff done by his father Captain Brian.

The team work and perseverance by the crew and the networking really paid off for the Jersey Devil on a true day to remember!!!!!!

Egg Harbor Township father-son duo hooks 17.5-pound flounder

Details: Category: Great Catches; Published: Tuesday, 19 June 2012 17:33; Written by MIKE SHEPHERD Press of Atlantic City.; Hits: 15722

17lb fluke One of the largest flounder ever caught "other than boat" in the state may have been in Absecon Inlet on Sunday afternoon. Phil Todd was urged by his 10-year-old son, Phil "P.J." Todd, to take him on a Father's Day fishing outing.

It sure turned into a celebration when the 42-year-old Todd hooked into a 17-pound flounder. Curt Riccardi measured it at a full 3 feet in length at Offshore Enterprises tackle shop in Atlantic City. Todd said he and his son first tried the beach in front of Harrah's Resort and Golden Nugget Atlan-tic City but did not do anything there. So Todd drove over to the area between the William "Bill" Demones Jr. Atlantic City Seawall Fishing Complex and the end of the old Atlantic City Boardwalk. Just after noon, Todd rigged a big minnow, cast it out about 40 feet off the bank and rocks there, and the doormat was taken in by the old "big bait, big fish" trick.

"She was beat," Todd said of the fish when he got it on land.

Todd moved from Cape Cod, Mass., to Egg Harbor Township in January 2000. He owns Phencemen, a fencing company with headquarters in Absecon. He fished in Cape Cod, where his biggest fish ever was a 34-pound striped bass. He said that since he started the business he has less time to go fishing. So when his son started to talk about it, he thought it was a great idea, and that's just what it turned out to be.

Read More Here At Press of Atlantic City.com