[Jigalow]

Hi all, I'm planning to run from the Atlantic Highlands NJ to the Hudson next summer and need some advice on where to get Ice and Bait. I don't quite have enough fuel capacity to run straight out there from the Highlands (91NM to the tip) but it only adds about 10 miles to my total trip if I top-off the tanks in Shark River, then it's only 76 NM to the tip which is much more doable.

One thing I haven't found in the Highlands is a good place to buy bulk ice so I'm wondering if there's a good place in Shark River. I'd be looking for bulk/shaved ice by the tote, flats of Butters, Sardines, etc.

From Shark River it's only another 5 miles to Manasquan so I guess that's an option too if there's a better bait shop there. Thanks in advance.

 

[S0uthernrebel78]

sounds like i would be more worried about my fuel cap. then where to find ice, what happens when your caught in nasty weather and burn more fuel than you normally do and cant even make it back to pt. pleasant, maybe im wrong but thats just me

 

[David599]

How much is bulk to you. Truckload? Coolers full. 500 lbs?

Fishermans supply has chip ice off the dock. You can load your cooler or tote up for pretty cheap. I think its 6.00 or 8.00 a cooler or tote.

seems silly to sail to manasquan 25 plus miles down the beach to buy ice.

gotta be a joke...

 

[makorider]

Clam dock on Channel Dr. in Point. $5 gets you a front end loader worth. Litterally. I put two coolers in the bed of my brother's pickup and we basically have a 6 ft bed full of ice with coolers buried somewhere within

fisherman's supply gets it from them half the time.

And realize, its not potable....but its ice.

 

[Aquajoe]

There are two decent bait stores on Rte. 36 in Atlantic Highlands. Also a big ice company. If you have to worry about how much fuel you have to get to the Hudson, you should not go.

 

[Jigalow]

I understand where you're coming from but it's no joke and thanks for the constructive input. I'd rather find a good bait store in the Highlands but from where I dock the boat, Shark River only adds 10 miles to my total trip and doing so helps puts me within my comfort zone on fuel.

IF I could find a place in Atlantic Highlands who sold chip ice from the dock I would probably just carry a the extra fuel on deck but the only place in AH I've found sells 50 lb bags for $10 each and has crummy bait which I then have to load into my car, then wheel out to the boat etc... I'm just trying to figure out a better way.

I 'd want 300 - 400 lbs of ice for an overnighter and would be looking for a few flats of butters and sardines etc so the $ savings would probably offset the extra fuel I'd use. I'd rather run 10 miles in the boat than have to carry all that in my car any day and time would probably be a wash too.

 

[Chum Stains]

You can get flats, ice and fuel at the den in shark. I dont think it would be worth it to run to squan from AH for it.

I got one qustion for ya, what do you do when your at the tip, and there's a mad dog bite in the 100sq that is 91mi from shark??? :huh:

 

[nimenob]

It's the extra time it would take. I run out of shark river and head up to sandy hook to fish the rips and depending on the sea's could take 40 to 45 min. I would carry the extra fule cans or fule bladder even better

 

[Wahoo-26]

"from where I dock the boat, Shark River only adds 10 miles to my total trip"


I dont mean to be disrespectful but I think you better check your charts again. I have fished Raritan Bay all my life and also fished from Shark River and Manasquan a lot over the last 20 or so years and its no 10 miles from the The Atlantic Highlands to Shark River. Manasquan to Shark River is 5 miles, Shark River to the tip of Sandy Hool is 17.5 miles the way the crow flies, the way a boat goes its about 18+ miles unless you can ride the beach... Tip of Sandy Hook to Atlantic Highlands is 3.8 miles.

If you are looking for bulk ice in the Raritan Bay area go to the co-op in Belford, they will fill your truck bed for about $20. I think its about $20 per 1000lbs. I never did it myself but people I fish with have bought ice there and its dirt cheap if you need a lot. My buddy filled his GMC 2500 P/U bed two years ago before a trip we did out of Lawrence Harbor.

As for bait you can get anything you need from Julians, for that matter he sells ice too. He isnt cheap but it would be cheaper in the long run than running all the way to Manasquan.

Brett

 

[David599]

Thanks. Even better. so that ice that they have in the ice house out back of Fish supply really comes from the COOP?

I didnt think to go there.

other places have ice machines. sometimes its good to clean them out. I bet if you asked in advance, you could get some deals.

Restaurants and hotels are two places that have big ice machines.

I have a stand up freezer that I sometimes annoy my wife with by putting those chinese oil containers in full with water. they are big and hard to handle, BUT, they fit nice in yoru big 150 quart coolers.

 

[mulldogg]

Fisherman's supply is great in point pleasant

great location right inside manasquan inlet
plenty of ice in their totes and very inexpensive. Excellent ballyhoo, etc. Fuel is well priced too.

 

[Jigalow]

I really just wanted some help with where to buy ice and bait but I'll take any other advice people want to give so here's some more detail about fuel issue etc.

The boat is a newish 24 Regulator which holds 150 gallons of gas and averages 2NMPG at cruise and much better on the troll. In addition to the 150 gallons the boat holds, I also own (4) 12 gallon portable gas tanks each with Yamaha fuel connectors that I run directly to the motors on the ride out so I don't have to transfer fuel. When they're empty I strap them on the T-Top so they're out of the way.

If I top off in Shark River and run 76NM to the Hudson Tip and then run the 91 NM straight back to the Highlands that's 167 miles - burning ~84 gallons of fuel. Add to that 12 hours trolling @ 3GPH (which is high) = another ~36 gallons of fuel = ~120 gallons total. If I carry all (4) 12 gallon tanks that leaves me 76 gallons reserve plus I have the option of running back to either Shark River or Jones (both ~75NM) if the weather gets snotty.

ps: I realize a heavy load and head seas will cut into my fuel usage but if it's that choppy on the ride out I'd be turning around anyway. So, is that not enough fuel?

pss: I understand the risks associated with running a small boat offshore, I've been there many times and have all the necessary safety equipment ie: life raft, EPIRB, radar, backup GPS, DSC VHF, handheld DSC VHF, etc.

 

[Jigalow]

"from where I dock the boat, Shark River only adds 10 miles to my total trip"


I don't mean to be disrespectful but I think you better check your charts again. I have fished Raritan Bay all my life and also fished from Shark River and Manasquan a lot over the last 20 or so years and its no 10 miles from the The Atlantic Highlands to Shark River. Manasquan to Shark River is 5 miles, Shark River to the tip of Sandy Hool is 17.5 miles the way the crow flies, the way a boat goes its about 18+ miles unless you can ride the beach... Tip of Sandy Hook to Atlantic Highlands is 3.8 miles.

If you are looking for bulk ice in the Raritan Bay area go to the co-op in Belford, they will fill your truck bed for about $20. I think its about $20 per 1000lbs. I never did it myself but people I fish with have bought ice there and its dirt cheap if you need a lot. My buddy filled his GMC 2500 P/U bed two years ago before a trip we did out of Lawrence Harbor.

As for bait you can get anything you need from Julians, for that matter he sells ice too. He isnt cheap but it would be cheaper in the long run than running all the way to Manasquan.

Brett

No disrespect taken Wahoo, I'm pretty good with navigation too and I think you misread my earlier post, I said it "adds" 10NM to the total trip. It's about 86NM from the tip of the Hook straight out to the Hudson. On the other hand it's about 20 NM from the tip of the Hook to Shark River but it's only 76NM from Shark River to the tip of the Hudson. = 10 miles....

I know I can get what I need in the Highlands but I don't have a pickup truck and huffing all the ice and bait around is a lot of work and takes me at least an hour. Let's say for the sake of argument fuel is $5.00 per gallon next year and I burn an extra 5 gallons running down to Shark River. I'd much rather spend that extra hour running down the coast in the boat than huffing bait and ice and I'm sure I'll save more than $25 in ice, bait, and fuel.

 

[David599]

this post should be closed now because its sure to take the regular "small boat offshore" spin.

Good luck. I learned something today about sourcing ice.

Love the barn. Back with the ice.... (see how Im cleverly taking this post off on a different tack)...

I'm amazed how many people fish in the summer and dont take enough ice. My favorite was the headboats that sold burlap bags to stuff the fares bluefish in in summer. Nothing better than some tasty old bluefish caught at 9 am and put in a dry burlap bag with the sun on it all day.

Anyway take the ice. You can always throw it in the ocean, but you cant go back and get more. One of the Super Canyon charter boats had an article a while back about ice for offshore fishing. Was it the CR?

A tuna out of warm water will melt a fair amount of ice while cooling down. Thats a good thermodynamics problem. Ok, lets say you are taking your 40 ft sportfisher offshore and you have three guys.

You can only keep (legally) nine Yellowfin and there is a good chunk bite going on in the hundred square. The fish are almost all cookie cutter 60 lb fish. The water temp is 70 degree F. you want to get the fish down to near freezing packed in ice. How much ice do you need?

Lets say they are 50 lbs after you gut them. So you need to get 450 lbs of fish from 70 degrees F down to (say) 34 degrees F.

How much ice do you need?

The first answer is I have no clue. a lot. One lb of ice per one lb of fish means you need 450 lbs of ice? What if you were in the super center console, did you take three full coolers full of ice? I suppose you could take the quarters off the fish soon after catching, and chilling that, but warm fish doesnt cut so well.

Well its too late to start figuring out heat transfer stuff and besides you 'd have to have some specifics about tuna flesh and tuna as a whole, and know about the heat of fusion for water is 80 calories per gram, and convert the ice from lbs to grams and then convert the F to celcius...

But a big full up charter boat, well they'd need a lot of ice. Not that they will always catch the limit tuna, but if its a 24 hr trip and the party does do well, and form some reason really need to bring home 24 tuna (lets call them 75 lbers) and you do need one lb of ice for one lb of fish, then they carry out 24*75 or 1800 lbs of ice.

Doesnt seem practical.

going to sleep......

 

[giantfan]

As said above, I would suggest going to Belford. You may be able to get ice right from the dock which would save a bunch of humping ice from the car to the boat. If you have your heart set on running south for ice and fuel, I would say fishermens supply.

 

[bear 13]

Be safe, carry extra fuel ( we all did back in the day), and charge.
Just never go ahead of a front!!! Know your weather.

All the best, I had a 23 that held 185 gallons and single power. I overnighted in the canyon many, many times.

I know it is not what you asked but just being helpful and I understand having a small boat and canyon fishing.

 

[kaliemarie28mako]

Rent an ice machine

Myself and two of my neighbors rent an ice box (the kind you would see at a liquor store) from Eddins ice in Manahawkin. It holds 50 20lb. bags all we do is call after every canyon trip and he comes right over and fills it back up you can't beat the conveinence.

 

[Jigalow]

Thanks for all the ideas and information. I just talked to Belford Seafood Co-Op (732-787-6508) which is a relatively short boat ride from where I keep the boat so unless I want to fish Toms or somewhere to the south that's probably the way I'll go.

FYI - they sell a 1/2 ton scoop of blown ice for $20. I can pull the boat right up to their dock and they'll just blow it right into my fish boxes, can't beat that. They sound reasonable for bait too, the guy I talked to said he sells a 60LB flat of butters for about $100 and either carries or could special order anything else I would need. The only issue might be their hours Mon - Sat 8:30 - 4:30 so I'd just need to run down there the day before and load up.

 

[tommymo]

whats blown ice?

 

[Jigalow]

It's actually chipped ice that they blow into the boat via a 10' hose. Not sure exactly how it works but they hang the hose into your boat and somehow vaccume it out of their bin and it blow the ice into your boat. I saw it done on a head boat once, they filled one of those 6x6' bonair boxes in a few minutes.