NJ Fishing reports for the week of 5-12 to 5-18-2008

[bunkerjoe4]

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 -

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
CISP - Corson's Inlet State Park
CMC - Cape May County
CMR - Cape May Rips


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

[bunkerjoe4]

NJ Week in Review 5-12-08

It has been a week of decent fishing and changing weather, folks.

Black Drum have been caught for the second week in Delaware Bay, one of the biggest reported catches weighing 33 pounds.

On the other hand, depending on who you talk to, some have the opinion that Bass fishery numbers are down this year. A recent ASA Delaware Bay tournament had low catches relative to the number of boats participating.

Others have reported great catches near the mouth of the Delaware River. This might be explained with the theory that bass are following the bait, herring.

It could also be explained by anecdotal evidence that the striped bass biomass has decreased. Recent NMFS stats claim this is not the case. They say it's healthy as ever. However, veteran anglers, who fish frequently and keep detailed logs, are grumbling. Some of them feel bigger bodies of bass have bypassed the Delaware and Raritan bays this year in favor of the Hudson, and NY Bight areas.

Striped bass are certainly available to boaters, who are reporting good numbers of bass and bluefish. But for surfcasters, this is usually a banner time in the back bays. Some feel the numbers are down from previous years.

Time will tell what the actual truth is. I suspect it's somewhere in between. I suspect the biomass may be decreasing slightly, with a concurrent greater participation by anglers in all categories, surf and boat. It's possible the bass have altered their spring migration pattern as well, with the bulk of larger fish passing slightly offshore, hitting the first linear Coast they run into somewhere on the NY shores.

On the brighter side, a good portion of bass have spawned in their respective areas, and some very big fish are making their northward from Virginia, and outward from the upper reaches of the Hudson. For the past 2 weeks, very nice catches have been reported in southern waters and the Assateague Island area, up to 49". These fish are making their way up the coast, and hopefully stop along the way for surf fishermen a chance to get at them.

You can catch bass in the ocean surf now, as waters have warmed a bit, but they are still relatively cool compared to the bays. Strong NE weather patterns like the one on the next few days will cool the water down even more. Therefore, the best bet to catch bass and bigger fish remains in the low-light hours, in the flats, or any place you can find that has water running or dumping into it, ie current.

The exception for the ocean would be right after the storm, if you can find a fishable area where your sinker can hold for clam fishing. When these noreasters break up large amounts of clams on the beach, conditions are ideal right after to catch a nice bass on clams.

The first fluke have been caught, some very respectable size, but are not legal to keep yet. This year's restrictions will make it tough for most anglers to put a decent catch together, accordingly putting more pressure on the striped bass.


The record weakfish was caught this week by a client of Rich Swisstack, but as Al Ristori reported, not in NJ.

If any of you folks catch an unusually large weakfish, and it's not a record, I am again asking if you might consider releasing it. These big females are few and far between. The only reason you hear of numbers of them being caught is that they congregate in certain areas when spawning. Sharp anglers know this, and are able to effectively fish those areas, with most of them being thrown back.

Good luck out there, folks, and be careful if fishing in this weather. Remember that the tides around the full and new moon are significantly higher, and can impact your safety.


NY Week in review 5-12-08

As noted, some bigger fish are consistently being caught in the NY bight areas, and NY beaches. Bigger fish have moved into the NY back bay areas, and LI Sound flats. For the most part, they are chasing bunker, herring, squid, spearing, and rainfish. Find those baitfish and you will be rewarded.

There was a massive bunker fishkill in the Peconic Bay in the last week as large predators pushed bunker further into the shallows where there is less oxygen for the schools.

On a somber note, a body was found Friday morning on an access road to Great Kills Park. I read that it was not a fisherman, but it's still a sad story nonetheless.

If you want to fish areas out front, if you can find a beach area right after a storm where clams are washed up, fishing with clams, if your sinker can hold bottom, would be an ideal strategy.

Be careful out there folks -- bunkerjoe

[fishinmission78]

Heads up to anyone who thought of fishin the front. Just took a ride, nasty and windy, big rollers, foamy water, forget about the front for a few days.

[wish4fish]

Just got back, jiggin bucktails in river. Not bad, clearing up, but no fish.

[fishinmission78]

Took a ride to the inlet earlier. It's foamy out front, but few tide changes should clear out the inlet and the suds.

[wish4fish]

Outback on the flats, blues and blues invasion once again, poppers metals some were bigger this time.

[fishjay]

fished all parts of sh yesterday with no luck. skunked.

bluefish seem to have been blown offshore and bass are rare

[fishjay]

forgot to say there were sea robbins for those great anglers that want them.

[amboyangler]

Finally My First Keeper Ever And Boy Did He Put Up A Fight

36 Inches - 18 LBS - Bunker Chunk - RB Surf

http://americanpridebt.googlepages.com/DSC01699.JPG/DSC01699-full;init:.JPG

[fishlipper]

fishjay, heard it was more of a sea robin BLITZ!. woo hoo, gotta take the good with the bad. Least it wasn't coney island whitefish.http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon10.gif


Amboy angler, nice fish, I missed the SI bite last night by an hour, the weather definitely put a damper on things. Not many people caught keeper bass last night, congrats. :clapping:

[clamchucker]

Very nice striper, amboy. You look like you have that fish in a death grip, no way of losing that one! :)

Fished yesterday afternoon, low tide, way in back rb.Only a few guys out, most of us caught blues on krocodile type spoons. The ones who caught more were casting furthest. Action died mid afternoon. Topwater produced no hits.

[wish4fish]

No weakies last night river fishin, switched to bunker, caught some blues.

[fishinmission78]

Fished IBSP inlet this morning, still a little foamy, bucktails and shads, not a tap. BTW did some walking to see if the cuts were the way I remember them. You guys will have to learn them again. Many of the sandbars are gone.

Nice fish amboy.:clapping:

[clamchucker]

Fished all over SH yesterday afternoon front, back. 2 medium bluefish using bunker.

[fishlipper]

Amboy, nice fish, you look like you're ready to burst. Kung fu death grip. :scared: Hope that
is the first of many more, you're now hooked!:thumbsup:

[wish4fish]

sunrise bite out back rb, blues on metal and poppers, regular size blues, no bass.

[fishinmission78]

IBSP this morning, one small blue bucktailing. There were a couple of large bunker schools out front, nothing on them, little too far out of casting distance. Maybe they'll bring in the big cows for tonight.

[wish4fish]

Fished the sunset in back rb, few small blues, metal only. some spearing around.