“Not sure how were going to top this one!” – Matt Williams NJ Chapter Coordinator

HOW NJ event at Coast Guard station No.1 Sandy Hook NJ is to date the largest # of both veterans and volunteers participating at one time in an event. A special thanks to the US Coast Guard Auxiliary and David Guzman for hosting us. David gave me a tour of parts of the facility also showed me 3 of the boats that are currently stationed there. After Hurricane Sandy the CG Cutters were relocated to the NY command center which remained operational as it was not completely shut down by the storm as CG Station No.1 Lost its floating concrete piers where the cutters moored.

David also showed me a display within the CG operations building which had old lighthouse lenses which were serviced by the coast guard years ago. He told me why portions of the lenses were chipped because as the lens was being cleaned the large belt buckles the CG used to wear would bang against the glass therefore chipping it. over time. Pretty neat.

Anyway back to the outing.

When i arrived at 0700 the CG Aux was manning the gate to let us onto the station grounds. My job on this one was video and photo for a chapter video. It was a cool overcast morning looking like rain at any minute. A few areas across the bay were getting rain.

Pretty soon after that Capt. Jim arrived with the kayak trailer. I set up for recording using my tripod and Gopro and the other Gopro on pan time lapse.  Once everything was set up we had a captains meeting and then awaited all of the vets arrival.

Once everyone was signed in and had their PFD Rickey presented his on the water safety demonstration. Paired off with their guides for the day they paddled away. At this point i unloaded my yak mounted my cams and went out as camera and refreshment boat!. I tried to get as much video and still photos of everyone but those that were not in the fleet i was unable to get their photos. Overall looks like i captured some pretty cool shots. 

The wind started around noon time and it was a strong east wind so pretty much everyone went in for lunch at this time. I saw a few nice fluke caught out there. Apparently there were many fish caught and nice sized fish too. Couple nice weakfish and a few nice fluke!.

Lunch was nice! Burgers dogs and sides!

Thanks to Capt. Jim for being the Event Coordinator!

Check out the photo flip of our group picture!

Got my day started at 0500 for the third HOW outing of the year located at Bayshore Waterfront Park in Port Monmouth NJ. All loaded up i disembarked to the Tackle US tackle shop. Arrived there around 6:15 and they were closed. Odd for a tackle shop not to be open at 6:00.  Ended up meeting the Coordinator at Atlantic Bait and Tackle. Picked up the ice and bait. Finally arrived at Port Monmouth around 7ish. Helped set up and pulled yaks off the roof. I set up my GoPro Cameras for 30 sec photo intervals and took a few panning videos for the HOW NJ video I have begun working on.

Finally around 10:00 we were out on the water. I guided Chris a Vet and fitness instructor. He wanted to just paddle around but we told him he had to fish. He paddled my demo Jackson Cuda. He enjoyed paddling it as its completely stable and comfortable. He ended catching a small fluke but i was unable to get to him in time when it spit the hook out. Too bad it would have been good to get a photo of him even though it was a small fish. I ended up with a few short fluke and 1 keeper at 18″.  Around 1:00 he was tired of the sun beating on him and hot so I paddled back to the drop in with him. Once we were back he helped me get my spare boat back to my truck then proceeded to go for lunch. Burgers and dogs were good. I grabbed some chips and water for Capt. Jim and headed back out.

Some nice cleaner water had come in with the outgoing tide? Odd. Dropped off the Chips and water to Capt. Jim and started fishing. Landed a few shorts and a nice 22″ fluke! After the 22″er when there were no kayaks right near me i was then engulfed by at least 5 or six other yakkers. Still had plenty of space to fish so i didn’t mind. Landed 2 more short fish and decided to call it a day and go help the guys pack up.

The weather was incredibly nice and what a great day to take the vets fishing.

Picatinney Lake is a private lake located on an US Army Base in New Jersey named Picatinney Arsenal. This base is one of the oldest bases on US history as it was a base prior to the revolution. It was an honor to fish here with our heroes. I must add great fishing!. Typically I do not kayak fish fresh water but since i have been volunteering at HOW NJ outings there has been an opportunity to fish it more often.

The fishing was literally off the hook with about every other cast fighting a Chain Pickerel or a Crappie. Ended up with a slam within a half hour of my first cast!  The weather was overcast most of the day and packing up we were caught in a heavy downpour and thunderstorm. Soaked through.

This outing was great for the guys as everyone caught fish and we all had a good time. The vets were from the Lyons VA hospital.