Very nice fish shark hart!
I fished a cape may jetti this morning from 5-7am incoming tide got 2 nice weakies to 19" using bucktail and gulp swimming mullet. Released.
Very nice fish shark hart!
I fished a cape may jetti this morning from 5-7am incoming tide got 2 nice weakies to 19" using bucktail and gulp swimming mullet. Released.
Behind on the reports again.....
6-10-13 Mon AM
Monty Mini-marathon 6 hours pre dawn to 9am.
Went out looking for some bass and bluefish. Nothing on the bass. As the tide filled in, there were some blues. Extrememely picky in the dirty bay water. Guys next to me were pencil popping for an hour in the rain, not a touch. They eventually quit, mumbling "no fish here!" as they walked past me and left.
I went through everything in my bag to try to catch one. There was no visible activity and no signs that they were there.
Blues wouldn't touch topwater swimmers, even the smallest poppers.
Woudn't touch metal, the same types that have been catching them for weeks....not interested.
Wouldn't touch bucktails though I did manage one stray blue on a bucktail and grub. Worked it half hour after that with no action.
The Madcaster needlefish, that a few days ago they wanted to kill, didn't get a touch that day.
The OFFC (Old Farts Fishin club) gave me this tiny 4" skinny plug to try the last time we met up and compared notes on the beach.
That small plug (similar to a small redfin) was the only thing they had an interest in. Finally got into a groove where I managed a hit or miss every 10 casts.
That's the action some of us look for out there. When we can't fiind bass, it is all about finding the action....and this was a puzzle that I finally found some pieces to......I knew they were feeding on small spearing, but had seen some larger ones the other night, and thought the behavior would be different....when the going gets tough, you have to get back to basics, and this may help you catch......
Despite many hours of casting with no activity at all.,
in 2 hours in the building rain I managed 11 small blues to 4#.
Also one small cow nose ray, on another small swimmer, similar to a mega-bait
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...-seen-them-yet
As I said, it was the action we are looking for. Once I started tossing that plug it was like a switch was turned on. I missed an embarassing number of hits as they were just bumping it. As I finally started catching, many of the blues were hooked in the eye or head...so I know they really didn't want my plug...it was pissing them off just enough to make them take a swipe at it but not enough to attack......
**Most importantly, it did not mimic closely enough the profile of the small bait they have been feeding on.
If I had a teaser with me, I could probably have tripled my numbers for this trip..I have been lazy when it comes to teasers so far this year....
Many thanks to the OFFC for having a "plug trade" with me..:HappyWave:..they got a plug out of the deal too....though if on Monday, someone were to offer to buy that plug back, I would have respectfully ignored the request.....:)
** Bluefish and rain....my observations....hard rain put them down....as soon as it minimized, they started hitting again.....this plug swims down about 1' in the water column so it shouldn't have mattered, but it did......I have been out on nights when both bass and blues were feeding, and noticed this as well, although the bass usually feed through the rain, if the bait is there.....
The bait, for the most part, has been in the top half of the water column when talking about spearing, bottom half when talking about grass shrimp and other things they were foraging for on the bottom a month ago....
6-11-13 Tue AM
Again tried to work the pre-dawn bite, 4 hours in the dark including sunup.
Nothing in the first 2 hours. Worked all levels of the water column.
At 5am I missed a bass on a swimmer. 5:05 am I briefly hooked and dropped a nicer size bass. That was my only bass activity for the trip.
An hour after that I had some bluefish action, finally on a topwater popper. Only landed 2 small blues. Water was a little dirty. As soon as the sun showed in the cloudy sky all activity was over.
"Et tu, Brutus?" :2flip: :moon: :laugh: :clapping: :HappyWave:
Didn't expect that from ya, albie..and John, I can now see what a trouble maker you are....:d....all good though....showers twice a day? Wow what a concept! Showers are over-rated anyway.....I can tell if I need one or not by smelling the shirt I just changed out of.....:ROFLMAO :kooky:
Went out early this morning before the rain. I threw back a short. I wanted to stay longer but the work whistle was calling me.
Rob ya didn't miss much......
Fishman it did get real nasty out there.
Smart of ya to try to get out before the storm. I was out too, pre-dawn, Monty Mini Marathon...7 hours...
Few small bass and blues...swimmers....then the rains came and shut it down.....:(
The fishing for me this year, when compared to years past, has been dismal.....many stops during the night to places that were almost a guarantee of bass in the past....only to get skunked.....Once I do find a bite, I will come back the next night with anticipation, :drool: thinking maybe for once, it will repeat itself, and I don't have to work so hard finding them again.....
That 2nd night bite usually never works out successfully for me.....with the result that I have to keep pounding sand, rocks, or jumping from inlet to inlet, to find a few fish......Sorry to put this negativity out there., folks...I know some aren't happy reading stuff like that...
If I were to think about all the places where I have been looking for fish this season, and not finding them, VS the few places that I have been lucky enough to find some.....Well, I could see how some of ya's say they are quitting fishing.,...because it really ain't that easy this year (at least for me)....just my thoughts.....
NICE! I love being out in the surf for an all nighter. Dark- do you fish LBI at all? I don't know your age but I bumped into a Older couple, should I use the term " Mature" couple? Anyway, I was fishing with a buddy and passed this nice couple- they were done plugging and said they saved a few for us. I was wondering if that was you and Pebbles....
^ Rob, I'm the same age as Joe, one of your mentors and a good friend of mine....You can call me an old fart if ya want....as long as ya tell Joe I said he's an old fart too......(make sure you have him text me with his response the next time you're out fishin together......:ROFLMAO )
I fish anywhere from IRI (Delaware) to Ma.....any one of my trips could be along that corridor....
As the summer gets hotter and the bass fewer I will probably try to concentrate my trips in the LI Sound area. IMO it's a fisherman's paradise and has some pristine water that holds a lot of forage and predators.....Beyond that, the scenery of the isolated boulder fields at night.....is too amazing for words....:drool:..serene, rugged,....:heart: and at the same time it can be extremely dangerous on moon tides....but that's part of the lure for me......
You would not see Pebbles out with me on a 7 hour Monty Marathon...I tried it a few times and it wasn't good for our relationship.....I have since learned that it's best not to put others through the rigors of a 7-10 hour marathon.....have tried it with some site-members here and they have passed out on the beach 3/4 of the way through the trip....
When I'm out there, there is no chat, no tea and crumpets.....:laugh:,,,no holding hands and singing kumbaya...group fishing, among grown men, remains a mystery to me...but to each his own....
When I'm out there it's 200% full bore until it's over......When I'm done there is usually not one ounce of energy left.....and I need to collapse in a back parking lot or parkway rest stop for 1-2 hours to get some strength to drive home......that's why I named it the Monty Marathon....IMO there are few out there who have the stamina to keep up the momentum for all night of pushing it till you find fish....and Monty, is able to do that, despite his being an Old Fart...;) :thumbsup: ....
The next time ya run into that older couple try to engage them in some chat.....they might just tell ya some of their secrets, or tips....and these subtle differences, that we old farts know....are sometimes the difference between catching and not catching.....Hope that helped.,...and say Hi to Joe for me....he's been down lately because one of the areas he fishes is being changed for the worse.....:HappyWave:
nice reports gents. Hoping this water clears up so I can get out there and get some fish! or at least get some dead things to kick montys *** with.:laugh: :HappyWave:
Gave it a try near island beach 3:30-5:30. Nasty rainy bottom of the tide needed 10 oz to hold with clams. Fished a good hole I know no dice for me.
OK "LB" you are in trouble now. This time the love of your life can't save you, like she did in the deep blue sea last week.
If my memory serves me right, there have been many, many times where you and I have been fishing for hours on ends. We would leave at 5:00 pm one day and not return until the next afternoon or evening. I have fished in the most horrific conditions with you, Love. Pouring rain where we could not see in front of our faces, windy conditions where I was almost blown away, in the coldest weather where snow would start to fall. Yet through it all I still :heart:you!
Finchaser back me up here!
^ Glad to see you got in on that action, Shark......
June 13.......
Big blues to 15#.....
Bass to 14 #.....
All released......
Bass and blues on big swimmers....
Attachment 17202
Attachment 17203
Attachment 17204
June 10.....Cownose ray, caught on a plug......
Attachment 17205Attachment 17206
^ Yes, I stand corrected,,,,,
You have been out in the worst conditions with me....
I even dragged you out on the jetties one night and you almost fell in till I grabbed ya at the last second.......
I think you have taken too much, in our quest to find the fish....
Finchaser gave me a real hard time about it..:argue:..so I try to only bring you out in optimal conditions now.....,and unfortunately those conditions are few and far between......
Fin is so protective he is like your surrogate Dad......otherwise he might get his Eyetalian going, and have Ernesto and Joey Necktie show up at my house to have a little talk with me.....:scared:.:ROFLMAO
Yes I am a lucky guy......I know that.......very lucky that you still love me..and put up with me.....love ya too......:heart: :kiss:
Yes I almost fell in. I was on my way down close to the edge of the jetty ready to go into the water in the dead of night. Thank goodness for Dark. If he did not grab me I would have been dinner for the fish.
That is acutally how I received my wonderful Finchaser rod. When Dark saved me he had to pull me up, to prevent me from slipping into the water, by yanking on my arm. Lost range of motion in my shoulder and developed severe tentonitis. The weight of my rod at that time caused me lots of pain and my fishing days became far and few between.
Then Finchaser came to my rescue and I received one of his custom rods. He detailed it and made sure it was the right length and perfectly balanced just for me. He even taught me how to cast really far with it.
So I guess I have two loves in this story, Dark for saving my life :kiss:and Finchaser :heart:for saving my fishing.
Fished bunker in the bay, it was dirty. One 27" bass and skate.
Ledhead, did you keep the skate? I hear a lot of people throw them back and they are not good eating fish.
I don't kniw about ledhead but I would not eat a skate. They are ugly! Fished nomoco this morning on the incoming tide water was kind of cold. I was fluking and got 3 short fluke and one sundial all released. All on double chartreuse gulp on hi low.
fished the south jetty with chunked bunker. 1 skate. Did some bucktailing (still trying to get a feel for it) snagged a bunch of times but didn't loose my rig. My buddy Joe had a few hits on his bucktail but no hookups.
2 day report...
Sat/Sun..
Worked 20 miles of coastline, 2 counties.....
Few small bass and blues....:fishing:
Some more trips from June 2013.....
June 15 AM trip....
6 hour Monty mini marathon...
Fishing was very slow for most of the night.
1 short bass middle of the night on swimmer,
Some more activity around sunrise and up to 1 1/2 hours after...it was nice because the fish were more aggressive then, than they had been. Even managed a few on topwater, SS LN popper.
Totals:
1 short bass,
15 blues to 5#, blues hit swimmers and popper, would not hit metal.
June 16 AM trip
5 hour Monty Mini Marathon
Got the blues....
Some bluefish activity in the dark, swimmers.
As opposed to the day before they would not hit top water....tried 3 separate times during the trip.
Best action on swimmers....Half the fish came from the OFFC plug,
Attachment 17291
which is now trashed after catching over 30 bluefish...tail hook and back part of plug broke.....:(
One of the "larger" bluefish was caught on speedy's white swimmer...
Attachment 17290
The blues that morning were so small they were not pic worthy...half the size of the blues the day before
What was interesting was how picky and sluggish they were....light hits, if you missed it they would not come back....
I missed so many fish it was embarassing. :(
When the plug bite died they hit metal at varying retrieves until slack tide. Bite was dead after that.
Also hooked and landed 2 cownose rays, 8-10#...both on metal.
Attachment 17292
Total:
14 blues to 3#.
2 cownose rays.
Well I took my dad to island beach for fathers day it was a lot of fun. We didn't have any great catches we got one 27" striper, one big skate and one cownose ray the ray was awesome looking but a little freaky,. All on fresh clam grumpys they were real helpful and are nice guys.
porgy that musta bin awesome i took my pops out today too we hit the bay it was a mistake cuz we got some redbirds and 2 skates it was kinda lame fishin but kewl times wit pops and were both out for dinner and brews now. tite lines and good luck evryone!
Nice going fellas and taking your dads out to boot very cool.
Its always great to get to fish with your fathers, especially today, nice going :thumbsup:.
Fished this morning out front 1:00-2:30, Skunk-a-jamma. Then in the back 3:30 to 10:30. Result 2 Hogys bit in half and 3 accidentally caught Fluke, caught on metal lip swimmer, crocodile and teaser....teaser was the largest at ~17 inches......
Great time on the water.
Porgy and wish4fish those were great storys of fathers day fishing. Time on the water together is precious thanks for sharing.
Fished a cape may beach yesterday for 2 hours before sunset and 2 hours after. Used clam and got dogfish. It was like they would find it as soon as it hit the bottom. Did someone say they were endangered? If so please come to Cape May to take some off our hands and transplant to somewhere else!
Fished lower atlantic county from 5-8pm. Outgoing tide. Skates, skates, and 2 sandsharks. Was using clam. Got a lot of little bumps so I downsized my hooks and got 2 blowfish and one kingfish.
in the words of finchaser, fishing was good last night but the catching sucked.:skunk:
nomoco 4-6 top of the tide. Managed 2 17" fluke and 1 short 25" bass, small diamond jig.