This storm missed the area i was in but knocked out power for a day in some areas. It was cool how the sun was setting and the hues it gave off in the storm clouds.

Check it out!

 “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!

Fluking in Raritan Bay has been ON FIRE!! Literally anywhere you would typically fish for the ambush predators they are there in numbers. Not just plentiful in numbers but very nice in size!! All fish caught were above 16″ and max to 24 inches caught by Homer. For myself it was a 90 point Kayak Wars day and homer had a 105 point day! Nice for fluke fishing!! For those not familiar with Kayak Wars. It is an online kayak fishing tournament where kayak anglers submit their catches digitally via uploading a photograph file with their catch on a measuring device. Its is extremely fun!

Anyway i will add the video of my 22.5 inch fluke later!