Goodbye to big Bass season

[SharkHart]

2011 was a great spring/summer for big bass, was easily the best and longest run in my opinion. Previous years dead waters between fishing grounds became areas Bass were camped out on in 2011 ,Although more of a boaters season the bass seemed like they could pop up just about anywhere along a 25 mile stretch. Although this inst a C&R die hard post I know i did my part and saw many others joining the cause but I never saw party boats catch like they did this year, not too many throw backs there! The obsessive perfectionist thinking in me has me dwelling on all the negatives and what ifs then the positives :laugh: My bites to hook up ratio stunk was only about 50/50 as and i lost about 40-45% Technique or bad luck? Part of the joys of fishing analyzing it over and over in your mind. Never got the new Personal Best this year but most fish over 30. Got to get a few poppers, always fun. I always convince myself Fluke fishing will keep me interested but the thoughts are already starting to go toward Montauk :cool: Maybe we will have a decent Albie run in the near future in NJ to keep it fun til Fall. Hope everyone got to hook into a few nice ones this year.


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- Please lets not make this one a we are killing all the breeders and the biomass is down post, this one is about enthusiasim-

[storminsteve]

,Although more of a boaters season the bass seemed like they could pop up just about anywhere along a 25 mile stretch. -

I think thats what made it difficult for me. I chased after them but couldn't get any days off from work. It seemed like the week days had some great bites. When I was chasing them I would go to one place, an later on find out they got them 5 miles up or down the beach. Some nice bass were caught, and some buddies of mine got some big fish. So congrats to all.

[DarkSkies]

, this one is about enthusiasim-


I agree with ya on that. Where else on the East Coast do surf guys get a solid mass of big fish that sits in one area for weeks at a time? Whoever says "fish move" as a mantra for giving up spots doesn't have the experience of fishing during this time in the Spring, or fishing for them in the fall when the sand eels traditionally set up in our NJ surf.

There are some out-of-the way places that do compare, but you're right, Shark. This year we had them in one 25 mile area for over 5 weeks. They were tough to pin down without intel, as Steve mentioned, but they were right in the surf and jetty lines more often than not. And as Steve mentioned, there was enough inconsistency in the bite that it was hard to say there was an exact pattern. When a slight one did develop, I would have fun with friends at night as we tried to predict where the action would be the next day. Crazy stuff.

One thing that distinguished ths year was the "change in venue", as you said. Many guys who had been in the game only a short while and saw the action at AH the past few years, followed the same pattern of going there, and waiting for the fish.. :don't know why: And many of the guys who folowed that pattern were disappointed.

You couldn't "wait" for these fish this year. To do well you had to be smack dab in the middkle. The "Red X".... as the OFFC uses the term so often. :HappyWave: And be willing to drive up and down Ocean/ Monmouth counties like a maniac if it was not happening in the area you were in, for that day.

As mentioned, where else but a few chosen places on the E Coast did a guy have a chance to get a 50 in the middle of a sunny day from the surf? :bigeyes:

Yep, there was plenty of opportunity this year.

[fishinmission78]

The obsessive perfectionist thinking in me has me dwelling on all the negatives and what ifs then the positives :laugh: My bites to hook up ratio stunk was only about 50/50 as and i lost about 40-45% Technique or bad luck? Part of the joys of fishing analyzing it over and over in your mind.

They never really blitzed in the surf at Island Beach this year, the Mothers Day massacre never happened. Lots of action north of that though. You are right, had to change it up if you wanted fish. I had to travel north more than I ever have. Missed that one day in Bay Head where they crushed them from the surf and boats. Wish I could have been off from work then.

[storminsteve]

Part of the joys of fishing analyzing it over and over in your mind. I think that's what distinguishes a good fisherman from an average one. Each time you catch look at the conditions and think of why the fish were there. Filling in pieces of the puzzle like that is a thrill for me too.