NJ Fishing pics

[DarkSkies]

I think there's a little bit of a googan in all of us, at least those who are not too tough guy to admit it. Who doesn't make mistakes. Did you need stitches? (bonus points for a yes answer)

No stitches man, the only wound was realizing the goog factor may never rub off of me. I'm cooking that sucker in a marinade, and we peeled off the skin to make eel plugs. Even that I suck at, couldn't do better than taking it off strips at a time. Right now the skin is sitting in brine solution.

No he did not but I did kiss it to make it all better.

Where would I be without Pebbles?

[DarkSkies]

[DarkSkies]

vpass night bass- I met up with him on Sat night. The action had slowed down a bit, but he still managed a bass I think on a needle or bomber, and he lost a nice one on a rigged sluggo. Nice fishin with ya, man!

[DarkSkies]

Finally got a chance to meet another of the old-timers I admire, Jim Balicki. This guy goes all over to fish. Nice meetin ya, Jim!

[DarkSkies]

Report for 11/7, same area From: Jim Balicki NEW JERSEY
Fished from Noon to dusk. No hits. saw only 1 striper caught. Heard that early AM was OK as sandeels were present. and stripers were caught. In the PM, heard that a few stripers were caught by the clammers. Figures -- since I did not see any sandeels, the few stripers in the area chose to ignore a lure that resembles a sandeel. Instead they found a clam bait on the bottom.

*********************************
^^ This is the report from 11/7 that Jim Balicki wrote on another site. The "1 striper" caught is by Killie. Jim Balicki came into that area after Killie got a few others, but it's fair to say that that afternoon was a tough pick. And the only bass caught at that hotspot for the afternoon bite was by Killie as we fished together. This is a guy that everyone blames their bad luck on, yet he pulled a bass out of the water when other hardcore guys got blanked.

Also, the building S wind and waves were pushin us sideways and almost cut us off at the knees a few times. We took a few headers as we walked out past the breakers so we could reach the pocket better. Great fishin!

WTG on the bass, bro!

[DarkSkies]

I got these bass after meeting up with the OFFC and fishing until the sunset. I got 2 before sunset on a mackerel colored magdarter with Monty's teaser. They got a few as well, using mambo minnows.

We were on the outer bar and the tide was coming in. They bailed for safer ground and "gently" reminded me to do the same thing.

I ignored them for a few minutes. Then I realized how good it is sometimes to have a friend worried about your safety, so I went back to shore, looking to find them. By that time they were down the beach, and I lost them in the dark.

I hooked up with a local guy who fishes there. We fished the pocket for 15 mins, and neither got a tap. It seemed the water was dead, but I felt otherwise. I knew those fish were moving through, so I made my way back to the outer bar on the rising tide.

It took me an hour of blind casting to get my first fish. I was almost ready to give up when I put the mackerel magdarter back on. (Coincidentally, that was the first thing I put on when I made my way out there again, and I couldn't buy a hit with it.)

Also knowing that it takes the fish a while to get adjusted to the dark unless there are insane amounts of bait, I felt I needed to be patient and kept casting. My patience was wearing off, until I got the first fish at 7pm.

These weren't huge fish, but they weren't the small 24" schoolies we had been getting either. From 7-9:30pm, even with the moon bright in the sky, I had 15 bass, all aggressive, and slamming that plug.

The bass were nice and chunky. I think 4 of them were around 26", the rest were bigger up to 31". I was in heaven. I wouldn't say I had a fish on every cast, I had to work for them.








An interesting experiment is that I usually put bucktail siwashes on my favorite plugs, removing the treble. Monty sent me some of his hand-tied teasers, and I put them on the magdarters. Since I was fishing in 3 1/2' of water, rising tide, it was a little awkward releasing those fish. One, I tried to snap a camera pic when it was still green, and I ended up breaking off the rear hook as the fish got quick released. I fished that magdarter for the next 10 minutes without a bump. I only got hits when I switched to a spare black magdarter with bucktail siwash.

Lesson? Dress up your plugs with bucktail.






Thanks for sending me those, Monty, at this point I can say they do work.

[DarkSkies]

My efforts were finally rewarded. In the weeks prior to this, dozens of hours casting from the jetties, inlets, and sand beaches, with only one, two, or no bass to show for it!

This action was incredible, and I wasn't leaving until it was over! The great thing to me was that I didn't really know that area in the dark. I wasn't in a pocket, I was merely on the front side of the bar, and the fish were moving through.

I was so happy I was muttering to myself. If ya ever met Dewayne from NoMoCo, you know that mumbling and muttering i'm talkin about. I was a babbling idiot, in the middle of pods and pods of bass. They weren't actively feeding, there was no evidence they were there, other than they were Smashing the frikkkin plug! It was so addictive to have bass come right out of the water 5 or 10' from me. It was an insane adrenalin high.








If you've been there, you know the feeling. If you haven't, it's hard to explain why some crazy fisherman would be out on a sandbar in pitch darkness (only had light the last 1/2 hour after the moon was out) 75' from shore on an incoming tide.

I knew the rising tide would present a problem when I came back, but I didn't care. I was so into the action, I had to take a leak, I told myself if the action kept up, I would just have to accept being wet all over.

Gradually, the action slowed. I landed 15 bass, lost one that doubled my rod over. It wasn't as great as some other guys had who were out the night before, but it was the best action I had in a long time. It was so addictive I'm still playin that tape in my head.

I also felt a little bad for some of the fishermen who gave up early because of "the full moon effect" . I saw groups of them walking by on the beach as I was into the fish. A few times I opened the bail and let the fish run, because they stopped and were watching. I hadn't had real action like that in so long, I didn't want anything or anyone to jeopardize it or spook the fish.

It was truly a night to remember. No big fish were caught, but the action was fantastic. I'm glad I was out, and persisted in my belief that the fish were there.

[DarkSkies]

Finchaser met me on the beach in the middle of the day Friday. He sold me the sweetest surf bag in the world after he felt sorry for me, lookin at mine that had duct tape on it.

Just because we were there, we decided to make a few casts. I'd like to make everyone aware that all the guys had left the beach from the previous action because the action had "died". There were about 3 fishermen left plugging that beach, and they weren't doing squat!

Fin comes along, and on his first frikkin cast this emmeffer is into a bass!




In the next hour, he managed 2 bluefish, while all the others, including me, came up empty handed.

He's got magic hands, I tell ya!! A lot of guys think if they have "this" plug, or "that" rod or reel, they will slay the fish. Fin's so good he could probably catch fish on a Spongebob squarepants rod. Sometimes it ain't the equipment, or the plug, it's the fisherman.

It was an honor to fish with this guy. 50 years of fishin experience, he makes catching fish look like it's a breeze, even in the toughest conditions. The next time you read the report of the numbers he puts up, don't kid yourself, it ain't easy, he just makes it look like it is.

[VSdreams]

Nice reports Dark. Wish I was there!

[Monty]

Dark, great posts and pics.
Makes me happy that you caught on those teasers/tails.
Awesome that you had the great action.

[DarkSkies]

Monty, I haven't had action like that, with double digit fish, in quite some time. It's like you take a man who's been starving in the desert, and tell him he can eat all the chocolate cake he wants for 3 hours. I'm still playing the tape of that in my head, over and over... Thanks again for the teasers, they work great!

[DarkSkies]

Yardville Jimmy pulls in a shortie, WTG OFFC.



Earlier that day, one of the OFFC also nailed a 17lb bluefish.

17 frikkin pounds?

That's a certified gorilla or T-Rex bluefish. I didn't get any close to even 15# this year, I was real disappointed with the big bluefish surf action. That day, these guys put up a report "well we managed a few bass and blues in OC"

Way to minimize a report guys!

Congrats to Yardville and the rest of the OFFC.

[dogfish]

It's like you take a man who's been starving in the desert, and tell him he can eat all the chocolate cake he wants for 3 hours.

I like cake too, save some for me.
Great pics and report, sounds like ya got into em good.

[SharkHart]

Nice pics Darkskies,good work, my primary camera finally stopped zooming from sand in the air and my hands, sounds kinda crunchy in there, good thing i use cheapies. since fishing is a wash I was playing around with effects

[SharkHart]

[finchaser]

Finchaser met me on the beach in the middle of the day Friday. He sold me the sweetest surf bag in the world after he felt sorry for me, lookin at mine that had duct tape on it.

Just because we were there, we decided to make a few casts. I'd like to make everyone aware that all the guys had left the beach from the previous action because the action had "died". There were about 3 fishermen left plugging that beach, and they weren't doing squat!

Fin comes along, and on his first frikkin cast this emmeffer is into a bass!





In the next hour, he managed 2 bluefish, while all the others, including me, came up empty handed.

He's got magic hands, I tell ya!! A lot of guys think if they have "this" plug, or "that" rod or reel, they will slay the fish. Fin's so good he could probably catch fish on a Spongebob squarepants rod. Sometimes it ain't the equipment, or the plug, it's the fisherman.

It was an honor to fish with this guy. 50 years of fishin experience, he makes catching fish look like it's a breeze, even in the toughest conditions. The next time you read the report of the numbers he puts up, don't kid yourself, it ain't easy, he just makes it look like it is.

Your too kind,but thanks anyway it was fun,especially the next morning.

[DarkSkies]

Nice pics Darkskies,good work, my primary camera finally stopped zooming from sand in the air and my hands, sounds kinda crunchy in there, good thing i use cheapies. since fishing is a wash I was playing around with effects

I like that top one, it looks like an old fishing magazine from the 60's. What's it called, a sepia effect? Nice bass double header.

Sorry to hear about your camera, that sucks. I can highly recommend the Pentax optioW60. I'm tough on everything I own. I love that camera, waterproof to around 10', and you can pick one up online for around $220, even including the price of extra batteries.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ead.php?t=1068
Here's an example of the video it takes:
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ead.php?t=5239
post #2
(the clicking noise is the only irritating thing, but that's because the zoom motor is set up near the mike. If I turn the volume down from max, there's no clicking noise at all.)

Your too kind,but thanks anyway it was fun,especially the next morning.

Hey, I just write what happens. And now ya can't bust Killie that much, as we independently confirmed via Jim Balicki's report that he was one of the few to catch on that other beach that afternoon.

[DarkSkies]

Another bass from one of the sharpies out there.

[DarkSkies]

Some bass from 6-09, another friend. I think the bigger one might have been a 30.

[DarkSkies]

Tommy's seabass trip 11-08-09

They fished in rough seas, close to the 3 mile limit. There were 6 anglers on board, catching 5 tog, a bunch of seabass, and some dinner plate size porgies. WTG guys!