Big Mohawk — Local services in Belmar

I have been looking up different head boat charters up and down the east coast. I was initially planning on taking my son down to South Carolina for a weekend trip (from Cleveland Ohio) but the boat cancelled, so I started calling places on my New Jersey section of my list. Quite a few boats had openings but the woman who answered the phone for The Bog Mohawk was so friendly & knowledgeable that the choice was obvious. We got to the marina the night before and the first thing I noticed was how clean the boat was. When it was time to board the crew offered to help me getting my gear on board & everything stowed. Very friendly & all smiles

despite it being predawn.

As far as fishing gear, we brought our own with us so I can’t comment on rental rods, but based on everything else I saw I’m sure the equipment would have been quality. Honestly, I think the trip we were on were all die hard locals out on the first Saturday of sea bass season.

Not related to every trip, but the weather was a little cold & rainy in the beginning. I had my son sit inside the galley where it was quite comfortable with padded seats while I rigged up our rods. I was glad that I brought bibs and a rain jacket for both of us…. Again, not always necessary but fall on the Atlantic one week after hurricane Ian whipped up the entire Atlantic- just something worth considering if you’re out for fishing.

The captain did a phenomenal job of getting us over the fish. My son said his favorite memory was a double hook up on his first drop! The nature of fishing is that you never know what you’ll catch even when you’re targeting a specific species, you’re also not guaranteed that every fish you land will be of legal size. Having said that the captain undoubtedly knew what he was doing and brought us to a lot of drops in order to try and fill our coolers.

In short, we are certainly planning on coming back to New Jersey to fish with these guys & their incredibly clean and scrubbed boat!!

Edit to add:

Made it back for a second trip these guys did not disappoint!! Captain Greg was down rubbing elbows with the guests & impressed the heck out of me for picking up names as quickly as he did!! My son and I both got our limit of sea bass and had an extraordinary time in spite...

Just went out on the Mohawk last week and had a blast. 1st time fluke fishing with this boat (I've done tog with them a few times) and I realized why they get such good reviews. The mates on this boat are top notch. After Peyton began to captain the boat, I thought "how are they gonna replace him?" And I found out on this trip that the 3 mates were absolutely amazing. Always ready to help with snags, knots, etc and not too many mates are anxious to do those things. We had a slower day due to lack of wind but captain never gave up. We searched other grounds and found a nice pile of fish at our last drift. Overall, the staff is A+ and the experience was top notch. I've fished on 6-7 boats CONSISTENTLY over the last 25 years (15-20 trips per fluke season) and ill say that the mohawk stood above all of the others! And those other boats were excellent! Appreciate you guys getting us back safe and sound and for putting in the extra hard work while fishing the sticky stuff. You guys will be seeing me again soon! Best of luck and...

Went out this past Wednesday and had a great time. Crew was working hard as usual and the Captain put us on the fish. Lots of people limited. People on the bost were funny as hell. If you have a kid and they want to learn how to fish for fluke take em out on this boat. I hadn't been out in a couple of years so the rust was there. Still came home with a 4 1/2 lb fluke and a good size sea bass. Lots of shorts. Drift died in the pm but that's mother nature. Jigged all day with gulp. Bring an assortment of jigs from 2-8 Oz. Pink shine worms and white 6 inch mullets were doing well. Used spinning setup and a conventional in the deeper water when I went heavy. Bring weights and hooks 4/0- 7/0 if you want to drag. In deeper water, guys did well with that setup. Have the mates rig it they know the lengths necessary.

SUNBLOCK, good hat, sunglasses, food, ICE, WATER, libations of course, no hardstuff. Cooler for the catch no taller than 15 inches, so it can slide...