NJ fishing reports for June 2011...www.StripersandAnglers.com

[DarkSkies]

NJ fishing reports for June 2011...www.StripersandAnglers.com (http://www.stripersandanglers.com/)




NJ fishing reports for June 2011...www.stripersandanglers.com (http://www.stripersandanglers.com/)
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:
Out Front (Ocean) OR -- Out Back (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

[DarkSkies]

_Hookset,
you won the plug in the May random drawing!:clapping: :thumbsup:
PM me your address so I can send it out to ya!




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.

If you struck out or got skunked, it would be helpful to hear that as well. Anyone who posts a report can win a plug even if they got skunked! :skunk::D


This month we're giving out plugs from Ace Baits, or something similar.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...splay.php?f=83 (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/forumdisplay.php?f=83)

Thanks for posting and helping to make this a great site! :clapping:


http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6338&thumb=1&d=1238964999 (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6338&d=1238964999)

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6340&thumb=1&d=1238965622 (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6340&d=1238965622)


http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6339&thumb=1&d=1238965319 (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=6339&d=1238965319)

[DarkSkies]

Fished the ocean last night, ebb tide from high to slack and part of the flood.
Away from the bunker blitzes, all fish caught blind casting. :fishing:

Ran into Andy, a friend I don't get to see that much. :HappyWave:We fished into the darkness, nothing for either of us. He went home, I continued to fish even though rain was coming.

I was joined by D, a younger fisherman who just that day had spray painted a Danny black. You could still smell the paint. :laugh:
On his 5th cast he was into a nice fish, I helped him land it.
He left, I managed one short after that on a small swimmer.
Nice to meet ya, D! :HappyWave:

Went to a few other places, caught more fish on the dropping tide.
Total of 7 bass to 31", only one short, all released.
One on a topwater swimmer, and most of the rest on a Finchaser modified mid-level swimmer :thumbsup: . Had action or a hooked fish every half hour until action died at 4am .

[hookset]

Hey thanks for the plug Dark!
Sending you my address, cool! I fished somoco this morning, one 32" bass on a pencil popper at sunrise.

[DarkSkies]

You're welcome Hookset, :HappyWave: congrats on the bass, enjoy the plug, catch em up!

*******
Thu PM report:

After the DEP access meeting ended (Long Beach Twp, LBI,NJ), hooked up with Jim (FishinCrazy) and fished part of the tide on LBI with him. I've known him for a few years now, and never got a chance to meet the guy in person.

Not only is he a very effective speaker in person (his words about beach access drew cheering, applause, and effectively grabbed the emotions of everyone in that room :clapping:), but they also quoted him this morning on NJ101.5 in their report of that meeting. :thumbsup:

With not much ambient light on the LBI beaches, we fished the inky darkness, trying different profiles, but had no luck. Still, a great time with a good guy. Glad I finally got the chance to get out there and fish with ya, Jim. :HappyWave:

After that, I went back up to Moco for the late night ocean ebb tide. I worked my *** off trying to find a fish, to no avail. Moved around a few places. 2 1/2 hours later I C&R my first and only fish, a 32" bass, on a small profile diving swimmer.

Moved again to a few places for an attempt at the sunrise bite, but the schools of bunker had moved out and it was like a lake out there, dead calm, no signs of life. Blind casting produced nothing, so I knocked off early and came home.

[clamchucker]

Fished the park this morning, first 2 hours of the outgoing. One bass 36" on a bunker head. Bunker were in and out of the surf several times but no bass were on them when I was fishing.

[storminsteve]

moco from 5-7:30 it was mayhem! Some very scared bunker were murdered, and swallowed whole by some fat bass! Got 3 stripers to 30lbs, all still swimming.

[jigfreak]

Yeah Steve it was definitely a bad day to be a bunker. 6 bass to 35lbs. Kept 1 at 25, released the rest. pencils.

[madcaster]

Picked up two out of a blitz in Moco 40”and 38”. There still swimming. Caught on a Homemade swimmer. Water was very clear. It was nice to watch the bass swimming in the waves nailing bunker.
1351913520

[basshunter]

Wow great catches guys! Sounds like you are killing them up there! I fished Ocean City on the last of the incoming this morning, one short bass 27" and 3 dogfish on bunker. Those dogfish are all over, I don't think they are endangered any more.

[DarkSkies]

Right place, right time, guys, and WTG for all for the fish you released. :clapping:. Madcaster congrats on hooking up. I know you have been out there a lot lately with not much to show for it. And catching a fish on a homemade swimmer, that has to be a sweet feeling! :drool: :thumbsup:

[hookset]

Tried my luck at a moco beach this morning from 5:30-8am, used pencils, metal lip swimmers, and bombers, nothing.

[paco33]

Fished IBSP from sunup to 7:30. Got one bluefish in the inlet on metal, around 5lbs. Where are all the big bluefish? I remember they used to slam the beach after the bunker last year. What happened?

[surfwalker]

5am - 10:30am. Out front. Plugs/metal/tops. Tons of small baitfish in and out from 7:30 on. Small blues on metal. No rises on top. Saw 3 Bass come in - clam/fly/Gulp. No Stripes for me.

[captnemo]

The fish are right off the beach, guys. Yesterday we had a great pm trip, just S of the Shrewsbury Rocks, in 20' of water. 12 bass to 41lbs, all on live bunker, kept 2 for the table.

[cowherder]

Good for you guys! I went to moco this morning and fished from 5-8am. There looked to be boats catching about a mile off, they were gathered up together. I tried with pencil poppers and a few other plugs, but got the skunk. Like paco said, where are the bluefish? Last year they were all over the place at this time.

[DarkSkies]

Pebbles and I hit the beaches yesterday around 6:30pm. We found a long line of guys waiting for action to happen, in a few places. Despite what I heard about some boats doing well, we also found a long line of boats waiting as well, some as close as 100' to the beach. :kooky:

Everyone standing around with their hands in their pockets. Got some great pics, will post in a month or so. We gave it a shot at a few places, no luck. At one of the last places we stopped, some bunker had come by a few minutes earlier. Most of the guys had given up, but there were 2 guys who didn't get the memo that the cool surf guys are only supposed to plug when the bunker are exactly in front of you. They had been plugging all along, and got 2 nice fish. :clapping: Congrats to Brad and Ray, you worked for those fish. :thumbsup: Nice to meet ya's! :HappyWave:

After getting something to eat, Pebbles and I went out on the rocks in the dark. We plugged the first 2 hours of the ebb. Ocean was like a lake, hardly any swell, very safe out there for her to be rock hopping. She's a real trooper anyway, what girl could you find who will go rock hoppin with ya at night?

Neither of us got a touch despite throwing our most productive presentations. It could be that the bunker sucked all the bass out of that area at night, as it had been productive prior to that. Hey, that's fishin. :fishing:

[jigfreak]

OC from 4-7 today, skunk-city, plugs and bucktails.

[Monty]

Ocean side this morning 4:30 to 9:30. One short bass on a Superstrike Popper in the white water. Saw no bait, high frequency waves and a large quantity of white water. Can't wait to get out there again.
http://rocksimpson.com/images/2011_6_5_Surf1.jpg

[SharkHart]

The amount of Bass in lower mon county and upper Ocean county is off the charts right now, went out for a short afternoon trip sat and was Part of a massive blitz (boat) , Hundreds of bass caught, and many released! , I had double digits to mid 30s. Bunker flying into the air, twice i saw a bass come nearly 100% out of water, was an increadible scene, 50 boats never even scared them. Sund I m hearing there was another big blow up but we had solid action slightly north of it, i saw the fleet off in the distance early but we stuck with the plan and went north, which included wanting some fluke too. It was just getting hot and heavy close to 3pm when we had to be back in today. Best big bass season ever I do think.

[DarkSkies]

Glad you're getting into them guys, catch em up. :thumbsup:
I'm gonna get Monty a plaque for the most hours fished for one bass in one outing. :laugh:
Ya know I'm just bustin ya... those surf pics are awesome :drool: and what you described about why you fish....should be the intro page to every surf fishing manual out there...:cool:



Fishing Sun PM
Pebbles and I hit the ocean looking for an afternoon bite today. The SE wind didn't make things seem like they were going to line up, but we gave it a shot anyway. We found lots of dead water, and the water that had any bunker had an armada of boats in close.

We got something to eat, and gave it one more try. Found some nervous bunker and started casting. The action stopped completely for about 10 minutes and then started again, in spurts, as the bass chased the bunker in and out for the next hour.

They were moving quick. If you had your plug in the water at the exact moment they went by, you had a fish. About 8 nice fish landed on that stretch of surf. One guy, George F, 64, landed his lifetime biggest bass, He's been fishing 59 years, since he was 5. It was a beautiful fish. I dropped one fish, that was it for me.

We fished into the dark for another half hour, downsizing to dannys and medium swimmers, but the bass left with the bunker. Still, a nice night out in the surf. :fishing:

[surferman]

Fished LBI last night, got one 34" bass on a bunker head.

[clamchucker]

I fished above the park this morning. The bunker were in and out. 2 bass to 45" on a yellow superstrike little neck popper. Released.

[fishinmission78]

One bass, incoming, OC, snag and drop, 31lbs and 43".

[Monty]

Glad you're getting into them guys, catch em up. :thumbsup:
I'm gonna get Monty a plaque for the most hours fished for one bass in one outing. :laugh:

After being the Skunkmeister for the start of the season I have had a good case of one-bass-itus. Except today, no bass for me, 5 blues on teaser, popper and bottle darter. Lost just as many, two went Tarpon on me. What a difference a day made, was like a lake out there and small bait was all over the place. Fished this morning out front 4:15 - 10:45. Was way, way way to nice out.
http://rocksimpson.com/images/2011_6_6_SR.jpg

[seamonkey]

skunkmeister, I like that name!

[bababooey]

Outstanding bass fishing yesterday and today, guys. I finally got it together yesterday for a pm trip. We fished N of MI, and hammered the bass. 9 bass to 28lbs yesterday. Played hookey today and got into them again. 19 bass to 26lbs. We kept 3 each day, there were 3 of us. All on snag and drop bunker.
The action is great and only a short distance from the surf, though at times they seemed a little out of reach of the surf guys. Do yourselves a favor and get out on the boat action while it lasts. This fishing is incredible!

[great_white_hunter]

Fished Sunday morning from 6-7:30 in southern Monmouth County. Saw a large group of boats in close, threw big pencil poppers, tried snag and drop, tried metal. Caught the Skunk. Hope to be out again this weekend. Dark its been a while since i've run into you, hope you are having success.

[Monty]

Fished out front 4:30 to 8:45 this morning. 3 Blues and one bass, close to 28" on white Sluggo. Lost a few fish too, way to nice out. Small bait around.
First Blue was a double.

[chas527]

fished this morning 6 till 11. went to acouple of spots early did't see any bunker around. went back to hook nothing 1 small fluke did see bunker for 5 minutes.but they never came back.

[Pebbles]

I don't get it. How come all those guys out there were catching fish as the stripers went by going after bunker but I can't even get a tap. I am throwing right into the blitz and still NOTHING. It's not FAIR!!. I want to catch a big one TOO!!!

[DarkSkies]

Late report...spent a lot of hours searching for fish yesterday....a few hours with the old surf sharpies, and then off on my own. We were a dollar short and an hour late in the daytime. I didn't do any better in all the choicest spots at night. Ran into Finchaser and Nick. Also touched base with the OFFC.

They wanted me to invite Fin to join the OFFC, but the old grouch was grouchy as ever, as we saw several people walking off the beach with sun-baked bass they didn't want and were looking to give away. If ya want it, fine. :thumbsup: :fishing: But if you're not gonna eat it, why the eff would ya pull it out of the surf and leave it on the beach to bake in the sun??? :beatin:


Anyway, Fin, being in the bad mood that he was from seeing all the carnage and waste, http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon9.png decided to decline the OFFC's overtures to induct him into the club and meet for some post-skunk food and ball busting. I'm sure their feelings were hurt, but they're men, they can take it! :laugh: :clapping: :cool:

He went home, I met up with the OFFC and had a blast. :HappyWave:

After celebrating the :skunk: and the combat fishing we witnessed with the OFFC, I went out for round 2, fishing the last hour of the flood, and 5 hours of the ebb, in no less than 5 different locations in 2 different counties. My best presentations went untouched, bottom half of the water column. :huh:

Fishing brings you humility at times, especially casting artificials. There are times when the fish just aren't in the mood to eat anything but bunker. :learn:

And there are times when it's a looming destiny that I may take the Skunkmeister :skunk: title away from Monty! :HappyWave:





**********
Pebbles, it's the luck of the draw as to who catches when those bigger fish come by hot on the bunker. The skills are secondary.... if you can cast a pencil above the head of a big bass, or drop a live bunker to the bottom, you're in for the golden ticket. :laugh:

We'll gettum next time, Pebbles. I'm most proud of the fact that you were out there climbing on the rocks. You made me proud scrambling around there with your new Korkers and casting your Finchaser rod hundreds of times without fatigue. :thumbsup: To me that's more impressive, little steps at a time.... :heart::kiss:

[basshunter]

Keep trying pebbles. Watch what others are using and how they are fishing them.

I went out last night from 6 to 8 in moco. Did not get anything but did see a few 20 to 30 lb's being pulled in.

[GeoffT]

Late report from this past weekend. Out in jetty country during the late night outgoing, I pulled in two low teen bass and a 46" 30 lber on a Big Water pikie. The big fish surprised me with a couple of blistery runs that nearly pulled me off the rock. But I prevailed. Unfortunately, I pulled my groin in the process of landing the big fish so I had to quit fishing and take the excruciating walk back to the car after releasing the fish. :( I must have looked like a zombie to anyone seeing me drag my leg in the dark. :kooky:

Still gotta love it, catching a non-blitz big bass late at night. :thumbsup: Same spot where I saw my good buddy catch a 35 a couple years ago, also a night non-blitz fish. :clapping: The ironic thing was that I didn't like the way the pikie was swimming and this was going to be my last cast on the thing. :laugh: In fact, I hadn't caught a single fish with it until now and felt it was a waste of my 35 bucks. :embarassed:

[finchaser]

They wanted me to invite Fin to join the OFFC, but the old grouch was grouchy as ever, as we saw several people walking off the beach with sun-baked bass they didn't want and were looking to give away. If ya want it, fine. :thumbsup: :fishing: But if you're not gonna eat it, why the eff would ya pull it out of the surf and leave it on the beach to bake in the sun??? :beatin:


Anyway, Fin, being in the bad mood that he was from seeing all the carnage and waste, http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon9.png decided to decline the OFFC's overtures to induct him into the club and meet for some post-skunk food and ball busting. I'm sure their feelings were hurt, but they're men, they can take it! :laugh: :clapping: :cool:

He went home, I met up with the OFFC and had a blast. :HappyWave:




OFFC, he asked me if I wanted to fish as he was meeting you, he never mentioned meeting you guys just to hang out and bust balls.
Definitely next time.

Pebbles I admire you for fishing with a handy cap (DS) good luck

[Monty]

Still gotta love it, catching a non-blitz big bass late at night. :thumbsup:

Thats great, nice catch, good luck with the groin.

Fished this morning 4:00-9:00.
Was like a lake, small amount of small bait around, Two blues ~3 pounds on teaser in front of pencil popper. One small Fluke. I miss the rain.
http://rocksimpson.com/images/2011_6_8_SR.jpg
I dispise boats and boaters (the inconsiderate ones), surfers so far I find mostly inconsiderat, Kayakers so far I'm OK with. This guy just paddled in front of anyone fishing about 40 -50 yards out.
http://rocksimpson.com/images/2011_6_8_WTF1.jpg
http://rocksimpson.com/images/2011_6_8_WTF2.jpg

[finchaser]

6-9pm
24 blues tonight 3-5 pounds spit up squid all on poppers and metal and still alive although they may need some dental work

[jigfreak]

[B]This guy just paddled in front of anyone fishing about 40 -50 yards out.


That's when the 4 oz sinker comes out and I clip it on to practice sinker casting. Theres no excuse for a guy to get close to guys who are casting things with hooks on them. Awesome sunrise pic, Monty. I fished tonight near high tide,, some rocks in OC, one short bass on fin s and 1 oz jig. There were small rainfish and spearing around the rocks I was fishing at. Finchaser 24 blues you must of been on fire nice going.

[yardvillejimmy]

Fished NoMoCo with OFFC yesterday evening. Caught a few small blues on metals. The Metal Master was high hook with 10 fish. Fishjay lost a favorite plug while reeling in a blue. Got bit off by another one.

[madcaster]

Went out on Wed. 2-9 from RB to Asbury fished outgoing :skunk: I did so many blind cast …my pole should be white with a red tip :laugh:

[cowherder]

Madcaster ha ha thats funny. We all have to meet that smelly charachter :skunk: every once in a while. There are a lot of blues in nomoco if you are interested. Good luck.

I fished nomoco today from 6-7:30AM, towards the end of the outgoing, Got 7 feisty blues on an ava oo7.

[DarkSkies]

Still gotta love it, catching a non-blitz big bass late at night. :thumbsup: :

Geoff, funny that Monty and I would focus on the same quote. To me, there's nothing quite like as exciting as slamming a big bass deep in the night, far away from crowds. That bass, whether 10 or 40 lbs, means more to me than a 50 caught in a bunker blitz. Hey, maybe that's just me, we're all entitled to our opinions and preferences. That's what makes this world go around. Great report, Geoff, ain't nothing like that feeling. WTG.

OFFC, he asked me if I wanted to fish as he was meeting you, he never mentioned meeting you guys just to hang out and bust balls.
Definitely next time.
Pebbles I admire you for fishing with a handy cap (DS) good luck

Shucks, Fin, you know I like to embellish when telling stories about people. Your version is usually the correct one. As for handicap??? :moon::laugh:


Fished NoMoCo with OFFC yesterday evening. Caught a few small blues on metals. The Metal Master was high hook with 10 fish. Fishjay lost a favorite plug while reeling in a blue. Got bit off by another one.
OFFC, the only guys on the beach long after all the young pups give up. Those bluefish are a blast to catch, glad ya's got in some action.,


Went out on Wed. 2-9 from RB to Asbury fished outgoing :skunk: I did so many blind cast …my pole should be white with a red tip :laugh:
Rite of passage, Madcaster, at least ya tried, good report. :thumbsup:
The bluefish are, for the most part, active in the early AM or toward the end of the day. Find moving water and you'll find the fish. :HappyWave:

Monty, great reports as well. Sound like you had a blast on your vacation. :fishing: :HappyWave:

[DarkSkies]

Fished Wed night, last half of the ebb till dawn. Not a tap, fished a lot of ocean places. Stuck around for a bit after sunrise. Found some birds working in close after a guy said there were small blues. I found out that the birds I was casting to were on a blitz, but it was a sea robin blitz. :laugh: http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon11.png

Somewhat embarassing, yes.
Even more embarassing was that I didn't leave and played it out. :ROFLMAO Managed 10 sea robins, all over 2#, in 45 minutes, on small metal. They must have been spawning, as they were pretty aggressive.

Hoping that wouldn't be the highlight of my day, I went and mugged Finchaser on the beach he was fishing at. There had been an early bite of small bluefish, and it was still going on. He was there with some other old fart King Crabs, and I imagine he felt right at home with all the crabby old farts. :laugh: :kiss: :HappyWave:

When I got there it was a bluefish on every cast, metal or poppers. At that point it started to slow down to a fish every 4 or 5 casts or so. I wonder if I have the same ability to slow the bite down that Killie has? :whoo:

Still, we all had a blast. I think Fin and one of his King Crab buddies (of the KCFC King Crab Fishing Club.... aka the GBFC Grouchy Basstards Fishing Club) each had 50 bluefish or more, while the rest of us had only 10's and 20's. Ego forced me to stay on the sand there long after they left, as the fish were still hitting in spurts. Final count for me was 12 small blues. Great time with the grouchy basstards,. and I think there was even a smile or 2 on their faces. :cool: :)

[finchaser]

12:30 pm to 3 pm today was slower than yesterday had about 25 blues same size as last 2 days all were 3-5 pounds all on hrdro poppers all still swimming

[jigfreak]

Good for you guys, I'm still plugging for bass, fished slack to 10:45 tonight, swimmers and bucktails, one stupid red bird (robin) to show for it.

[storminsteve]

4 small blues before dark tonight, metal, moco. Old farts I have to meet the metal master one of these days maybe he can give me some tips, is he or finchaser giving any seminars on metal?

[fishinmission78]

Caught a whole lot of nothing tonight, oc.

[hookset]

Somoco 4-7a.:skunk:

[yardvillejimmy]

Fished NoMoCo yesterday evening with the Metal Master. He clued me in on some of his metal retrieving techniques. We caught a total of 16 small blues. The Metal Master was high hook since he also managed two fluke.

[xtreme_visions]

Picked up a gags bluefish bomb and a few other things and fished nomoco yesterday. Something kept chasing/trying to hit the bluefish bomb but no luck. Ended up snapping my line casting out and losing the thing! While searching for it i found this. Anybody know what its called? Talked my girlfriend into going back with me to the same spot in the rain. The tide was very low at this point and lucky me i found my bluefish bomb just laying there :) didnt get to fish though! Once the lightning started so did my girlfriend so we headed home :(

13630

[fishinmission78]

Xtreme, the back half of that plug, is it hard or soft body? How long?

Fished OC 6-9, outgoing, few blues on metal. Bass were busting outside the bar a few casts off, and there was a whale in close, pretty cool.

[cowherder]

Moco from 5 to 7, little drizzly and foggy out, 4 medium blufish on a very small gibbs popper.

[xtreme_visions]

Hey 78 its hard and about 4" made by spro.

[Monty]

Fished 1:45 to 8:45 this morning, out back.:beatin:
Skunk-a-roo.
I had one big hit on a white 14" Hogy, drag going out, missed it.
Debated with self front/back/front/back, went to back...should have gone to front.
Had good time, nice weather except for the hour long thunderstorm that I had to honker down in a bunker.
Water looked great, saw no bait.

[xtreme_visions]

Fished amboy today from 2pm-5pm and nothing. Used bunker, clams and some metals. Girlfriend came up empty fishing for fluke with some spearing on various fluke rigs

[SharkHart]

The bass are back-had them on boat N. monmoth- they were not far offf beach- be ready we got a NW wind tomorrow

[DarkSkies]

Pebbles and I fished the back in OC tonight for an hour before dark. Looking for some hungry bluefish, we found thousands of spearing but few fish. Only 1 bluefish was caught, about 20 feet away from us. Nothing for anyone else, that's fishin.

Waiting for the NW, West Wind Wally sez it's the best. :fishing:

[finchaser]

Did the boat thing Sunday had 3 fish 40# 37#33# total for the 3 man crew was 7 bass largest 41# was largest the other 3 were in the 30# pound range only 2 were killed as we were in a tournament. All fish were caught live lining re hooked bunker on circle hooks not snag and drop.The 5 released fish swam away just fine do to circle hooks. I'll post a picture later.

[fishinmission78]

All fish were caught live lining re hooked bunker on circle hooks not snag and drop.The 5 released fish swam away just fine do to circle hooks.

Nice catch finchaser. The way of bringing in the bunker first, and then sending out out on a circle:thumbsup: even among guys with boats, no one follows that anymore. Haven't you heard? That takes too much time, doing that you might miss out on that extra bass that you would have caught in the minute you lost by doing it the right way.:kooky: Congrats:clapping:

Fished the park this morning, it was dead. First 2 hours of the outgoing.

[fishinmission78]

Hey 78 its hard and about 4" made by spro.

Xtreme, if you found it on the beach, use it. I use the cheapest plugs I have when bluefish are around, opr else use metal. They are going to tear up what ever you toss at them, so it shouldn't be high end or you will waste your $$. Good luck.

[stripermania]

Fished ocean county various times sat and sun. The surf was big and you needed at least 6oz to hold. I was using bunker. My big catches were 2 enormous skates, one dogfish, and a big sea robin. Finchaser, 401lbs is a huge striped bass, is that your personal best?

[finchaser]

Fished ocean county various times sat and sun. The surf was big and you needed at least 6oz to hold. I was using bunker. My big catches were 2 enormous skates, one dogfish, and a big sea robin. Finchaser, 401lbs is a huge striped bass, is that your personal best?

No 50 is my best
I have been fortunate to catch and release probably 1/2 dozen over 40#

[DarkSkies]

^^.....and for the record, Fin has caught and released thousands of fat, legal bass over the years since the moratorium. :thumbsup: And some skinny legal ones too. :laugh: :HappyWave:


**********
Fishing report-
Went out yesterday afternoon. Big bass showed up as a blip on the radar screen, about 6 1/2 minutes before they moved out of range. Meanwhile every club guy and surfcaster from 2 counties descended upon a small slice of the coast. They should have scheduled a surfcasters' convention, as all the famous names were there anyway. ;)

When that fizzled out, I went to the back to fish the first 1/2 hour of a tide change. Bad idea given the bugs and dirty water from the rain. Strategically good idea to time your fishing so you can jump around to take advantage of the tide changes, as you will get more fish in the long-run doing this. Last night the bugs won out. I was there for 15 minutes and bailed. Still spitting bugs out of my teeth as I left.

Returned to the ocean. Met up with some people I know, BS for awhile, helped 2 guys from Mercer who were locked out of their truck, so I lost part of the full moon ebb. That's ok, the water was pretty high anyway. Made a few ocean stops after that, no action whatsoever working all levels of the water column.

The water was beautiful, swell manageable, and we had Monty's :HappyWave: favorite, white water. No fish. :skunk:

[jigfreak]

Fished a blitz tonight, lots of me first and goog mistakes, I wouldn't put up with it if it werent for the big fish. Landed 2 to 33lbs,released. Lost a few due to idiocy of others. Next time I'm cutting lines of anyone who crosses mine even once.

[gjb1969]

good job man way to gosome people just dont think:huh:

[Monty]

The water was beautiful, swell manageable, and we had Monty's :HappyWave: favorite, white water. No fish. :skunk:

:HappyWave:
Yes, White Water Fanatic/Skunkmeister.........Gotta love the white water!! :heart:

Nice Jigfreak, at some point others need to be taught a lesson.

[finchaser]

This am did the boat thing 2 bass 27# and 35# both caught on a bunker circle re-hook both swam off unharmed,still bunker all over the place.
1 1/2 to 2 miles off the beach bunker schools go on for miles

[chas527]

fished the beach this morning .2small fluke 3 sea robbins . then about 10 am the water got dark big blue fish passing by . got 7 really big blue fish.first time i seen them all year.

[xtreme_visions]

JUST GOT IN FROM AMBOY :skunk: FISHED 6PM-10:30PM.

[captnemo]

We fished yesterday for most of the day out of MI. 11 bass to 31lbs, live bunker. Kept one large one that was gut hooked and bleeding, and 3 of the smaller ones, around 15-18lbs.

[wish4fish]

hey dudes long time no see got a new job so im fishing less and theres less fish anyway, but we have bin fishhing the last 3 nights in rb, nothing for the first 2, but last nite we each got 6 or more big blues they were on bunker, we snagged the bunker right around dark, and chunked those bloody chunks the blues were so insane that some of the bunks were jumping out of the water it was great and we though the bay was dead, at least it is in the day but when the bunker are there its game on!

[DarkSkies]

WTG guys, ya gotta be out there, when the fish are there... :fishing:
I fished the first hour of the full moon ebb this morning in the ocean. Brought along plugs from surfstix and speedy. :HappyWave:

Really wanted to see those plugs blasted out of the water by some big blues. There was no life to be found where I was, except for some short fluke.

Sorry speedy and surfstix, when I find them suckers I'm gonnna let them chew your plugs big time. :viking:

[storminsteve]

Fished nomoco from 7-9, some small blues on metal right before dark. DS I am with you I am tired of the small cocktails can we order some big nasty bluefish for a week or 2?

[xtreme_visions]

FISHED A PIER IN AMBOY LAST NIGHT 2-10PM :skunk: 1 GUY CAUGHT A FEW FLUKE & BLUES. FLUKE HAD TO BE HALF THE KEEPER SIZE BUT HE KEPT THEM :confused: GOT THERE EARLY WHEN THE TIDE WAS REAL LOW TO GET A NICE SPOT. LITTLE BY LITTLE PEOPLE CROWDED THE PIER :banghead2: POSTING UP WITHIN INCHES OF EACH OTHER :burn: ALOT OF TANGLES AND CASTING OVER EACH OTHER :don't know why: EVERYBODY TALKS THE TALK UNTIL PEOPLE COME. THEN THERE NUTS SEEM TO VANISH AND THEY ALLOW WHAT THEY JUST SPOKE ABOUT HATING :wow: EXPECTED TO HAVE A NICE TIME RELAXING & FISHING WITH THE GIRLFRIEND BUT THAT TOOK A TURN FOR THE WORSE :argue: GUY COMES AND POSTS UP RIGHT INBETWEEN ME AND MY GIRLFRIEND :2flip: PUTS HIS CHAIR IN THE MIDDLE OF US!! IM TALKING 2FT AWAY ON EACH SIDE. I IMMEDIATELY JUMPED ON THE GUY WHICH DID NO GOOD AS MY GIRLFRIEND GOT IN THE MIDDLE :lynchmob: THEN HERE COMES HIS SON, WIFE AND 4 KIDS! AFTER A HEATED ARGUMENT I LEFT IT ALONE OUT OF RESPECT FOR MY GIRLFRIEND WHO THANKS TO THEM STOPPED FISHING. SHE WANTED TO LEAVE, I WANTED TO FIGHT :viking: I JUST DONT GET SOME PEOPLE. GOD BLESS ANYBODY WHO RUBS ME THE WRONG WAY WHEN THE LADY IS NOT AROUND. I EXPECT THE SAME RESPECT I GIVE AND THAT LINE INBETWEEN IS VERY THIN. NOW MY GIRLFRIEND TELLS ME I AM :banned: FROM AMBOY BUT THATS NOT HAPPENING :ROFLMAO FISHED A FEW HRS AFTER THAT WITH MY NEW FRIENDS :upck:

[DarkSkies]

FISHED A PIER IN AMBOY LAST NIGHT 2-10PM :

THEN HERE COMES HIS SON, WIFE AND 4 KIDS! AFTER A HEATED ARGUMENT I LEFT IT ALONE OUT OF RESPECT FOR MY GIRLFRIEND WHO THANKS TO THEM STOPPED FISHING. SHE WANTED TO LEAVE, I WANTED TO FIGHT :viking: I JUST DONT GET SOME PEOPLE. GOD BLESS ANYBODY WHO RUBS ME THE WRONG WAY WHEN THE LADY IS NOT AROUND. I EXPECT THE SAME RESPECT I GIVE AND THAT LINE INBETWEEN IS VERY THIN. NOW MY GIRLFRIEND TELLS ME I AM :banned: FROM AMBOY BUT THATS NOT HAPPENING :ROFLMAO FISHED A FEW HRS AFTER THAT WITH MY NEW FRIENDS :upck:

Sorry to hear that, bro. The first mistake is fishing in the daytime. :beatin: :scared: :HappyWave:

You should have been out there for the 10pm-1am shift and fished the first 3 hours of the outgoing.

Or, even better this time of year when the back bay water is warm, fish the incoming, last 2 hours to the top of the flood, the water will be slightly cooler then. Of course, that means you have to time your trips so you have a good tide, and stick to the plan.

That pattern will be a good one to follow for back there, until the fall. The only variable would be if you have schools of bunker or other bait coming in. Then, the tide takes 2nd preference to the bait, as it can draw large predators in, even at low tide.

I know you're relatively young, you might not have the experience how things used to be 20 years ago. Back then, if you were fishing an area and someone came and saw you there, they would give you plenty of space. That just doesn't happen today to a great extent. If you ever saw the insanity in the bunker blitzes you might feel the same way.

When guys know what they're doing and are committed to bringing in numbers of fish, there is some good cooperation. However, other guys get involved, greed gets in their eyes when they see someone nail a 40# fish :drool: and sometimes courtesy goes out the window.

That's why I like to fish deep in the night when many folks are sleeping. My only company is the rats and sea roaches on the jetties, :laugh: and an occasional fisherman who's generally serious about catching a fish. Why else would they be out there at 1am? :kooky:

When the night high tide is from 1-4am, I'm in heaven because I know I'm not likely to have much company out there.

I fished yesterday in the sunlight for the first time in a while, boy did that sun hurt my eyes! :rolleyes:

It also showed me that there a lot of people who don't know about fishing, and don't seem to want to learn how to get better or have common courtesy for their fellow fishermen. I saw guys having the "huge" striped bass landing net, waiting at their sides, as they reeled in 12" fluke. :kooky:

I saw other guys that almost drifted into each other as they weren't paying attention. And if you ever witness the bunker blitzes, you will see guys casting over your line, over your head. You'll see boats come in with schools of bunker being harassed, tight to the shore, and maneuver so much on top of the school, instead of on the side, that the fish eventually are put down or move.

Yep, fishing in NJ at it's finest, in the daytime.....:lynchmob:

You can have it, I'll take the night tides...:drool:

[finchaser]

Did the boat thing yesterday AM we had 9 bass to 39# boat owner wanted to keep 2 fish so we kept my girlfriends sons 30 and 35# fish released the other 7. Still miles and miles of bunker 1/2 to 1 mile out even with the bunker boats. By the way he is 6'2"

[DarkSkies]

Fin, congrats, fishing you and him, doesn't get any better than that. :clapping: :thumbsup:
(Ya gotta cut the kid some slack next time he cooks a burger for ya, though... I'm sure it was perfect, and the best part of it was, you didn't have to cook it!) :laugh: ;)

And Steve, yup, still looking for the big bluefish. We really got a short order of them this year, while guys in LI seem to have no trouble catching those gators in the surf. Gonna have to pray to King Neptune and ask him to deliver some more for next year! :cool:

[Monty]

Gonna have to pray to King Neptune and ask him to deliver some more for next year! :cool:
I'm still holding out that I get into some this year



You can have it, I'll take the night tides...:drool:
:HappyWave:Me too!
OTW from 1:00 AM to 9:00 AM, and when that sun comes up I'm somewhere where no one else is fishing.
xtreme_visions thats a big bummer of an outing, its rediculas how inconsiderate some others are.

[jigfreak]

Sorry to hear that, bro. The first mistake is fishing in the daytime. :beatin: :scared: :HappyWave:

You should have been out there for the 10pm-1am shift and fished the first 3 hours of the outgoing.

Why else would they be out there at 1am? :kooky:

When the night high tide is from 1-4am, I'm in heaven because I know I'm not likely to have much company out there.

You can have it, I'll take the night tides...:drool:


Dark, you didn't consider the Asbury jetty, Lots of activity at 1am there, and not any of it to do with fishing. Sausage fest, that's the only place I feel creepy fishing late at night. Or, I will fish it on the weeknights, but never on a fri or sat night, too much rainbow pride out there.

And as for fishing the night tides, I agree with you and Monty, X3.

[xtreme_visions]

Im with u on that dark! Love the nights myself. Got into fishing to relax & escape from all the chaos of daily living not to find more. Pathetic to see people out there acting like a bunch of starving vulchers. Nice fish fin

fished the manasquan inlet the other day and although i did not catch a thing i had a great time. Nice atmosphere! Did not mind the people around me as they had all seemed to make sure they left everybody enough elbow room. Girlfriend pulled in a ton of starfish and sea robins. Seen a kid catch a few small blues on a diamond jig. When the tide got high and the water filled most of the sandy area over the wall i got to see tons of baby fluke which was pretty cool. Tiny! Maybe 2-3inches if even that.

[basshunter]

fished the manasquan inlet the other day and although i did not catch a thing i had a great time. Nice atmosphere! Did not mind the people around me as they had all seemed to make sure they left everybody enough elbow room. Girlfriend pulled in a ton of starfish and sea robins.

Sounds like a great trip.

[SharkHart]

Nice fish this last wave seems like it has some true jumbos -- picture reminded me of a story of this kid last year who is a bit of an crap talker, He got his first "big" fish, your basic June model, he is about 6' 2" and he tried to pass it off as a 50 inch 40+lber in pictures to alot of us, it went from his hip to ankles, I was thinking does he relaize we know he isn't an NBA center.

[fishinmission78]

Fished the park this morning in the rain before work. Few small blues on metal. Bunker just out of reach. Nice fish finchaser

[storminsteve]

moco in the rain till the tide topped out, man it was pretty high tonight, Metal at night, and poppers before that. El skunko.
Congrats on those fish finchaser.:clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

[VSdreams]

Fished nomoco from 6-9, few short fluke on gulp and small bucktail, gulp as a teaser too.

[Monty]

Fished bay side this morning 1:30 to 10:45. Fluke around 2:00 on shrimp teaser, Lost a few fish between 4:00 and 5:00. Then a bass on a white teaser (inch or two short of 28"). A few hits missed, then 4 blues between 9:30and 10:30 (including a double). May have set a PB as far as quantity of casts in an outing. Fun morning out there.
http://rocksimpson.com/images/2011_6_19_Blue_Double.jpg

[finchaser]

Did the boat thing today acres of bunker with no bass under them but we had our sigths on fishing so who cares . We caught about 12 keeper fluke to 6# ,finially fish you can eat that don't taste like bunker.:clapping::clapping:

[clamchucker]

Did the boat thing today acres of bunker with no bass under them but we had our sigths on fishing so who cares . :

Exactly, if you love to fish you can be happy fishing for many species.
I fished ocean county this morning from 6-8, incoming tide, some taylor blues on diamond jigs.

[gjb1969]

late report but not in the best of shape after the weekend fished for bass and blues with nothing to show for it except a hurt foot turned the foot and pop i kep on fishing fished the back sri short fluke then went out front and hobbled around still no bass or blues so let the foot get better and go back next week end just be more careful mite do the boat thing sea bass and fluke nice and easy fishing

[basshunter]

I went to sandy hook using gulp. Had a couple small fluke and one searobin.

[fishinmission78]

Decided to give it a try end of day tonight. OC, bunker chunks, a few doggies.

[hookset]

Fished ocean county this morning. Used clams and bunker. It was foggy,though the swell wasnt' bad, 4 oz to hold bottom. Stayed from 5-8, the incoming tide, Nothing but crabs and one skate, fishing sucks this year! I did see a whale not too far out, pretty cool. Probably the best thing about the day.

[bababooey]

Went out fluking in the ocean yesterday. Covered 40 miles of coastline, rocks, structure, sandy bottoms and ambush points. Bucktail and gulp, gulp shrimp teaser on one rod, flozen spearing and squid on the others. 2 keepers, 31 shorts between the 3 of us. Boy there are an awful lot of small fluke out there

[skinner]

MOCO last nite, fished 8-9pm, got one 35" bass right before dark, 17pound, pencil popper, released.

[DarkSkies]

Fished the surf and rocks 7-9pm. Last of the ebb.

Bad part of the tide, but the surf was big and it was a good time to fish the rocks. No one told the fish though, who had made brief appearances throughout the day but left at before the rain to follow the bunker.

No fish, but the water wasn't that dirty from the E/NE swell, so it was worth a shot from land.

Slept in my car, back at it 5-6am to fish the top of the ebb, not a touch. :skunk:

Morning was foggy, with low visibility at first. The swell died down and duration lessened from every 2-3 secs to around 5 secs. Wind will gradually be shifting to the W/NW later on, may be back out then.

[surfwalker]

Plugged the front early am. Darkness nothing. First light some small blues on teasers. Saw some bunker, not much. Saw no small baitfish anywhere on the walk. Left at 8:30am.

[seamonkey]

Fished OC with bunker and clams, 4-7am. 2 skates, one dogfish, 3 sea robins. woo hoo!

[clamchucker]

A few blues in the park, early am, metal and teaser.

[Monty]

Fished ocean side this morning from 1:00 to 7:00. Was really nice out, ocean was relatively calm 1-3 footers I would guess. Intention was to throw lots of 14" Hogys around rocks. Had one solid hit and a couple bumps, could not hook up with the Hogys. Around 2:30 in jetty pocket got a blue on a Rip-Plugger orange metal lip. Think that may be the first Blue I have caught ocean side on a metal lip at night. Around 3:30 got a short bass on a white/yellow teaser, again in a jetty pocket. Then 4:30 another short bass around 26 inches on the same teaser, this time as the teaser was going over a bar into a trough. Teasers were in front of Big Dons Swimmers.
Was lots of fun fishing one structure then moving quickly to another one on such a perfect night (weather wise).
http://rocksimpson.com/images/2011_6_26_BF.jpg
http://rocksimpson.com/images/2011_6_26_SR1.jpg

[storminsteve]

Great report Monty beautiful sunrise pic. That blue looks mighty skinny, did you see any bait in the water? It almost looks like an early season racer blue that we see in March in the RB.

[Monty]

Great report Monty beautiful sunrise pic. That blue looks mighty skinny, did you see any bait in the water? It almost looks like an early season racer blue that we see in March in the RB.
Thanks,
That Blue did not fight like a normal Blue, was not as strong as I would have expected. Thought I saw a few Bunker jump. I did not see any pods or concentrations of bait, there was also an occasional bird picking something out of the water, but nothing consistent. But I am the worlds worst bait spotter unfortunately.

[storminsteve]

Yeah Monty I don't know what is up with that, we have gotten the worst distribution of bluefish this year. Maybe I'll have to take a night time pb trip to the mudhole to get into some big ones, or at least ones that are feisty. If we don't get any numbers of blues soon, we can have a "blues-aid" benefit to feed the poor starving ones, I want all the blues I fight to be in fighting shape, and some of these look downright Karen Carpenter anemic!:laugh:

[fishinmission78]

Got some nice triggerfish from BI near the change of the tide today, worth the trip, clam. A ***** to cut up with the tough skin but they are pretty good eating.

[captnemo]

Tough fishing this afternoon, drifted for fluke today in various depths in the raritan bay from Roamer to Keyport. 13 shorts, 1 keeper at 21".

[clamchucker]

Occo beach from 5-7:30. Few small blues on diamond jigs.

[chas527]

fish the beach this morning 2small fluke 4 sea robbins did see a lot of bunker just out of casting distance.no birds working anywhere.

[SharkHart]

Fished the boat yesterday and it was first time we struck out on big bass since May, I think they have left the building, The water was dirty with the brown scum, if the water clears maybe, just maybe a small bass bite of stragglers could resurface. Fluke bite was even surprisingly slow. Picked at mostly shorts, A spot on the rocks which produced close to 40 fish 2 weeks ago had zero fish. inshore Spots that turned into both
fluke/sea bass spots the last 3 seasons have zero sea bass on them now.

[GeoffT]

Just got back from 3 nights of wetsuit fishing RI. I know this is the NJ report thread but as a Jersey boy born and bred I thought I'd share my experiences of fishing a bass hold so different from what we are used to here in NJ.

I can report that there are plenty of bass up there and big ones too. :clapping:

My last night there (Sunday to Monday) was especially active after I found a sweet boulder 35 yards from the beach. With only about two hours left of sunlight, it took an arduous 3/4 mile walk on the beach over mostly small and medium sized rocks and very little sand to reach the spot. To get to the lead boulder, you had to wade through a massive boulder field covered by the infuriating bubbleweed. It was like walking through a mine field with rocks, big and small, underwater to trip you and bubbleweed to slow you down, getting you and your gear all tangled up, on the way. As I got closer to the rock, water was too deep to touch bottom that I had to swim the rest of the way. But once on the rock, water was gin clear, flat as glass, and deep in front of me. Light SW and last of the outgoing. When it was still light, I casted ML swimmers and pencil poppers to no results, not even a tap. But I knew it would be different when it got dark. Sure enough, as soon as the sun went down, the place came to life. I had double digit catches to the 20 pound range, all on SS and TA darters. I also had at least a dozen other hookups but came off after fighting for awhile. In between, there were numerous bumps, bangs and hits with no hookups. All in just 3-4 hours. They were very hungry!

I had one bass clobber the TA darter and took off on a blistery run where all I could do was hold on to stay on the rock instead of getting pulled into the water. Unfortunately, it came off after I started cranking. Man, I would have loved to see how big that one was.

I even snagged one bass in the butt with a SS darter. I thought I had a nice big fish on but was disappointed to see it was a only a 10-12 pounder with a darter up its butt. :laugh: But what followed wasn't so funny. I slid the fish up the rock, tail first obviously, pulling it up with the leader but couldn't quite reach long enough to lip it. Then the leader slipped and fish fell back into the water. I had to repeat the exercise of getting it out of the water but in the process the leader snapped. Back into the water it went along with my hot lure as its new body piercing! :eek: I thought I lost both fish and lure but fortunately, the lure got snagged by bubbleweed attached to the rock. It helped the fish was upside down and appeared to be in a comatose state. Water was deep enough I couldn't touch bottom but I figured the wetsuit would keep me afloat so I slid down the rock into the water, grabbed the fish's tail and proceeded to pull the lure out of its butt while awkwardly treading water with my korker boots. Then absent-mindedly I threw away the lure instead of the fish when it should have been the other way around! :embarassed: But someone was watching over me as the lure was still snagged by the bubbleweed, floating and within reach. Lure back safely in hand, I released the fish and it slowly came to life and swam away. Now I had the arduous task of getting back onto the rock. Damn, it looked so high now that water had receded quite a bit since. I was forced to grab ahold of a couple bubbleweed attached to the rock above the water line and pull myself up. It took a couple of attempts because waves doused me over the head before I could time a wave right to get high enough to crawl back onto the rock. Remember, I had to do this with a 10'6" rod and VS reel in my other hand. There, I sat down for several minutes to catch my breath and put on a new leader.

This is not something you have to worry about in NJ but I loved it! It's why I keep going back there every year - this is the ideal bass environment along with the challenges you have to overcome.

All in all for the trip, a couple of fish in the 20s, numerous mid- to upper-teen fish, only one or two shorts. All fish were super-charged, healthy and dark.

I'm very sore, my hands are all cut up, the Legend rod and VS all banged up. Life is good! :)

[Monty]

I'm very sore, my hands are all cut up, the Legend rod and VS all banged up. Life is good! :)
Awesome report, thank you for sharing :clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

[plugcrazy]

X2, awesome report Geoff. About how much did it cost to stay in Rhode Island each night?
I fished a beach in South OC this morning, 2 sandsharks on bunker. Welcome to summer.

[DarkSkies]

This is not something you have to worry about in NJ but I loved it! It's why I keep going back there every year - this is the ideal bass environment along with the challenges you have to overcome.

All in all for the trip, a couple of fish in the 20s, numerous mid- to upper-teen fish, only one or two shorts. All fish were super-charged, healthy and dark.

I'm very sore, my hands are all cut up, the Legend rod and VS all banged up. Life is good! :)


My biggest question is,,,,where are the 30's and 40's? Fishing has slowed down in the CC canal a bit, the usual fish being caught are in the 20's. The Jersey bass bite is basically over as the fish have moved N and E, but where N have they moved to?

No reports of outstanding fishing for bigger fish off the surf at Martha's Vineyard, Block Island (except for the 77# that Pete eeled on a boat up there). The LI inshore bass bite is sputtering back to life a bit, but there are nowhere near the numbers of fish they had last year.. And there are still a few bass left in the NY Bight area, deep in the channels at night, or chasing the bunker.

Where are all those big bass that people swore they had never seen so many of, "the best fishing in years" as some so boisterously proclaimed? :huh:

They're not in the surf in Rhody, Mass, or Cape Cod...they're not in NJ and LI. You do have a shot at some nice fish in the rips of Montauk now and the North Fork rips at Plum Gut/ Orient, but everywhere else recently, as you found out, the preponderance of "bigger" fish are in the 20's.... not in the 30's and 40's.

Sorry for the rant, Geoff... I can't help but wonder where the big fish went....









On the plus side, that is one of the most interesting and detailed posts I have ever seen you make since I've known ya!

The way you described it, felt like I was there. That was very well-written, and as Monty said, I really enjoyed it as well. Thanks for sharing, glad you had a good time. :fishing: :HappyWave:

[GeoffT]

X2, awesome report Geoff. About how much did it cost to stay in Rhode Island each night?


We stayed in one of the two rooms being rented out by this owner of a house. It was $100 a night for two nights. The first night we drove up and fished right away all night and didn't get to the room until the next morning. You'll find quite a few homes like that catering to fishermen with the space they need for their gears.

[GeoffT]

Thanks guys! DS, there were some 30s caught by my buddies who arrived a week earlier; they were still around when we came and one of the guys got a 30 during our 2nd night there. Most on eels, of course, but they were certainly present so it was apparent a body of bigger fish had just arrived. And as stated in my report, I had something hit my darter that I couldn't stop.

However, I hear you on your rant and have to agree with your assessment that big'uns seem to be down in number all around, continuing the disturbing trend of a declining striped bass fishery.

[Monty]

Sorry for the rant, Geoff... I can't help but wonder where the big fish went....

Based upon what I have read the last few months/year, A large amount of BIG, LARGE Striped Bass have been killed, eaten by people fishing in boats and from the beach of New Jersey. With Bunker in large numbers coming close to the Jersey shore the opportunity to hook up to these big fish is a lot more prevalent than in years past. With the stupid people setting regulations that allow for two to three big fish being kept and with the inconsiderate people keeping two to three fish per trip multiple times, I am thinking there are a lot less big beautiful striped bass alive these days. Nothing wrong with keeping a fish or two, something is wrong with the regulations and people who kill excessive amounts of Striped Bass.

Great report Geoff

[GeoffT]

The excessive killing is really a function of far too many people fishing, helped by the advanced technology in use today to search out these fish, particularly by boaters. Because of the number of anglers out there, the existing restriction of 2 striped bass at 28" or more a day is inadequate. It's that simple.

[baitstealer]

Awesome report Geoff, I wish I could fish up that way, maybe someday. And Geoff and Monty I agree we are killing too many bass too many bait shop hero's!