This past Labor day weekend fishing was great. I decided not to give up on Handkerchief Shoals yet because the word was they stripers were still there. I studied the tides and loaded up with live eels and headed back there early on Saturday morning August 30, 2014. It was a bit of a slow start but as the current picked up, so did the fishing. By mid morning we were slamming good sized stripers from 32 – 40 inches with the occasional blue fish mixed in. Our buddy boat that day was Paul Spear of Sea Dog charters. We worked together to find the fish. We ended up fishing about a mile and a half south of the fleet of 50 boats. I sure am glad we moved south a bit as we caught striped bass all day with only 2 other boats around us.
I stayed an extra day past Labor Day and jumped on an open boat tuna trip with John Clothier of Fish Chatham Charters. The trip out to the Regal Sword and BB buoy was pretty long (50 miles from the dock) and foggy but we made it. The thick fog made it a little challenging to find the fish but we did. We landed 3 Bluefin Tuna in the boat and were able to keep all 3 due to their size and current regulations. It was a little odd because we landed one very early in the morning and the other 2 in the early afternoon.
It was a fantastic way to end the Labor Day weekend and I recommend to anyone looking to get a tuna to head out on their boat now or get on a charter boat that heads out there every day. Many charter captains will put together open boat trips which will lower the overall cost for you.