Anyone else unhappy about the fishing lately?

[cowherder]

I know it is august and I don't have a fishing log like some of you guys. This is the worst August I can ever remember though. I understand the fishing sucks because of the weather, but where are all the resident school striped bass? I fished the nomoco area yesterday all day from before sunup to 3 in the afternoon. 6 small fluke on gulp and a few sea robins.
Where are the bluefish? There was plenty of bait and I was wondering why there weren't more fish scooping it up. Even at sunrise they should have been active and they weren't.:huh:

[porgy75]

I am glad you could catch bluefish in this hot weather cowherder. I never could and I think they spawn at some time during the summer so maybe it's the spawn? Or it could be the heat, maybe someone has a better anwser than that.

[wish4fish]

dude it sux u have to do different things u can get sharks at nite or u can go crabbing we are killing the crabs in back of the navesink, chicken. there r small peanuts and snappers in rb go there by a inlet at high tide and u will get them good bait for fluke, in another week r 2 the big blues will be hitting at nite and then it will be game on again.

[storminsteve]

I give it another week before we are into big blues at night again. They can't resist them peanuts. As for now cowherder, it does suck, but sharks are fun to play with.:scared:

[jigfreak]

Even though the water is warm, there are some fish. You have to look for the highest concentrations of bait. Finding a few spearing or peanut bunker isn't good enough. Find a few hundred, and they are jumping out of the water at 1am, then you know there are fish underneath. Maybe only small snappers, but you won't know until you try. Didn't that guy cardoc use to say something like that? I agree tho, fishing does suck right now, even the fluke are just shy of keeper, 90% of them.

[ledhead36]

worst year for me since I started 20 years ago. Not anywhere as near the numbers of smaller fish around. We also used to catch a lot of tommycod throughout the year, now we get them still but mostly in the winter.

[finchaser]

Fishing is great catching su_ks:HappyWave:

[storminsteve]

^^ :laugh: :clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

[surfstix1963]

Couple more weeks for the blues I would sayl bass should be around you just need to find them warm water they don't like moving around much you have to do the moving.Fish low and slow at night, the temps are starting to drop a bit at night I would try inlets on the last 2 hrs. of the incoming on the backside pockets where theres more bait concentration.Just a thought

[surfwalker]

The hot water of the summer months in Jersey will only add to the challenge of seeking Bass. Adjust your time of plugging, more darkness, but don’t overlook the first light. Look for active water and the presence of bait. Move to different areas and try different plugs. Don’t stay in one spot that produced one time for you and now you don’t feel a tap. If the reliables don’t work, then go off the book, try those plugs that you never throw, the ones you just carry in your bag, you never know. Try with/without teasers. The shutouts will mount, but that one Bass is still worth it, to me. I’d rather be out walking and casting, even in summer, than laying in bed wishing I woulda went.

[DarkSkies]

Fish low and slow at night, the temps are starting to drop a bit at night I would try inlets on the last 2 hrs. of the incoming on the backside pockets where theres more bait concentration.Just a thought




Fishing is great catching su_ks:HappyWave:




Try with/without teasers. The shutouts will mount, but that one Bass is still worth it, to me. I’d rather be out walking and casting, even in summer, than laying in bed wishing I woulda went.





As Surfstix, Fin and Surfwalker said, the catching sucks, for many areas this time of year. Yet some are still out there giving it a shot. The good thing is that hardly anyone is out at night. Most people don't want to expend the effort. I've decided to fish the LI Sound as the waters are cooler there. Cowherder, PM me anytime ya wanna take a ride up there and need intel (you need at least a NY registry, and may need others depending on where you want to fish).

There are still a few oasis' in the desert this time of year. Think of places that hold lots of bait, contain structure, or have good current and and then fish them during incoming, usually the cooler of the tides. Give it 2-3 hours toward this time, top of the tide, at night, inlets with forage there. These all can give up a fish or 2. If there is no bite at the top of the tide, pack it in and come bad for another shot in a day or so.

With the water temps being what they are, and the bluefish being mostly absent from the surf, it has been a frustrating year for surf fishing. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon13.png
I wouldn't be spending the gas to travel if things were that good here, and would rather fish the home waters that I know with my eyes closed.

As surfwalker said, a good fisherman adapts to the hand he is dealt. :learn: If you still want to stay in NJ, there are some big sharks being caught at night on the OC beaches.

Or, if any of ya's really want a change of scenery, Ed from Rhody has generously extended the invite for ya's to make a road trip.. (you would need to bring a bike that will hold your fishing gear once you get there) :fishing:
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?7862-Oh-Yeah






As others have said, the bait is really starting to stack up in the back bays. So much so that cownose rays are sweeping through flats there and being caught in areas they usually don't wander into. The best advice I can give you is to get out and drive around, look for bait in multiple locations. You will know when you have hit a good spot because you will see more of it there, than at other areas.

Mark these locations in your head, and monitor the temp guages for those areas obsessively. IMO there will not be a consistent bass bite back in some of those areas until the temp drops to the low 70's or high 60's. There will be situations where the varieties of bait trumps the temp and fish will feed anyway, as the case now in some S Jersey back bay areas. This has not happened to as great extent in the Barnegat and Raritan bay areas, but it will soon.

And when it does, you should have consistent bass and bluefish action until the bait starts dumping out of the bays on the Oct full moon. Until that time the bays will be alive with life and bigger fish as the temps drop. :bigeyes:

I know it sucks now, so I'm trying to paint a picture of how things should develop within the next 3 weeks. It may be dead, but there will be a night or 2 where the action turns on like a light switch. You want to be there when that happens.. blink or go away from fishing for awhile and you will be left out. :don't know why:

Some of the storms forecast as part of the hurricane season in mid-Aug to Sept should spur this action along as they will churn up the water and help to cool it down a bit. Any week that we have strong N/NW wind patterns for more than a day would be a good week to do some scouting as well.

Hope this helps, good luck. :HappyWave:

[surferman]

Thanks for the response Dark. I have been catching a lot of fluke off the beaches of LBI lately. 6" chartreuse gulp with smaller gulp as teaser. About a 20/1 keeper ratio, mostly around the high tide. Haven't seen a bass for weeks.