New Jersey fishing reports for April 2009

[bunkerjoe4]

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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

[DarkSkies]

Fiished this morning Weds from 3:30-6am. Sent a friend out earlier in the night, maybe he'll come on here and post when he figures out how to download the pics. If not, let me know man and Ill post it for ya. He got 13 fish total last night, 2 keepers on clams.

I started out earlier in the night looking for something specific, but I couldnt find it, water was too quiet. So I tooka snooze and met up with the new guy later. The bite slowed down then as the water went out, bottom of the tide. Fish were hitting very light. I got my first one by opening the bail and letting it run for a bit, then settin the hook. There was a nice SE wind going on kicking up the bay surface, good for fishin.

He left and I got a total of 5 before I stopped at sunrise, all fish smalll up to 27". I feel I got thise fish by moving around in that area and looking for deeper water I remembered from previous low tide scouting.

Pics of the sunrise here. If he doesn't post his fish by tomorrow I'll post for him.

[DarkSkies]

We were out last night in the rain. It gradually slowed down and I thought there would be a good bite, but I was wrong. Conditions were almost perfect...a light rain, E/SE wind, a littlechop on the water. Moved afew places, not a tap.

Not a lot of guys out there, didn't hear any positive news. Maybe it was a little too cold, water seemed like it was in the low 40's.

Around 2am a friend left and I went to another flats area. Got 2 small fish between 3-4am clammin, middle of the outgoing. I got these fish the same way as last night, opening the bail when I felt the light hit, then striking after letting them run a bit.

After 4am, no activity for an hour, so I packed it in to go to work.

[Tommy]

fished wed morning raritan bay. caught 11 schoolies two keeepers biggest 30 inches on clams

[DarkSkies]

fished wed morning raritan bay. caught 11 schoolies two keeepers biggest 30 inches on clams

Great post man, and congrats! Tommy's not an internet guy, not proficient at posting and downloading pics, yet!

We met fishin and he told me how hard he was fishin and how many hours he was out each time. The guy loves to fish, would fish ever spare minute if he didn't have to work so much. Only problem...it was in the daytime. So I got him outn at night and he did great. Great report and great pics, man!

[LennyD]

Last night went to Raritan Bay with DS, checked out 2 places, no bump just rain.
This afternoon ran down to RB again to test ride my new Yak, first when i got there some fog came thru from the ocean, so i picked another location, it was better, i went out , anchored down, then 1/2 hr later got little rough there, + i had to go home, so i called it a day.
Im totally new with yak fishing,but i wanna go for the "BIG" ones this year.
This is my Yak! (without my seat + all the other toys)

[LennyD]

if anyone has a fishfinder for kayaks for sale, let me know.
Thanx

[SharkHart]

I crushed them in the backwaters of SNJ before the wind got stupid and then the rain came too. Most fish were 21-27" but i plucked out a nice 31" I was wading in up to pocket and it felt chilly (water) but not crazy, id guess 47-49ish maybe, this on a shallow flats type area. all on plastics. Wanted to see what would happen on the outgoing but rain and hard wind came before the tide switched but had i stocked trout earlier my back couldnt take anymore anyway

[ledhead36]

Fished RB last night. Started out slow, but after a few hours had two shorts.

[DarkSkies]

Lenny, like the yak, nice setup! I see you had 2 rodholders instaled on the back, good deal. Wait till you get towed around by a bigger fish, you won't be able to think of anything else, your work will suffer, family life will suffer, all for the yak addiction.

I crushed them in the backwaters of SNJ before the wind got stupid and then the rain came too. Most fish were 21-27" but i plucked out a nice 31" I was wading in up to pocket and it felt chilly (water) but not crazy, id guess 47-49ish maybe, this on a shallow flats type area. all on plastics. Wanted to see what would happen on the outgoing but rain and hard wind came before the tide switched but had i stocked trout earlier my back couldnt take anymore anyway

Nice, SH! I went down SJ last night to fish with a friend there, our goal was a "clam-free" night. We were throwin smaller stuff, saw some bait around, shrimp and spearing, bass would pop every now and then, but the water was colder where we were, around 43. They were sluggish. I only managed one short on a white tsunami shad, still a nice night.

Did you notice that wind shift, first was E/SE, and then shifted to the N for awhile, and then back?

[SharkHart]

oh man I wish i knew you were in the area. YEah it was gradually coming around into our face more north and brought in a ton of water. But once the rain started it was also being pushed into our face.

They come into a few areas hard down there early season but some other good spots they dont come into later.

[cowherder]

fished wed morning raritan bay. caught 11 schoolies two keeepers biggest 30 inches on clams

Nice fish Tommy. The one in front looks fat! I fished some clams after work. In the back of raritan bay. I got one fish 26" but like you said Dark the hit was only a light tap. Where are the big cows?

[Finaddict]

WTG guys, I am glad the fish are starting to show up for you all.

[DarkSkies]

Yeah, it's just getting warm enough for them to get in the spawn cycle here. The water temk keeps fluctuating up here though, so you gotta put the time in.

Finaddict, what have the water temps been down by you? Up here I see a few degrees change makes all the difference in the world. I check that water temp on the site 3x/day. How about you, do you notice anything similar?

[storminsteve]

Last night I fished clams in the back of Raritan bay till 1am. 2 runts, biggest was 25".

[amboyangler]

Hit up about 5 different spots out back tonight and all I had to show for it was 1 measley little skate who swallowed a whole clam. The strong NW winds were almost unbearable except for one spot that faced directly opposite of the wind. Hope you guys did better than I did. Tomorrow another day and by 8 PM the winds should be back down to about 5 MPH.

[DarkSkies]

Hit up about 5 different spots out back tonight and all I had to show for it was 1 measley little skate who swallowed a whole clam. The strong NW winds were almost unbearable except for one spot that faced directly opposite of the wind. Hope you guys did better than I did. Tomorrow another day and by 8 PM the winds should be back down to about 5 MPH.

Hey, Amboy, out fishin in 40mph winds, at least you were tryin! I wanted to come out lookin for ya's but was stuck at a lame reunion. The only clam we saw was when a woman in her 40's, thinking she was in her 20's, was bent over a table for about 15 minutes in conversation without realizing she was giving the clam some air. Or maybe she did realize it and was lookin for some reunion action.

Nice effort guys, IMO the wind pushed too much water out of the bay at low tide yesterday. You'll gettum next time.

[wish4fish]

Hit up about 5 different spots out back tonight and all I had to show for it was 1 measley little skate who swallowed a whole clam. The strong NW winds were almost unbearable except for one spot that faced directly opposite of the wind. Hope you guys did better than I did. Tomorrow another day and by 8 PM the winds should be back down to about 5 MPH.

not us dude, water was skinny so we fished by an inlet that wind was crazy fierce, lol! couldn't do squat, only one tap all night. water is warm so maybe tonight will be better

[Tommy]

Fished r b friday evening , one keeper 30 inches. Three schoolies . It was blowing , but not too cold.

[DarkSkies]

Fished r b friday evening , one keeper 30 inches. Three schoolies . It was blowing , but not too cold.

Nice goin Tommy, hooked on the nite bite!