NJ Fishing Reports for the week of 8-4 to 8-10-08

Please post fishing reports here.......as little or as much detail as you want to give.

Please note: NO SPOT BURNING! Posts burning spots will be Edited or DELETED!
Some veteran fishermen have put in years developing and learning about certain spots.Some of these spots can only handle a few guys at a time. We are losing enough access as it is, due to the unfortunate behavior of a few selfish people. No sense in making it worse.

For some areas, it would be wiser to say:
OutFront (Ocean) OR -- OutBack (Bay) -- if you feel too many people will figure out what you are talking about. "Spot burning" also could involve mentioning something specific only to that area. If you do this, your post may be edited, or deleted. Remember that thousands of people could potentially read these posts. You don't want to be fishing next to ALL of them at the same time!

IF you are fishing an area that is NOT residential, being vague is less critical. For example, it's acceptable to say (Any)Park, or (Any)Bay, or mention a specific state park that has loads of parking and can handle the crowds.


If you are unclear on this concept, ask yourself:


If I name this place on the internet, will it be too crowded for me to enjoy tomorrow when people hear I got 30 fish here today?


If the answer is "Yes", then you should probably not be so specific.


We post these reports so our community will have a sense of what is working, what is not. We want to show people how to catch fish, rather than where.Even if you struck out or got skunked, it would be helpful to hear that as well.

If you have any additional details you would like to share - weather conditions, tide (incoming, outgoing, ebb, flood) water temps, bait present, or other mention of techniques or plugs used - feel free, as long as you are not overly specific about location.

Some acronyms -

SH - Sandy Hook
NoMoCo - Northern Monmouth County (below the hook to Shark River Inlet SRI)
SoMoCo - Southern Monmouth County (below SRI to Manasquan Inlet)

OC - Ocean County
IBSP - Island Beach State Park
LBI - Long Beach Island

AC - Atlantic County
AI - Absecon Inlet
CISP - Corson's Inlet State Park
CMC - Cape May County
CMR - Cape May Rips
GEI - Great Egg Inlet
TI - Townsend's Inlet

RB - Raritan Bay
BB - Barnegat Bay
CB - Chesapeake Bay
CBBT - Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel
DB - Delaware Bay

NJ WIR 8-4-08

Well folks we are in the middle of the summer doldrums. Hot hazy, humid with a few storms thrown in the interim.

Fishing has slowed down, but fluke are getting bigger. A decent percentage of keepers are being caught in the ocean. Most of these fish are coming from the lumps and depressions within 2 miles of shore. Nicer fluke in the 10lb and better class are also being caught periodically in some of the Raritan Bay channels.

Offshore, tuna are being caught, but catches are spotty. Those doing best are finding both temperature breaks and bait at the same time.

Nearshore, brown and thresher sharks, and some bluefish, are providing sporadic action.

The crazy summer after-spawn bluefish bite has not materialized as of yet, except for some back bay inlets where bigger ones come in to murder the peanuts at night. If you know of places that still have big bunker, the bluefish will be feeding on them also at night. Chop up half a bunker, toss it out, and pay atention to your pole.

Weakfishing is spotty as well. The best time to target these fish is in the dark, or the first thing after sunrise, when the higher tide coincides as well. Lead jigs and soft plastics are effective, but fresh peanut bunker also work well.

NY WIR 8-4-08

The NY bays, inlets, and beach areas are similar to NJ when it comes to fluking. Fish are getting slightly bigger with all the bait around.

Best bet for bass are the areas to the Eastern part of Long Island, some strategic areas in the western Sound, Montauk, and further north. Some of the Montauk fleet have had some good deep sea groundfish trips.

This week I want to talk about all the juvenile bait around in the NJ/NY region, and the importance of teasers. I feel this has been a bumper year for baitfish, particularly spearing and bunker. The bait schools are spread through the many bays and inside areas. The old adage of "match the hatch" should be followed here. Now is the time to key in on what the bigger fish are feeding on, and use whatever that is to catch 'em up. Sometimes the only thing that will put a decent catch together is live or struggling bait.

Additionally, with all the juvenile baitfish around, teaser rigs should be part of any surfcaster's arsenal. Teasers reported to be most effective are black, yellow, and white.

We have some rougher water from far-away hurricanes forecast in the week ahead. You don't want to be taking chances if a storm is coming. Good luck out there, and please be careful, folks.

Fished a NoMon beach for two hours near near the bottom of the drop this afternoon throwing jigs and gulp.
Managed to dredge up three short fluke two of which were postage stamps.
The water was bathtub warm.

IBSP yesterday on the outgoing tide, baitfishing with bunker and mackerel chunks. The cownose rays are here, got 2 and 3 dogfish. Rays were up to 30lbs, nice fight.

Occo for a few hours before dark. I was fluking with a light rod, bucktail and gulp shrimp teaser, 7 short fluke. There were tons of rainfish inthe wash, in some places the water looked purple. Cocktail blues came in around sunset, quick 10 minute blitz.

been fishin the inlets backside RB last 2 nights. medium bluefish to 9lbs 2hours before high, 1 hour after. usually, the incoming is better. all on peanuts, cast net, 1/2 oz sinker. wire leader time, dudes!

Out of SRI yesterday, made a left turn up to LB area. In 40 feet, started seeing bait busting on the surface, schools of porpoises chasing small fish. 5 minutes, they were gone, then some bonito were blazing through the pods. Threw a dd green, hooked one, lost at boat. It was too bright out, schools sounded quickly, lost them. Still great to get one on, decent run. Anyone else get any bonito? Ended up the day fluking, 23 fluke, 2 keepers, biggest 5 lbs.

Zigged when I should have zagged. This morning I fished the moco surf with shads, tremendoous amount of bait, targeting small bass, nothing but sea robin taps.

That's ok,clamchucker, :D I caught your fish this morning at Island Beach. 3 fluke to 21" on live snappers. No tog today, the water started looking snotty with the SE, but bait is all over the place. Yesterday a guy I know got a doormat over 10lbs right from the rocks, live snapper. Bring your sabiki rigs or small metals, fish are hungry.

Went to a new spot tonight further down the bay and much deeper than what I'm accustomed to..... Threw a piece of bunker out and within 1 minute I get a small hit, a second, and then wham... My pole went crazy.... I try to hook the fish and fight it but the fish will not budge.... the pole is literally horizontal and I cannot move the damn fish....... its a constant downward pull that my arms cannot deal with.... I try loosening the drag and off the hook goes the fish... It turns out I did not hook the monster..... I reel in and there is the humongous bunker chunk, still fully in tact, no bites or marks whatsoever.... I wish I knew what that fish was and wonder if I would have gotten it in if I did hook it..... I never ever ever felt something that heavy on my pole... it literally felt like when you are snagged but it was pulling... couldnt budge it.... I HATE MYSELF... I will be back for him or her... whatever it is

Maybe a cownose ray or big drum. A cownose might have spooled you, sometimes they will hang in the mud, but that's rare. Big drum have been caught this year in RB and near SI. Were you fishing by the naval pier? Leaving soon, looking to net some peanuts for today.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DarkSkies

Maybe a cownose ray or big drum. A cownose might have spooled you, sometimes they will hang in the mud, but that's rare. Big drum have been caught this year in RB and near SI. Were you fishing by the naval pier? Leaving soon, looking to net some peanuts for today.

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thats what they said it might have been in the other forum... a cownose.... must have been gigantic..... no I wasn't by the naval pier.... where is that? good luck with the peanuts.... if some baby weakfish get stuck in the mesh, please try to get them out harmlessly lol

Friday afternoon i went to Long Branch with my buddy for fluking.
In 2 1/2 hrs we got 30 of them, all short, up to 17".
Not too bad!:HappyWave:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LennyD

Friday afternoon i went to Long Branch with my buddy for fluking.
In 2 1/2 hrs we got 30 of them, all short, up to 17".
Not too bad!:HappyWave:

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You did better than we did today. Went in the back early looking for peanuts for fluke candy. Disappointing, no peanuts, but there were tons of spearing around. No weakfish in my favorite RB deepwater spot yet, they are a little late this year. Did see dozens of dead adult bunker floating on the water, maybe less oxygen and hot water did them in.

So we went to SH armed with gulp. Used the copper new penny shrimp and chartreuse swimming mullet. Caught a few on each, but one guy using live killies outfished us 3 to 1.

I won the prize for largest today with a 15lb danforth.;) Couldn't believe I pulled that sucker in, fought like a grouper.:laugh:

The wash was filled with spearing, and early in the morning there were groups of gulls dive bombing small bait, spearing or rainfish. Got a little intense later on, many gathered in one spot. But no fish underneath them, as even the boats who ran over there found out. Just big schools of small bait. Reminded me of when the albies come in, but they're not here yet. The table is set, come on albies!

^Hey man what's a danforth? 15 lbs?

Island beach sunrise today. Chunked bunker for big blues, one brown shark instead, maybe 19lbs, cut him loose quick, but good fight anyway. Heard some bigger ones were caught later on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hookedonbass

^Hey man what's a danforth? 15 lbs?

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Danforth anchor. Seems like a lotta people got hung up on it, was sunk in about 10 feet of water. Waded out and pulled it in with 25' of rope attached. Got myself a used magdarter that someone got stuck on it. If anyone wants the anchor, I left it up on the sand, by the green buoy, too much trouble to drag back.:D