Why didn't you go to SHP like you were suggesting to me.
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Why didn't you go to SHP like you were suggesting to me.
Fished SH from 6.30 to 9:00pm. Water was dirty, and there was no bait around
I got skunked. Wish I had more time I would have headed south.:don't know why:
Fished IBSP this morning from 6-9 with clams, 2 bass to 29".
Somoco for the first hour before sunrise. Threw metal and teaser, one bass on the black teaser.
Fished the park, top of the outgoing, 2 short bass on swimmers, one more at 31".
Fished some structure before work, a few big blues, chewed the heck out of my rubber.
Funny you mention them not wanting bucktails, Dark. Bucktails are usually the first thing I toss, and they wouln't touch them this morning. Only wanted to slice my rubber. Go figure.
South OC this morning. I threw bombers, mambo, and metal on and off. Nothing to report other than the water seemed a little dirty. The NW wind should turn on the fishing, if it lasts.
Only two fish for me last night. Got a chance to use my new boga. 14 pound bluefish :scared: that was an incredible fight. Thought I had a nice big bass cause the fish stayed down the entire time. I also caught a short bass and had one come unbuttoned.
Most fun I had was listening to a veteran of the sport tell me about the good old times! I also now know where all of the fish are. ;)
^ Well if ya know where all the fish are ya shoulda caught more than 1 bass, no?
Just sayin'......:d :HappyWave:
*************
10-7-report
Took a ride with G to find some fish last night. We made quite a few stops.
I think I left the road map to where they are at home, we had to work for our fish. ;)
We fished a lot of hours for not great results, but all fish were over 28", ya gotta take what ya can get some times.
Fished for the last hour of the flood, slack, and 4 hours into the ebb. Right as the ebb started was the best activity of the night. G nailed a 30" bass on rubber, and helped another guy near us land a fat 35" bass, also on rubber, that prob was 18+ lbs. These are fat fish :dribble: that have been passing through in the ocean lately, at the upper end of the size chart, with big bellies. My 37" fish the other night could have been 20lbs with the big belly it had, but I would rather underestimate the size if I'm not weighing it. It's C&R fishing anyway.
I managed 2 gator bluefish somewhere around 12# each on swimmers. The activity died where we were so we moved to another place on the beach. Ran into C4Charlie, he was just leaving to scout another place. :HappyWave: A friend and fellow site member JoizyBass came out, and for his first surf outing nailed a 29" bass on rubber. JoizyBass also nailed a 2# hickory shad on a bomber before we ran into him. :thumbsup: :HappyWave:
G tossed his bass back because we were anticipating larger fish, but that never materialized. :(
JoizyBass tossed his back because it only had one eye and he didn't feel like taking advantage of the handicapped. ;) :thumbsup:
In all, it was a slow night. We all had a few more hits and misses, but I think the incredible amount of bait, spearing, adult bunker, mullet, and hickory shad made it such that there was too much forage for the fish.
I usually feel more comfortable fishing artificials when the bait is scattered in different strategic places at night as opposed to spread thickly throughout the water, but that's just my opinion. :don't know why:
I didn't say that they are easy to catch. I just know where they all are. I'll tell you since it sounds like you want to know.
All of the fish are in the water. :D
Seriously though, we were talking about some other states and what goes on there compared to NJ. I added a new striper fishing place to visit on my list and it is not NY.
^^Touche, Bro. :HappyWave:
Just busting your ballz, you know that. ;)
You teed that up so high I just had to take a swing at it.
The activity N of us has been great this year. Places other than LI have had some memorable surf activity, nice fish as far as the CC canal and flats, and in between.
And as for LI, the LI guys are kicking our butts this fall!
Not just at Montauk, but all along the South Shore.
I don't know if there are more googans in NJ :laugh: or if the LI guys just get out more and fish all kinds of weather, or if those LI fish are passing though the Mudhole after they hit Breezy (the Finchaser theory) but LI surf guys have been into quality fish for a month now from the surf, and the Brooklyn boats have had a somewhat steady pick of bass and monster blues for 2 months now.
The LI guys are eating our lunches, guys and gals. :o
Let's show some local NJ pride and get out there and put the time in. Catch em up! (and please try to release the bigger ones if you can, thanks! :thumbsup:)
sorry to interupt the reports with nonsense:d but wholly geez it must be good out there if Dark is into pretty good action:naughty:
Im heading to LI but i hope NJ rocks, the southern part of nj has turned on as well, the next big NW here should be interesting.
Dark do not take this post as if I am messing with you but, I have a question. You stated that G caught a 30" fish that he released with the anticipation of getting a larger fish. Than a later post post says that all the bigger fish should be released. I would have kept the 30" fish for the table and if I caught a larger one I would have released HER to hopefully spawn one day. I am learning that the majority of the larger fish are females that will lay millions of eggs depending on their size. I am just trying to get the picture here of what I am being taught. JMO.
Rip, very good question. :thumbsup:
What my opinion is, about releasing fish, is often quite different than the opinion of others, or whether there is even a need to release fish. :don't know why:
There are a lot of people out there who don't believe striped bass numbers are down. Go on any site where boaters make up a large % of membership. For any post where a seasoned captain talks about how the numbers are down based on the hard science of his logs, there will be 10 other posts where guys will tell him he doesn't know what he's talking about. All these attacks, despite the seasoned captain sharing what his year to year experiences are, and using years of personal fishing log data to make those statements.
I think some of the disparity is when guys fishing from boats compare their catches when in bunker or bait blitzes and try to draw inferences from that great fishing to whether the numbers are down. What they are seeing, especially if they have only been fishing a few years, are the "M&Ms" in the middle of the bowl.
(more info here - bowl of M&Ms always looks bigger in the middle - posts 68 & 69)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...p?t=760&page=7
For guys who fish from the surf or land, we are on the edges. Traditionally, surf guys will see the "overflow" of bass and blues, and if there is an abundance, or decline, more quickly than those who only fish from boats. Yet, there are so many other factors (bait migration, inshore water temps, seasonal differences, etc) that sometimes it's hard to empirically say there are less bass around. :huh:
Nonetheless, and I say this without ego or malice to anyone.....when you hang around with guys who fish almost every day, they will privately admit to you their personal catch numbers are down.
Striped bass are not managed for a realistic future growth by our fisheries management committees. They're managed for MSY (Maximum Sustainable Yield) which means, in its simplest terms, that the target for us to take (In NJ 2 bass at 28") is a number (yield) slightly under the amount that are born each year.
For a long time I have believed biomass decline to be true. I've done my best to try to present the opinions of others here...Finchaser, the Old Farts Fishing Club, Gunny from Stripercoast, Surfwalker, Clamchucker, and many members here who have so many more years of fishing than I do.
In acknowledgement of these opinions and what I believe, I decided to promote C&R fishing to raise awareness of the declining striped bass biomass and YOY figures. Several of our local charter boats are now suggesting this as well.
That doesn't mean I have a right to tell people what they can, and cannot keep. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...cons/icon3.gif
You know from fishin with me that I'm pretty outspoken in my thoughts, beliefs, and actions. You remember one of the times we fished together one of the conditions was that if I got you into a keeper, I wanted you to release it in honor of all the work Finchaser and others have done to raise awareness. :thumbsup:
Summary:
I'll try my best to sum it up point by point:
1. I started contributing to the C&R thread (credit to Cowherder for the original idea) :thumbsup: :HappyWave:to continue to raise awareness for what I believe is a decline in the overall striped bass biomass, and numbers of bigger fish, the breeders.
2. When I C&R a fish, or if I decide to keep it, it's my personal choice. No one has the right to tell me I must do that when the law says I can keep them.
3. I try to follow this principle with others. However, as you found out the other night when I wanted you to move from where you were for a chance at better fish, I can be pretty "persuasive' :laugh: about something I feel strongly about.
4. So if I'm fishing with someone, and may bring them into fish they might not have had the opportunity to catch otherwise, I "strongly" encourage them to release it. ;) Truth be told, I did that with you, and I did it with G last night.
5. I told him we might get bigger fish, and he should let that one go. It was his choice to decide to keep a bigger fish if we got one later on. It's also his choice to decide to listen to me or not. :d
I'm the one asking people to release their larger fish, but all I can do, realistically, is ask. The rest is up to them. We shouldn't judge people who keep their limit, either from the surf or from a boat. Doing that just makes us come across as self-righteous. :kooky:
In the last few years I've learned that few arguments are won when one of the parties comes across that way. Far better to share the facts with people, show them some supporting documentation, and let them make up their own minds.
And it's far less stressful too. :lookhappy:
Hope that gave you some answers Rip. Thanks for asking a reasonable question, and doing so respectfully. :thumbsup:
I'm just a googan with a white bucket, bro. :moon: :HappyWave:
Good luck up North, some great action there right now. Catch em up. :thumbsup:
:clapping::clapping: What Darkskies said.
I fish 3-4 nights a week and my numbers are definitely down. I know how to catch fish and if they are there I'm catching them. Compared to 6 years ago, when I could catch 20 bass a night easy, these years you're lucky to put a catch of 5 together.
I fished last night 3-6am, 2 bass to 31", rubber.
Fished the park today, got 3 tiny blues right at sunrise on metal. Tons of small bait around, not many fish under them.
Fished yesterday from 3pm to 8pm. first beach landed 4 fluke on 7 inch sluggos. Seen some big fish busting off shore. On my second stop there where loads of Peanut swimming with out a worry in the world. stayed with them to long.:don't know why: I will try again tonight.:d
ok now i dont keep all the bass i get i do let fish go if i think i will get a bigger one so i did not get a big one so crap happens thats how my year has bin :don't know why:now that i am getting fish i feel a lot better :HappyWave:
Went fishing the other night. I am not one to fish on a work night but was told fish were in abundance. Mullet was in abundance, but only managed one tap. I had a fish take my line but I could not set the hook and lost it. Oh well I guess that's why it is called fishing and not catching.:(:(
Last night was tough for me, there was no pattern to catching, had to change up presentations and pounded a lot of sand.
Managed 3 small bass as I fished 4 hours of the ebb. First 2 were on the Ace baits bunker profile, different locations. The last one was on rubber, another beach location.
It seemed the bite was off, really had to work for those fish. And each one of them was progressively smaller. :o
Morning bite:
Slept in my car, up at 5, managed a 31" bass and a big bluefish on rubber at sunrise today. Happy again. :)
We had a mix of bass and blues to 23# about a mile off the hook this AM. We fished eels before sunrise, and clams after.
I fished the outgoing last night. I Worked my @ss off.:rolleyes: Hit many beaches. I worked my way from south to north. On one beach I went sledding on the sand, luckily there was no rock buried as I miss read the sand slope.:embarassed: I didn’t see much bait except on my last beach. At my last beach, I had 3 good bumps on a metal lip this was at low tide,:don't know why: I did make some mental notes on some impressive holes and other soft structure.:skunk:
Fished OC this morning from 5am until 845. Incoming tide. Had a nice fish on, on a needle fishing it REALLY slow. Lost it in the wash. A 31" bass on a yellow popper right before the wash. Startled the crap out of me. I never had a bass inhale a popper like that right by my feet. He had the entire 5" popper in his mouth just the head of the popper was showing.
I do not mind baitfishing, I rather enjoy the slower pace and seeing my rod bend straight over with the hopes of sticking a nice bass or blue. This has been my first year of getting into pluggin on a consistant basis. It is frustrating at times and a couple of times I swore to never do it again. I have to admit though, it is pretty cool when you get slammed 5' from your feet by a 31" bass. Just another step in the direction of becoming a better fishermen.
Thanks to all the posts you guys have put up. I am learning a great deal from you all. Thanks
Fished IBSP at the inlet this afternoon, got a nice 22" tog on green crabs.
I had my butt handed to me by monster blues to 15.5# this morning, non-stop action livelining 5-6" peanuts way in the back MoCo. All incoming.
Water temp was 62 degrees.
Cardoc and I caught some blues way in the back the other day but, nothing that big. Congrats on the big blues. Love those big blues.
Thanks. So do I . The near 16 pounder bent my stout Lamiglas rod to a frightening angle. I thought it was gonna snap at any minute. :scared:
There's an area where my buddy and I can count on for these huge blues this time of year and in the spring too. And they didn't disappoint. :)
Tried it out back this morning and ended up with the skunk. Fished 3:00 to 8:30. One hit on a Hogy. I miss those big Blues, my worst year ever in terms of catching blue fish.
Dark and I went out early this morning. Actually got there a little on the late side. Tried to fish some metals and rubber. I did not even get a tap. :skunk: We also went out last night for an hour until 7:00. I had a few quick taps but nothing more.
The best thing I like about fishing nowadays is my handy dandy finchaser rod. :clapping: It is perfect for me. :) No more shoulder pain when casting. I vote Finchaser rods to be the best of the best. :kiss::heart:
I got the skunk too Monty, from 4-7am in somoco. I did get one sea robin on my teaser, though.:d
And I def agree with you on the gator disappearance, which gives me the blues:( Last year they were thick in Ocean County, Island beach, and Sandy Hook. They disappeared for a time in the summer but were back in late August with a vengeance! Boy I sure miss them too.
Out front - 4am - 8am. Plugs. I guess I'll join the skunk brigade also. Didn't see any life in that water at all. Still, it was a beautiful morning to make the walk.
Happy Trails
We spent the early part of the morning today off Sandy Hook in what I can only describe as an epic amount of fish. Bait readings solid throughout the water column, mostly sandeels, very thick.
The 4 of us managed 43 bass to 27# using 4 to 6 oz jigs. We kept 4 middle size fish that were in the high teens.
I hope they come into the surf, and that you shore guys get a chance at them. They are out there, good luck!
:lookhappy: Great report, Rip. To me, the feeling of a fish hitting an artificial presentation means that everything you did came together and fooled that fish. It's an adrenalin high that no amount of alcohol or any substance could come close to.
A lot of guys fish bait and catch fish. A good fisherman learns how to adapt to changing conditions. One important thing in your growth as a surfcaster is to learn how to challenge yourself in varying circumstances.
If you always fish clams or bunker, and never give artificials a shot, you're keeping yourself at one level and not pushing yourself to learn all you could learn. Again, nothing wrong with fishin bait IMO, some of the biggest bass are caught in the New England area by drifting live eels.
However, it remains a challenge to keep asking yourself..."What more can I learn so I can catch fish under any conditions, and how do I apply this new knowledge to make me a well-rounded fisherman?"
I believe you're on that path, bro, nice fish and keep up the good work. :thumbsup: :fishing:
Count me in on that "missing the blues" club, Monty. They're around, but only in certain strategic areas where bait is stacked. Last year and the year before they were a lot thicker, and more consistently available. I spent all of Aug and Sept specifically targeting big blues while the small schoolies were around. I would trade all the schoolies I caught this year just to be able to return to that great monster bluefish action of years past. :(
Say it ain't so, Geoff!! :eek:
I remember some of your reports have the tag line "All on artificials, no baitfish were harmed"....now yer snaggin and droppin peanuts??? :don't know why:
Please tell me you had someone else snagging and dropping those peanuts for ya, this greatly concerns me... ;) :HappyWave:
Geoff and the peanuts.... :)
Will the sun rise tomorrow?
Will the moon be as bright?
Geoff is fishin with bait.
What a terrible fright! :scared:
I may have to take a trip to the Himalayas to consult my guru and ask him if the end of the world is coming.....:wow: ;) :HappyWave:
hey dark why are you hassling this dude dont be so harsh!:moon:
some of us do good on bait, last nite i got 3 monster blues and one shortie bass, all on bunker, in the back. that aint too bad now is it? nuttin wrong wit fishin bait, sometimes its all the fishies want and u gotta give it to them or you get:skunk: lol
well done on the fish:HappyWave:
^It's all good, Fin, no problems here. Y'all bust me about the swans and West Wind Wally, so why should bait fishin be any different? Feel free, if it makes ya happy... :2flip: :HappyWave: :kiss:
And why the hell do you have to tell everyone about the bait in my pockets? It was supposed to be top sekrit!That's the sekrit sauce I rub on the plugs, and now everyone's gonna copy that. :burn:
It took me years to learn that trick from the sharpies, and now ya just gave that away... :( ;)