What does it feel like, to plug all night...with little success?
How many of ya's got the stamina to plug all night?....
To go out there when you think you have a fair shot at at least getting something....:learn:
You plug and plug, changing your offerings, changing presentation....even changing sizes, types (Top, Middle, or Bottom of the water column depending on where you think the fish are that night.....:huh:
You have had some success as a surfcaster, gotten into some blitzes and done well on bass and blues.
You figure you have tricked the fish, and it's no big deal to trick them at night, right?
Sometimes....
When there are fish around...yes you can score a few...and be happy...:)
What if you are a little more advanced than that..you know how to catch fish if they are there, know what offerings they're likely to hit, pay attention to the bait available, pay attention to the tides, current, wind patterns, etc....
And you carefully try to put this all together and go out and plug at night....because of your advanced knowledge..don't you think you should at least luck into a fish or 2?....
I do.....
And I do many of the things above...I know how to catch fish, when they are there....but even the best among us, even guys like Finchaser, the Old Farts Fishing Club, Surfwalker, Clamchucker, and a lot of the older, vereran anglers....how many times should they go out at night before getting a fish? They should be catching fish hand over fist, shouldn't they?
Well, what if they give it their best, and despite these efforts, get blanked?
What do they do? They adjust, or fish when bait is around...but still, they remember when surf fishing at night was about going out, plugging with an offering that matched the forage, and picking up a dozen fish or so...and you could do this in only a few hours of fishing, not a marathon 71 hour run....:kooky:
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On the Notes of the fat lady's Aria, Bass Aggressively feeding 1-21-12!
Last night was one for the record books.
Fished 6 hours, managed 22 bass. (Vpass Quick! how many bass/hour does that work out to? :HappyWave:)
5 of them keepers to 30".
4 released, kept 1 for the table.
What was significant was the level of activity and the Aggressiveness! :headbang: I read some other reports where people didn't mention this. They said the bass hit sluggishly...I guess we were fishing in different areas then. ;)
I know these bass, I know this bite...and the hits have been extremely sluggish as of late. All that changed last night. As Finchaser has said so many times, the bass before a major storm put on the feed bag and instinctively know it's time to feed aggressively.
I had some family issues and got a late start. Didn't get out there till 2 hours into the ebb. Wondered what levels of activity I missed. Didn't matter, within 5 minutes I was into fish. These fish hit like that plug was the last meal they would ever have.
I was grinning more than a guy who had been given an exclusive contract to massage the Dallas Cowgirl Cheerleaders at an all inclusive resort...:pig:
Although aggressive, I would describe the first 2 hours as a steady pick..you still had to work for the fish...but it was comforting to know that every few minutes you would get one... that 2 hours was the hottest action of the night. I managed 12 bass during that time and 7 bass during the next 2 hours.
There were some periods of inactivity...I decided to experiment away from the usual "slow crawl" retrieve and stepped up the speed about 50% faster to moderate retrieve. That seemed to be the ticket to where I was and brought steady action for 4 hours. A good Surfcaster learns to recognize any patterns that are different that night, and exploit them to get the maximum amount of fish, or instead target the bigger fish using realtime analysis and info.
The action was what got me hot..really hyped up and poised like a tiger ready to strike with each hit...there was one point where I was cackling louder than a Redneck who just sold a truckload of moonshine...if you heard some lunatic laughing insanely out there in the dead of night you were in the right place....:laugh:
Took a few pics but not as many as usual as opening and closing the PFD each time to get to the camera is becoming a PITA, and at times dangerous.
Also lost time during which I could have increased the numbers...lost 10 minutes when I decided to keep a fish and figure out where to put it...
and another half hour....When I saw how aggressive the fish were I shifted grears trying for some bigger fish..15 mins on a bottle plug, 15 mins on Killie's Saigon Slammer, a Gary2 replica.... no action at all on those plugs.
So realistically, I lost at least 40 minutes of prime fishing time...and in my head I know some of ya's will be mad or jealous of this statement, but based on that level of activity, I could have had well over 30 fish, C&R if I continued with the smaller swimmers I was using and released all fish.
The Finchaser 7'3" rod was a big assist in this, helping me to get the fish in ASAP, lifting them, dehooking with the Stainless T-handle de-hooker Fin got for me (thanks again Fin!), and back quickly in the water in healthy shape...
The initial bite was so good I only moved once in 4 hours, not even stopping to take a leak (that's a feat in itself as you get older....:o)
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The bite slowed greatly at the end of the ebb.
I took a 2 hour break, eating and making some incoherent phone calls, and waiting for the tide to get better...the ones who got them.... hey I tried, but it seems the window I wanted ya's to get down and fish closed at 4am instead of 7am like I predicted....:don't know why:
Caught fish on both tides, though top of the ebb was definitely more productive. After 4 hours I had 19 fish...it took 2 hours to get the other 3 fish as I fished, mid-tide on the flood. until at 4am it became too rough as the building SE swell, snow, and E/NE winds made it unfishable and I went home.
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The thing is.....the night up until that time was perfect conditions.... I saw another report where the guy complained about the N wind...where I was, open area, the winds were 0-2mph until 3:30 AM,,,THIS WAS A TRUE GIFT! ...How many other nights do we have in Jan where we can fish in 33 degree weather with winds under 5mph? :drool:
True, the fish are smaller..... the 15-30# fish may be gone for good..... but a 22 fish night, with 5 keepers thrown in....near the end of January????..I'll take that action any night of the week!
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Fat belly!
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For the log....
Temps start-finish -- 33-28
Wind - light w/NW 0-2mph
Water temps - 45deg
Bass: 22 to 30" and about 11#
Plugs, the ones you see pictured worked, bottle plug and metal lips got no action....and the Daiwa SM got me 2 fish on the flood tide, but had to stop fishing them because the water got rough and a bigger swimmer was needed..
As mentioned, the Daiwa is a good plug and one of my favorites. However, there are times when other plugs get the job dne better. A good surfcaster needs to learn to recognize these subtle differences.
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Tues PM into Wed AM report....a few fat fish.....
Got out there later than I planned, but was able to fish the last 4 hours of the ebb...and the first 2 of the flood.
The swell fom the previous storm was still a problem. There was a 5 wave set, duration 2-3 secs, mid-period swell, where it was unfishable. You had to wait for that to pass, and cast like mad till it came back again.
Managed 9 bass to 34", 15+ lbs. The 15 wasn't weighed, quick pic, measurement, and back she went. Let me describe this fish for you...she was 21 1/2" in circumference, round and fat like a tuna. Bulging belly, looked bursting at the seams with whatever she was feeding on. :bigeyes: (Could have been as heavy as 17#, but we'll say she was 15.....)
Kept one of the smaller keepers. 29 1/2", around 11#, freakishly fat as well. The other fish varied in body shape and style...as I've mentioned before, I feel these are Chesapeake and Hudson fish mixed together, based on the different body styles, tail and head shapes.
Bigger fish hit rubber.
I think Vpass gave me what I was using...Thanks Bro!!
Smaller fish hit small swimmers with rattles, but not the Daiwa SM, as it was too rough to work that.
As mentioned, it took 6 hours to catch 9 fish. Had to work for every fish I landed.
I'm used to moving around to find fish, as the heaviest feeding locations change from night to night...
This night was especially challenging as I hit 3 locations with no action at all. It was only when I was getting ready to leave location #4 when I got the 15....a half hour of casting after I caught her produced no action, so I was forced to leave for locations 5 and 6, where I caught the rest of the fish in a slow pick...
It was nowhere near the level of activity before the storm. Although the water seemed a bit warmer, the fish were very sluggish. The only slightly aggressive hits came on the rubber. and I missed quite a few of those hits.
Down the Hatch!
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Big head
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Fat belly...In the following 2 pics I attempted to show how fat her belly was. The pics really don't do it justice, as her belly was freaking bulging....:eek:
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Belly bulge.... this might have been the 29 1/2" fish, not sure....
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For the New Guys...
A good surfcaster has to know when to move, and when to mix it up to produce results. The places that worked for me on prior visiits were not producing. The plugs that were catching got no action at all. Thinking about the sandeels that were around, caused me to consider rubber....and within 10 casts I had that first fish....but after that I had to fish hard for every fish or strike. There was no pattern to speak of....just countless blind casting....and that's what you have to do when the fish are scattered like that.
For the log....
9 Fish to 34" and 15#
Released the biggest, kept 1 at 29 1/2" for the table.
Wind - 0-2mph W/NW
Temp - 45-40
Moon - new, 2nd night
Wed PM into Thu AM...Calm Water, No Swell, Dead Sea, a Humbling Experience....
Last night was the first night in a while where I almost knew within 15 minutes things would be futile....
Ran into a friend at the first stop...
I usually prefer to fish alone. I was real tired from the previous night and a full day of work,,,only 2 hours sleep, and my azz was dragging...
You make stupid and deadly mistakes when you're tired and out alone like that....so when I saw him out there in the darkness, I was glad. :thumbsup:
We fished together...first place, previously productive the night before, was completely dead. After 15 mins we moved to another location.
That place proved dead as well, as we worked everything that made sense, probing all levels of the water column.
Even bucktails or small shad dragged across the bottom (this is the premier cold water presentation) produced nothing.
Our third stop produced nothing for me, and he said he had one tap.
Think about this...
2 surfcasters can cover more ground than one....
We were able to cover every inch of the areas we were fishing..at that rate at least one of us should have produced a small schoolie.....but we couldn't even manage that....
He went on to fish till daybreak. I had to get home for work today...
I will give it a few more tries, maybe I will be surprised one night...:cool:
But the lack of any activity at all last night is a real issue for me...the conditions were perfect, except it was possibly too calm..and there weren't even any stray fish for us....http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...cons/icon9.png
The fat lady may be tuning up.....
If so, it's been a great run, some of the most exciting Winter plugging in years...:drool:
And probably never to be repeated to this extent, in the future...
Stay tuned....
*****
"Waiting for the End" - Linkin Park
This song was in my head today...
I know it's about letting go of a relationship, but some of the phrases can apply to saying goodbye to the fishing....and it's gonna be sad......http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...cons/icon9.png :kooky: :laugh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qF_qbaWt3Q
Another nail in the Coffin?
I was out last night (Thur) for a little bit.
Couldn't stay away.... It was a SE swell and unfishable in most areas... yet this bite has been so unpredictable it's hard to tell when the fish will feed.
The wind was 5-10mph SE, and it was a balmy 45 degrees out....
The SE swell conditions severely limited my choices....
First stop,, the swell was too intense. There was no mid-period swell, it was constant rollers, 3', duration every 4 secs...not fishable at all. Therefore I couldn't fish there.
Then moved to 1 place where I could tuck in a bit and hide from the waves...the water where I was was a little bit calmer and more fishable, very clear water. Fished for a total of 1 1/2 hours. No action at all. Since I was limited in places where I could fish, I knew it was time to go home.
This is not looking good, people.
Some people are drooling about the upcoming mild weather :drool:
Just remember, good weather doesn't equate to fish...if they show up, it's because of the food, and if the food choices are winding down in volume, the weather will have no effect on whether you catch,. other than making it more comfortable for you....the fish are already wet...they don't care about the weather as long as the water is 45 degrees or above...:learn: