LI Sound Nomad fishing

[DarkSkies]

I try to be up on all the locations where they're catching the bigger fish. Intel from various contacts helps greatly. There's just something about the possibility of catching bigger bass or bluefish that pulls me from more normal summer pursuits like summer fluking.

During the dog days of summer, there are still big bass and blues to be caught if you're willing to travel around a bit and do your fishing deep in the night.

Fellow S&A member JustEd, a hardcore surf guy and skisher, has been catching bigger fish all this month.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...-Cow-Town-quot

If you live in PA or NJ and love to surf fish, you know the opportunities are limited if you want bigger fish during August:

-You can fish the back bay areas near Cape May where the extreme abundance of bait has the bass and bigger predators active through the night feeding near structure.

-You can hit certain surf areas for brown sharks.

-Or you can pack it in, and stay away from fishing until everyone starts bragging in late Sept and Oct just how great the fishing is, and "follow the herd" to fish the obvious spots.


Intensive studying of Google maps led me to realize that Cape May and certain S Jersey areas are 100-130 miles from where I live.











My experience fishing the LI Sound (from the Bronx to the Montauk/Rhody edges) tells me a few things...
1. The bait is usually more abundant there, and more varied.
2. Every harbor is like the inlets we have here, similar in features, but in sheer numbers,,,not many places come close to the LI sound in terms of harbors, creeks, rips, and drains.
3. Summer water temps are usually a bit cooler than NJ and SS LI back bays, holding bigger fish for longer.
4. Rather than making a 100-130 mi trip to S Jersey to get in on some good August bass action, it would be smart to scout the places in the LIS that are 100 miles or less, and see how those trips would stack up in terms of opportunity.

This thread will document an attempt to explore every fishable cove and drain in that crystal-clear connected chain of ecosystems and biodiversity.

I will be fishing either from shore or yak depenging on the weather and what it calls for to reach the fish.

[DarkSkies]

these reports I will be concentrating on some of the drains, coves, and rips in the LIS. For reasons of privacy and to respect the people who fish there, in some reports I will be purposely vague. . And I won't be mentioning what state I'm in at the time, as to keep it more vague. Sorry, but after experiencing the limited access there, that's intentional and necessary

I can still talk to you folks about the trip, what worked/ didn't work along the way, the tides I found to be the best, and any other info to help the nomads out there catch more fish.

Big thanks to some members and friends who have been giving up some intel. Rest assured, as I talked about previously, I'll be doing my own research and developing my own intel as I fish as many areas as I can each trip.

I think this will be fun, hope it's entertaining for you folks out there as well...





************
Thu PM trip:
Went out there Thur pm to fish the last of the flood and some of the ebb.

I speak several languages, some only a few phrases, and can have decent conversations with people on many levels.
I was disoriented and stopped at a Gujrati food store/gas station to ask about some public beaches I was scouting. The Gujrat worker behind the counter could only tell me that lots of guys were in there in the morning, buying ice, and catching fish.
A local couple followed me out to my car, we had some nice conversations for 10 mins. They told me the beach I was going to was locked up as far as access to non-residents went, but then suggested 3 other places I might be able to access. They were extremely nice to a stranger, and I definitely appreciated it.

Based on their advice, I parked at an area that was near a creek.

Found some kids crabbing in the back, they were netting some big crabs up to 6" across. We talked about bass fishin. As we were doing this, we saw a bass about 36" come out of the shadow lines to try to eat a crab. For some reason she got spooked and went back into the dark. The kids told me they were catching bass up to that size at night, every few nights. They also clued me on some good kayak launches to check out.

The thing that spurred on the better action was the bait dumping from the creek.
I set up at some rocks at the mouth of the creek and plugged an hour. Threw small swimmers, ledheads with rubber (small), and unweighted sluggos, as there were a lot of eels in the back area. All with a very small teaser.

Not a touch for me. It was a secluded area, that not many fish. Beautiful scenery. I'll try to share some pics that are not too descriptive (or that I may edit) when I get time.

Went to a few other towns on my list.
Scouted some places that were supposed to be open to the public. Some of them were locked up, even to residents. That shows that up-to-the-minute intel is critical, and you should always have a plan B, C, and D. (can anyone reading this tell how OCD I am? )

Introduced myself and got friendly with some of the guards at some places that are open partially, in case I end up back there in the future.

Ended up at 3am at a place I've always wanted to fish.
I rolled up to a cop and asked about public access. She (pretty hot, about a 9) not only helped me with the access, she drove down the street and found me a parking spot!!
At times you hit the jackpot and get an officer who's into fishing, and may develop some golden intel from it. So don't be bashful. It also helps when they know who you are and why you're poking around ritzy neighborhoods at night. Eliminating the criminal intent aspect from the situation makes all involved a lot more friendly.




My contact said to fish in a slightly different area, but the new moon tide was almost fully out and there was no water.
Made a decision to wade out as far as I could to try to reach a deep channel, a place I had wanted to fish for years. There was some danger connected with this area because of the tides, and I was well-aware of that.

I was 300' from this lighthouse, pretty far out....






It was a long walk. In the end I was pretty far from shore, at the side of a "bowl".
View on the way back... of the shore.....




Jumped up on a rock (good thing I wore the korkers) and cast from 3:15-6:15 am. I Made a mental mark on the rock I was on, telling myself that that was the absolute highest I would let it get before I had to head back in. when the tide started rushing in.



Stay off of my rock!!!!


All night the threat of rain hung over the area. There were big black storm clouds overhead, hardly any ambient light. Being out as far as I was, it was pretty spooky.

Hours of casting with no luck. No bait around which was kind of a bummer. Had I seen bait I would have been more optimistic. There were, though, literally hundreds of crabs at my feet. There was a crab every 6" rummaging through the mollusk beds. Mostly spiders, but a few big blue claws, and a good % of small Asian crabs. I bet at high water that place is golden to fish from a boat for bass and tog.

Around 5am I got slammed on a big unweighted sluggo. I wasn't ready for it as the fish hit less than 10' from me and my attention had wandered due to lack of action. I told myself I wasn't leaving that rock until I stuck some fish. I began to fish with a vengeance at that point, getting a little nervous as the tide had turned.

The only other activity was from 5:15-5:30, when I managed 1 small bass and a handful of blues on the smallest yo-zuri I had with me, a 3" sinking spearing profile. Tried many other presentations with no success.

Around 6 the tide was coming in hard and I had to walk back to shore. Along the way I blind casted with no success. The wind was kicking up, to 20mph, and rain was coming down harder. I had to cast into the middle of the bowl, with the wind at my back.




In summary, I had a great time, got some small fish (though not the fish I came for), learned another few areas as to best time, tide, and structure, and made many notes for my log and notebooks at home. That's part of the process for me, and almost as exciting as catching...the challenge of hitting a new area and succeeding at what you set out to do.

And...even when ya don't succeed, to me that's more exciting than fishing an old reliable place, at least you tried.

[BassBuddah]

Outstanding report and scouting darkskies. Though I expected to see a note about swans somewhere in there and was disappointed that you left bird life out this time.
Thank you also for keeping the towns out of it and the general descriptions out of it. Access here is as bad as it can get and many of us would be greatly upset to see it get any worse. I think you will find as you do your reports that there are a lot of us out at night, and we don't need to brag like they do on some sites. Let me know if you ever get up my way and want to fish a tide or 2.

Oh, and this time of year, the incoming is best, near the top. The water has warmed up a bit so the colder water sometimes makes for a good bite. And if you do find bunker anywhere, don't leave. Especially with your kayak, you should get some nice fish at night.
Good luck and be safe.

[dogfish]

I rolled up to a cop and asked about public access. She (pretty hot, about a 9) not only helped me with the access, she drove down the street and found me a parking spot!!

How hot, was she hot enough to have a fantasy about being arrested by her when ya got home?

Outstanding report and scouting darkskies. Though I expected to see a note about swans somewhere in there and was disappointed that you left bird life out this time.

Yep if you are scouting you can't leave the swans out!

[blitzhunter]

Nice really enjoyed that.

[bababooey]

Hear hear for more swans from Dark!
Seriously, that was a good story, but bring some bird life in next time so we know it's really you!

[JustEd]

Never fail to give the biggest plug you own a shot when the match the hatch aint workin. I believe from experiance, that the competition aspect of large predators kicks in and then eats the competition...........

[DarkSkies]

How hot, was she hot enough to have a fantasy about being arrested by her when ya got home?

Yep if you are scouting you can't leave the swans out!

She was at least a 9, maybe a 9.5. Can't say much more as my sweeheart Pebbles reads these threads sometimes.

Hear hear for more swans from Dark!
Seriously, that was a good story, but bring some bird life in next time so we know it's really you!

Eff you guys! You want bird stories, I'll bury ya's in bird stories! plenty more where these came from!


"gull" island



Cormorant rock - the stench coming from this place is fowl.


And, as an added bonus, the last time out on the yak, I passed a channel marker in the night. 2 of the "laughing gulls" followed me for about 1/4 mile after that, shouting and scolding. It's uncanny how some of their calls sound like human voices.

Never fail to give the biggest plug you own a shot when the match the hatch aint workin. I believe from experiance, that the competition aspect of large predators kicks in and then eats the competition...........

Right on the $$. Ed, thanks.

We've had that happen when they are on rainfish, running through the water with their mouths open.....will try that next time, though I threw a mid-size Danny and they wouldn't touch it this time....

[DarkSkies]

Sat into Sun,
Fished LIS, lots of hours and pedalling.
Total 19 fish...
15 bass to 28", released.
3 giant porgies to 14".
1 bluefish.


Fished from 12am to 12pm. Nothing in the dark, spent hours trolling the T&W wondering what the eff was wrong.
In retrospect, I think the water where I was headed to was a little dirtier than usual. I often do ok in coves where bait is stacked up, and that's where I set out for. However, there was seagull crap and tons of bubbles, debris and all sorts of flotsam on the water.

I really wanted to get some fish on the Danny that Surfstix made for me. It's a sweet purple Danny. I know if I can present it when conditions are right, a bunch of bass and bluefish will slam the crap out of it. He wants pics of his plugs smashed and eaten up, and so far I haven't been able to do that for the guy. I suck, sometimes.

The garbage on the water, coupled with an infestation of phosphorescent jellyfish, made presenting lures on top a poor choice. I tried it anyway, knowing of the likely poor outcome. It was driving me mad because in one cove there were small spearing all over the frikkin place. Even tried jigging small rubber, no action whatsoever.

Then I tried the T&W, hours and hours past prime structure.
It was killing me that I couldn't even pick up one lousy fish!

Any good fisherman looks at the conditions and knows when to modify when things ain't happening, so I did just that. Took a very long paddle to an island that was the furthest of a group, out in the Sound.

Sunrise at the island.


The water was cleaner there, and around 5:15 am I started to catch monster porgies. No bass, but I did get 3 on the T&W. They were stacked up around a point of this island, the point you see in the pic to the right.



Tiring of the porgies, I decided to set out for a lighthouse that was near deep water. Got there after a vigorous 15 minute paddle. There was no wind, and the sound was flat as a lake, rare conditions for such a big body of water.

I jigged a mile of the channel in front of the lighthouse, on the bottom, with a 2 oz jig and heavy shad. I wasn't looking for fluke or anything else, only big bass and blues that I heard were there.

Lighthouse


Well, they were absent on the beginning of the flood, and I decided to leave there before the new moon current got strong. In retrospect, I feel the current would have spurred on the bite. It was too far to paddle back to my original location in that strong current, so I bailed.

Went back to my original island, and started to work structure on the incoming around 8am. I don't use a fishfinder,, I like it that way! I prefer to find fish by my own instincts.




Different island views

[DarkSkies]

My one "catch".... by the lighthouse.... snagged a lot of lost braid with a starfish.
















I quickly discovered there was a depression in front of this island. Fish were stacked up there, and as the tide came in, they were stacked up even more. Every pass I got a bass from this 60 yd area.


Back at the island, I tried to be discreet, but got attention from a few boaters. They saw me hooking up and came over and mugged me.

I kept moving around the rocky parts of the island catching fish on the flood tide where they couldn't go. I had an hour of fantastic action with these small bass, 11 total at the island.

Although small, one was a keeper, and all bass were around the same size, none under 23".











Here's a cool campsite hideout I found on the island when I went there to dig some mussels for later.



That action was the highlight of the trip, it was all downhill from there.

Although I can catch small bass on the T&W in bright sunlight, for some reason it was very slow that day. Only managed 2 more in several hours of trolling, 1 bluefish (btw the only fish all day to hit the black tube.....I'm thinking the murky water quality put the bite off a bit as the red tube was the only one that produced bass) and 2 more as I pedalled back to the original launch.

In all, 19 fish, 15 bass, was a good day. I really wanted to break 20 bass, was not successful in that. No big blues in the channel or bigger bass, so I kind of failed in my objective


Still had a blast anyway.

[DarkSkies]

I was tired as hell from the morning.

Checking all the maps and tides I compulsively carry around with me, I realized that instead of going home, if I took a 30 mile run, I could fish a new location.

Had heard good things about this area, bass up to 27# and monster bluefish, by yakkers at night. So what choice did I have?,,,it was on the road to fish the spot!

When I got there I was so burnt I knew I would be in trouble if I went out on the yak. Since it was low tide, I took a quick walk to the shore to check out and make my plan of action. Saw some boulder fields exposed at low tide and made a mental note of where they should be at the full flood. My plan was to work those boulder fields until I located the bigger fish that have been coming in to feed at night.

I took a nap for about 2 hours, started up on the beach by 9:15. Paddled out to the area of the boulders. Within 10 minutes I had my first bass, small though.

Kept at it.
Since this wasn't as rocky as I'm used to, I decided to troll 2 rods with the T&W.

From 9-12 I managed 6 bass total on the T&W. Both black and red tubes worked. There is no real difference in the dark, unless maybe you have a full moon. Also 3 large keeper porgies to 13".

I felt bad about the porgies. On the beach before dark, a lot of people were fishing for them. They told me the porgy fishing had slowed down this week.

What they didn't realize that they were just beyond their reach, about 200' out, all you wanted. The water had gotten warmer and they were no longer in shallow.


It was pretty windy, 15 steady, but I found a corner and tucked away. The problem there was the bugs. Without the wind they became bothersome. I went back to the open, and kept trolling. Rain came and I worked through it, still hoping for a bigger fish, but not successful.

The water quality was excellent. Much cleaner than where I had been earlier in the day. The phosphorescent jelly fish were there, but in minute quantities. Didn't affect the bite at all.

I regret that I didn't catch any big bluefish or larger bass. The bass here were a little smaller than the ones I got at the other location.

I must have been doing something wrong not to have hit at least one bigger bass, but hey, that's fishin.

I need to study that area a bit more, and will be back to try again.

Total, 6 schoolie bass,
4 porgies to 13".

Beautiful, clean water and shoreline.
Met some yakkers coming off the water at dark,, friends of a guy I know. They decided to target porgies and did well with a nice batch up to 15". Nice meetin ya's!


Sunset




Bass hit tubes of both colors.



Porgies love the T&W





The best part of the night was that when I was done at 1am (bite died anyway at the top of the flood) I made it back to my house in 1 hr 10 minutes. (no traffic at all)

For the guys who live in North Jersey, that's about the time it takes to get down to Point Pleasant. To fish a body of water, that holds big fish, in the middle of August?

Priceless.







*** Just a note of thanks, all bass so far have been caught on Finchaser's custom tubes with circle hooks, easiest for C&R.
He's not making them for sale, he did it as a favor to me.

Just wanted to thank that Old Grouchy Basstard publically here for all he does to help me out...especially the yelling he does,....my life just wouldn't be complete without it.

[bababooey]

Great report dark. Really enjoyed the way you interwove the pictures with the story. Greatly enjoyed the cormorrant and gull island pics as well. Keep em coming!

[storminsteve]

Fantastico dude! I wish you had 2 kayaks and I would mug you for a trip.

[wish4fish]

yo i will fight u for it steve there is nothing here now but rays, sharks, baby fluke and the water suxxx, liked it a lot dark

[dogfish]

DS yer legs are lily white, mighty purty!
Did ya shave down for the photo shoot ya landlubber?

[Monty]

Great reports Dark!!
Wish I was there when you waded out and fished that bowl area. Sounded like the type of area I like to fish.

[JustEd]

I am truly amused by this thread................ Keep it coming.

[DarkSkies]

DS yer legs are lily white, mighty purty!
Did ya shave down for the photo shoot ya landlubber?

-They're not white any more...I fell asleep on the yak for an hour in the sun and now have 2nd degree burns, what a frikkin googan I am.
- I've never had much hair on my upper legs, and didn't grow a beard and mustache until I was 30. But hey, thanks for noticing.
- What the hell were you doing looking at my legs anyway? the focus was supposed to be on FISHING, bro! Maybe you need to get out more. In any event, you looking at my legs...kinda creepy, no?





**********
To the rest of ya's, thanks for the responses, glad ya's enjoyed the reports.

[nitestrikes]

I jigged a mile of the channel in front of the lighthouse, on the bottom, with a 2 oz jig and heavy shad. I wasn't looking for fluke or anything else, only big bass and blues that I heard were there.

Lighthouse

I have a rough idea of where you might have been. Next time bring some meat with you, fresh bunker. Put a chunk on the bottom and fish the channel. You should hook up. And the bite is usually better as the tide gets stronger, though I don't know how you would deal with that in a kayak. You can't anchor in the channel you will get swamped.

[DarkSkies]

Fished Tue night.
Last 3 hours of the flood, LI Sound. Fishing was tough, the wind was a steady 15mph, which kicked up a swell, steady 1', some bigger.
I think this created a problem with the T&W presentation, or it could have been the fish were not there that night. I was fishing an area of boulder fields, had been there 2 nights before and done ok, nothing big, but decent numbers of fish.

On Mon night there was scant evidence the fish were there. Within 5 minutes I did get a massive strike, pulled drag for a few secs and got me pumped. However, the fish broke me off as she rounded a rock near a few that were close together.

Based on that missed fish, I trolled that area for the next hour with not a tap, and only one pesky hit from a porgy. This was puzzling because the porgies are usually all over that spot.

Decided to move along some rocky shoreline. Managed one short bass there, embarassingly small. This bass hit as the swells died a bit, so again I'm wondering if it was the presentation or the fish weren't there in numbers for some reason that night. There were phosphorescent jellyfish in the water, but when the water was rough the effect didn't seem that bad. As the tide approached slack and the water got calmer, it seems they became more of a problem.

I did try trolling a deeper swimmer for awhile, 5-7' no success.


Managed one bluefish on the T&W at dead slack, and that was all the action I had.
Since I had some worms left over, I decided to put them on a porgy rig and drift that area bouncing bottom. If the porgies are thick that usually produces some nice fish, even a stray bass or 2. I drifted for 1/2 hour at the beginning of the ebb, not even one touch or miss. I had to conclude that it was just an off night. Hey, that's fishin.




*******
Thanks for the advice Nitestrikes. I know plenty of guys are catching bass with chunks in 30-55' of water. I'm trying to focus on artificials, though if I don't get any action that way I'll start drifting eels soon. (And the T&W isn't really all artificial, with the worm on the end you are still fishing bait, just to clarify...).





A good friend Cheech was fishing the same day Tues, across the "pond". Same water and a lot more rocks, porgy,, bass and tog heaven.

He trolled the T&W inshore for hours, and all he managed was one bluefish. This is a guy who usually lands 20 bass or more every time he's out. He's a role model for other fishermen and one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet. And he fishes hard, doesn't want to give up.

We can usually catch bass in the Sound in the daytime even when other guys have trouble. The T&W is money, but on Tues it wasn't.