Following the Night Tides......Do You have What it Takes?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by robmedina

- if you had to hitch hike you would be easier to notice.
I don't go on or in the water at night- but I am considering taking my yak out with you at night- there is no way I am shark bait with you around!:HappyWave:

---

In the last 6 months you have been one of the best free advertisements for having full amounts of car, homeowners, and life insurance, pal.....:scared:
I'm not so sure that being around me is more dangerous than hanging with you...:HappyWave:

I know I push the limits when I'm out there.....probably too much at times....
If it makes ya feel safer to point out how wacky I am...feel free..:thumbsup: :thumbsup:..and thanks for the laughs...:thumbsup: :HappyWave:....I really do appreciate the ball busting.....I can't tell ya how many laughs I got out of reading that post...:laugh:.:clapping: :clapping:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by J Barbosa

That doesn't look that bad...a bloody picture would have been better.
How do you like that Kuzia style bucktail jig?

---

Someone who pays attention.
Yes I like the Stan Kuzia style bucktails very much. IMO they have a nice sink rate when fishing deeper water and a nice roll to them.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Monty

You sure there is no bloody pic??? A waste of blood without a pic.
First S and A hooked body part of the year and no hook in flesh pic....:huh:

---

I can't bring myself to steal your thunder...given your history....I know a few big time screw ups are in store for ya before the end of the year....
and I am looking forward to each and every one.....complete with pics....I have to say when you post something that's bloody...it really stands out..:thumbsup:.....we should have an award here just for bloody pics.....
So many worthy examples on Monty's trips out there....:cool:
(post 42...Bloody Skunk)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ctionary/page3



It's so refreshing to post about my harrowing experiences out there....and some mooks are telling me there wasn't enough blood in the pic ;) . Thanks for keeping it real, people.:clapping:.....I appreciate the ball busting....next time I'll try for a deeper hookset and bigger holes so there is more blood. :2flip: :moon:
Thanks for the laughs...you guys are the best....just what I needed to pull me out of my slump....:thumbsup: :HappyWave:















** Thanks for the other fishing comments as well...
I put that time in...because it was worth it to me......
Some 20# and bigger fish were scattered through the bunker schools,,,,those were the targets for us.....
In the last 2 weeks it has changed drastically.....
Mostly bluefish....occasional bass....all for a lot of effort.......

The latest obstacle is fire in the water....
It has returned and is plaguing many bay areas.....
I spent the last 2 nights, presenting to fish, in water that was filled with these dinoflagellates....
and filled with bait as well.....very frustratng.....

Fire in the water is a real problem when fishing artificials.
I may have to re-think my strategies for fishing at night....
Maybe even take the kayak out to get far away from the shoreline and into the deeper channels...

Some more night tides pics.....

This is a friend from Delaware......fishes every chance he gets, when he's not working....All pics courtesy of him....:HappyWave:
His new addiction is bunker heads...before that it was live eels at night...as he travels the Coast to put himself where the biggest bass are feeding at night......
Note the size of the hooks he is using......


http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...id=18661&stc=1http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...id=18662&stc=1

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...id=18663&stc=1


He sent me some pics of bass he was catching Cape May area...in June....
long after everyone else had given up catching larger bass down there....he was getting bass to 30#...at night,,,,by fishing up to 8 hours at a time...

(and if he was lucky...... was only catching one of these nice fish, per trip) all on the night tides......:fishing:

Wow nice fish - that is a monster hook! Looks big enough to catch a shark.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DarkSkies

....he was getting bass to 30#...at night,,,,by fishing up to 8 hours at a time...

(and if he was lucky...... was only catching one of these nice fish, per trip) all on the night tides......:fishing:

---

Thats what its like in March in the rB. No one wants to get off the couch and go out there in the cold. We still manage to find some 20 pounders though. You have to put your time in. Awesome striper. congrats to the guy from Delaware.

Another good night for a NJ friend fishing the night tides.....
He hunts big fish exclusively....he was very disappointed this year because he spent countless hours early season looking for bigger fish.....many 8 hour nights out there with nothing....We've had many conversations how the fish are not available in numbers like they used to be for us.....

He did have some good nights.
Most of his fish were caught within a 30 night period from May-June....
And every one of them had to do with large bunker schools passing through....
The latest of his big fish......mid-June.....he had a 1 1/2 hour window to catch these fish....after that the activity was completely dead...
He got 3 large fish to 35# in that short window.

Attachment 18673




I got there a little late for the party....and as a result got nothing.
All fish caught on bunker heads....he released the 2 largest, and kept this one, about 30#.

That's a quality fish there, congrats to your friend.

Thanks for the feedback, people. Remember that this is like finding a needle in a haystack....lots of hours needed to be put in, to be on the beach when these fish rolled through......
Here's a summary of my night tide reports for the first 2 weeks of July...
If you look at the 2 weeks prior to that on the previous page, you can see a definite difference in the quality and quantity of fish. The latest night menu is mostly scattered blues...with a few occasional bass thrown in.

You never know when those conditions will change for the better....even if just for that night.....hence the push to be out there as often as I can....:fishing:







7-2-14 AM
Fished 3 hours, managed 6 bluefish to 7#.
Nice to see blues that were somewhat larger.
Initially, I was getting frustrated, no fish on any of the usual plugs. Finally went back old-school and started throwing a black magnum redfin, slow retrieve. Under the new moon darkness that seemed to be the ticket, (though I was throwing other black plugs, with no results)


Attachment 18676
** Sometimes it is what it is, and figuring that out.....is one of the biggest challenges the surfcaster faces at night. There were no bunker around at all, and all the small fish that were nipping at the bucktail the other night were gone.


7-3-14 AM
Fished 2 1/2 hours. 5 bluefish to 6#... black bomber. One bass 13# on rapala swimmer, All released.
Bunker were around this time, but the little mystery fish were not.


7-4-14 AM
Fished 3 hours. 4 bluefish to 5#. 2 bass to 14#. Small swimmer. All released.


7-5-14 AM
Fished 2 hours. Wind was from the N, and kind of strong, steady 15-20mph.No fish at all.
**(North wind in NNJ is my least favorite wind)

7-8-14 AM
Fished 2 hours. Fished hard, some bunker around, not a touch from a bass. Finally a small bluefish on a black redfin. Very happy as that lone fish saved me from the skunk.


7-10-14 AM
Fished 3 hours, bunker around. No action at all. Skunk
Did run into an old time mentor I hadn't seen in 20 years. We spent the down time talking about the way things used to be, and how easy itwas to catch fish at night.....almost year round in NJ.
Sadness crept over me like a dark cloud. :(


7-11-14 AM
Fished 2 hours in the ocean. 4 hours total.Scattered bunker around. Great conditions, wind slowly shifting to NE pattern. Still no bass to be found (for me). Lots of small bait. Spearing 2-3" Tied a teaser on and caught a hickory shad.

On the way home, I was frustrated at the time and effort I was putting in, and the very spotty results of the last few days. Stopped at a back bay spot that had held some bluefish for me. Water dirty and weedy. Had to wade out very far. The possibility of meeting up with a brown shark was in the back of my mind.
Tried small bottle popper. Only raised 2 fish in 1/2 hour. Almost ready to give up after running through all the small plugs I had, not a touch.

Put another popper on, this time a sinking popper, with a teaser.
(Brand: Monty Super Special Tube Teasers) :HappyWave:
That setup got me 2 bluefish in the next hour. Was very happy to have that teaser. Without that teaser there would have been no success that night.
What was also notable is they hit the teaser, in front of the popper, in the dark, cloudy sky, at night, preferred that over the popper.
The popper I believe..... just had the effect of drawing scattered fish to the area I was casting in.
Total ...one hickory shad....3 small blues, all on Monty's teaser. :HappyWave:


7-13-14 AM
Fished 3 1/2 hours.
Got out too late to fish the ocean and the winds weren't what I was looking for. Settled into some back bay flats fishing. Found some fish in the first few minutes but the pattern was different than 2 nights before.

That night, they all hit the teaser, only the teaser. This trip they would not touch it. I finally settled into a routine where I pissed off each and every fish to get it to smash the popper. The action was pretty good, with long periods of inactivity. Seems like they were coming into the flats and feeding in small groups.

Attachment 18678

Attachment 18677

Note the Surfstix teaser tail hook that got these fish...thanks Surfstix! :thumbsup: :HappyWave:
Managed 10 blues to 6#...missed at least twice as many.


What was exciting:
1. The size was notably bigger (we're still talking about small bluefish here, but some were fat from feeding on the small bait, up to 6#), There were no real small ones, with the smallest going around 3#, and the majority closer to the larger size.

2. These bluefish, once hooked, went crazy, tail walking and jumping out of the water. Even some of the ones I missed.... Were spectacular misses....incredible top water savage strikes in the dark....very high adrenalin level for me.
When people talk about how easy bluefish are to catch, I challenge them to catch 10 bluefish in a night on artificials, when they are scattered, and the only thing that calls them in is your skill at presentation..

3. It was damn hard, I worked for every fish......Also notable is that this is a pure night bite.Even with overcast skies, all activity turned off an hour before dawn.




7-14-14 AM
Couldn't fish the ocean as the winds were not favorable.
Went to the bay instead. When I got down to the water, there were some lightning storms forecast on the radar. I geared up to go out, after having looked at the pattern. Thought better of it when I saw the big lightning coming my way. Decided to go back in the vehicle and wait it out.
Fished 2 hours as I waded out and looked for some fish.
Within 5 minutes I knew it would not be the same as the night before. Kept at it for 1 1/2 hours and could not even raise a fish with a popper. Finally 1/2 hour before I was set to leave I managed 1 small bluefish around 5# on a popper. There were fish sporadically feeding around me but nothing like the night before.

My thoughts --
1. The winds muddying up the bay water has the effect of scattering the bait and greatly affects the fishing. Also the water seemed a little colder than the night before. In my experience a temp drop of as little as 5-7 degrees can shut the activity off as well. The end of day bay temps are much higher. I believe that's why I have been having a bit of success doing this fishing deep in the night.

2. The current colder ocean temps have caused some fish to stay behind that in warmer water. I noticed this the other night when I ran into thousands of spearing in some bay areas and marinas. When I got to the ocean the ones that should have drifted out with the tide, were not there.



7-15-14 AM
**[I want to caution anyone reading this who's thinking of fishing at night.......that you need to understand and be dialed into the weather.
I obsessively check 4 weather sources before I head out. Some of ya's have gotten calls from me asking what's forecast on the radar. Lightning on the beach can kill you in an instant Every year another fisherman, swimmer, or surfer dies from lightning....
So please be careful out there....
Any time I feel nervous, I hold off for awhile and take a nap till it's over....being a tough guy when lightning is forecast...could be the end of your life.]

There were intense thunderstorms predicted for early evening. Got down to the water and it was pouring. I had looked at the radar pattern and wanted to time it so I was heading out as the last one was past me. Thunderstorms were way too intense. Took a nap.

When I woke up it was too late to fish the original place, so I had to drive somewhere else.
Got out on the water, it was beautiful....ocean not bad...not too roiled up at that moment...I was very optimistic about catching..
Fished 1 1/2 hours. That was the window for that night..not a touch for me.
I think the storms scattered some of the bait that was around, and it may need 24-48 hours to re-group before the fish are actively feeding at night again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DarkSkies

Lightning on the beach can kill you in an instant Every year another fisherman, swimmer, or surfer dies from lightning....
So please be careful out there....
Any time I feel nervous, I hold off for awhile and take a nap till it's over....being a tough guy when lightning is forecast...could be the end of your life.]

---

Good point you don't want to mess around with lightning. It's very unpredictable. Nice reports dark.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DarkSkies

Had to wade out very far. The possibility of meeting up with a brown shark was in the back of my mind.

---

That brown shark is more than a possibility. Dark I don't know exactly which bay flats and channels you are fishing but the sharks are in the bays. Here is a pic of a striper that got bit in half by a shark! He was fishing in the back of brigantine. Some guys were recently discussing having caught bull sharks in the past from the bulkheads of LBI. They are among the most unpredictable and nastiest of all sharks. I really enjoy the stories and reports but please be careful out there dude!
Attachment 18707

^^^^^
Wow, great pic. Thanks for posting that.

Seamonkey thanks for the warning. I have a friend who yells at me every time I go out there. He keeps saying it's only a matter of time.
There are some sharks where I fish. Friends who were fishing bait all had their wire leaders sliced through about 2 weeks ago.
I'm aware that the Manasquan Creek attack of 1916 was the work of a bull shark.

The thing about most sharks is they are attracted to movement, blood, and bait smell. Once I'm out there I try not to move around too much. Don't carry bait with me, and whenever possible try not to bleed into the water. ;)
I know people who skish who take much bigger risks. Just Ed, Jake Freeman, and Frank Blasko are some of the most hardcore skishers out there. :HappyWave:
Of course we don't want to forget the Godfather of Skishing, Paul Melnyk. :thumbsup:

Take a look at some of these threads. These guys take much more risks than I do.
The life of a skisher
skishing?

Thought some would like to see the skisherman videos again.
Frank and Paul really ramp up the shark encounter risk level, bobbing around there at night with wetsuits.

http://vimeo.com/37779521




The trailer....dedicated to the exploits of Paul and Frank....:HappyWave:
Warning, graphic language...if you are easily offended, don't watch......

http://vimeo.com/8912991









**I have consistently shared my experiences that bass are not around in numbers that they used to be, I and some others are really pushing it during the night tides to catch some fish. I want folks to understand it's not that easy, and that we do take precautions to try to minimize the danger.

As for me, I try not to think about sharks. put them out of my mind while I'm out there....
If I focused on the danger, I would never be able to successfully fish some of the places I do.....
The reality of it is....except in the cases of bull sharks....many of our local shark species are much more wary and afraid of us, than we are of them.

I have been wading the flats at night for years and have yet to run into a dangerous shark.
Thanks for the words and thoughts, they are appreciated..:HappyWave:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DarkSkies

[/B]As for me, I try not to think about sharks. put them out of my mind while I'm out there....
If I focused on the danger, I would never be able to successfully fish some of the places I do.....

---

I don't consider sharks a danger to surf fishing, even when wading out far.
Has there been any shark "events" with surf fisherman?
Lightning is dangerous, current and drop offs, soft sand and jettys all dangerous.

I am more worried about getting hit by a boat when wading or on a kayak in New Jersey...

In fact a few people have almost been hit by boats running aground while fishing the tip of Sandy Hook at night the past few years.

I haven't heard any close calls with sharks recently.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by J Barbosa

In fact a few people have almost been hit by boats running aground while fishing the tip of Sandy Hook at night the past few years.

---

John.....Vpass is one of em....:HappyWave:..when people talk about "that guy who almost got killed by a boat at Sandy Hook"....his close call comes to mind....
(post #18)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...up-boats-on-SH

I hope no one takes this personal. For the guys who fish a lot and also the ones that skish what do you do to prevent swamp a**? Must be a lot of moisture in the crotch area. I know when I am fishing for more than 3 hours I get all sweaty and funky. How do you deal with that if you are out almost every night? do you have 5 pairs of waders or 5 wetsuits? That could get real expensive.

Surferman, Finchaser may have 5 pairs of waders. :HappyWave:All neatly organized and hanging upside down in his garage on special hangers. The man has every single thing in his life organized and categorized. You wouldn't believe the amount of dyno label maker sticky tape he goes through each week. ;) For the rest of us, we have to make do, with one or two pairs. My gear gets wet, a lot. My body as well.

I can't answer for the skishers out there, but one thing that has helped me greatly is cornstarch baby powder.

Attachment 18712

I'm dumping that in my crotch every time I go out there. Also have a small container in the milk crate where I keep my surf gear in case I need it. Without that, I think your personal parts could get moldy. ;) Hope that helps.

The water is over 70 degrees in the bay right now.

Get a pair of swim shorts, a t-shirt, and some sandals.

^^^^ Aren't you the guy that was talking about the horseshoe crabs tickling your toes in the spring? No offense meant but no thanks to the sandals. If you tried that at island beach the critters would eat you alive. Skeeters no see ums and black flies here. Biggest in NJ. You would have so many welts on your legs it would look like chicken pox. I guess you don't have to deal with that. You don't know the agony you are missing. The sedges at night can be brutal. Try to fish here one day with those clothes. I bet you will buy a case of Off before you do it the next time.:whoo::HappyWave:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by fishinmission78

^^^^ Aren't you the guy that was talking about the horseshoe crabs tickling your toes in the spring?

---

Hey didnt you ever hear of the phrase different strokes for different folks?
Some like to see women trampling bugs. Some like horseshoe crabs. Maybe its a fetish or something. Leave the poor guy alone.

Certain winds make the bugs intolerable up here too but I bet those sedges are a great breading ground.

There is a favorite spot of mine that I know holds some bass through the summer...god help anyone who tried to fish it during the summer. The mosquitoes are brutal and there are too many ticks!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DarkSkies

I'm dumping that in my crotch every time I go out there. Also have a small container in the milk crate where I keep my surf gear in case I need it. Without that, I think your personal parts could get moldy. ;) Hope that helps.

---

Well robmedina said you were old so I'm going to add to that and say you are using the powder to prevent getting old and moldy!:laugh: :HappyWave: j/k thanks for the reports its good to see you are still getting bass and blues you are really working for them.

^ Cowherder maybe I like being old and moldy. ;)
One consolation....no matter how old I get, the OGB will be older.....moldier, and grouchier. :HappyWave:

Being able to fish a bite, at a moment's notice....

I'm not talking about blitz fishing here....but the fishing when a solid bite develops..
Some folks are able to drop what they're doing, and in some cases drive a hundred miles, or several states away...to find fish that are not in the usual areas....
The Cape May/Atlantic County area bite earlier this summer, where most of the Berkeley C&R tourney winners came from, is but one example.....

During the last 2 weeks, a bite developed in a state North of us.....
I first heard of it about 2 weeks ago....I can talk about it now because it's fair to say it's mostly played out....only the locals have a fair shot at the isolated pockets of fish that remain.......

I just couldn't rush up there...I don't have that kind of committment-free luxury in my life...
However there are some people who can.....and do...being able to travel at a moment's notice...
And that's what makes the difference...sometimes it's just one or two nights of good fishing....


The list of out-of-staters up there read like a "Who's Who" list of the surf fishing world....A friend, one of the best fishermen I know...
recently went up.....he only had 24 hours,,,,and got nothing....while another friend had double digit fish to 30# the night before.....
That's part of what I mean by the insanity of this all....:kooky:
And the reality that we are seeing less fish around....lack of a sustained pattern to plan your fishing by.....
forcing people to gravitate toward bites like this.....

I got feedback that although this bite wasn't highly publicized on the internet....the fishing was shoulder to shoulder....
That's not my kind of fishing.....:viking:..and for that reason I wasn't in a hurry to get up there......

It has become, for some, a mad rush to jump in the car or truck, to get to the one shining area that month, where there is a good bite....if you miss it your numbers for the year will suffer.






**Just thought I would share...the ridiculous attempts some of us will go through to get into some decent fish.....:learn:
It really ain't that easy lately, to catch bigger fish from land....
If some folks can't look at this, and see how bad things have become, for most of us...creating frenzy conditions whenever a decent land-based bite develops..then they will never understand how far down, the quality of fishing for bass has fallen in the last 8 years....

Reports last 2 weeks of July 2014...quick note....if you review the other sets of 2-week reports....you can see some declining trends...


7-17-14 AM
Took previous night off because of heavy rain. When I got down to the water tonight it was still messed up. Dirty water bay and ocean side. To make matters worse, there was a stiff N wind. Not that great for bass fishing with artificial in NNJ. Fished 4 hours, no action at all.




7-18-14 AM
Hit the bay first. Water still dirty but lots of forage life. I waded to a sedge area and as I shone my light on the water noticed aquarium like activity.....spearing, small snappers, mullet, and some funky fish about 6" long that I swear was a lizardfish. All milling around.

Additionally, the small fry fish that I mentioned 2 weeks ago are now about 1" long. Still cannot identify them, but they are there in certain areas by the thousands.
After I got tired of getting bit by bugs, I left those sedges. I could raise no fish, wrong stage of the tide apparently.

Went to the ocean. The N wind kicked up and dirtied the water in surf zone.
Managed one short bass on small swimmer after a lot of effort. There was bait around but conditions not optimal. Fished 5 hours total.




7-19-14 AM
Fished 4 hours total. Bay for 1 hour. The water was pretty dirty. I had a feeling within the first 5 minutes out there that it would not come together. Gave it my best shot. There was an abundance of bait, but no fish feeding on it. My best assessment is the
1. dirty water put them off,
2. coupled with the lower salinity water from the rain which pushed the blues out further into the bay channels or ocean.

** [I also did not mention that for the previous weeks the bay was filled with fire in the water "dinoflagellates"......leaving a visible trail every time I tried to plug. Putting that together, it made sense why poppers were the best choice. They disturbed the trail and disrupted the calmness, maybe being the only artificial the bass/ blues would hit.
As of this night's trip, and after the heavy rains, the fire in the water appeared to be gone. ]

Went to the ocean, ran into an old timer I know. We fished for 3 hours . Fished hard with small profile plugs and teasers. Again, there was a good amount of bait in the surf zone, but the water was dirtier than usual. He missed 3 bass, and I hooked into one small bluefish on an SP.
90 years of fishing experience between us.. and that was the best we could do.
Some nights when you miss a fish they will come back, but not this night. It was a little frustrating how spooky those fish were in that dark murky water.

Again, my best assessment was that the
1. dirty water made it difficult for fish to find our plugs. The fish couldn't seem to find the abundant bait either.....no real surface feeding activity
2. or they were more scattered than we thought.
Just one of those nights.




7-21-14 AM
Fished 5 hours total, no fish or misses.
Bayside for 1 hour. Water cleared up significantly and lots of bait around. However fire in the water has returned. Couldn't even raise one fish on popper.

Went to ocean, ran into one of the old timers.
We fished hard for 4 hours. Lots of bait.....spearing, lizardfish, and pipefish.... but still some residual fire in the water. No fish feeding on them at all.
Nothing for either of us.




7-25-14 AM
4 hour trip. Got invited to fish with some old timers. :HappyWave:
Steady pick of 5-7# bluefish as the tide came in. Lots of fun and laughs fishing with the old farts. Amazingly talented fishermen, with some insanity mixed in.

After that I went to the ocean. Conditions had been promising with bait starting to show up. This was in stark contrast to a few weeks ago with the cold water and notable lack of bait, or crabs being the solo forage.

All that has changed in the last week......spearing, rainfish, and some other species visible in the surf line in some areas.
The problem was the North wind. It had been forecast as a steady 7-10. Once again Wunderground was off on the prediction. It built to a steady 20MPH. This makes presentation tough for many NNJ beaches.

Ran into a friend, we gave it our best bucktailing the rough surf. Could not overcome the effects of the strong wind, and left after an hour.
No fish for either of us on North wind.

7-26-14 AM
5 hour trip. Went to the ocean. Stiff SW wind blowing 20mph steady. Pretty decent conditions but no bait in the water as there had been. After about an hour the water in front was filled with bunker. Tossing big swimmers and things that had produced in similar conditions produced nothing except bunker hitting the line.
Finally out of frustration, I snagged a bunker on the north bar bottle darter. Let it sink to the bottom and fished it. Did this twice with no results. If there were any fish in that bunker there were very few of them. 1 1/2 hours with no action at all.

I was tired but not willing to go home with the poor results. Stopped at a place way in the back, an early spring spot that I had recently ignored, assuming it was too warm and filled with fresh water….for bluefish.

Within 5 minutes I knew the fish were there. Fish on the 2^nd cast and almost every cast thereafter. Manipulating poppers to **** them off.
Managed 12 blues 4-8#.
They were angry and aggressive when hooked. The numbers for the night only tell half the story.

At one point the action was so aggressive they busted the side hook from my popper, leaving me with only a siwash tail hook with crushed barb for safety. For each cast they would aggressively attack the popper several times. I was missing the hookups with the single hook, or only hooking them briefly. They would return again and again to “kill” the popper, with incredible topwater action that could be heard but not seen under the new moon dark skies.

The action lasted for about 1 1/2 hours and then shut off completely. For reasons I’m still pondering, they disappeared from that area.

I left and went home, fully satisfied with the high action for that trip. The memory still gives me an adrenalin rush as I’m typing this. Haven’t had that level of activity in the back bay for several weeks now. Very surprising to see it at that stage of the tide, but appreciated nonetheless.

**This is part of what I mean by “patterning the bite”. They were there on a stage of tide when they should not have been, and left when they should have been there in greater numbers, with bait in the area. I have been out there often enough to have a good handle on when they feed and don’t feed. Yet, no matter how much I try to analyze it to make it easier, each time is different for me. Any pattern that I find does not usually last more than 2 nights, IF I am lucky.





7-27-14 AM
5 hour trip
After last night’s fantastic activity level, I wanted to return to see if it would repeat itself. It did not. The conditions, - wind, tide, water temps, and water clarity……were perfect….but what was missing was the bait….
I knew within 5 minutes that it would not be the same as the night before.
I bumped into Monty. We were casting poppers at first and couldn’t raise a fish. He went on to throw big rubber snakes (Hogys and Surf Hogs) He lost one fish, and landed another one , solid, fat, 8# blue, nice fish. Put up a great fight tail walking and tarpon jumping. . I was very happy to see him get that fish, as that was the extent of action we had.

(You would have never known the fish were there the night before that.)
Dead water..... I fished poppers and swimmers for 5 hours, could not raise one fish. One missed hit on a magdarter. That was it for me.

**When it’s easy to catch, you tend to get a little spoiled. The true test of a fisherman’s perseverance is the ability to press on, and catch that one fish, when they are not really thick in an area.

Monty did that last night. :thumbsup:
Since he only gets out once a week, I was glad to see him hook up. The look on his face as he fought that fish, was priceless.
Funniest part of the night was when I was lamenting the lack of action, saying "Sorry... I wish I would have manufactured some more fish action for ya, but things were really slow tonight”….within seconds of saying that, a few feet away from him, a nice fish swirled out of the water on a small piece of bait….

Kind of ironic, but funny, when he started calling me the “bluefish whisperer”.
Hey pal….that was totally random…..and the only evidence we had throughout the night of fish feeding at that location……
That’s why they call it “fishing”,
And not “catching:.......

Still, I’m proud Monty got into some action, because the fishing was tough. :thumbsup: :fishing:
That fat bluefish was every bit of 8#.
















Some thoughts/ observations........
1. Even for someone like me who is out there more often than most....the larger predator feeding activity at night in the areas I fish has declined, and the fishing as well.

2. What I'm seeing, for the most part.... the bigger fish are consistently tight to bunker schools. Any night of great activity has those bunker as the central success factor for me. There have also been times when bunker is all over with relatvely few fish under or near them. You can't know what kind of night it will be, until you are out there fishing.

3. More recently, there have been bigger disappointments.

4. There are more bait varieties lately. I was out in one area the other night, and large snappers were busting on small bait all over. Unfortunately the larger bluefish and bass I was looking for never showed up. I'm also seeing larger spearing, and some mullet up to 6", but in select areas.

5. These gaps in action are causing me to take a few days off between trips, concentrating on the new and full moon cycles, which have been more productive.

6. I also key into certain wind pattterns. When they happen I try to get out whether I feel like it or not. Other wind patterns will not really produce for me this time of year, and are a big factor on the nights when I stay home.....

DS you are putting your time in. Much respect. I wouldn't fish shoulder to shoulder either. The hell with that.

Report first 2 weeks of August, 2014

8-4-14 Mon PM
1 hours fishing, 3 hours scouting.
Returned bayside because the wind was right, and I had an appt that put me in the area. Tide was perfect, but bait was lacking. No action at all.
Spent the next 3 hours scouting various bay spots that hold bait this time of year. There were some places that held lots of bait. Spearing to 4” and mullet to 6”.
Didn’t see peanut bunker in the usual places, though they are around. Peanuts seem to be highly concentrated in just a few areas right now.
I found areas that should have held bait, that had none.
**Finding and monitoring all these areas is key to success for the end of summer bait build up and predator feeding.
Didn’t see one person fishing in all the stops I made.


8-6-14 Tue AM
Didn’t feel like fishing, but the favorable SW wind pattern dragged me out there.
Fished 2 bayside locations. First location had snappers all over the place (far out) feeding on small spearing. Not one fish raised in that area.
2^nd location had some spearing, but water was dirty.
Managed a decent flsh in the first 5 minutes, but dropped it.
No other activity at all.

The wind shifted (earlier than predicted) to a hard NW of about 20mph. It made this shift within 15 minutes after I started to walk off the bay flats. This could have spelled disaster for someone in a kayak out there at night. Suggestion, if you are going out, look at the forecast from several sites. Wunderground, while it’s often good for predicting trends,. Is often off when predicting shifts to NW.
You can really get in trouble out there if fishing alone, like I do, and not aware of the wind conditions ahead of you.

3^rd skunk in a row for me. May give it a rest for a few nights before the next trip out.
Felt I had to be out there because there is a N/NW pattern for the next few days which will dirty the bay and IMO worsen conditions for fishing artificials. Along with predicted rains, it will probably affect the fishing that I like to do.



**The thing about being dedicated to fishing, is when the conditions are optimal, like they were last night, you know you have to be out there, whether you feel like it or not. The bad conditions usually screw fishing up for a few nights, even with multiple locations available.
You know….when you NEED to be out there….and you make the sacrifices to do it…:learn:

^ Thanks for the kind words, hookset. :HappyWave:

Some Thoughts/ Observations:
What I have seen this year, is that if you are not out there a lot it's tough to see any small semblance of pattern that might develop. I'm lucky to sometimes find a pattern that may last for 2 nights. If you can only get out once/ week, there is only a slim chance to see that.

** One thing to note is I change my strategy nightly depending on wind and weather conditions.
Bad weather is not enough to stop me from fishing. The strategy that's worked best for me this year is to find the highest bait concentration in any area and fish in the middle of it. When I don't do that I'm usually disappointed and catch nothing.


** Another thing to note is the lack of small bass in many NNJ areas, Friends who fish South Jersey and other areas are still catching small bass at night. In NNJ there are many areas that are just not holding decent numbers of bass.

The other night I fished with an old school veteran surfcaster, one of NJ's legends.
90 years of saltwater experience between us.
Between us we could only come up with 5 medium bluefish. We were grateful to catch those fish.

We both remarked that there should have been some small bass where we were, as we were fishing an estuary. And there weren't.

So if you want bass in NNJ on artificials at night during the summer, there are a handful of areas where you have a shot at catching one.
We are purposely trying to avoid those areas, and seek fish in less traveled areas.

What we are seeing is discouraging, and further resolves my affirmation to keep educating the ignorant and arrogant folks, who claim the striped bass population is as healthy as ever. :learn:

Thanks for reading. :HappyWave:

Way to put in the hours. :thumbsup:

I also want to note that if a person can't handle 20mph winds in a kayak they shouldn't be out there at night period.

..Lots of snappers around forgot my snapper zapper at home...duh....Also alot of what looked like spearing in the wash..May get out tonight for a bit..

Nice reports DS like john said way to put in the time...I had one of those"i no its the RIGHT conditions and i HAVE to go "nights on Friday and i was rewarded for my efforts with a nice 27in and a small bass with a few misses...Even if its crappy,windy,rainy whatever if its the right time get out there and FISH!!! It is crazy the LACK of small bass around this year....Friday night were the first stripes ive seen since May

^ JB thanks for the kind words. It used to be a lot easier for me to catch decent numbers of fish. Tossiing a storm shad at any beach or river could usually produce a few small bass without much effort. We would go to areas of high bait concentrations on a summer night and hear bass popping all over. Now that just doesn't happen that often. Some feel I'm being over-zealous with my preaching, but I remember how easy it used to be, when I knew a lot less about catching.

Good point about the spearing Blazin, and congrats on finding some bass. :thumbsup: I have been all over the NY Bight area in the last few weeks, harbors, inlets, rivers, etc.... seeing which types of bait are in which areas. I'm finding mullet and peanuts, and sometimes adult bunker. IMO these mullet and peanuts are nowhere near the quantities that we had back in 2006 (which was probably an exceptional year).

There are some areas that hold a lot, but many areas hold few or none. People ask about the mullet run. With the limited areas they are in now, I'm not so sure it will be a great mullet run for the NY Bight/ Raritan area. Other areas further South are full of mullet. Friends are netting a lot, and it may be a good year for those areas.
For the NY Bight area..... for some reason things seem slightly different to me this year (so far).

Of course. that could all change in the next 2 weeks as bait will play a musical chair pattern in various harbors and marinas...... also depending on the weather patterns. The only way to track it and get a sense of where to be is get out there and scout.




**NOTE:
The bait I'm finding in the most abundance is adult spearing 3-5", tiny glass minnows (about 1-2"), snappers (6-12") and some medium to large needlfish (4-12").
Teasers should be a part of the night for anyone fishing with artificials, and you should not be without at least one needlefish in your bag.
Things are starting to get exciting, but you will not see that unless you are out there putting your time in. Good luck to all. :HappyWave:

If they gave out PHDs in bait knowledge you would qualify dude. Right on I agree and thanks for sharing. I think the mullet will leave early way before the bulk of the bass get here. Just my .02

^ Jigfreak, thanks for the kind words. It has become so spotty lately that I won't stop moving until I find a concentration of bait. So many areas that should have fish this time of year, are not holding any.
The full moon is on the 9th, 3 nights from now. The mullet are already on the move. I think you made a wise prediction there. ;) :thumbsup:



Fishing reports last 2 weeks of Aug 2014 -
Note: I probably could have done a little better, if I was out there more often.
I had a lot going on and just didn't feel like fishing.
I will say that for the first week of Sept, the fishing has gotten a bit better, but you have to put time into finding them. There are no consistent areas, even the better known ones.

Simply put....
Bait = Fish



8-17-14 AM 4 hour trip
Hadn’t fished in 2 weeks. Lots of issues. I had to drag myself out there to clear my head. Fished 4 hours, 5 locations. Not a tap.

Highlight of the night........ helping a Columbian tourist and his hot blonde girlfriend try to find her cell phone they lost at the beach.
They were both drunk. Honestly I only helped them because she was so hot. Helping them made me miss a critical part of the tide at the first stop. When I’m fishing, the tide is the most important thing, As I said, they were lucky she was a hottie.Sorry I could not find her phone for her. :(




8-21-14 AM 3 hour trip
Fished 2hours, only managed one small bluefish on rubber shad. Got chased off the beach by the lightning.Slept in car for 2 hours. Back out, no fish.
Decided to try my luck at crabbing. By wading the flats with a net I managed 2 dozen in 1 hours. Not bad for my first attempt at crabbing in 15 years.




8-23-14 AM 3 hour trip
Got down to the water, E wind was blowing steady 20mph, Had to find a lee from the wind. The rain from the previous 24 hours had effed up the water salinity and the abundant small bait was not there.
Decided to try crabbing again. I believe the water salinity changed the scene for the crabs as They were not abundant. Had to do a lot of walking. Ended up with a half dozen for an hour’s walking.
Scouted all the back bay places I know that hold bait, on the way home. It’s not that great as less than half of them had any notable quantities.





8-29-14 AM 7 hour marathon
Feeling bummed out, in no mood to fish.
A friend called and dragged me out. We got on the water late (my fault). Wind was ok but water was a little dirty.

We did a lot of walking bayside, fishing several outsucks and inlet areas. Dirty water and no real amounts of bait evident other than snappers. Remember, I’m not picking these places at random. All of them have held bait and fish this time of year, in past years.

Finally found a place with some bait, ebb tide. No fish for a long time until I started wading out far, First cast I decided to throw a loaded redfin for the first time that night. I was not really paying attention. As soon as it hit the water a bluefish, 8lb class, crashed out of the water, swallowed the plug, and ripped through the leader, all in the space of 3 secs. I was speechless, and pissed off at the same time.
How could I have missed that fish, and not been ready? I yelled at myself, telling myself it would probably be the biggest of the night, and it was.

My friend came out to where I was, and we had short lived action for the next 15 minutes as the tide rapidly dropped. He hooked a few, landed one. I hooked and landed one and missed 2 others.
The bite then died to nothing, We kept moving out further, but the fish had left the area for good.

Tried another place to finish the night off, but the water was extrememly dirty there. My friend got nothing. I stopped to go crabbing. Walked previously productive flats with a net, with no results. Something about that dirty water changed the crabbing there. I’ll go into more details in the winter,

Highlights of the night:
1. A big owl was watching us at one place, from 20’ high in the trees. It was cool and spooky as there wasn’t much moonlight. That’s one of the bright spots that can make a bad trip bearable. :bigeyes:

2. Sad thing – we found a handicapped seagull flopping on the beach. Thought it might have line caught in it, so we examined it with a towel to hold it steady. Turns out – it was a one legged sea gull that had broken it’s wing. He told me to wring it’s neck and give it a quick death. I decided not to, maybe it would recover.
The sad thing – when we got back it was gone, - maybe a fox or coyote got to it, we’ll never know.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DarkSkies

^ Jigfreak, thanks for the kind words.
The full moon is on the 9th, 3 nights from now. The mullet are already on the move. I think you made a wise prediction there. ;) :thumbsup:

---

Your welcome, and yes they are.:fishing:

Fishing reports first 2 weeks of Sept 2014 -


9-1-14 AM 4 hour trip, 2 bluefish
Last night, the beginning of Sept, I fished with a friend, and he left early. It was extremely dead at that stage of the tide.
As the tide started going out, I got some action. 2 small blues on a small swimmer. In between that the action was slow. I threw out a 12” sluggo and on the 2^nd cast it got chopped right behind the front hook.

Highlights of the night:

1. A horseshoe crab tried to hump my wading boot. The water was slightly murky. The first time I recognized it and kicked it away with my boot. Within 2 seconds something was back humping my foot again. Since I know they are slow moving, I didn't realize it was the crab being pushed by the current.

I almost jumped out of my skin as I got hit the 2nd time in the inky blackness, overcast skies. I probably let out a high pitched scream as well. A few minutes later I'm berating myself for getting spooked by such a harmless creature. What a freaking goog I am sometimes. :bucktooth:


2. More bird stories...ya just can't make this stuff up, it is so bizarre....

a. 2 nights ago we find a distressed seagull. We examine it to possibly help cut line that was entangling it. Turns out there was no line at all. It was a one legged seagull, probably losing the other leg to a big bluefish at one time. It's main problem was a broken wing which really cut down on mobility. My friend who was there that night told me we should wring it's neck to put it out of it's misery before an animal got to it and ate it.

I thought about it, but didn't have the heart to do it....thought it might have a chance to recover.
When we got back that night to where we left, it was gone.....we assumed an animal had attacked it and carried it away....

Last night, on the way to the water.....we saw that damn seagull again!!....miraculously it had survived........and it's wing had healed a bit so it could hop and fly short distances again. Amazing....ya just can't make this stuff up.


b. Another wounded bird....on the way from one place to another on the flats....we found a wounded sea-bird...it looked like it had a giant fish, or stick protruding out of it's mouth....held it down for examination, tried to remove the "stick", found out it had broken it's beak, probably on a high speed dive into the water chasing fish, or something like that.....
We checked it over, decided there was nothing else we could do, and let it go.....my friend went to fish in another direction, and this bird tried to land on him twice (he's a very big guy, the bird must have mistaken him for a bulkhead piling).

Did I give my friend any sympathy when this happened????? .....Nope........laughed at him in my loudest laugh......gave him a new name...the "Bird whisperer" :ROFLMAO













9-8-14 AM 5 hour trip
Fishing and crabbing, back bay.
Made the first stop to fish, full moon tides.
Water from the full moon tides (new moon tomorrow) was filthy, weeds, sawgrass and kelp type weeds. Difficult for artificial presentation. I have fished this area before and caught fish at this time of year. However, this night, there was very little bait. Fished for 45 mins because of the strategic importance of the area, not a tap.

At this point, I knew it would be more like than work than fishing, but didn’t want to give up (sometimes it’s better to pack it in and save your energy, but I failed to heed that common sense voice in my head – googan mentality overcame me!)
It was almost low tide. Drove to another spot, fished for an hour. It was promising, some bait and fish breaking, but that quickly died. Not a touch for me.
I had my crabbing gear stashed – decided to make the best of it and crab.

Managed a dozen large crabs. The previously productive area was “crabbed out”. See definition in fishing terms definition. Probably walked a total 2 miles on those flats to get those crabs.

Highlight of the night – As the wind was blowing 20 mph straight E, it made for an interesting concentration of bait. Many spots held no bait, but the nastiest and weediest areas of the sedges held thousands at a time. Mullet occasionally running through… and I spooked them with the searchlight. That searchlight also attracted thousands of 3-5” spearing, 1-2” rainfish, and a few schools of baby peanuts, 1-1/2”.
These baitfish would concentrate around my lit up area. There were so many it was like being in a giant aquarium. There were times I couldn’t see the bottom for crabbing because of the thousands of baitfish attracted to the light.

Unfortunately, that light drew many of them to their deaths, as a few dozen 2-4lb cocktail blues moved in and started crashing them beyond the shadow lines.
It would have been pointless to fish this area because of the heavy weed growth. A fly fisher would have been in heaven, though, and would have done well.
I’ve said this in my reports several times now. When the predators are highly focused on these small baitfish, you can often only get their attention away from the largest concentrations, and with exact presentation –

What’s that? ……Teasers…unfortunately this would have been impractical in that weedy sedge bank water.
Still, it was awesome to watch these predators feeding so heavily, and not be able to do anything but just watch as I looked for crabs. I wish I had a video camera with me sometimes to bring some of these sights to the readers here, but often that footage would be too incriminating or specific. So..I’ll have to settle for writing these descriptive accounts and hope that the terms and phrases I use convey the great things I get to see out there at night.














9-15-14 PM report

After the ASMFC meeting JB and I (raced ) down to the back bay water to see if we could find some fish.
** Note of caution….if anyone of ya’s decide to fish with him, he’s a good kid and good fisherman…but a terrible driver…..he just can’t keep up! :scared: ;)

We made 4 separate stops on the flood tide…found beautiful clean water, with scattered schools of mullet and small snappers 5-7”.


Although conditions were ideal, there were really not a lot of fish around….Each stop we made was a good time for that type of flood tide, and we still got skunked anyway…..Worked all levels of the water column with rubber and plugs.
That’s why they call it fishin not catchin
…Although I mostly fish alone, I enjoyed the company….:thumbsup:
Would fish with ya anytime JB…:HappyWave:.....but ya gotta learn to drive a little better….:rolleyes: :laugh: :fishing:

** Note…Since that trip….conditions and amounts of bass and bluefish have improved significantly..though I feel the fishing is still very inconsistent and you have to move around a lot to find some….

Thought for the week.......(this is from BillW, but as I found out in conversations with some of ya's this week...it can also apply to fishing....);) :HappyWave:

Willingness to adapt.......
Do you have to "hit bottom" to have that willingness....:learn:

OK Rich I'll take a stab at this!
Is this a deep willingness like the willingness to adapt to something like a gender change?:laugh: :HappyWave:
Or are we talking about willingness to change it up when out fishing at night?

Some of you people must eat Froot Loops for breakfast....:laugh::moon: :HappyWave:
This was about someone I know who has been a little stubborn, wanting to do things his way only, to catch fish.
IMO he's a great fisherman, just a little stubborn.....:)

So the question was designed to prompt possibly him or others to think about what we do, when the fishing we like to do....doesn't always work.....










What are we willing to do.....to Adapt?
:thumbsup:Thanks for your responses.....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DarkSkies

Some of you people must eat Froot Loops for breakfast....:laugh::moon: :HappyWave:
This was about someone I know who has been a little stubborn, wanting to do things his way only, to catch fish.
IMO he's a great fisherman, just a little stubborn.....:)

So the question was designed to prompt possibly him or others to think about what we do, when the fishing we like to do....doesn't always work.....
What are we willing to do.....to Adapt?
:thumbsup:Thanks for your responses.....

---

First time I actually was in the presence of someone catching decent Bass on Bucktails while it was hopeless throwing anything else.
Was a very good lesson, seeing it, living it. Has much more of an impact than being told about it, especially since my tendency is normally to take the opposite side and try to be different.
So bucktails are invaluable artificial, will always have a few in my surf bag from now on.