NJ fishing reports for May 15-31, 2010

[yukon]

Back to Moco hopeful for a morning bite. Plugged a few rocky areas, water was beautiful, but dead on the beginning of the flood.

Did some scouting. The only bunker I could find were at 2 areas in moco, about 1/4 mi offshore. Boats on them but the boats were spread out. Some kayakers out there too. Hope someone got some nice fish. We guys in the surf sure didn't, even the bait guys failed to hook up where I was.

Hey Dark,

I just came across this report thought i'd share it. Looks like those bunker found there way onto the MoCo beaches after lunch.

As you said it proves its all about the timing....

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The water was flat calm at the MoCO surf today at 1:00 pm. Except for the fact that it was BOILING as far as the eye could see with HUMONGOUS fish.

The largest was 42 inches and an estimated 30 pounds. In addition there were bluefish that measured 35 inches and an estimated 20 pounds! It was truly amazing and lasted for a couple hours. There was one other guy there and he was fishing with bait. I had it all to myself. Because of my recent success with so much fish, I did what was right and threw all of my fish back to bite another day. I must have caught 10+ bluefish all in the 15-20 pound range (this is unheard of for bluefish - they were the largest bluefish I had EVER seen) and 2 really nice bass in the 25-30 pound range. All fish caught on a big, cheap ***, metal spoon (Krocodile imitation - $3 at K-Mart) and the largest bass was caught on a sand eel plastic with a wire leader. So much for bass being leader shy.

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[rip316]

Congrats Yukon.

[yukon]

Congrats Yukon.

Sorry guys if I didn't make it clear. That report is not from me although I wish it was. I saw it on another website and after reading Dark's report thought I would share it to reinforce what darkskies was saying and what I've learned year after year after walking up to the beach always 30 min after a blitz that it's all about timing and cell phones

[cardoc765]

Having worked a couple days on the boats now, I really see what Dark means about the bait. Areas where there was no life on top of the water there were no fish caught at all. Once we found bait then we go fish to hit. Unless you have the ability to create a chum slick and draw them in, it's not gonna happen. We have found bait on the fish finder hanging lower in the water column, and no hits because the fish were not feeding. That is where weather, tide, wind, and pressure come into play.

When i was younger, i used to think "nice day, let's go fishing" and hope to catch fish. But it's more than that if you want to be successful. However, like Dark said if you find bait you are bound to catch a fish. There are plenty of cows out right now, it's just a matter of finding where they are. If you see bait boiling chances are you'll get one.

[cardoc765]

Was at a local tackle shop with RIP a week ago and came across a rod they had resembling one of our members.

[rip316]

For some reason I can't see Fin throwing that yellow bannana looking thing.

[DarkSkies]

On the way home, I decided to take a peek in the back. One hour or so of fishing produced two bass 14 and 16 pounds. I also got a couple blues and a couple bite-offs. No misses last night.

WTG, the rain wasn't that bad up north till morning, but it kept a lot of guys indoors. Nice catch!

Was at a local tackle shop with RIP a week ago and came across a rod they had resembling one of our members.

We were told we have to have a new rod to fish Northbar bottle darters. Finchaser was thinking of making one just for that purpose. I was thinking of calling it the Finchaser bottle darter rod but I see someone beat us to the punch already!
Funny stuff, Cardoc.

[DarkSkies]

Hey Dark,

I just came across this report thought i'd share it. Looks like those bunker found there way onto the MoCo beaches after lunch.
As you said it proves its all about the timing....

----

The water was flat calm at the MoCO surf today at 1:00 pm. Except for the fact that it was BOILING as far as the eye could see with HUMONGOUS fish.

-

Yukon it can drive ya crazy sometimes, if ya let it.
I marked that pod early in the morning, took pics of the boats in it, but they didn't look like they were coming in. I felt if it was gonna happen, it would be late afternoon. So hard to predict, it's like a game of musical chairs.

SI saw it on another website and after reading Dark's report thought I would share it to reinforce what darkskies was saying and what I've learned year after year after walking up to the beach always 30 min after a blitz that it's all about timing and cell phones

That used to kill me, getting to the scene 30 minutes after the action and see people walking home with 30's and 40's.
You're right on the $$ about the cell phones. Although we rant about them, and guys like Finchaser, the OFFC, Clamchucker, Surfwalker, and others here used to get them back in the day by virtue of being out on the sand all the time. They fished every day when they could, so it was inevitable they would run into them sooner or later.

Fast forward to modern times. We have made use of every technological advancement to make fish catching easier.

Yet, there's still a fair amount of luck, and timing, involved. You really have to be in some sort of a cell phone loop or in a club to get into these fish consistently.

It's frustrating as hell sometimes, but that's the way it goes, that's fishin.

BTW, there was another spurt of action at 7pm, about an hour of big fish caught in the surf in that general area, I missed that too.

Having worked a couple days on the boats now, I really see what Dark means about the bait. Areas where there was no life on top of the water there were no fish caught at all. Once we found bait then we go fish to hit. Unless you have the ability to create a chum slick and draw them in, it's not gonna happen. We have found bait on the fish finder hanging lower in the water column, and no hits because the fish were not feeding. That is where weather, tide, wind, and pressure come into play.

When i was younger, i used to think "nice day, let's go fishing" and hope to catch fish. .But it's more than that if you want to be successful.

I think you hit the nail on the head with that one Cardoc. The old adage that 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water holds true when you think about the bunker and bass relationship.

As Finchaser always says, bunker draw the bass from or to an area like a vacuum.

You can get decent bass blind casting from a jetty, but if bunker are 5 miles N or S of that jetty with nothing in between, your chances are slim. I still admire the guys who give casting a try anyway. Too many people stand around waiting for the bunker, it's a Jersey thing.

[DarkSkies]

Overslept this morning when the alarm went off at 2:30. Didn't get on the water til 5:30am. I was specifically hoping to find the bigger bluefish again. The guys in the boats had a slow pick of 2-3# blues the other day, that was kind of depressing not knowing if the larger ones cleared out.

I found some, but the cold water made them sluggish. I switched to a bright yellow bottle plug and nailed a bigger bluefish after a few casts.

Action died as I fished the bottom 45 minutes of the tide. That's all I had so I wouldn't be late to work. Made a quick move as the rain started and the E wind was building. Switched to a redfin, got 2 more bluefish with a slow retrieve. The last bluefish swallowed the plug and bit through the leader. I had to wrap it up and get to work. Bluefish were 7-9# class, all were purple fish fresh from the ocean.

Even though I was looking for bluefish, I usually can pull one bass from this location around sunrise or the end of the tide. Today there weren't even any schoolies around, sad to see that.

[c4charlie]

After a fishless night out front jetty hopping and getting absolutely nothing on plugs and bait, decided to go home.

On the way home, I decided to take a peek in the back. One hour or so of fishing produced two bass 14 and 16 pounds. I also got a couple blues and a couple bite-offs. No misses last night.

I left them biting after hooking this one. I wasn't planning on keeping any but this one was hooked deep, even though I pulled the trigger in less than two seconds. May have to consider the circles again. I filleted the fish (no eggs) and gave half to my parents and half to my family. It was tasty!

[DarkSkies]

Today there weren't even any schoolies around, sad to see that.

After my quote yesterday, I was wondering when schoolies would be showing with any consistency for the artificial bite. This morning I found some.

Only had an hour to fish before work again. Picked a back bay area closer to home so I wouldn't be late. The tide was halfway out when I started and I had to wade quite a bit.

The exciting thing was that bass were feeding on small bait when I got there. It was intense watching them dart into the shallow water with mouths open.

First thing I threw was a big bomber, hookup on first cast, lost it. 2nd cast got a short bass on that bomber. I was having problems with presentation where I was as there were a lot of weeds. The bomber kept accumulating them as it dug down.

Switched to a Saltwater Rattletrap when I saw a few isolated bunker. Got one bass on that, but the same problem with weeds ruined half my casts. Switched to an Ace Baits bunker profile, topwater floater. Bass were pretty aggressive in attacking that, and I got 2 more on that with a slow retrieve. I sell some Ace Baits here, and I wanted people to have an honest assessment of them. I like the plugs because they hold up to a lot of abuse and punishment. You can bash them against the rocks or fight bluefish after bluefish, and the hardened finish holds up.

However, I don't like to put hype into the reviews. I think the reason that worked so well today was
1. Too many weeds on the bottom for other presentations.
2. Bunker were around.

While I like that plug, the catch experience I have had with it is an "On" or "Off" experience. By that, I mean it's most effective when bunker are around, as it's a bunker profile. If bunker aren't around and fish aren't feeding on top, you won't catch fish on it. So it has a specific appplication for it to be a good producer. I hope that assessment was honest and candid enough for people.

Anyway, the bass were all brown rather than green, but fat and round, all short, 25-27 1/2". I didn't raise one bluefish at that spot, it was all bass. I'm thinking the water salinity was different due to the northeast rain and it pushed the bluefish further out.

The exciting thing about this morning was the level of feeding activity and bass action in the daylight. For about 1/2 hour it was pretty hectic. I saw the bass feeding, and in some cases they would follow the presentation almost to my feet before they hit it or quickly turned away. When they're feeding on natural bait sources, they're sometimes wary.

After the first half hour, the activity died as the tide ebbed. I had to cast 20 minutes for my 4th fish. I knew it was winding down at that point, but didn't want it to end.