Type of fishin poll

Two options for a fishing day:


Option 1
Ready to fish at 5:00 AM .You fish till 11:00 AM pluging a mile of beach with a few rock piles, white water, overcast, slight east wind. You land 8 stripers between 22 inches and 29 inches. Miss a couple hits. Catch 4 blue fish (10 pounds in quick blitz situation). A good morning fishing, saw no one else, lots of action.

Option 2.
You are ready to fish at 5:00. You drive around checking beaches for pods of bunker. Up 1 street, down the next. Town to town.
You see a bunker pod at 6:30, run down to the beach, hang for three hours, the fish stay out there. You go back to the truck, more driving and looking. Lunch at a diner, More driving, phone call at 1:30, head to the area, run to the jetty, join 25 others, hook up and land two fish, one 25 pounds, the other 42 pounds. Loose another big fish in the lines of others. You are done fishing at 3:00 PM.

I thought about this as I was hitting the beach Monday morning and 3 trucks come flying down the side street, guys jump out, look up and down the beach, jump back in their trucks and speed away.

Option 3;
Get to the water at 8 PM, fish the sunset, while rock hopping 4 miles of rocky coastline until 7 AM. You have the whole place to yourself, until the daywalkers show up at Sunrise. Pour a cup of coffee when you get to your truck and laugh about all the fish you released while everyone was sleeping. Get to work and tell your boss you were up all night with a sick kid, to explain the bags under your eyes.

Option 3. Plus a few hours of swimming mixed in.

Several times a week. My boss thinks I have the sickest kids in the world.

I like option 1. it describes most of my fishing. option 3 is good once and a while, but I wont be at work the next day.

jimbob
I am somewhere between 1 and 3. I can only get out 1x per week (usually) and fish from 1:00 AM till between 7:00 and 9:00 AM. When I can get out more it tends to be getting on the water at 4:30 AM and off whenever I feel like it.
What I was trying to get at in this thread is the difference in the options 1 and 2. Giving up the big fish to enjoy working the beach for fish. That driving around and waiting (although this is a style of fishing) is vastly different than plugging a beach. The times I chose were arbitrary.
Honestly I would rather plug a beach and not catch anything than go out on a crowded jetty and catch a 40 pound fish. I guess to each there own.
We each fish for different reasons.

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Originally Posted by jimbob

I like option 1. it describes most of my fishing. option 3 is good once and a while, but I wont be at work the next day.

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Monty, I have never caught a bass as big as you guys are talking about but have read the crazy things that happen on these and other forums. I don't think I would like that kind of fishing, my fishing helps me to get away from it all, not to rejoin the rat race during my quiet time. I would pick option #1. My .02.

I'm like Monty. I enjoy my walking and seeking out Bass. I don't care for the muggings and am usually solo, even when I meet up with the regulars my distance is far from them. I'm happy to catch as long as I see stripes, big or small. There is no right or wrong, it's whatever style you choose, doesn't matter to me. Some plug strickly for big, some for quantity, some for bragging rights, I guess I plug just for personal satisfaction. Like Monty said "We each fish for different reasons". Im usually walking off the beach when the hoardes are just coming on, I prefer the dark into first light. I guess I'm just a plugger that's waiting for the Bass to come to me.

I'll go for option #1,great time,fish caught and just me!


R-P

My seniments exactly Surfwalker

imma take the bunker, door #2, there's no other way to get a 40 from the sand or jetties, i wont stop until i get one, all u other guys can walk alone, i slam with the bunker!:dribble:

Monty I don't know if the guys further up in the Northeast striper migration realize the hassles we have to deal with in NJ because bunker have exploded here with the bunker reduction boats banned. This creates the insanity we see from Sandy Hook through LBI in the spring, with most of the craziness centered around 5 miles of jetties.

The way they described it up there, you can fish alone as long as you are willing to walk a few miles out of the way. We only have that luxury here at a few key NJ/NY areas, and most of those don't have bunker blitzes going off every 3rd day.

I was talking to a good friend and great fisherman the other day. He's fortunate to fish almost 7 days/nights a week, Although he's got more skills than most guys I know, his biggest fish this season came and were released 3 in a row one day last week, after chasing the fish for the last 3 weeks and missing them, sometimes by minutes. :burn:

Does that seem rational? No! :kooky: :don't know why:

I would rather be alone away from the crowds, that's my objective every time I set out to fish.

But would I walk away from a chance to catch a 50 or better, or the fish of a lifetime, by bein close enough to another dude on the rocks to know if he used deodorant or not? :laugh:

I have to be honest and say No, I wouldn't walk away from that.

I've been there when that carnage is happening, even to see a majority of the guys put them back. Seeing that number of big fish caught at one time, and seeing the activity on the surface, changes you forever, at least IMO. :drool: :fishing:

Like Surfwalker and some of the others said, to each his own, everyone has different preferences, c'est la vie. ;)

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Originally Posted by Poll Subject

Poll: A nice day fishing with action (no big fish) or bunker chasing

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Originally Posted by wish4fish

there's no other way to get a 40 from the sand or jetties, i wont stop until i get one, all u other guys can walk alone

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Originally Posted by DarkSkies

But would I walk away from a chance to catch a 50 or better, or the fish of a lifetime, by bein close enough to another dude on the rocks to know if he used deodorant or not?

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Wait a minute..... are you guys really saying that the only way to catch big fish where you are is to chase a bunker blitz in the daytime with hoards of other people? :huh: :eek: And that your only other option is to play with schoolies?

Here's part of my report from the other night:

"Back at it again at 4:30 am, fishin the ocean. We started fishin at 4:55, throwin swimmers until sunrise, nothing. Switched to pencil poppers, and other poppers. Finally got a bass to follow the plug when I saw it swirl about 5 feet from the rocks as I lifted the Ace spook out of the water. Bass was small, sub 28".

That gave me the motivation to ramp it up a bit, got another fish at 5:45, small bluefish. By that time, the binocular brigade had not arrived and there was solitude on the rocks, beautiful sunrise and white water."




Let me try to paint a better picture for ya, Jake...

I fish 8-10 hours at a clip, and have been fishin hard deep into the night, tips of rockpiles, places with current, all juicy places that might hold a decent fish or 2.

I got a 20 on a rockpile 2 weeks ago at 2am, after pluggin for 2 straight hours without so much as a tap, but I persisted, and got that one fish. That was it for the night. My best for the season so far, and there was no bait around when I caught it.

I have friends that have been doing well on the rocks deep in the night, but it's a slow pick for the big ones at night, one here, another there, 2-3 days of nothing, then it's on again.

Meahwhile, you have some guys who go down to "look" at the fishermen. They won't even pull the rod off the truck unless they see 2 or more guys hooked up, and then it's a mad dash to play King of the Hill. Guys get so keyed into the success they have in bunker blitzes that they tend to focus entirely on those signs and behaviors during this time.

As I said, there are still some nice fish being taken at night, slow pick. We find when the fish gorge themselves heavily on bunker during the day, the bite tends to shut down at night.

If you're a bait guy, and are serious about it (I know that's not you, Jake);) you can always pull a fish from somewhere, current, narrow places where there is a lot of bait, areas like that. Or you can always fish inlets and areas of extreme current, fish the bottom with bucktails or rubber, just like the old timers did 50 years ago.

But as a generalization, around the NJ area for the late Spring run many of the big girls are caught in the bunker blitzes. So if ya want one, ya gotta suck it up and get the football helmet on. :viking: :banghead2: Get ready to fight the guy next to ya for that front rock, or "almost" get a treble in your hand or head by someone throwing a wild cast.

More fun than a Black Flag /Slayer show! :kooky:

That's why I think our interpretation of "combat fishing" is entirely different from the thread you put up.

Hope this explained it a little better. :HappyWave:

Choosing option 1 was not settling for schoolies. It was to choose NOT being part of the bunker chasing brigade and not being on the overcrowded jetties.
A style of fishing that is popular in Jersey with bunker around (nothing wrong with it, just not for me).

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Originally Posted by JakeF

Wait a minute..... are you guys really saying that the only way to catch big fish where you are is to chase a bunker blitz in the daytime with hoards of other people? :huh: :eek: And that your only other option is to play with schoolies?

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I love the way a thread can turn into a direction all its own.
Here in the North east, you can chase the blitzes, get shoulder to shoulder and throw hockey hip checks to get the piece of shore you want. If thats what you want to do.
we tend to hold some of the baits like squid, that have moved out of Joisey, and New York, weeks ago. I'm not talking about a few here and there, the jiggers are still hammering buckets of squid at night from the marina docks here. The Bass seem to have a bigger selection, with the variety of forage in close to shore right now. One thing I have found and truly believe the reason we get numbers of large fish at night here, is Lobster. Yup. Some of the places we fish, and catch high numbers of larger fish, the shore is littered with pieces of small to mid sized lobster. There is one area, full of reefs and boulder fields, with hundreds of small claws and carrapice shells all over the rocky beach. When I was younger the old man ran 25 pots, not so much for the money and free bugs, but for the shorts. He never threw a bug back, the sub legals were put in a bucket and used for bait later that night.
Night forage brings night feeding.

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Originally Posted by DarkSkies

I got a 20 on a rockpile 2 weeks ago at 2am, after pluggin for 2 straight hours without so much as a tap, but I persisted, and got that one fish. That was it for the night. My best for the season so far, and there was no bait around when I caught it.

Hope this explained it a little better. :HappyWave:

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Originally Posted by Stripercoast1

we tend to hold some of the baits like squid, that have moved out of Joisey, and New York, weeks ago. I'm not talking about a few here and there, the jiggers are still hammering buckets of squid at night from the marina docks here. The Bass seem to have a bigger selection, with the variety of forage in close to shore right now. One thing I have found and truly believe the reason we get numbers of large fish at night here, is Lobster. Yup. Some of the places we fish, and catch high numbers of larger fish, the shore is littered with pieces of small to mid sized lobster. There is one area, full of reefs and boulder fields, with hundreds of small claws and carrapice shells all over the rocky beach..
Night forage brings night feeding.

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:thumbsup: I think ya nailed the essence of what and why here, Gunny, fish want to be where the bait is. It seems for us, once the peanuts are around in the summer and into the fall, and the spearing have spawned a few times so they are everywhere, and the sandeels are thick enough to snag on every cast, bait is more widely distributed along all parts of the shore here.

Leaving bunker out of the equation, whenever I have run into an unusually high concentration of bait, there are fish somewhere in that mix.

Gotcha. I see where you're coming from. :) I've been in the line-ups at Montauk, and really did enjoy myself. But personally, a few hours of that is all I can stand, and I have to take a walk away from the crowds. True blitzes of the magnitude you guys get down there are not all that common here, and when they do happen there are usually few people fishing them. Up here, night is when the bait typically comes in closer and the big girls are more active in the surf.

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Originally Posted by Monty

Choosing option 1 was not settling for schoolies. It was to choose NOT being part of the bunker chasing brigade and not being on the overcrowded jetties.
A style of fishing that is popular in Jersey with bunker around (nothing wrong with it, just not for me).

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You guys should see Monty in action, if there are fish around he can smell 'em. Guy's a casting machine, specially in snotty weather! :headbang: I'm thinkin he decided to put up this post because every year the jetty fever gets worse and worse.

The OFFC who are members here get out almost all the time in prime season. They're retired and can get into fish while a lot of guys are at work. Even with that advantage, so many times I have heard stories of them having fish for 10 minutes, then the cell phone call is made by another fisherman and the Mongol Hordes show up.

They have gotten so disillusioned with the behavior and poor sportsmen attitudes they see, they avoid these slugfests whenever possible. :eek:

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Originally Posted by DarkSkies

Like Surfwalker and some of the others said, to each his own, everyone has different preferences, c'est la vie. ;)

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I voted for the nice day of fishing. At my age you take all the nice days you can get. I might not have the physical strength to get into a jetty jockeying argument. Even if I did, extreme crowds get boring after awhile. At least for me they do.

Well the other day when I saw the 3 trucks barrel down the road and the guys jump out and scan the beach, then speed away, then hearing about the ordeals on the jetties and seeing a few pics, I kind of see a pattern for certain fisherman. Maybe a lot of these guys are new at striper fishing and all they want to do is get into big fish. It seems (I have limited experience in this area, so its JMHO) that this is a specific technique (the way a person fishes).
It includes the following:
1. Locating bunker schools
2. Standing around jetties
3. Cell phones (networking)

Nothing wrong with it, I was just bringing it up for conversation. And then the next thing you know us Joisey guys can't catch a big fish without fishing this way (LOL).

.Great posts!!

So Rich, I was out this AM, reminded me of the time we fished, great weather!!!!

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Originally Posted by DarkSkies

I'm thinkin he decided to put up this post because every year the jetty fever gets worse and worse.
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Originally Posted by Monty

Well the other day when I saw the 3 trucks barrel down the road and the guys jump out and scan the beach, then speed away,

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Now, I don't care how you fish or go about it- but years ago a guy wanted me to go plugging with him late fall, said OK. I'm dressed for the weather. He pulls down a side street, jumps out with glasses in hand, no stick/bag. I grab my bag and stick and he says to me Where ya goin?. I'm starting my walk. He says there's nothing going on, no splashes, nothing. I said I don't care what's going on above the surface, I want to see what's passing us by.

Drove around like this for hours, asking everybody he saw, Get anything?, Get anything?. What the hell do I care if they got anything, you won't even let me cast. Finally told him to let me out, was getting car sick, pick me up on one of the 800 trips you'll be making back and forth. I don't mind moving around to some spots I like, but not a 1000 stops in 12 hours, never casting, just looking. Never went with him again.

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Originally Posted by surfwalker

I'm like Monty. I enjoy my walking and seeking out Bass. I don't care for the muggings and am usually solo, even when I meet up with the regulars my distance is far from them. I'm happy to catch as long as I see stripes, big or small. There is no right or wrong, it's whatever style you choose, doesn't matter to me. Some plug strickly for big, some for quantity, some for bragging rights, I guess I plug just for personal satisfaction. Like Monty said "We each fish for different reasons". Im usually walking off the beach when the hoardes are just coming on, I prefer the dark into first light. I guess I'm just a plugger that's waiting for the Bass to come to me.

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"We each fish for different reasons", yet somehow the night seems able to accomodate us with all our quirks. Well said, surfwalker, well said.:thumbsup:

On the occasions when I fish the surf, I'm in for the peace and quiet. Stopping and starting at 800 locations before I get a chance to fish seems like an Indy 500 race to me. I like mellow.:fishing:

My normal outing is OTW at 1:00 am and finished up between 7:00 and 9:00 am. Walking the beach the complete time. While false dawn normally brings some special action, I am sad to see the dark slip away. Then when it is time to call it a day, I still usually feel that I would like to be out there longer. I like having a decent size area to plug, I kind of get in tune with the surroundings, the water. I develope a pattern of some sort fishing the different types of water while walking the beach. Getting lost in the pursuit of catching Stripers. Its not really relaxing to me. But it does rejuvinate me. The mind is completely engulfed in the surf fishing experience. Jumping from spot to spot just doesn't do it for me.

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Originally Posted by Monty

I kind of see a pattern for certain fisherman. Maybe a lot of these guys are new at striper fishing and all they want to do is get into big fish. It seems (I have limited experience in this area, so its JMHO) that this is a specific technique (the way a person fishes).
It includes the following:
1. Locating bunker schools
2. Standing around jetties
3. Cell phones (networking)

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dude that sux but its part of the routine when u live in dirty jersey. i cant stand the guys who hang around wiating and they wont even make a cast till someone is into fish. i call them peacocks.:2flip:

I'm all for option one. I got myself some fish without being mugged.

I like Option 1, I work a section of beach, and if the Bunker move in, I may walk towards them, if no one is around. I use to chase them most times it a wast of time. It about fishing structure with me. It's more fun reading the water and succeeding in reading it right.

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Originally Posted by vpass

It's more fun reading the water and succeeding in reading it right.

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Sure is, gotta love it!!

Options 1 and 3.

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Originally Posted by BassBuddah

"We each fish for different reasons", yet somehow the night seems able to accomodate us with all our quirks. Well said, surfwalker, well said.:thumbsup:

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X2

i wood have to say 1 if the other guys land big fish so be it my time will come :plastered::plastered::plastered::plastered::plast ered::fishing:

Anyone can catch fish in a bunker blitz. Cast, pop, retrieve, land fish, pump chest, and repeat.:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by speedy

i wood have to say 1 if the other guys land big fish so be it my time will come :plastered::plastered::plastered::plastered::plast ered::fishing:

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X2 speedy.:thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by Monty

Two options for a fishing day:


Option 1
Ready to fish at 5:00 AM .You fish till 11:00 AM pluging a mile of beach with a few rock piles, white water, overcast, slight east wind. You land 8 stripers between 22 inches and 29 inches. Miss a couple hits. Catch 4 blue fish (10 pounds in quick blitz situation). A good morning fishing, saw no one else, lots of action.

Option 2.
You are ready to fish at 5:00. You drive around checking beaches for pods of bunker. Up 1 street, down the next. Town to town.
You see a bunker pod at 6:30, run down to the beach, hang for three hours, the fish stay out there. You go back to the truck, more driving and looking. Lunch at a diner, More driving, phone call at 1:30, head to the area, run to the jetty, join 25 others, hook up and land two fish, one 25 pounds, the other 42 pounds. Loose another big fish in the lines of others. You are done fishing at 3:00 PM.

I thought about this as I was hitting the beach Monday morning and 3 trucks come flying down the side street, guys jump out, look up and down the beach, jump back in their trucks and speed away.

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I think you should add to this.
Option 3 - fishing a flat featureless beach where the jetties have been buried. You would like to goto the RIPS but everyone is there because there is no place elsewhere to fish cause there are no jetties! I really hope after this beach replenishment there are some jetties left!

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Originally Posted by cowherder

I think you should add to this.
Option 3 - fishing a flat featureless beach where the jetties have been buried. You would like to goto the RIPS but everyone is there because there is no place elsewhere to fish cause there are no jetties! I really hope after this beach replenishment there are some jetties left!

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Where the heck is PETA when you need them????
Burying and killing all the crabs, clams, mussels, snails all that living stuff that fish feed on buried and killed under all that sand and not a peep out of them.
How would all the PETA members like it if they were buried under 6 feet of sand?
:mad:

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Originally Posted by Monty

Where the heck is PETA when you need them????
Burying and killing all the crabs, clams, mussels, snails all that living stuff that fish feed on buried and killed under all that sand and not a peep out of them.
How would all the PETA members like it if they were buried under 6 feet of sand?
:mad:

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I don't know if anyone has been to long branch or deal lately. Everything south of the windmill is getting covered with sand as of this month. I took a ride down there after the himar flea market today and its enough to make you sick! We will have no place left to fish. When you talk about peta monty I was kind of thinking that too. There are dams and stream projects throughout the US that get stopped because of a certain snail, tree frog, or horned owl, etc. PETA is strong in these cases and the animal activists are all over the news. Where were they for the beach replenishment? Lots of wildlife is getting killed and buried. I know it sucks for us fishermen but how come no animal activists are involved in this one. They are killing creatures by the millions. I don't think those areas will ever come back.

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Originally Posted by storminsteve

I don't know if anyone has been to long branch or deal lately. Everything south of the windmill is getting covered with sand as of this month. I took a ride down there after the himar flea market today and its enough to make you sick! We will have no place left to fish. When you talk about peta monty I was kind of thinking that too. There are dams and stream projects throughout the US that get stopped because of a certain snail, tree frog, or horned owl, etc. PETA is strong in these cases and the animal activists are all over the news. Where were they for the beach replenishment? Lots of wildlife is getting killed and buried. I know it sucks for us fishermen but how come no animal activists are involved in this one. They are killing creatures by the millions. I don't think those areas will ever come back.

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Makes me sick too.
I made like 15 fishing trips ocean side in Jersey last year up to August.
It may be close to zero this year.
Its absolutely stupid spending that much $$ on something very temporary, killing so much of the ocean side wildlife.
I can't actually believe they did this, it makes no sense.

Fishing in NY was nothing to write home to mother about except for DS reports he got second hand look at the reports here and other sights. Even the Meca ( Montauk) was dead.

Deal and LB are next

Even the outer banks has issues

It's only going to get worse everywhere, the Obama administration and NOAA hate recreational fisherman

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Originally Posted by finchaser

Fishing in NY was nothing to write home to mother about except for DS reports he got second hand look at the reports here and other sights. Even the Meca ( Montauk) was dead.

Deal and LB are next

Even the outer banks has issues

It's only going to get worse everywhere, the Obama administration and NOAA hate recreational fisherman

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Hear anything about the Striped Bass fishing in California?
Sounds like the East coast is DOOMED

:HappyWave:

I agree with clamchucker and also option 1.