Thanks for these trip reports darkskies they are one of the things that give me hope.
Senior Member
Thanks for these trip reports darkskies they are one of the things that give me hope.
Senior Member
Yeah DS you can't crush them all the time. At least you are hitting bass and getting them in numbers. I would love to catch just one bass right about now, been so long I almost forgot what it feels like.good report keep em coming!
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48 hour trip to the Sound -
Got back last night, marathon trip, low budget.Slept in the car and lived like a nomad. Fished hard but it took time to learn the area. Fishing was honestly slow, but I still managed to eke out about a dozen fish. Nothing notable except for the 14" scupzillas I got in the morning yesterday.
Otherwise, a total of 4 short bass and 9 porgies up to 14". All on the T&W.
I did a lot of scouting (and some sleeping) when I wasn't fishin hard. Mapped out some future access areas and places that I have to hit again and again, because they will be worth it. All for about the same fuel/ toll cost as me driving down to Cape May. And all on a low-budget, nomad style!
Yet I was in a whole different world up there, a place where people leave kayaks tethered to buoys in the bay and no one steals them, where people come skinny dipping at the end of the day at some secluded beaches ( believe me there are no good stories or pics, and it sounds better than it was...)...a place where complete strangers are willing to help ya with advice and intel.... and a place where life is idyllic and laid back...
Oh, and the fishing, although the pickings were slim despite how hard I tried, the effort did pay off...because when I wasn't fishing, I was BSing with people (one of my well-known traits), scouting, and developing current intel.
After being delayed from launching the yak because of the rain and lighting the other night, I started talking to a guy who was fishing some rocks. The extended conversation led to him giving me the outline of why people fish that area, and some good strategies.
Just by chance, I met a relative of his the next day, a guy kind of well-known in the fishin world. I'm trying to be purposely vague on this as not to blow the location. Anyone who fishes a lot can read between the lines anyway, no problem.
The guy who turned out to be my guide, and had me follow him to another location to try, is pure class and character. The most interesting things about the conversation were not the fishing intel, but the words about how things used be for some of us as they fished decades ago, and the comparison to now.
Wherever you go, if you're out there at 3am fishing hard, you'll eventually run into the most hard-core, dedicated guys who fish that area.
My conversation that night caused me to learn that first guy I was talking to drives 60 miles each way to get to the area, and does it once a week.
I asked him..."If you have fish where you live, why the heck would you drive 60 miles to come here to fish?"
His answer...
Opportunity!
After being there for 48 hours and seeing and hearing the stories from a few, I understood..... and that opportunity is what will pull me to make the drive back there and take my shot at the big bass lottery.
I also did something that I had been procrastinating about for a long time, fish difficult and dangerous waters from the yak at night with few people around. I got blanked there, but got fish at other areas. The achievement was in managing the danger, and realizing now with a little more preparation, I can do it again and get into some decent fish.
I'll try to continue this later after work, stay tuned....
OGB
I assume they stood and fished up wind of youOriginally Posted by DarkSkies
48 hour trip to the Sound -
Got back last night, marathon trip, low budget.
I did a lot of scouting (and some sleeping) when I wasn't fishin hard. Mapped out some future access areas and places that I have to hit again and again, because they will be worth it. All for about the same fuel/ toll cost as me driving down to Cape May. And all on a low-budget, nomad style!
Yet I was in a whole different world up there, a place where people leave kayaks tethered to buoys in the bay and no one steals them, where people come skinny dipping at the end of the day at some secluded beaches ( believe me there are no good stories or pics, and it sounds better than it was...
Oh, and the fishing, although the pickings were slim despite how hard I tried, the effort did pay off...because when I wasn't fishing, I was BSing with people (one of my well-known traits), scouting, and developing current intel.
After being delayed from launching the yak because of the rain and lighting the other night, I started talking to a guy who was fishing some rocks. The extended conversation led to him giving me the outline of why people fish that area, and some good strategies.
Just by chance, I met a relative of his the next day, a guy kind of well-known in the fishin world. I'm trying to be purposely vague on this as not to blow the location. Anyone who fishes a lot can read between the lines anyway, no problem.
The guy who turned out to be my guide, and had me follow him to another location to try, is pure class and character. The most interesting things about the conversation were not the fishing intel, but the words about how things used be for some of us as they fished decades ago, and the comparison to now.
Wherever you go, if you're out there at 3am fishing hard, you'll eventually run into the most hard-core, dedicated guys who fish that area.
My conversation that night caused me to learn that first guy I was talking to drives 60 miles each way to get to the area, and does it once a week.
I asked him..."If you have fish where you live, why the heck would you drive 60 miles to come here to fish?"
His answer...
Opportunity!
After being there for 48 hours and seeing and hearing the stories from a few, I understood..... and that opportunity is what will pull me to make the drive back there and take my shot at the big bass lottery.
I also did something that I had been procrastinating about for a long time, fish difficult and dangerous waters from the yak at night with few people around. I got blanked there, but got fish at other areas. The achievement was in managing the danger, and realizing now with a little more preparation, I can do it again and get into some decent fish.
I'll try to continue this later after work, stay tuned....
Pay attention to what history has taught us or be prepared to relive it again
Senior Member
The new waders are killing people already lmao.
Cranky Old Bassturd.
Senior Member
looks like they have your number. dark skies.
1000 post club!
Hopefully you found some more bird life, do you add that to all those notes you take?
Senior Member
Please excuse my ignorance but I don't understand why you would need to be vague about these places. I mean, if you are fishing Montauk or the Montauk area why not just say it. Tons of guys fish there anyway, it's not like it's a big secret or something. I guess I just don't understand not even mentioning the general area, don't you think that is taking secrecy too far?
Senior Member
X2 -Yes, more birds please.
Baitstealer, I don't know what the long island fishing is like but in NJ it is crowded as hell for us. Say ONE thing about a guy catching a 20 lb bass or even a bunch of small stripers and people are on it like flies on ****. I can't speak for dark but it could have something to do with the restricted access that he is always alluding to over there.
Senior Member
There is no access in LI except for the state parks. There are no fish in LI either. Right now they are all off the coast of Massachusetts. No fish to see here fellas, move along.
Administrator
You mooks wanted birds, here ya go.X2 -Yes, more birds please.
Baitstealer, I don't know what the long island fishing is like but in NJ it is crowded as hell for us. Say ONE thing about a guy catching a 20 lb bass or even a bunch of small stripers and people are on it like flies on ****. I can't speak for dark but it could have something to do with the restricted access that he is always alluding to over there.Remember I take pics all the time unless the battery craps out. I can bury you mofo's in bird pics, so keep up your ball busting, I won't run out of pics to respond with...
And baitstealer, Steve and some points the others made were right on the money. It's kind of hard to explain unless you have been to the states of CT, the N Shore of LI, or Rhody, and have seen the extremely limited access they have "generously" provided for the thousands of folks who want to fish the shores in those areas. I was at one beach town last week where the cost of a ONE Day beach pass for an out of state person was $40. $40, are you frikking kidding me? (by comparison, the season pass for a resident at that beach was $20.) And a night fishing pass for just ONE town area was $150 for people who don't live in that area.
That tells me they don't want out-of-towners coming up there and poking around. A lot of towns in the Sound are very insular and don't depend on tourist dollars, unless those tourists rent or own houses near the water.
When I meet the guys who fish there regularly, most are very cautious about the intel they're willing to dole out and inviting others to fish there. They know that certain rockpiles and points can only hold 3-4 fishermen at most. Why would you want to share that with someone who may come up there and **** up the place?
I understand completely, and appreciate the intel that has been fed to me, a little at a time. I build on that by obsessively mapping out areas on Google, writing a fishing schedule to take advantage of optimum tides, and doing much of my own scouting for every piece of intel that is given to me.
In essence, I'm working to find those spots, and working hard. It's like putting the pieces of a puzzle together, blindfolded. . It's a lot of searching and dead ends. Not all leads on Google pan out. As I do this, I come to understand the work that others have done before me to get to those areas. I appreciate the stealth tactics some of them use to sneak into the areas on the edges where there is limited access.
As I said, it may be difficult to understand, unless you have been doing the scouting yourself. I'm going to do my best to respect the privacy of those who fish the Sound in the dark of night and find fish because they have done their homework.
Hope that puts things in a better perspective.
Administrator
Trip report 8-8
The first night I punked out, didn't hit my original destination. Hit some rocky areas, ended with 1 bass, one porgy around 5am, T&W. Such a small # of fish doesn't really tell you whether they are in the area or not.
Slept a few hours, scouted many many possibilities. Wrote some notes about specific locations.
Ended up on a beach where you can walk on after 6pm, no permit needed. Some people were fishing for porgies with little success. That's when I met the first guy, the one who drives 60 miles each time to fish the area.
He wisely left the area he was fishing because of lightning, fishing rods are great lightning conductors.
We ended up talking for a long time, as he first kind of assumed I knew that area. When I told him how far I drove to get there, and my obsession for searching Google, we got into some good conversations about our Google and fishing obsessions.
He suggested the area I was in, was good during certain tides, and gave me some pointers. I knew I was procrastinating by not hitting my intended destination, so I thanked him and set off for the current.
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Got to where the current was.
I missed the optimum time because of BSing with the fisherman, but the intel I gained was invaluable.I set out to figure out how to best fish the current at that time.
When I got to the water, I used my spotlight to check for bait. I was overwhelmed by the amount of large spearing. Hundreds of thousands, 4-6", stretching for a mile at least, in the shoreline eddies close to the current. When you shone the light on them, they jumped out of the water like the invasive Asian carp of the Mississippi.
It was an awesome sight. Wished I could have shot a video for you folks to see. I was the only one there, not a soul around. The other creatures were stinging jellyfish, hundreds of them, spaced out evenly, very close to shore.
I turned the light off. and before I launched walked the shoreline, looking for one predator that might be into the spearing. I was throwing a redfin, slow retrieve, and couldn't hear any telltale sounds of bass or fluke feeding on them. 1/2 hour of this along the mile with no hits, I had to assume the fish were only furtively feeding on the spearing, or they weren't there in numbers.
Pic of jellyfish with spearing swimming around.
Pic of the tentacles that got separated from a jellyfish. There were thousands of pieces of these interspersed in the wash.
Launched the yak, and figured my best chance for big fish was in the current, so into the current I went.
It was strong as hell, mid-tide, and I knew I couldn't get in the middle of it, so I fished the side currents, back and forth,, up and down, for an hour.
It was a little spooky because when I launched the moon disappeared and there were few lights other than the lighthouse. I was about 1/4 mile out there, and the darkness was eerily beautiful.
The current wasn't. I couldn't see it without the spotlight, but I could hear it, the sound of constantly rushing water, wind against tide, made for some swells. I tried to stay away from the worst swells and drifted back and forth near some bottom structure with a 9" rubber shad at first, and then some 3-way bucktails I had rigged up.
Because of where I was on the side, I was able to touch bottom and work them effectively. Later on when talking to a friend who kayaks there at night., I realized I would need to be in deeper water with stronger current and heavier lead. With that level of danger, you only have a 2 hour window at most to fish it safely. Learned more for next time.
I did get some action on the bucktail/pork rind, but very sporadic, and then only small porgies or fluke nipping at it. No hookups.
Pics of some kelp that was growing on the bottom.
Realizing that at least I had achieved the goal of being in that water, I set out to find some fish with the T&W or trolling medium depth swimmers.
A cool thing was when I used the spotlight to get my bearings (no moon visible), a few curious squid came up around me. It was awesome to see these creatures.
Managed a few fish, bass and big porgies, in the window between 5-7am when I came upon some boulder fields.
Amazing rocks in the Sound.
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The next day...
After finding a place to hide out and sleep in the car for a few hours. I went to look at the water to scout the low tide view. As mentioned, I came upon a guy who I thought looked familiar. It turns out he was related to the guy I talked to the night before, both hardcore NS surf guys.
He asked me how I came to find the spot we were at. I said I had scouted it years ago and never got a chance to fish it. He gave me some intel on the water in front of us, and the general area.
He also suggested a back bay spot where the bait would be dumping out soon as we were close to the top of the flood. He gave me directions, and then simply said "I'm going there now to get some snappers, ya can follow me if ya want".
So I did.
It was a beautiful drain, allegedly a hotspot for early spring and fall. As I walked into the water, I had my doubts about the fish being there. However, since he was so gracious, I decided to fish it out and learn it for the fall.
Imagine if you lived here, and this was your place to take in a sunset view...
It ended up being too warm (80's) and not much bait except for the snappers.
By comparison, the water in the Sound was 65-69, perfect.
I fished it hard anyway. and ended up with a few small porgies on the T&W.
Leaving the water, I just missed the rain and lightning. awesome night.
Senior Member
Great story, felt like I was there.
Senior Member
Administrator
Another Marathon trip to the Sound....8-12-11
^^This thread will get more nuts as the month goes on, Jon.
I try to push it a little more each time, within the safety parameters I have for myself.
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Marathon trip - Safety first, always
I set out for the latest trip with higher expectations. Armed with a better understanding of the tides and cautions of the strength of them during this full moon cycle, I set out with an ambitious plan to fish several areas. That didn't really work out, but at least they were written down, with Pebbles having the float plan I left with her. You really need a float plan to be left with someone you trust if you're going to be lurking around all these intense water locations in the dead of night. I was told where a hardcore surfcaster recently died at Cuttyhunk. I think it happened this year. IMO you can't be too careful or over-prepared, as it's your life that will be on the line if things turn around for the worse.
And, in some of these environments I'll be fishing in, conditions can turn on you in an instant. You may hear me saying this over and over again, but I have a healthy fear of some of these environments. You would be foolish not to.
After the death of the kayaker in the Nissy on Fri, you will be hearing me preaching about safety more and more. If some of ya's get sick of it, too bad. I feel it's something that we need to talk about often and at length, and now after that father drowned in the inflatable I have a renewed committment to promote these discussions.
I don't want to encourage anyone to do anything foolish or unsafe here. That's why you will be seeing these safety discussions, and also be hearing anecdotes of what happens as I meet people out there who are putting themselves at risk.
I will speak up every time I see this, and try to get people to see the danger. I don't really care if they want to hear what I have to say or not. I have seen the danger and been there on site when someone drowned on Fri. I will do the best I can to help people understand what is dangerous, and try my best to be diplomatic as I do it, and not my usual surly self.
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Some decent kayak bass under an August Full moon (finally!)
I think it will take longer to post the stories than the pics, so I'll do that first and fill in the narrative when I get a chance.
The brief outline...
Went back to the place of current with a better plan to fish different areas at different parts of the tide.
The wind and weather made me re-evaluate my plan.
Some funny stories about that.
Fished hard all night in swells that were mostly 1', but at times up to 3' and causing me concern. Therefore, I stuck to shore even though I was in open water, and believe me, in the dark of night with those swells, it was big water. Even beached the yak for a 15 minute period as I re-evaluated how to deal with the raging current.
Went back out and fished hard, not much to show for it.
Total 2 big porgies on the T&W & one small bluefish on a NB Bottle darter I was trolling.
Not one indication of any bass, big or small.
Pretty disappointed in myself and at those results, I drove a long distance to another location to fish the flood tide, almost all of it. Met up with another yakker from KFS-NY, and we talked about the Nissy incident and safety issues. Good talks.
We were both out there fishin hard, but the weeds were all over and a problem for presentation. I managed 2 monster porgies right before sunset and one small bass on Finchaser's T&W with the circle hook. The circle hook was key here because the other guy, definitely an experienced angler and good yak fisherman, was having trouble with the porgies stealing his bait. Together with the weeds and warm water, he took his leave and said good-bye before the top of the tide.
I continued to fish that warm and weedy water, just looking for that one quality fish. Tried all sorts of different presentations to deal with the weeds, some worked.
Didn't want to leave without getting a nice fish, so kept at it.
Managed some more giant porgies, no small ones (but many small ones acting as a nuisance stealing the worm).
Finally got into some feeding bass 1 hour after the tide turned, into the ebb. They were turned on at that time, and I believed I could have got more if I didn't have to make it home in time for a trip with Pebbles.
Total for the entire trip:
9 porgies to 14", T&W
1 small bluefish, NB Darter
3 bass--- one short, one 28", and the one that made me smile, 37" and about 15#.
All released.
The first time in a long time that I "left the fish biting".
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Pics, narrative later...
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