NY Fishing reports for November 2008

[bunkerjoe4]

Important when registering on our site use an active email address so you can activate account to be able to post.

Please post fishing reports here.......as little or as much detail as you want to give.

Please note: NO SPOT BURNING! Posts burning spots will be Edited or DELETED!
Some veteran fishermen have put in years developing and learning about certain spots.Some of these spots can only handle a few guys at a time. We are losing enough access as it is, due to the unfortunate behavior of a few selfish people. No sense in making it worse.

For some areas, it would be wiser to say:
OutFront (Ocean) OR -- OutBack (Bay) -- if you feel too many people will figure out what you are talking about. "Spot burning" also could involve mentioning something specific only to that area. If you do this, your post may be edited, or deleted. Remember that thousands of people could potentially read these posts. You don't want to be fishing next to ALL of them at the same time!


IF you are fishing an area that is NOT residential, being vague is less critical. For example, it's acceptable to say (Any)Park, or (Any)Bay, or mention a specific state park that has loads of parking and can handle the crowds.


If you are unclear on this concept, ask yourself:


If I name this place on the internet, will it be too crowded for me to enjoy tomorrow when people hear I got 30 fish here today?


If the answer is "Yes", then you should probably not be so specific.

We post these reports so our community will have a sense of what is working, what is not. We want to show people how to catch fish, rather than where.Even if you struck out or got skunked, it would be helpful to hear that as well.

If you have any additional details you would like to share - weather conditions, tide (incoming, outgoing, ebb, flood) water temps, bait present, or other mention of techniques or plugs used - feel free, as long as you are not overly specific about location.

Some acronyms -

BP -- Breezy Point

CB -- CrossBay Bridge
CI -- Coney Island

FB -- Floyd Bennett
FI -- Fire Island
FT -- Fort Tilden Park
FW -- Fort Wadsworth


GSB - Great South Bay
GK- Great Kills


Jones -- Jones Beach/Debs
WE -- West End

JB -- Jamaica Bay
LB -- Long Beach

MB -- Manhasset Bay
MI -- Moriches Inlet or nearby
MPP -- Marine Parkway Bridge


LNB - Little Neck Bay
OB -- Oyster Bay
PB -- Peconic Bay

RM -- Robert Moses

SB -- Sheepshead Bay

Shinny -- Shinnecock Inlet or nearby
SI -- Staten Island
ST -- Sore Thumb

NS -- North Shore
SS -- South Shore




Mecca -- if you gotta ask where that is, can't help ya :D

[bunkerjoe4]

NJ WIR 11-3-08

It has been another banner week for surfcasters, folks, with guys hooking up up and down the coast. Some of the gripes I get privately are from members saying they are trying their best, and still getting skunked.

The best advice I can give if you are experiencing this is to think about when and where you are fishing, and change those parameters.

Right now, the most challenging thing about the striped bass bite is the inconsistency. The peanut bunker have not made the last dash down our shorelines that they are traditionally known for, and that is causing some inconsistency for surfcasters.

These peanut bunker and acres of sandeels are to be found offshore in 50-70 feet of water. The bass and big bluefish are gorging on them, and boaters who know how to fish structure are doing well.

Also, some guys key into a particular stretch of beach because they heard it was hot. That's where the inconsistency comes in. There is one hotspot in Monmouth County that has produced fish for 3 weeks now, but not every day, and not in a sustained way.

Those who get to know this beach will read the structure, especially during low tide, and figure out where the fish might be sitting in the darkness or early dawn hours.http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon3.gif

This area that I am thinking about was not productive for the last 36 hours, and some guys gave up on it. Yet, Sunday morning around sunrise someone pulled in a 25lb bass on a bucktail.

Many times these catches are not reported, and for good reason. Some guys have put in many hours learning to be better surfcasters, and are not willing to ruin the fishing for themselves.

This is understandable. To all the new members coming on here, I will say to you that things will get better if you put in your time, and are open to learning about fishing in different environments. Pay attention when you see others catching fish, without crowding them. Put all these lessons into practice, and your catches will increase.

NY WIR 11-3-08

If I had to pick an area to focus on right now, I would choose the LI beaches. They are hard to learn unless you target one area at a time and learn it well, and put in your time. You may also be fortunate enough to go fishing with someone who knows that area. If so, pay attention, and learn the lessons well.

There are big fish still coming down the coast of LI, and the abundant bait concentrated in the near surf area is keeping them in close. Guys are mostly doing well at night, but there are decent daytime bites in key areas of inlets and structure.



Folks, we may be in a period now when we are making the transition from the night bite to a late afternoon bite. If you notice this pattern in your area, do your best to take advantage of it.

The fish wait for no one, you have to be there when they are biting.:)

Also, please bundle up with layers, as it is getting colder. There is no sense fishing when you are miserable from not having enough layers. Be careful out there, catch em up! -- bunkerjoe

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/misc/progress.gif

[nitestrikes]

Fished LB before dark into sunset tonight, bucktails and bombers, :skunk:

[stripercrazy]

Long Beach last night up to high tide. It wasn't a bonanza, but fish were there, hit and miss, around structure. Got 3 to 29" on schoolbus bomber and chicken scratch mambo, lost a few more. Beautiful night to be out.

[stripercrazy]

Long Beach again early morning. The surf was building, got one bass in a cut, bucktail and pork rind. I think it will be unfishable for awhile after the storm.

[BassBuddah]

Did the dawn patrol at mecca today. Nothing huge, only one keeper at 28", but a steady pick of schoolies on bucktail with white grubtail. About 15 short bass total till 9am. Beautiful day to be out there.

[stripercrazy]

Dentist appointment this afternoon, so I went fishing at Long Beach in the morning. 7 schoolies, one almost hit 28, but not quite. All on bunker storm shad. The surf is a little rough, but the fish are there.

[bunkerjoe4]

OK folks, the winners for the September and October NY fishing reports plug giveaway are DarkSkies, and Stripercrazy. :clapping:

I have been a little busy, and it was pointed out to me I forgot the drawing last month. Sorry.

Additionally, I wish to inform you that in months where I get a number that has won before, I will run the random numbers again to target a contributing member to these reports who has not won a plug before.

If after 1 try, the number generator does not produce a member who hasn't won a plug, the plug will go to the original number as indicated in the first run. I am doing this to be fair to all members.

As site administrator, I feel it's important to explain the steps I go through to make sure things are fair. You all deserve to be informed when a change is made, although I want to state clearly here that I reserve the right to change these rules or cancel this giveaway at any time, for any of the regional forums (the lawyer made me put that in:)).

Please e-mail me the address where you want it sent. The plug will be a Davis topwater swimmer, similar to the ones fishlipper is using. If anyone has not yet checked out the thread for Davis lures, go take a look. He's a good plug-builder, sells them at reasonable prices, and as shown, they do catch fish.

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=78 (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=78)


Attached Thumbnailshttp://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1610&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1213203990 (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1610&d=1213203990) http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1611&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1213203990 (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1611&d=1213203990)

[rockhopper]

Some structure in the FI area this morning. It was a little foggy before the sunrise, and some weeds on the beach. Got one bass 35" and 3 bluefish using bunker chunks.

[bunkerjoe4]

NJ WIR 11-10-08

Folks, again it has been a good week for surfcasters targeting striped bass. The bigger bass are few and far between, but there are plenty of sub-legal bass to give fishermen the reason to go out and have fun fishing. Many of these smaller bass are being caught on clams. Many are also being caught by surfcasters working the lower half of the water column with metal jigs and deeper swimming slim profile plugs.

The bulk of the large bass are being caught in the night or low light hours by surfcasters. This has been a pretty consistent pattern. Eels, live or dead, are still producing their share of bigger bass for those who use them strategically.

Boaters are getting bigger bass when they are finding them under schools of bait in the channels or 1/2 to 2 miles out in the near shore areas. There is an abundance of bait, particularly sandeels. This sometimes works against fishermen, as their presentation is competing with all that natural bait. When you find bait that is highly concentrated, your chances improve.

Herring and shad have made an appearance in NJ coastal waters. This appearance, for some 3 weeks now, is slightly earlier than usual. So far the bigger bass have not started the wholesale slaughter of these forage fish.

Additionally, the peanut bunker still remaining in our bays and rivers have not made the mass movement down the coast that surfcasters wait for in anticipation. Instead, you have isolated days where there are strong showings of bait of many kinds, great fishing for a few hours, and then a few very slow days after that.

I feel the sustained fall fishing will not be something that everyone can participate in until we have a steady stream of peanut bunker traveling south in the surf zone. These peanuts stimulate the big bluefish to come in for an easy meal, and the bass after that as they lazily swim in to pick up the pieces. If you are lucky enough to get a day where this is happening, cancel all plans if you can. Fish conditions like this hard, because you don't know when you will see them again.


NY WIR 11-10-08

There is still great fishing to be had on many of the South Shore beaches. The bass are still coming down from New England. The most significant development is that some of our members in Massachusetts and Rhode Island have informed me they feel the bulk of the big bass have made their way past. There may be one more last push of big bass, but the run up there is nearing to a close.

Montauk is still producing, but now the boaters have the edge as sometimes the fish are too far out of surfcasters' reach. Sometimes this begins to happen toward the end of the run. Although you may be able to catch bass well into December in Montauk, look for the run up there to start winding down as well.



Offshore:
The offshore bite is not the spectacular one we have seen in past years at this time in the fall. Sporadic tuna catches are being made. There are some Captains who are still having some great days, but not consistently. I'm still hoping for an increase in the success out there, although a lot of guys have devoted their tuna catching energies to the Carolinas at this point.




Fall Striped Bass Run:

What this means is that a significant amount of bigger bass are now in the NY/NJ area. Fish hard for these fish, folks. What will be left at the end of the run will be thousands of small schoolies in the 20-22" class. These fish, though abundant, are not considered by some to be much of a challenge. As they make their way down the beach, if bait is available, it will be a matter of just casting metal out to the distance they are holding, and reeling them in so you can get another.

That would be a great time to take the kids fishing, as it's almost "can't miss" fishing. You will also have picket fences of fishermen lining the beaches at that time in the late fall, as word gets out.

So get out now and catch some bigger ones! Your time spent will not be wasted. - bunkerjoe

[stormchaser]

Fished the early am near Shinny today. There was a lot of blues between 5-13lbs. Bucktails or diamond jigs were the ticket, dragged on the bottom. Some of these blues were so fat I wondered how they could swim straight.

[nitestrikes]

Outgoing at LB last night. Tried plugging, very weedy.:skunk:

[BassBuddah]

RM area this morning for the sunrise bite. Got 3 shorties on white bucktail, white grub. Weeds were there, but clearing up a bit. Beautiful sunrise.

[nitestrikes]

Out in front FI last night. The weeds must have gone somewhere else. It wasn't that bad, and pretty calm. 3 schoolies on a white storm shad.

[stripercrazy]

LB this morning 5-7, 2 bass on a hopkins, biggest 24".

[pinhead44]

RM this afternoon, incoming, 2 bass to 27" on a diamond jig. Some bluefish around, no signs of birds or bait.

[blitzhunter]

Fished some jetties in the Long Beach area tonigt. I was throwing stormshads, nothing. Did see a nice sunset.

[pescador29]

In the Rockaways there are small stripers. My friend and I we got 11 today, but no keepers. We were using white stormshads.

[strikezone31]

Fished Long Beach area for 2 hours tonight. 2 bass to 26" on bucktail and porkrind. It was a little weedy, but the rain died down a lot, good fishing weather.

[blitzhunter]

Skunked again at Long Beach this morning.:skunk: Lots of foam and weeds, windy, but there were a few patches of clear water. I was throwing storm shads. Maybe Sunday it will be more fishable.

[pescador29]

My cousin and I fished the GK before the sun came up. We got 4 bass, only the biggest was 27" and we put them all back. We were using clams. A guy far away from us caught a big striper, maybe like 20 pounds, he was using clams too. I didn't see anyone else catch these fish, but maybe they will start biting here more often now.

[nitestrikes]

Took a long walk to Breezy before sundown. A few schoolies on storm shads. Some of them looked like they were born this year, pretty small. Windy as hell.

[crosseyedbass]

I was out at longbeach today, water was weedy and dirty. Tried to get a hookup with a bucktail, but got the :skunk:

[bunkerjoe4]

NJ WIR 11-17-08

Folks, another good week in the surf. I would characterize this week as peaks and valleys. If you were in the right location when the fish came through, you were very happy.:) If not, you spent a lot of time waiting and wondering.

Island Beach has been productive this week, and very rewarding for some who happened to be there when the activity was at its peak. Unfortunately, the action is not predictable. I can say that those who made it a point to be there before sunrise every day had better opportunities. There was also sone sustained action in the daytime.

Last week there were better chances of catching in Monmouth County. Tomorrow it may be an entirely different area. That's why we call it fishing, not catching.

Game Plan: I would suggest for those who want to increase their chances in the next coming weeks, you have a specific game plan to find your quarry. Have at least 3 locations in mind when starting out your excursion. If one is dead, make the effort and move to the next. I know it's tough, especially if you are using bait, but it is a discipline you must get yourself accustomed to if you want to succeed.

As you get yourself used to moving around, you will learn to rely on yourself and your developing instincts as a surf fishrman, and not relying on the cell phone network of many armchair fishermen.http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon3.gif

Another positive development, as I mentioned earlier, is that the bite is somewhat trending toward the afternoons and late afternoons. This will become more apparent as the weather gets colder and the water temps drop even more.

NY WIR 11-17-08

There is still good activity along the south shore of Long Island, though the storms in the past week have made a mess of things, with lots of weeds to contend with.

Look for clear patches of water, the rougher the better. We may be seeing the last push of bigger fish making their appearance form Montauk on South. It's time to concentrate your efforts now if you want that bigger bass.





A deadly presentation during this time of year is the live eel, rigged dead eel, or eelskin plugs. They allow you to fish lower in the water column where the bulk of the fish are holding. Whether fishing inlets or roaring current, the eel is a versatile tool in the surf fisherman's arsenal.

We have several threads here about eels, do a search. Or, there are some great books out there by Zeno, DJ Mueller, and others that go into detail about tips and techniques on using eels.

Take advantage of whatever time you have, bundle up, and get these bigger fish while you can, as the smaller ones have already started to filter into the mix. - bunkerjoe

[pinhead44]

Fished LB last night with bucktails and shads. Very windy. The weeds cleared out a bit, but the water was still a little dirty.:skunk:

[crosseyedbass]

Worked the LB to Rockaway areas this morning. 3 bass to 24" on a bucktail with red pork rind.

[plugginpete]

Fished some jetties in the Rockaways this morning. Cold out, but the beach wasn't tooo bad. 2 bass, around 20", shads.

[rockhopper]

I fished the LB area this morning. Great water, first used a schoolbus bomber, then a diamond jig with a lime green teaser. Got one bump on the bomber, that was it. Conditions looked fishy. There were birds, but they were far offshore. I guess it wasn't my day to catch fish, maybe tomorrow.:skunk:

[stripercrazy]

RM area yesterday until sundown. Got 7 bass on the small side, biggest was 23", using bucktail and pork rind. The wind laid down, great fishing conditions.

[BassBuddah]

I worked Long Beach for about 1 1/2 hours yesterday AM. I thought I was fishing Alaska, God was it cold and windy. I managed a 23" bass on a bucktail teaser combo dragged slowly. The water felt like it was in the 40's. We need some warmer weather for these fish to stick around.

[nitestrikes]

FI area 7-9a today, Threw bucktails and metals with teaser. Conditions were nice, nothing on the hook. There was bird action far out that never came in. The fat lady may be singing soon.

[blitzhunter]

Fished Jones from late afternoon till dark. Strong south wind and rough water. I got 2 bass, one 24" one 20" on a bucktail and pork rind.

[crosseyedbass]

Moses for an hour this morning in the rain. It was a little windy, and the surf was getting churned, but no weeds. Threw a hopkins with teaser, struck out.

[rockhopper]

5-7am Long Beach. I threw white shads and a bucktail, surf was pretty rough. One bump on the shad, no hookup. I saw a bunch of birds way far off, it looked like a lot of fish were under them.

[williehookem]

Fished a few jetties in the Rockaways last night. A lot of white water, tried a bucktail, and some rubber baits, but struck out.:skunk: Better luck next time.

[strikezone31]

Long Beach this morning, rough surf, casted a bucktail with pork rind, no takers.

[crosseyedbass]

I fished Jones area last night before sundown. Got one short on a diamond jig. Nice sunset.

[pescador29]

I went to the breezy point yesterday from 12 to dark with clams and bunker. My friend said the birds were by there in the morning, and he saw a lot of birds. I did not catch a bass. I did catch a shark and a skate.

[pescador29]

We fished at breezy today. It was very bad. No fish and much rain. There was a lot of birds going crazy for the fish, they were too far. They came closer, only for 5 minutes. Then they were far again. :(

[nitestrikes]

We fished at breezy today. It was very bad. No fish and much rain. There was a lot of birds going crazy for the fish, they were too far. They came closer, only for 5 minutes. Then they were far again. :(


I don't know what time you left, but there were some fish caught. The rain was bad, but for a while there was a slow pick of fish. At least you tried, next time you'll get them.