First off, it’s a good thing I got the new grundens gear, because it was a cold, wet, harsh trip in Virginia Beach out of Rudee inlet this past weekend. It was fun but by far the roughest conditions I’ve ever fished in. Saturday it was blowing 30-35 knots with gusts at 45knots. Gale warnings. Seas were called 6-8 but were easily 8-10. We left at 7am and found some fish around 8:30. By that time we had 9 in the boat. They were in close right on the 3 mile line but down about 10 miles down the beach. We got a call to move to where there were some thick marks and As soon as we got there all 6 rods went down with 7 on, one double header. So we had our limit and hauled ass out of there. We didn’t get that many pics. It was a battle just trying to stand and not go overboard. Usually we drink at least 2- 30 packs. Today I think we managed to finish one beer and about 3 sips of Gatorade. Pretty rough. The next day was a little colder. 12 degrees with the wind chill. Wind was blowing again and we were out for about 2 and a half hours. We marked a ton of bait in close but there was no fish on them. Between the Captains we know there, we covered about 12 miles out and 10 miles down the beach and nothing doing at all, not 1 fish. The boat was covered in ice too. We gave it a shot but with no fish around and the boat covered in ice we figured we’d call it a day.So we brought home some meat and had a blast. A bad day fishing beats a good day working. - Matt King

Brendon Graham caught this 11-10 Blackfish... while fishing on his Grandfather's Boat! Bad Bouy can really produce quality size fish THAT'S FOR SURE! Brandon grabbed a club record with this tog. Beating his Dad's biggest tog ever, Brendon makes his parents proud every time they hit the water. Ceddy was fishing the Garden State South wrecks.All the the fish in the box were between... 7-10 pounders. all on green crab of course.

Here's my report from the same day.....I fished on Chris Mitryc's boat with Jay Sweeney and Rob Lyman..We hit Garden South Reef as well, just a different wreck. our crew brought the blackie's in too, However the size of our fish were a tad smaller. Chris ended up with the largest for the day, about 6pounds or so. The bite was alittle tougher than when I went out with the Mj's. We had to work for it. Check the pic of the eel I got! Should of kept him for Sushi, but I let him go back home. On our way in we saw birds working and fish breaking, Chris put us right on them, The bass were everywhere! I had 4 myself 18-23 pounders. all on the jig. We used hogie plastics on a 3 oz jig head. I had a blast! Great day at sea. I think I like toggin better than fluking now! It's fun. Anyone that has not tried it should hit a party boat and give it a shot! Plus Blackfish meat is way better than any fluke or bass I have ever had!

Ok, these guys had a great Toggin trip! One 12# Pollock, One 9# Bass and about 20 Tautog from 3 to 5#s and about 7 that were 9#s. Jay Sweeney and Chris Mitryc put their Yardley, PA boys on fish for sure! Seth Katz landed the Pollock and Dominic Micali fought the Bass! Great Job Boys! and Thanks Jay for the Tog! Tasty fish, no doubt!

Captain J.W.Davis on the "Let it Fly" charter boat, reported a pretty good trip. 4 Shorts and 2 keppers at 25#s each. He had a couple of run-offs too that could of really been big bass. He was outside the outer bar. Thanks for the report!

Sarah Smith was Fishing with her Father and Grandfather back aroiund Shelter Island. She got this 21-4 Bass all on her own! They were drifting eels.

While Fishing with his PopPop...MARK MIRANDA, 7 got these 2 nice bass!!!! Way to go buddy! They were trolling and jiggin outfront. Total Bass count was 4 for the boat 28"-30" and they had more blues than they could count! Great Day!

We had a great day Togging on the BAD BUOY Saturday. It was non stop drop and reel fishing on every wreck we fished.. The heaviest Tog was over 12 lbs. Approximately 200 tog came over the rail. All but 30 (our five man limit) were released. We fished the Beach Haven Marlin and Tuna Club Wreck Tournament which was held on this date and took 1st and 3rd places in the Tautog Division. Twelve year old Marlyn Graham weighed in her heaviest two fish for the Clubs Junior Angler Annual year long contest which put her in 1st and 2nd. places. All fish were caught on green crabs.

I fished today with an amazing crew on a well known tournament winning boat the "MJs". Captain Michael Yocco. Left the dock out of Forked River at 6am. Sun was coming up as we were getting into the ocean. Both sides of the inlet were blitzing! Birds,bass and blues everywhere! But we had a misson and that was to find and catch Tautog! We ran south, anchored up on some wrecks and went to town. Non Stop action! I had the biggest for alittle bit at 6.4 for like an hour of so. Then KilSong took that title away from me, his was about 9.5. We had 5 anglers and the cappy and the total count of Tautog at the end of the trip was 31! On the way in we hit Harvey Cedars Lump for some Jigging, What KilSong and Dante are known for! Everyone brought in fish...bass, blues and unfortunately Spinny Dogs(not a fan!) I just got Hogy's shop, they work great! Looks so real in the water. a Monumental trip for me! Tautog fishing does take some finesse and technique, but once you get that down. You catch, you really catch! Check out the pictures!

BHM&TC WRECK TOURNAMENT

7 Boats, 27 Anglers

WINNERS

TAUTOG:

• 1ST Place: Ced Vohden on the Bad Buoy---------------12.14 lbs.
• 2nd Place: Mike Schwarzwalder on the Legal Limit--- 9.36 lbs.
• 3rd Place: Brendan Graham on the Bad Buoy-----------8.08 lbs.

SEA BASS:

• 1ST Place: Mark Zoldaz on the Real Cranky-------------1.14 lbs.
• 2nd Place: Jamie DeMaio on the Reel Cranky-------------.98 lbs.
• 3rd Place: Rick Vohden on the Reel Cranky---------------.98 lbs.

COD FISH:

• There were no Cod Fish weighed.

Dan Sweeny caught a nice 21lb Bass in Beach haven Bay between buoy marker 113 and 115. Nice fish Dan!

Andrew Kappler of SBO had several bass to 20lbs drifting clams in Little egg inlet. Congrats Andrew.

Shell derby report and results:

Top Fish

• Rugby 40-2
• Outcast 38-3
• XYZ 34-55
• Bite Me 34-25
• Local Only 33-80
• Eyesore 32-65
• Donuts 32-65
• Grinder 31-40
• Pat and Joe 31-30
• Lucky Stripes 30-70

I fished with Pop Arnold and Danny Arnold on the Triple Trouble. a 30 ft Century. They finally broke their 14 year curse of not having a bass to weigh in for the Derby! We first drifted by 113 with eels. First drift and the first time Danny used his NEW Lami tri-flex with a Penn 965. First time the braid got wet , he landed a 25 pound Fattie! Now that's the stuff dreams are made of! Then we anchored and clammed for the next couple hours, shucking a Bushel of Clams paid off! The next pandemonium on the deck was Dad's Bass, It slammed the bait so hard it almost knocked the rod outta his hand! This 15# bass took the longest to bring in he was fighting the outgoing current. Good fight. We placed 21st. outta like 83 or so fish. We were very pleased and look forward to next year!

Thank You to all at the Shell for their hard work orchestrating a 3 day fishing event! It really is a great time and brings our community together,even if you don't fish.