NJ fishing reports for June 16-30, 2009

[DarkSkies]

Important when registering on our site -- use an active email address so you can activate your 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.
More discussion on this:
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ead.php?t=3763 (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=3763)

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.






Some acronyms -

SH - Sandy Hook
NoMoCo - Northern Monmouth County (below the hook to Shark River Inlet SRI)
SoMoCo - Southern Monmouth County (below SRI to Manasquan Inlet)

OC - Ocean County
IBSP - Island Beach State Park
LBI - Long Beach Island

AC - Atlantic County
AI - Absecon Inlet
CISP - Corson's Inlet State Park
CMC - Cape May County
CMR - Cape May Rips
GEI - Great Egg Inlet
TI - Townsend's Inlet

RB - Raritan Bay
BB - Barnegat Bay
CB - Chesapeake Bay
CBBT - Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel
DB - Delaware Bay

[Monty]

Ocean side this morning 4:30-9:00. One 28 inch bass on a 9" Pink Pencil Popper. A couple bumps and 1 missed solid hit. Water was again great (lots of white water).

[lostatsea]

We were on the water by 3 this morning, bite was done at 5, back at the barn by 5:30. We got 3 bass to 30#, live bunker. The bass were close to shore, maybe 1/4 mile out. I hope some of you surf guys get a chance to get into them, good luck. Ocean county.

[chas527]

fished s. h this morning cold and wind. got 2 keepers on clams.both 28 1/2. left them biteing at 12.

[ArthurKillAngler22]

went out front and not a bite so went out back for the night and still not a fish so we moved again back out front for the big day bites and still had no luck... seems to me were at the right places at the wrong times :huh: hopefully tonight would be a little different

[yardvillejimmy]

Yesterday afternoon fished IBSP and could not scare up a fish. :skunk: To try to salvage the day the OFFC went to one of its primo spots from many years ago and managed to catch a few small bluefish. We all had quite a few hits but the fish were hard to hook.

[fishjay]

Yardville Jimmy forgot to tell you that he got most of the hits. The rest of us were just the audience.

Caught one small blue. very very slow

[DarkSkies]

^^Believe it or not the bluefish seem picky this year at times, you actually have to work for a frikkin bluefish. What is this world coming to?!! :burn:


Fished part of last night, then ran out of energy, a cup of coffee didn't give me the buzz I needed, so I took a snooze for a few hours. I'm a lame dude.

Back at it again at 4:30 am, fishin the ocean. We started fishin at 4:55, throwin swimmers until sunrise, nothing. Switched to pencil poppers, and other poppers. Finally got a bass to follow the plug when I saw it swirl about 5 feet from the rocks as I lifted the Ace spook out of the water. Bass was small, sub 28".

That gave me the motivation to ramp it up a bit, got another fish at 5:45, small bluefish. By that time, the binocular brigade had not arrived and there was solitude on the rocks, beautiful sunrise and white water. :heart:

That was all she wrote, had to leave early to get to work. I'm hopin the guys who stayed got into some fish, we were all pluggin hard.

The OFFC and others will be glad to know there are now bluefish in increasing numbers and sizes hitting inshore. Yesterday, among a flurry of big bass activity that lasted maybe 1/2 hour, some bluefish were caught on bunker. One took a bunker head, so the sizes are decent. Good omen for jump starting the fishin during the day. They now will be chopping up the bunker and hopefully bringing a few more bass in for us to reach. :thumbsup:

[DarkSkies]

Yardville Jimmy forgot to tell you that he got most of the hits. The rest of us were just the audience.

Caught one small blue. very very slow

Say it ain't so, he outfished the Masters? :wow: :clapping:
I hope you guys bought him dinner last night or at least a beer to celebrate.

[cowherder]

By that time, the binocular brigade had not arrived and there was solitude on the rocks, beautiful sunrise and white water. :heart:




:HappyWave:Hi, Dark, I saw that sunrise too this morning, it was incredible. Fished SH with clams, one bass 27.9", back in the water. I got a stray bluefish throwing a diamond jig before I left, so I hope you are right about bluefish being around. I want to fish those jetties one day, but have heard too many horror stories. Maybe one day in the summer when things slow down.

[great_white_hunter]

Fished for a few hours early afternoon on Tuesday. Was down in SoMoCo soaking some clams. Caught two small bass and missed a few hits. Not a bad day out, got to spend some time on the beach with my wife and son, till she got to cold. See you out there.

[DarkSkies]

^^ Hey man I didn't realize your wife and son were there too. Otherwise I wouldn't have been so hyper with ya, tryin to run ya around like a drill sergeant! :embarassed: Glad ya got into some fish, you made an honest effort based on your own logic, and you hooked up. :thumbsup:

[great_white_hunter]

They came after we spoke Rich and left before I did. So I wasn't running around with them. Thanks for the tips.

[baitstealer]

Ran into bumker last night but no fish in moco out front.

[Monty]

Outfront NoMoCo this morning from 4:30 to 9:00. Picked up 1 short bass on the rubber teaser. It was fun out there this morning.
6998

6999

[amboyangler]

Ran into bumker last night but no fish in moco out front.

Did you try snag n drop? Rich how did you do last night?

[c4charlie]

Last night from 10:30-2am. Tried further south at some nice spots. Went to the dark side and used bait. Took 8oz to hold last night. Caught a bunch of large dogfish. No bass or blues.

Moved to another spot to catch one more dogfish. There was a good wind, lots of whitewater, some rain on and off from drizzle to medium... looked real fishy but only dogfish. Did get my personal best dog fish last night. Had at least 3 that were over 4 ft. I think it was because of the huge baits I was using most of the time. Could have had more because I felt the dog fish all over the bunker heads I was throwing out as well. I would only hook them when I was using the chunks though.

The dogfish were able to split open my head and eat the entire inside. Did the same with one of my massive chunks. I saw some strange things happen to my bait last night. Made me think they were blues at first but it was just dogfish. I put smaller chunks just to figure out what was doing that to my baits and just got another dogfish so I can safely assume, it was all dogfish.

[JakeF]

The dogfish were able to split open my head and eat the entire inside.

:eek: Ouch! That's gotta suck! ;)

[amboyangler]

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=4265

[DarkSkies]

Rich how did you do last night?
Had to do some other stuff and work on the video, haven't been out, missed a good tide this morning. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon9.gif


Outfront NoMoCo this morning from 4:30 to 9:00. Picked up 1 short bass on the rubber teaser. It was fun out there this morning.
6998

6999

Beautiful water, Monty, it's good that at least ONE of us was there fishin it! :HappyWave:

[buckethead]

WEnt out to SH last night 5 to 7. Caught one bluefish and nothing else. Saw a guy around with a keeper laying on the beach.

[Rickman]

Central MoCo 4:30a-8:30a. Clams, 2 @ 24", 1 @ 27" and 1 @ 29" for the grill tomorrow. All really fat. From 7 or so until I left the clusters of mussels kept getting worse. Last 2 soakin's, 1 took 5-6 mins to get in. Must have had 15-20 #s of crap on it and 15 mins to clean it all off. Second broke off trying to get it in (65# stren braid). That was it for me. Great morning though. Felt blessed to be out there.:)

[surfwalker]

Haven't been out lately, busy. This morning out front,overcast/cloudy, 3am-9:30am, plugs. Picked up a good keeper on a 7" old sinking Rebel at 3:40. Not a tap on the rainbow of colors thrown after that. Pencils and polaris were just an exercise in casting. The mussels were annoying. Switched over to fool around with the Fluke for a while on the walk back, picking up some shorts on Gulp. Bait guys looked shutout. Saw an elderly fellow Fluking with a hand line, entertaining.

[DarkSkies]

wtg, Rickman! I've fished down that way, and the "roving mussel packs" :laugh: are a hassle this time of year. Good for the bait shop owners, because you constantly have to check your line and re-bait. Hey that's fishin, glad ya got some. :thumbsup: :fishing:



Fished the ocean yesterday PM, a few decent fish caught earlier, then is seems it died down. Meanwhile the hordes were assembling. ;) If one fish was caught it would have been a mad dash to the rocks, like a game of musical chairs. Was fishin with my girlfriend so we looked for a more mellow ocean spot.

Hit it up right before sunset, caught the top of the outgoing to the middle. Not one fish on poppers, swimmers, shads or bucktails, I was hopeful with this outgoing tide they would be there, but it wasn't to be.

Got a searobin on the bait, clams and bunker, and a few runoffs, but the fish must have been small. Beautiful sunset. :heart:

7017

We saw a few boats, didn't look like they were doing too much either where we were.

Met some cool people through the day. Helped a kayaker bring his rig back to his car earlier, the dude was certified for bein out in the swells he was in, :kooky: ;)but gotta give him credit for tryin. :thumbsup: :HappyWave:

Also met some guys as we were leaving, I hope you took my advice and moved to deeper water. Some small bluefish were around, not much bigger than that.

I think the rainwater runoff may have had something to do with the fishin where we were. Hit an old reliable spot in the back in the way home, and there was a noticable lack of bait, even where we were before that. Fished rigs with teasers, rubber zooms, fish just were not around like they usually are. What did I say before, hey that's fishin! :D :fishing:

[DarkSkies]

Haven't been out lately, busy. This morning out front,overcast/cloudy, 3am-9:30am, plugs. Picked up a good keeper on a 7" old sinking Rebel at 3:40.
I was going to say how the night bite sucks lately, but surfwalker with his sinking Rebel sorta disproves that to some extent! ;)


Not a tap on the rainbow of colors thrown after that. Pencils and polaris were just an exercise in casting.
Yup same thing for us, I can usually pull one fish out of the water with a pencil or Spook, "If" theyre actively feeding.

The mussels were annoying. Switched over to fool around with the Fluke for a while on the walk back, picking up some shorts on Gulp. Bait guys looked shutout.

Saw an elderly fellow Fluking with a hand line, entertaining.
Old skool, I saw a guy last year there handlining with peanuts, pretty cool. :thumbsup:




wtg Surfwalker, you pulled a rabbit out of the hat, fish at night without much bait around :thumbsup:

[cowherder]

Good job on the catches this morning guys! I was in Somoco last night with clams, only 2 sea robins and lots of weed. :burn:

[voyager35]

Ran some livies in the front of an Ocean county inlet yesterday. No takers, so w moved out up and down near the Shrewsbury rocks for some fluke. 15 fluke, 3 keepers to 22" using squid and killies. One small seabass, about 40' of water. There were some healthy swells out there.

[finchaser]

19 blues 3-5 pounds on jig head and rubber in the river just before dark

[c4charlie]

Ended work at 3pm yesterday and took the family to Round Valley. We had an awesome time, caught a ton of rock bass, (little guys had so much fun catching them), I was targeting smallies but could not catch. Somehow my 4.5 year old was able to catch four of them. Then we caught a bunch of sunfish which are spawning so we tried not to target them. fished from 4:30-8:30 and caught over 30 fish at least. Kids had an awesome time which is the most important! We had a very similar day last week and my little guy caught two smallies to my zero. Got my butt kicked two weeks in a row by a 4 year old.http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/images/smilies/redface.gif

Got home at 9:30, on the road at ten to go try and catch a striper from the rocks. Did a lot of bucktailing and jigging, tried some shads and some bigger swimmers and some divers, not one tap or bite. Back home by 2am or so.

I may enroll in the bunker chasing, pencil popping school soon if this nightime skunk continues.

[Monty]

Fished NOMOCO this morning out front from 130 to 7:00. Picked up two stripers around 25 inches, had another fish on for a short time. All action between 2:30 and 4:00. Caught on the rubber teaser. There was a large quantity of white water out there.
7009

7010

[DarkSkies]

Fished Nomoco 5-8am, water was dead, very windy, light rain turned into a steady rain until most of the people where I was left. I should have too, but around 7:30 there was a small blitz that lasted exactly 1 minute. :kooky: I had a teaser setup with a bucktail.

As I reached for the JRods 3 oz jig to get more distance to hit the fish 300' out, they disappeared, and that was it. Ended up catching 1 searobin on the 2 oz bucktail.

Surf was very BIG :wow::wow: this morning!

Met 2 guys as I was leaving. They both arrived there separately, and turned out to be fanatic fly fishermen. By the end of the conversation they were giving me sandeel, shrimp and spearing flys they had hand-tied. The generosity of fishermen never ceases to amaze me. :thumbsup::thumbsup: Nice meeting you guys, and thanks for the flys. :HappyWave:

I decided to take them on a whirlwhind tour in search of fish. We had a report from a friend on a boat. By the time we got there action had shut down, so we mentally marked the spot and moved somewhere else. Plugged some rocks for 2 hours as most of the other people there watched us, and a few others, try to raise a fish.

Only small fluke were on the menu, so we moved back to where we first found bunker, and tried to see if lightning would strike twice for the 2nd Father's day in a row.

It was pretty quiet, but we got 2 chances. First chance bunker surfaced, not really active, but decided to plug anyway. Nothing/ Hung out for a while hoping things would break, I felt bunker were still there, but under the surface. Hardly any boats around to scatter them. :thumbsup:

The second shot, bunker started to break the surface, bass under them. It was cool to see it after plugging to hard at different places for nothing. We hit up the sand, bunker were only 100' out, and gave it our best shot.

Unfortunately the dolphins were hungry too :( and put the pod down, including the bass. Hey, I guess dolphins gotta eat too. :D

We plugged for an hour after that, I climbed on some rocks and got some awesome video, but no fish.

I had to leave, hope some got into them later, the conditions were right, with a strong W wind causing the bunker to seek shelter close inshore.

The most positive news I can say for today is there is a lot of small bait spread around in the ocean which I didn't notice a week ago. Hopefully this will spur some more consistent action, and action jump starts at more than a handful of places. Teaser time, but some of ya already know that. ;)

[plugcrazy]

Fished the LBI area this morning with clams. The surf was big, the fish small. One bass 24".

[voyager35]

We did ok with the bass this weekend, but the bite is slowing down and they are more challenging to find. Sat we found some in 35 feet of water off Ocean County, we got them trolling bunker spoons. Kept one at 23#, caught 6 total to 35#.

Sun we found them for a short while off Monmouth County, snag and drop produced one at 20#, and that was it for the morning. Spent the rest of the day fluking a rocky area, 15 fluke 2 keepers to 22", gulp shrimp/ killie & squid combo rig.

[lostatsea]

I fished for fluke in the Navesink River yesterday, hope that's not spot burning. We got 21 fluke, 3 keepers to 20", using the chartreuse Gulp small minnows on one pole, killies and squid on the other. I say the killies slightly outfished the Gulp, but not by much. Outgoing.

[jigfreak]

I hit the sunrise in the LBI ocean today, lots of weed and mussels, and one bass 29" on clams, one skate around 10lbs, one of the biggest skates I caught so far.

[c4charlie]

Did some plugging and clamming last night/this morning in NOMOCO back and front. Fished from 10pm until 5am or so in a few different spots. Nice light rain for most of the night. Picked up 8 healthy bass 26- 29" most caught out front with some serious swell current. :) Wasn't planning on keeping any but one was deep hooked with a circle hook :huh: , luckily it was a keeper size. I kept him for dinner tonight. Although I threw everything in my bag at them, all my fish were caught on clams. I am certain that I would have caught at least double if I didn't plug as much. Strange for this time of year but that is what worked. May need to get myself a clam lure.:rolleyes:

[DarkSkies]

Set up at a few spots last night, the new moon tide was crazy! :kooky: Inky black darkness made it even better. Tried to get some fresh clams, settled for frozen, and 5 day old ones that were "fresh" 5 days ago. ;)

Was determined to work all levels of the water column as I plugged, and tossed clam and bunker. Fresh clam would have been better, but they did hit the frozen. Not a tap on the bunker, clam was the ticket.

Had 2 fish come unbuttoned, fish were not hitting that aggressively. I couldn't see why they wouldn't hit a bucktail, water seemed very warm on the outgoing.

Met 2 guys from Albany, took them 4 1/2 hours to drive down, that's dedication to striper fishing! :thumbsup: :HappyWave: They had some fish on storm shads, different stages of the tide.

Hope you guys got some decent fish before the drive back, I'll think twice before I complain about the 3 hour drive to Montauk next time.

wtg on the bass, C4, looks like you had the hot hand. I need to get me a good Daiwa baitrunner. ;)

[chas527]

fished s.h.this morning.one short and alot of sea robbons.on clams.

[amboyangler]

Fished hard for the past 3 days. Searching out back for bait and places that hold fish. Finally found a big concentration of Adult Bunker hanging out in the shallows of a very productive area. My friend June caught a 36 incher the night before at another spot and a 32 incher that morning. I had a runoff on my baitrunner that almost gave me a heart attack the way it was screaming and my knees buckled. Could not get to the pole quick enough because I was BSing in the corner and did not expect it. My baitrunner was very tight and has never sounded so loud before. Anyway the next night I hook onto a fish that I'm fighting for about 15 minutes... It's taking drag like crazy pulling straight down... Felt like a nice bass.... then all of a sudden it wraps around something in the water and I get snagged.... I was screaming at the top of my lungs and for some reason thought that if I left the pole out for a while the fish would unwrap itself.. not the case.......alot of big blues around as well.. June caught one one a live bunker... swallowed it whole.... gator.... about 15 LBS..... anyway it looks like there are fish out back.... good luck

[wish4fish]

.... anyway it looks like there are fish out back.... good luck

yeah i been getting them up to 32" for the last week, bunker chunks outgoing at night.

[amboyangler]

yeah i been getting them up to 32" for the last week, bunker chunks outgoing at night.


you referring to blues or bass?

[c4charlie]

I need to get me a good Daiwa baitrunner. ;)
I would recommend the Shimano 4500b for slinging bait. Love the baitrunner feature. I always hold my rod when baitfishing and I have found interesting methods in using the baitrunner to my advantage when I am holding it.

[amboyangler]

I would recommend the Shimano 4500b for slinging bait. Love the baitrunner feature. I always hold my rod when baitfishing and I have found interesting methods in using the baitrunner to my advantage when I am holding it.

amen on that reel

[DarkSkies]

I would recommend the Shimano 4500b for slinging bait. Love the baitrunner feature.


amen on that reel

My bad, I meant the Shimano, like ya's told me. ;)





I fished the ocean for a short while last night. There were a lot of guys waitin and watchin. Boats were far off. I got some video of Lenny in his yak about a mile out as well.

Found a pod of bunker that was relatively close, but they never came close enough. Fished a rockpile anyway until the tide got too high. Extreme high tide gets hairy on the incoming, be careful out there guys. :scared:

I was shot from fishinn the night before with the 2 handed clam fisherman, ;) :HappyWave: so I hit the van for some z'sss on a quiet street. Up at 5, had a short window to fish before work. Hit a 10# bluefiish at 5:30 on a blue/chrome jointed bomber, it was a decent fight. Fish had purple shading, maybe new arrival?

Some guys came to fish and we compared notes. They had a good night catchin fish while I was sleepin, story of my life. :laugh:

[Rickman]

Central MoCo last night 5:30-10p. Absolutely nothing. Could have left with the same clams on the hooks I started with.

[DarkSkies]

Rickman check your PM's. :D

[captnemo]

We had a good afternoon on the boat yesterday. We were in about 40 feet of water, maybe a mile off the beach, moco. Bunker and bass, snag and drop, 3 fish to 35#. We only kept the bleeders, and let the rest go. I think the forecast is for west winds today, which should push them into the beach. Hope some of you guys get a chance from the sand.

[Mike O]

Fished in the pouring rain early Sunday morning. Got skunked and soaked. Did meet a member, Papa John, nice to meet you.

Mike O

[finchaser]

Last night 1 bass and 1 blue very slow hopefully the bunker will leave and fish will settle into a more reliable pattern

[amboyangler]

Rich, you better hurry up and get one while you can. I heard from numerous people that those reels will be discontinued soon. Go with the 4500B, the 6500 is too heavy and its overkill.

P.S.

Check your voicemail dude.

[wish4fish]

you referring to blues or bass?
striped ones, get wit the program dood, lol!

fished last night and all I got was salad.:D

[amboyangler]

striped ones, get wit the program dood, lol!

fished last night and all I got was salad.:D


:fishing:

[LennyD]

Took my kayak out yesterday evening, in less then an hr i was hook up, mid 20's. after picture she was released.

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/5624/dsc08248.jpg (http://img341.imageshack.us/i/dsc08248.jpg/)

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/7103/dsc08251m.jpg (http://img341.imageshack.us/i/dsc08251m.jpg/)

[amboyangler]

beautiful pictures dude... wow..... plugs? jigs? bait?

[surfwalker]

LennyD- very nice, looks like you had some fun. I'm sure there's a big smile in back of that Bass.

[LennyD]

beautiful pictures dude... wow..... plugs? jigs? bait?

pencil popper

[vpass]

Lenny, that looks like lots of fun with the Yak.:drool: Nice fish.

[surfwalker]

3:00am-10am-plugs. Water was a little off color, breakers in close, calm beyond. Breezes from all directions through the course of the morn. Not a tap in the dark. First light- 2 hits on yellow polaris. Switched over to a big chartreuse pencil and a nice Bass came out of the water and blindsided it, waited for the feel of the weight and the anicipation of the run, just kept going. Layed back, but no second hit. Reeled in only to discover that my belly hook broke off, heartbreak, naah, just the way it goes sometimes. I'm a fanatic about sharp hooks and replacing old hooks, I just thought I had one more day outta this pencil, not to be. Picked up some short Fluke on pearl gulp on the walk back. Bugs were brutal in the dark, even with a big stogie.

Happy Trails

[DarkSkies]

. Bugs were brutal in the dark, even with a big stogie.

Happy Trails

WTG on the hookup, Surfwalker. I need to feel action at the end of the line, so at least that action you had made it worth the effort (almost) ;) :thumbsup:

The bug population this year as a result of the sustained rain and standing pools of water is overwhelming at times. The other night a friend and I were hit relentlessly by them, even with spraying so much spray on our faces we could taste it all night.

The only benefit is it might keep people away from high population marshy places if they understand the torture they need to go through to fish a bite that is definitely not consistent.

On the other hand, it seems all areas are now teeming. This morning I was on a rockpile away from land and the second the wind died down I was under siege.

One thing out of state vacationers may not understand about those beautiful shore and bay houses is that there is no relief from the bugs when there is no breeze. We fishermen pray for west wind, but they pray for an east wind, or a steady wind. :scared:





Lenny, WTG on the fish, some people think yakkin is a piece of cake. I saw you guys head out that evening. I could see active fish a half mile E of you. You were about a mile out and didn't seem to have reached them yet. It's harder to see them on the water with the big swells, glad you guys got into em. :clapping:

[DarkSkies]

Covered a lot of ground last night. First stop was where I knew a lot of bait was schooled up in the daytime. I had great expectations for a hot night bite, and again it didn't pan out. Not only was the bait I had been looking for not there, but the other bait that had been around was absent.

I decided to stick with a disciplined plan as I wanted to hit a lot of spots. Plugged for 15 minutes not a tap. Switched over to "2 handed clam fishing" ;):HappyWave: Used a high low rig loaded with clams, and because of the sensitivity of the fish from the other night, only a 2 oz "fluke ball" sinker, as the 2nd clam bait. Even so, fish were a little weird, light hitters. Managed 2 shorts on those huge gobs of snot in the next 45 minutes.

Since my magnificent clam techniques weren't exactly setting the world on fire, :laugh: I went to another spot and plugged, the fish are usually there on the outgoing. Not a tap.

Ended up moving through a few different towns out front, and fished a set of rocks before sunrise. Metal dannys at first, then pencil popper after sunrise.

I couldn't raise a fish, though it was the first time I got to try Rip Plugger's plugs. I have no fish reports with them yet, but I'm very happy with the way they swim, they really do dig in to the current. :thumbsup:

Speaking of current, there must have been an offshore storm coming from last night, the swells were incredible and relentless from 4:30-5:15 am.

I don't know if I'm using the right surfer terms, I counted them coming in sets of 9 huge waves a few minutes after dead low as the tide started moving. They were 6' high, and even at the lowest water I took some headers as I turned around to face away from them. I stopped counting after 10 went over my head, it was a great way to wake up in the morning! :rolleyes:

The swell eventually died down to 5, and then 3 at a time, which was good because it was hard to fish only being able to get in a cast or so every 2 minutes. By the time I left at 6:30, you would never have known those big swells had been there, it flattened out nicely.

Small pod of bunker were close, not close enough to snag and drop, so I continued fishin the incoming with the pencil until I left. Beautiful morning on the water, whitewater is my tonic. :drool: :fishing:

[storminsteve]

I worked the top of the outgoing tide last night in somoco. Fresh clams, and bunker. One 28" fish on the clams, 1 skate.

[LennyD]

Lenny, WTG on the fish, some people think yakkin is a piece of cake. I saw you guys head out that evening. I could see active fish a half mile E of you. You were about a mile out and didn't seem to have reached them yet. It's harder to see them on the water with the big swells, glad you guys got into em. :clapping:

Thanx Rich!
You are right, its not that easy with kayak its just easier.
You can cover more water.
I hope i can catch at least one more before they move out.:fishing:

[SharkHart]

pencil popper

How do u unhook trebles in the yak is a nightmare

[LennyD]

How do u unhook trebles in the yak is a nightmare

not too bad, so far was easy

[clamchucker]

2 day report. Yesterday there was a window of activity at IBSP. I got 2 bass, one 24 on the boga, another 32#. Caught and released on pencils. A few other folks had bass where I was but the action was short lived.
Today I was fishing plugs at sunrise and caught a 29" bass, also released. It slowed down after that, and fishing bunker brought no results for me. Nice fish from the kayak Lenny. That looks like fun. If I were younger I would try that.

[surfwalker]

clamchucker-nice day for you on pencils. Up top never gets old.

[cowherder]

I fished Sandy Hook this morning at first light. One skate, 3 sea robins, clams. Clamchucker and Lenny, congrats on the big fish!:clapping:

[surfwalker]

3am-8am. Nice NW breeze in the dark. Around 6 it turned N at around 10mph. Water still a little off color. Breakers in close. No bugs. Around 4:30 picked up a short with a small blk/sil plug. One other hit after that in the dark. Small blue after sunrise on a popper, no other rises, left. Bait guys just looking at their sticks( some guys had 6 sticks each). My area has been void of any noticeable bait for the past few weeks. Saw my friend the Osprey make his morning pass, and just kept going. Next time.

[DarkSkies]

Bait guys just looking at their sticks( some guys had 6 sticks each).

My area has been void of any noticeable bait for the past few weeks. .


I don't know what it is about some guys fishin bait surfwalker. Maybe 2 or 3 rods might work, but 6? :kooky: what happens if a school of bluefish runs through?

Cownose rays are around as well. All you need to do is lose a setup one time to a cownose :embarassed: to learn being too far from the rod ain't the smartest thing in the world. :learn: The only fish Ive been getting lately with bait have been light hitters, holding the rod in your hands iis the secret, for me at least.

And the lack of bait is depressing. I know it's there, but it's nothing like it has been in past years. I will see it 2 nights in a row, and then nothing for the next 3 visits.

I see it in more places now, but the highest concentrations are in the back bay and inlet areas. Some parts of the surf are like the dead sea this year, and that just ain't a good pattern for holding or bringing fish in.
:don't know why:



Clamchucker, wtg on those bass and the release, right place, right time. :clapping::thumbsup:

[surfwalker]

Don't mention those rays, can't stand them.

[wish4fish]

fished a river last night, one bass 29" on slack tide, clamball, slow night

[clamchucker]

clamchucker-nice day for you on pencils. Up top never gets old.

surfwalker, that was my best day this year. And you are right, that first top water strike of a big fish never gets old. I doubt I will repeat that, as the easy action is starting to wane. It's back to walking the beaches and moving around. I got two schoolie bass on clams today north of IBSP at first light, and then a few sea robins after that.

[Monty]

Was ocean side from 1:30 to 3:00 this morning, just did not like the conditions. Moved bay side and between 4:00 and 7:00 lost 2 fish and missed a couple hits. BS'ed with a guy for 30 minutes, then at 8:00 hooked into a blue. Between 8:00 and 9:00 landed 3 blues between 30 and 35 inches, lost 4. Gosh they are fun. Caught on pencil and teaser combo. Hooked up about 1 time for every 6-8 casts.

[Mike O]

Fished SH. I must have caught a half dozen fluke, all on metal or they hit the teaser on the way up. All shorts. Got a small cocktail blue and an ugly puffer fish with buckteeth. What a weird outing. I guess it is better than nothing.

Mike O

[SharkHart]

boat report

left manasquan in a stiff n wind dead in our face by the end of the day we came back in a stiff south, no fair no easy ride either way. started at the red church area and found sea bass and the fluke were grouped up in tight spots in 40 ft. I had a few just miss keepers 1 keeper and shorts. at the rocks was same thing in tight spots and then hard to go back over the same track with the drift. Thought we d have bass at magic hour, bunker was tough to locate with the white caps, found a nervous pod but we got too close due to the visiblity and spooked whatever bass was there. Seems they thined out maybe, I still suspect there could be one more wave of fish.

[Monty]

Oops