Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Steve with low water go and crab a cheeseburger and then come back, Waste of time otherwise. Fished last nite got 7 to 15#. rubber and swimmers. Water was too calm we need a bit more of a swell. Also I don't think dark has a report, heard he took up golf or basket weaving.:kooky: :HappyWave:
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Awesome fishing guys! Congrats jigfreak that 15lb is a rarity from the reports I saw out there way to go!:clapping: I was out in nomoco this morning and fished 6-8. Caught 3 bass on a lighter vision surf eel, biggest was 26". Lots of fun! And it was a beautiful morning.
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
^^ Thanks for the kind words jigfreak and storminsteve...:moon: :HappyWave:
You folks have to understand that as Fin gets older, he blathers sometimes....you know, memory lapses, yelling at others.....happens with the old folks/farts...:rolleyes:
Despite the generous help from Fin, I seem to have trouble catching those striper fish...:bucktooth:..so there is no report....at this time......
To all who are fishing, good luck and congrats...Nice effort and quality fish, jigfreak...:thumbsup:
Gearing up now...May have something to report tomorrow, though....stay tuned.....:HappyWave:
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
DS you need the finchaser seminar. That will fix your catching problem.:HappyWave:
Picked up a few small ones this afternoon on shads. 6 to 25". Out again for the rest of the outgoing.
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Striped bass in January fantastic! Am living vicariously through your reports thanks for sharing!
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Wow, Guys nice going I think the water is near 42 deg. the air temps Should be warmer this week. I'll give it a shot on Tuesday. Good Luck DS. Hope of a repeat of last year.
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Picked up 4 more to 12lbs end of day yesterday. Swiimmers.
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Great reports guys! will try to get out there this week. Sunny days in the 40s and 50s predicted. Hopefully I can find a bass too. 12 lbs is a nice fish buckethead. Everyone else seems to be catching the small ones. Way to go.
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Wow 12lb bass in the surf in January, awesome! Fantastic job on the catching. Do you think this is like last winter or will it be different?
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Finally caught some fish....and it's all thanks to Finchaser and his Finchaser weather service....:thumbsup: :HappyWave:
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...seminar-series
He and the old Farts in Castaways B&T in Point Pleasant
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...Point-Pleasant
have every recent bite analyzed and plotted out on a super sekrit computer program....those basstids really know.....:HappyWave:
I now get weather reports 3x/day... I get the special discounted rate for knowing what brand of chocolate cupcakes that old grouchy basstid likes the most....:moon: :laugh:
3 Attachment(s)
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Fri Pm - Monty Marathon.....1-4-13
It was the best of the weekend, and the best bite in a very long while....:drool:
As Fin and the other old farts pointed it there was probably a large body of fish that got pushed out of the Mud Hole and Shrewsbury Rocks by the recent frigid temps.
Those temps, coupled with the frigid bay waters, put the biggest body of fish that was here 2 weeks ago back in the Hudson/NY Bight Estuaries or on their way to the Chesapeake areas. There were no numbers of fish in the area since that. As discussed in the Striped bass migration thread...
Here...
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...bass+migration
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...bass+migration
Those fish that were here in Dec drastically thinned out.
Yet, hope springs eternal in the mind of the surf fisherman...and I was out there...
Hit or missed fish every 10 casts,,,,,the number of missed fish was pretty embarassing to me as I missed a lot more than I usually do....with the water temps hovering around 42 degrees, other than the end of day these fish are extremely sluggish.....
What I discovered was the bigger fish hit the softest, with the schoolies being most aggressive,,,,so if you missed a light bump you would never know if that fish was large or not, and they would not come back for it....
But what a night it was, seemed to be wave after wave of late migrating fish. :fishing:
Those of you I shared the details with, be grateful because due to unusual interest and internet heroes I am not putting as much effort into the details as I normally do.....Just want to say, as nicely as I can, that there are fish out there....put in your time and you will catch some.....:thumbsup:
Am also taking minimal pics as well...sorry I enjoy the bite too much and have since realized the bite is sometimes is so specific and limited, that if you miss the 30 or 45 minute feeding window you could miss most of it.....and I want to get these fish back in the water as quickly as possible for their survival in these cold temps....
I am very grateful to have been out there for that action because the robustness of that night has since diminished....
Special thanks to the Old Grouchy Basstard Finchaser....really wish you could have joined me out there, pal. :kiss: :HappyWave:
Some pics
Attachment 15983
Attachment 15984
Attachment 15985
Totals:
6 fish before dark,
26 bass to 11# later....
6 legal fish, kept 1 released all others,
Lots of fish came close to legal size as well.....it was a night of great action that I will remember for a long time...
Total fish 32....
Conditions and What Worked:
Wind - W/SW
Air - 35 dropping to 28
Water - 43 dropping to 42
What worked...
Bucktail was the winner before dark, 1/2 oz small profile with grub
Later it was Tsunami Swimmer, light colored plugs, Mag Darter, and ML swimmers
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Holy S@&t. For what ever reason I felt that you would have hi numbers. Nice!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:
2 Attachment(s)
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Sat night 1-5-13 Monty Half Marathon
Within the first 15 minutes I could tell it would be a bit different....fish bit differently, they hit different offerings than before, and it was like I had to work for every single one...if I didn't feel they were there I could have given up, but instead played it like a chess game....targeting each fish by teasing them to hit, and moving several times.
As I experienced last year, the places that were golden the night before were barren this night, so I had do a lot of travelling. The fatigue and extra effort required to get those fish finally got to me. Passed out in my car and missed what was probably a limited morning bite. Got to one place and managed one last fish on a small storm shad.
Some pics:
Attachment 15986
Attachment 15987
Totals:
4 fish before dark,
13 bass to 13# later....
3 legal fish,... released ,
1 small bass on shad at sunup
Total fish 18....
Conditions and What Worked:
Wind - W/SW
Air - 35 dropping to 28
Water - 42 dropping to 40
What worked...
Bucktail was the winner before dark, 1/2 oz small profile with grub
Later it was Mag Darter, and ML swimmers, and a few fish on Tsunami eels, and light colored bomber
What was interesting that the plugs that I did well on the night before, did not produce this night....I really had to tease these fish into hitting.
1 Attachment(s)
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Sun night 1-6-13 Monty Full Marathon
A friend was out late afternoon and did pretty well.
In fact he got almost as many in a short time as I did in multiple hours. Food for thought. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...cons/icon3.png
IMO that is the best time for levels of activity. With the dropping water and air temps at night you can really see, that every half hour into the darkness and cold, the bite seems to diminish and you have to work ever harder for each fish.....
This was a night of a lot of traveling as well. Had to cover twice the ground I did the night before to get similar numbers. What was notable was the definite decrease in numbers of fish in the area as opposed to just 2 short nights ago. Long periods of inactivity, 30-40 minutes or more, coupled with a few decent bites getting 2-3 fish at a time. Seemed like they were travelling by in scattered schools, and each location had a different feed time.....kind of frustrating but I kept at it.....
I would rather work like a crazy man for these fish at night than catch thousands in the day...:kooky:..it is what drives me, what inspires me....so please don't think of this as complaining. just trying to be honest....but when I am out there in the cloudless nights and Dark Skies....;)...there is no place else I would rather be....
I am happy and privileged to see things that others sometimes don't....the rising of the moon at 2am....like a great big fireball in the ocean......the meteor showers, the various wildlife......and the busting the top surface for a plug bite.....not many things in life compare to the adrenalin I get from that.....:drool:...to me it is priceless.....
Some pics.......
Only took one pic, the first fish, got on the first cast.....on a Daiwa SP...that Surfwalker donated to me for some good mojo...:HappyWave:..To be quite clear the bite was so limited that I didn't get another fish for another 1 1/2 hours.....very slow pick overall in comparison to the other nights, but I kept at it, hitting singles and doubles along the way.........
Attachment 15988
Totals:
16 bass to 27".... none was legal, fish were noticably smaller this trip out....while for the previous 2 trips I had managed to avoid the tiny bass that are around in the daytime, this trip it seemed they dominated the catch.......
2 fish on ML swimmer at daybreak....
Total fish 18....
Conditions and What Worked:
Wind - W/SW - hardly any wind at all for the most of the night
Air - 42 dropping to 40 - one of the nicest nights for fishing in a long time....compared to others when it was so cold my fingers froze into numbness and I had to take a break every 15 minutes....
Water - 42 dropping to 40
What worked...
1st cast fish on Daiwa SP...- put it away after that....I'll explain in another post why....Bombers and ML swimmers seemed to be the ticket to get these sluggish fish to hit....
Total for the 3 trips....68 fish to 13 lbs.......
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Finally spent some time fishing from the surf this weekend during the day. Sunday was a fun day. 12-15 shorts (don't count them very often). One at 29 inches. Fishing buddy did about the same, with one at 28 inches. We both were soaking clams. One of the yak guys I fish with, launched and had about 25 shorts from noon til 4pm. Nice Jan. day!
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Wow looks like some nice fish are here! Jigfreak shorelady and buckethead very nice. Dark you are an animal! Did you live in your car all that time? Great catches!:clapping: :clapping:
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
cowherder
Wow looks like some nice fish are here! Jigfreak shorelady and buckethead very nice. Dark you are an animal! Did you live in your car all that time? Great catches!:clapping: :clapping:
Dark starts a successful franchise, www.Nomadgear.com, for all the needs of the traveling angler. Just kidding. I am bored and will not see fish for a few months. Enjoyed pics and reports. You folks are lucky to have fish in January. Keep up the good work
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
X2, wish that happened here but we can't catch them after Dec 31.
Nice going, great numbers. congrats on the C&R as well.
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
Really jealous of that action you are getting now, ds. Won't be long now before we can fish the bay on March 1. Thanks for posting the pics in the meantime because I really needed to see some bass. You should come up the bay and hang with us one night in March, I'll try to keep wish4fish on a leash.:) Props on the fish, I know about all the long hours you put into it and the times you haven't caught. Glad you are finally getting some. Hope you stop by in March.
Re: Winter Fishing Thread.....
:clapping:Fantastic catches fellas. Enjoy them while you can.