Diving for Food - hunting lobsters and flatfish in New Jersey

This report is on our local dive trip from June 2014.  

The North East Sailor (c) Aaron Hirsh

The "Venture 3" is a dive boat run by Paul & Ruth Hepler out of Belmar NJ. In addition to commercial work and dive shop trips, Paul runs private dive charters, and a constantly changing group of about 20 of us have been mid-week diving on the Venture 3 for over 20 years. New divers are always welcome to join us, so if Belmar, NJ is do-able for you, leave a note and I'll get back to you.

Yesterday was one of those "perfect days" that only seem to crop up once out of every 4 or 5 diving days here in NJ. We got 3 dives in, all relatively shallow (80 ft). It was a good day for hunting for all aboard. We visited the North East Sailor, plus two of Paul's "secret spots."

To start the day, we were pleased to find out that NOAA was wrong again. Instead of 10-15 KT winds and 3 foot seas, we found a gentle breeze and a 1 foot swell. that pretty much stayed that way the entire day.

The NE Sailor was easily the best viz I've seen on a NJ dive this year. About 20 feet of clean, calm water. Bottom temp was 50 on all 3 dives. The NE Sailor is the remains of an old wooden ship in 75 feet of water about 7 or 8 miles out of Belmar NJ. She's always great for digging because it's a sandy bottom that doesn't kick up too much silt. Here's a little write up on the wreck from Rich Galiano's website: North East Sailor.

This was my first visit here since Hurricane Sandy, and it looks to me like the bottom's been rearranged, with a large portion of decking and debris pushed off to the side, and a chain pile that's been flattened down a bit. 

Know the expression "Shooting fish in a barrel?" That pretty much sums it up. There wasn't a Sea Bass in every hole. There weren't 2 Sea Bass in every hole. More like 3,4 and even 5. Quite a few of the Sea Bass brought up were engorged with sand eels. So I doubt if a fisherman with rod and reel would have done as well because these fish could not have been very hungry. 

Black Sea Bass (Centropristis Striata)

Our second stop was a natural rock pile in 80 feet of water.  The place looked more like a Lobster breeding ground than a reef. From my personal examination, I'd say 3 of every 4 lobsters were eggers. That means I had to pull 12 bugs out of their holes to find 3 keepers. But I gently put the mommies back, knowing that in 4 or 5 years, I'd be back to visit their kids. I also found a nice size Fluke in the sand who I gathered up to bring home to meet the family. I named him "Dinner for 5." 

Last stop was another natural rock pile. We've pretty much stopped asking Captain Paul where we are, because the names we get become more and more meaningless. I think this was the "East of the west on-shore rocks," or maybe the "West of the east off-shore." One thing it definitely isn't anymore is home to half a dozen lobster, several large fluke and a few more sea bass.

Show off author with his fluke

The best way to end any dive in NJ is to return to the boat and find the ladder just hanging off the boat like a ladder leaning against your house. As opposed to bouncing up and down, that is. On the short ride back into Belmar, we saw several pods of dolphins. You never get tired of that.