NJ fishing reports for November 2010

[cardoc765]

Worked on one of my charters today. Headed out at 6 am and got to the mouth of the bay and the swells were huge. One minute i could see sky line, next minute i was looking at a wall of water that was taller than me. No bs. Headed to the bow to anchor up and a big swell forced me to drop to me knees real quick. It was that or fly over to the rail or overboard. Capt even thought i was going over. Nothing on the clams so we dulled anchor and moved around the area and jigged a noce 31 inch bass and 2 big blues. The water started to lay down finally and we headed outside and anchored up and withine 10 minutes of chumming shells, we had a non stop bite for 2 1/2 hours. The guys managed 30 or so shorts in the 26 3/4 - 27 1/2 range and a 6 guy limit. It was time to go in, so we let a fellow charter friend come over and take over our slick. He didn't do as well up till then. he finished out the day good.

[c4charlie]

Fished 4-7 this morning. It was a bit slow and difficult with the North wind. Not the same non-stop catching as yesterday early am but I did manage two stripers. One was a schoolie who went for my teaser. The other fish was approx 34" bass that was a great fight who went for my soft plastic in some very good current.

Released both fish and was so satisfied from the bigger fish that I had my shortest fishing expedition in a long time. Actually, I just can't stand the daylight hours. The sun comes up and I just can't see a damn thing.

Every time I think that I have figured out a pattern.... NOPE! Luckily, I have been managing to hook up usually but it is never the same even two days in a row.

Not sure if my thumb is going to make it through the season.

[vpass]

Nice going C4, That's great you must be proud of your kids.

[finchaser]

Killie came to visit me yesterday pointed him in the direction of the beach where it's been going down for 2 days, he scored 25 keepers to 18# between, 4PM and 6PM. This was witnessed and he was the talk of 2 shops this AM. All were released way to go Killie

[Monty]

Fished this morning from 12:00 to around 8:00.
Great time, but had some stuff happen.
Ended up with 7 bass between 22 inches and 28 inches.
At one point I had lost 4 fish in a row that were hooked, one larger one that I could not get out of the wash. Power pro line broke 4x. One time on a solid hit/hookset (lost Hogy and teaser). On sun up lots of bird action in my face, literally at my feet at times. This happened for an hour or so, could not catch one fish during this time .
Caught 3 on the rubber teaser, others on wood and plastic (catching on wood is my favorite way.)
Bumped into Darkskies,
Was great fishing weather till the sun came up.

[SurfSpinner]

Fished a couple of spots up North from 5-4pm. 12 to 35", but mostly little guys around 22". The bigger ones were caught on clam. Hooked a nice one on a swimmer who peeled off some line for a few seconds and then came loose. Felt bummed when I had to leave just when the bite turned on. It was tough casting earlier in the day.

[captnemo]

Had a hard time getting started last night. Never thought I was going to make it out. My gear was all messed up so I took the extra time to make it right.

Went out from 6 to 11. First cast I caught a fluke. Second cast I had a short bass. Then things got slow. I tried all different plugs. Just before I was going to call it a night I put on metal and hooked another bass this time 30".

[DarkSkies]

Fished a couple of spots up North from 5-4pm. 12 to 35", but mostly little guys around 22". It was tough casting earlier in the day.

5 to 4? You put in a lot of hours in the cold for those fish SurfSpinner, nice effort!

Every time I think that I have figured out a pattern.... NOPE!

I hear ya, the pattern is whatever they're feeding on at that moment, in that stretch of water. Time and tide aren't even consistently reliable this year. You bang them one week on the ebb, at the beginning, and the next week it's the middle of the flood.

.
Ended up with 7 bass between 22 inches and 28 inches.
At one point I had lost 4 fish in a row that were hooked, one larger one that I could not get out of the wash. Power pro line broke 4x. ... On sun up lots of bird action in my face, literally at my feet at times. This happened for an hour or so, could not catch one fish during this time ...
Bumped into Darkskies,
Was great fishing weather till the sun came up.

You definitely had the hot hand last night Monty, congrats on your persistence and willingness to try different presentations in that harsh wind. No mention of how cold and windy it was...I think if you were still catchin fish, you would have stayed there till your fingers froze off.

Killie came to visit me yesterday pointed him in the direction of the beach where it's been going down for 2 days, he scored 25 keepers to 18# between, 4PM and 6PM. This was witnessed and he was the talk of 2 shops this AM.
All were released way to go Killie

When Killie puts his mind to it, he's a fishin machine! I don't know how that talk ever arose about him shutting the bite down, unless it was a convenient way for guys to blame someone when the bite died as the tide went slack.
WTG Killie, even better on the releases.

[DarkSkies]

The early bird gets the worm, the late fisherman gets cold fingers....

Overslept and didn't make it down to the water till 5am. Bumped into C4Charlie and Monty Not a lot of other guys out in that "mild weather".

When I left my car it was a tropical 38 degrees. The 7mph NNW forecasted winds were double that, steady at 15+MPH with gusts to 20, making it hard to present. Fortunately the fish were in close, you only had to throw out 25-30 feet. I think C4 caught the last of the bigger fish as that bite shut down within 20 minutes of me getting there. No fish landed by me from 5-8am, a few hits and misses, but my googan ways took over last night.

There was then a slow pick of smaller fish until dawn, when the birds went nuts over small bait in the surf.

It could have been anchovies or rainfish. A few of us frantically tried to find the right pattern as we had bass blowing up on the bait 30' out in front of us. Some were caught, in the ratio of one bass for every 500 casts. None for me as I tried to match it with very small metal and small teaser. The teaser in this case might not have been small enough.

Monty was racking his brains as the fish were blowing up right in front. I think we threw every small presentation we had, and even switched it up with extra large in hopes of finding the right combo. No dice.

It was cool to see the action make that daytime appearance, as northern NJ action usually has been shutting off near sunrise unless it's overcast. Still looking for the days when the bite will transition to lasting for a better part of the day.

Last year by this time we had that type of action going on. I've heard all types of hypotheses for this...

the water isn't cold enough
(it now is)

too much bait in the back bays
(not any more)

waiting for all the big fish to come down from MA, RI, and Montauk
(that waiting should be over as half the fish biomass are now in Cape May and Delaware, or offshore swimming in that direction)



There are less fish around because we've been hammering them beyond the MSY (Maximum Sustainable Yield) for the last 3 years
(my guess is that this is a big part of why we're seeing less action along our surf, but there's not much beyond anecdotal confirmations of this just yet... )





Anyway, remember that the fish (except for the "resident" Hudson fish who now are available to some North NJ anglers) are swimming South every day, rain or shine, wind or not.

Get out there while you can, please be careful if yer fishin in the cold. There's no sense in getting hypothermia over a fish.

Congrats to all who got fish.
Only a few hardcore anglers were willing to brave that night cold and wind.

Killie, if I had a trophy I'd deliver it to ya tomorrow...
I know if Finchaser was out fishin with ya, you'd have twice that many...

and he would have twice whatever your numbers were.

[clamchucker]

Fished OC from 4-9am, 6 bass to 14lbs, ava17 with green tail.