Anyplace BUT Island Beach....Contest....

[surfwalker]

Fished 5:30 - 10:30 this morning. No Stripes/plenty of shad.

[SharkHart]

got rewarded for fishing in the cold last night and burning lots of gas las few weeks, my hands were numb when this one hit oh so lightly wasn't even sure it was a hit. If it was my last of 2011 I went out in style

[ledhead36]

Fish are still in the bay, slow pick. Last report I said I was done, but a few of us were out last night, got some bass to 35" at the top of the tide, clams. Man was it cold. Bite died within an hour after that. Shark, that's a pig, what did you catch it on.

[storminsteve]

Fished nomoco from 7-11pm. Froze my fingers off. Had to change plans because one place was closed, that sucks. Got one small rinky dink bass 18" on a bomber.
Shark that is a beauty, congrats!

[plugcrazy]

Fished lbi today got one short bass on metal at sunrise. Toadfish thanks for the info about sandyhook.

[DarkSkies]

Fished all night last night. There was no wind, there were some mumblings of a night bite, and I had to give it a shot.

First place lots of birds and bait in 46 degree water, and a very few small fish in the mix... I geve it everything I had, even ended up with small 3" rubber and teaser, still could not pull a fish out of that area. Ego kept me there for over 2 hours, still no success.

Moved to the rocks. Hadn't been there since I had a fall last time and did $100 worth of damage to my reel, and some possible damage to my brain, but with all I've been through, brain damage isn't that noticable...

8th cast got a bump on a small swimmer. Anticipation of a good night reared it's ugly head, and I paid for that false anticipation dearly...another 2 hours went by before I nailed the only fish of the night, small bass, on a Surfstix 3" teaser

The cold seemed to make the water cloudy where I was, and the fishing really sucked...but being out there didn't.... it was just me and the jetty rats, the ones that will eat your eyeballs out if you accidentally fall asleep for a few minutes....

It was 31 degrees when I started, and ended for the night...but with no wind, the feeliing of being out there in mid-December, with no one fishing for miles around me, was a powerful motivator to keep going. Even though I did poorly, the solitude and awesomeness of those rocks was enough to fill my cup of surf addiction for just a little while longer....

Finally left those rocks, to return to the original place. By that time the bait and birds has left, it was as if they had never existed....

Slept in the car for 2 hrs, up at 6:30 to hit the beach for the morning bite. Upon scouting, I found 2 areas with massive clouds of birds, each about 1 mile long, and breaking bass..all about 2ooyds out.

Only 1 other surfcaster and I were fishing, neither of us managed a fish, while we stood there and drooled at all the predators breaking water just out of reach....

Shot some video footage before I left to go to work. Will post up in the kayak reports section when I get a chance....

[DarkSkies]

Just to add, the OFFC have been fishing on and off lately, outside of IBSP, and have managed a few bass as well. Small bass, so they don't feel it's worth reporting, but congrats to them anyway for thinking outside of the herd....

[skinner]

Fished moco 6-8, water was churned up like fishinmission said. A little gusty with the wind. Threw needle fish and metal, nada.
Dark I just wanted to thank you for that plug, and all you do. Happy Holidays to you and kudos for all you do.

[seamonkey]

Same report from lbi guys, dead water this morning, Hope someone did better than I did.

[surfwalker]

Sat. 12/17 - 6:30am-9:30am. 3 tiny shorts on leadhead/rubber. Quite a few light/lethargic taps. Saw no activity anywhere. Water a little off color. Beautiful morning for mid Dec.

[DarkSkies]

Fished last night till the top of the flood, 2 hours and I couldn't take the cold any more....31 deg when I started, 28 when I stopped.

The bait I was looking for was not there. 2 other fools out there, we compared notes, they had been out since 8pm and had no luck...gave it a shot with swimmers, bucktails and rubber.

Slept in the car, took a walk along some ocean beaches around 7am but no fish or sighs of life....

The fish I did find were all in one areas, boats clustered up...
As mentioned, I was watching those fish this morning through binocs...pretty far out today, 95% of the boats aligned at 2 miles and better out there.... even the yakkers thought better of it and did not launch....



********
The OFFC was out yesterday afternoon, had very limited activity on plugs. had some on, dropped one decent fish, nothing landed, very sparse action....way to make the effort, guys!

[seamonkey]

From the reports I have been reading they are getting fish in the Sandy Hook area and Raritan Bay has been pretty good. Cape May is finally ok, but it is good one day and all dogfish the next.
I like to fish different beaches this time of year and remember at Island Beach State Park they are usually catching them and it gets real good around Mothers Day. So why is it so slow there now from the surf? Any thoughts?

[cowherder]

I don't know the real answer to this because I don't fish there a lot. I remember it was great in the fall.

[clamchucker]

cowherder and seamonkey the winter storms have made the choices tough. The winter of 2011 was better than that of 2010 as it opened some cuts in the bars. It does depend on where you fish in the park though. You really have to know the cuts and holes now.
Also there has been a lack of bait. By this time every year the bunker stretch all the way from LBI to Seaside, right in the surf line. This year the bunker have been from 1-3 miles off with the exception of one day last week when they came into Lavalette. I am hoping for a turn around in results soon as it is very easy for me to fish Island Beach. If not I will drive up morth and fish the areas I am familiar with from Manasquan to Sandy Hook.

[DarkSkies]

I don't care where ya got em...
I don't care what county you were in....
I don't care about how big they were...
(If ya wanna add that, fine, but not necessary, I already know most of the other places where fish are being caught, an admittedly slow pick, but there are still fish out there, other than at Island Beach...

Even if ya went someplace, and got rats that were 16", that's worthy of this thread...
because it shows me, and others, that there are some folks out there who....

don't run with the herd of lemmings...
may be sick of the muggings, disrespect, discourtesy, and general Viking-like attitude that happens when the bite is hottest...

and are so sick of it that they are actively seeking "anything other than Island Beach" fishing situations......


These are the folks who go fishing for the sake of fishing...
who love being out there....the fresh air, the aspect of being in the midst of nature, and enjoying the goodness that God gave us, without it being a race to beat every other guy to the pot of gold.....

So many stories...so little time....
Feel free to disclose as little or as much info as you are comfortable with...
I really don't care where......I'm happy, as others are, to hear that they are out in other nooks and crannies.....

We'll make this a multi-year thread....if a post is entertaining or funny enough, once a year I might pick the "best of" and throw a plug or 2 at that person...
Thanks for reading....and good luck....

Time to resurrect this thread.....
Will Island Beach be the only place that folks think of, for the next 2 weeks?
Will there be fish in any other nooks and crannies?

Let's hear some stories, of fish in places other than Island Beach....

[finchaser]

Dead today NE shut it down guys that caught 15 to 20 fish yesterday on beach got blanked this AM
35 minute wait to get into park
Commando fishing 3 deep

[SharkHart]

I read on the assbarn LBI guy said just need a good NE blow to blow the fish into the beach. All the action across the inlet was a fluke

[Monty]

Dead today NE shut it down guys that caught 15 to 20 fish yesterday on beach got blanked this AM
35 minute wait to get into park
Commando fishing 3 deep

I would rather fish some deserted beach for 8 hours and just catch another sneaker.
I guess some people enjoy that, its definitely not for me.

But its great for the local B&T shops. They likely needed this.

[J Barbosa]

Greatest thread ever

I am heading out in about an hour to fish 50 miles north of IBSP give or take 20 miles.

[clamchucker]

35 minute wait to get into park
Commando fishing 3 deep

It was terrible this morning finchaser. I got in at 4am and it was not that bad yet. On my way out I saw that line. Although there are some nice fish around I will probably not be fishing there on the weekend. It is too crowded at my age to put up with that. One nice thing about today is a lot of folks were releasing their fish.