Following the Night Tides......Do You have What it Takes?

[DarkSkies]

Bathing can be secondary? Gee I'm waiting to see how you will top that. If I ever come down that way to fish with ya I'm bringing a clothespin.

What can I say dogfish? ...the fish wait for no one....and the way things have been lately they are there for a while, and then gone...tough to find a pattern in many cases.....I'm clean and neat for work, but on the weekends those become secondary to finding and staying on the fish, and trying to find fish where others are not.....

You got issues Bro!

Rob, we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of all the issues I have......
I told you people this would be a no holds barred, candid thread......

There are lots more sticky issues that will be explored in this thread......
* Dealing with foul smells...
* The bite is hot and you have to take a crap, what do you do, where do you go?
* Accidentally crapping your pants or waders from drinking too many energy drinks at one time....
* Accidents and spills, falling on a jetty or inlet rocks, smashing your head or knees, getting bloody, wrapping up with a bandana, and going back to fishing....hooking yourself, ripping it out, to get back to the bite quickly.....

* P***ing into the wind or (for anyone over 45) taking a leak during a bite, where you don't really care if you p*** on yourself a little bit, because it's a good bite....and then hours later, after repeating several times,,,,you realize you smell like a bum in the Bowery....


I know I'm not the only one who has ever experienced the above.....
On another website I helped to start, there is a thread called "The New Browns" all about a friend who was fshing at Browns at Montauk...drank too much coffee....and really had some rumblings which later translated to an epic explosion......I'll leave the rest of the story up to your imaginations......
The one thing I can say, is all through my fishing obsessions., that I'm extremely lucky to have a woman like Pebbles, who still puts up with me....
Before I spend time with her, I'm pretty diligent about cleaning up and scrubbing so I smell and look presentable, but even so, I'm lucky to have her in my life......

Go to montauk on the last day of a 3 day bite. hitting the bathrooms you have to walk pretty close to the next person walking in or out of the entrance. Have smelled some really rank fishermen out there. The smells can get pretty bad.

Yep, someone who gets it, and has been there......
I've been there too, nitestrikes....after fishing for 2-3 nights at a time,.....some prety foul smells start to surround us...and I've walked past some guys entering that Montauk bathroom that have the stench of swamp A** folllowing them like a cloud....sort of a cross between the stench of a back bay at exteme low tide....and the stench of dead things rotting on the beach....with the less offensive stench of old fishy smells mixed in....

[DarkSkies]

I told you people that this thread would be honest, it would be real.....
I know some of ya's have been in the same position as nitestrikes.....
This thread will be unlike anything you have ever read on the internet before....and it's all true.....
So it's the last warning, that if some of ya's have sensitive stomachs, turn back now.....

[jigfreak]

There are lots more sticky issues that will be explored in this thread......
* Accidentally crapping your pants or waders from drinking too many energy drinks at one time....

That would be a tad sticky and not in a good way. If I were you I would always make sure a stiff breeze is blowing when you are fishing near someone.

[albiealert]

^^ Yep DS sometimes the level of detail you go into is above and beyond. Enjoy the threads anyway, keep em coming.

[DarkSkies]

^ Glad I could entertain ya's.....


Fishing night tides in the summer.......
Many have given up on fishing for bass, weakfish, and blues....
You will have a lot of room in the places you seek fish at....

One negative of not having a lot of fishermen, is that the kids are out of school, home from college....the night fishermen are replaced by partiers on the beach...drunks drinking at the inlets.....the smell of stale, rancid urine becomes part of the night air in certain popular party spots.....
Littering of beer bottles, pizza boxes, fast food garbage...bonfires and sex on the beach......so if you do get into decent fish there will not be many who wlll pay attention......

You have it all to yourself.
I think Monty has mentioned this several times....good night, not another soul out there.....because it is a challenge to find the few fish that remain and have not moved North to cooler water and more food....but they are there if you are willing to put in the time......
To me, just being out there and not running into crowds, is part of the reward....

[DarkSkies]

Fishing night tides at the Change of Seasons.......

Many of us who are addicted to fishing, though we will admit that fishing from land has its slow periods during the Summer, don't mind because it's time to spend with family, get projects done....and try to take a little break from the part of the year that pulls a lot of the most hardcore fishermen away from famiily time, and out into the night.....

The end of Summer, beginning of Fall, is when that slow period, begins to gradually change....
At first, it's imperceptible....
Those of you who spend more than one night a week fishing, will notice it first....

The crispness in the air...
The cooling down of the hot air at night....
Shorter days, and length of sunlight....will start to signal the baitfish that they need to move, that and and gradual temperature drops are what we look for....

Also, the slow understanding that the dirty, stagnant water that a lot of us were seeing, in some areas choked with algae and not supporting as much life as it could.....will soon be energized and re-charged with the Fall storms.,....

And Fall storms,. though they can be irritating, and an inconvenience,,,,,are tolerated, because we know they do bring life......
They allow the back bays, which had at times become stagnant with algae, jellyfish, etc....to be flushed out, especially on the full and new moon cycles....

They cause the bait to concentrate in certain areas,.either to hide from the intense weather, or to seek cleaner water in channels and certain harbors....and start to school up, making them easier for predators, and night fishermen, easier to find....

[DarkSkies]

Next up.....
I'll talk about the Sept Harvest Moon....and what the New and Full moons mean to those who fish the night tides at this time of year.....

We have some threads directly relating to that....for now...

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...Moon-as-well-)





Also, with the moon tides, these are great opportunities to scout structure wherever you fish, and see what has changed....
Blow Out Tides and Their Importance to Fishermen



I'll fill the rest of this in, when I get some time....

[DarkSkies]

...the fish wait for no one....

I try to hammer this theme through, whenever I run across someone who isn't catching.....
Also want to point out that no matter how much you plan, or try to figure fish out......the behavior the next night could be something completely against the norm. When you find that, you have to adapt, and roll with it.

I talk all the time about how bunker come in with the flood tide, leave with the ebb....
Last night that pattern didn't hold, and they were there by the thousands, on a part of a tide they should not have been, and not where the prevailing winds should have put them........

I caught fish because of the bunker....easy fishing
And when they left they took all the fish in the area with them......

Nonetheless, when the tide changed, the fish came back, now feeding on the abundant shrimp...harder fishing....high activity....but a lot harder to tease these fish into hitting artificials.

My fishing was eventually ended by the building E wind.....(curses to that wind pattern)....
Overall, a fair night of catching., but a great night of activity.........














Something I typed yesterday to help someone out....thought it fit here for the fishing I was doing......

**Low tide Strategies.....

Generally speaking.....without giving up too much in terms of specific spots....

1. My low tide areas that produce best, are areas that tend to concentrate the fish in a particular area......This is where low tide can be an asset...

2. Sometimes the window is small because you will have to do some wading to get to them...this is true for back bay or inlet spots where there may be some deeper areas/sloughs, out there....and wading is the way to get to them.

3. Be especially careful on sandbars, at night, and during moon tides....if you do get into fish you have to have the discipline to leave them feeding, because you getting back safely is the priority.....people die every year because they lose sight of this in pursuit of bigger fish.....some sad stories surface every year....so be careful.

4. Always have a plan B in case you have trouble getting back...know your limitations....If you really start to explore in detail as you begin to see the opportunities (often fish will be holding just on the other side of a sand bar, and it is pure adrenaline on the nights when you manage to find them)

5. As you learn more and are willing to expand your skill set,,,,you really should invest in a wetsuit....much safer.....at the very least a good wading belt...remember no fish is worth your life.....


Hope this helps, good luck....

[DarkSkies]

I have to give up some for Monty.......he is like the surf fishermen's version of the Borg....will cast a 1000 times until he gets a fish....
It doesn't matter if they are there or not....his philosophy is that even if there is only 1 stray fish that night....we wants to succeed by catching it.......

My experience is a little different....I have become so jaded by the good bites I have been fortunate enough to find at night...that if I'm out there on the right time and tide,,,,I can usually tell within 15 minutes whether it will be a good night or not....and lately have had enough sense to call it a night, when I'm fishing by myself....because I know I can always come out in a day or so when things might be a little better.......

**If I have a sense that the fish (should) be there because of a particular food source, I'll try much harder...

I usually push for the marathons, if fishin with someone else.....because it then becomes all about them getting a fish....
My trip with Monty the other night was one of those marathons....
He can only get out one night a week to fish.....
He makes use of every minute of that precious time....

And is as hard-core a surfcaster as I've ever run into.....
Even though his trips are fueled by energy drinks....
He really doesn't know then meaning of the word "QUIT!".......

[DarkSkies]

Member striperbites got this mid-May...probably 25+lb class.....as a testament to how bad fishing was, he was out fishing almost every night, and didn't get another bass till almost 3 weeks later.....Still a very nice fish caught from the surf at night, on artificials......

Pics courtesy of striperbites.

Attachment 18527

[DarkSkies]

Attachment 18533

Attachment 18534

Some fish I've been getting at night....mostly blues to 7#,,,and one bass.
The bass hooked in the back wasn't an accident....I also got a bluefish in the back like that....they were feeding on small bait....it seemed they kept missing it as the strikes were more reactionary than aggressive...

Fish seemed to be focused on the Surfstix teasers as the tail hook.

Most of my rear hooks have been changed to singles for ease of release and minimal injury.....
Unfortunately that one bluefish hit so awkwardly he got stuck in the eye....I took some time to get that hook out, so hopefully he wasnt blinded.

Attachment 18529Attachment 18530
Attachment 18531

Attachment 18532

[DarkSkies]

Some of my night tide trips from the last weeks of June.....
Fishing last weeks of June 2014
Estuary fishing..... back bays, and alternating between bay, inlet, jetty and ocean bites....some bait around, I have been chasing after it as it moves from place to place.

6-18-14 AM
Fished 2 hours.
2 short bass, 8 small blues.

The bass hit a swimmer, and light bucktail with cabelas eel. I took the pic of this small bass to illustrate that.
Bluefish hit bucktail and metal. Misssed quite a few as the fish were tentative and focused on small bait. Pretty good action for 1 1/2 hours.

6-19-14 AM
Fished 3 hours.
One 9# bass, released. 15 small blues, poppers and mag darter. The blues were real aggressive....lots of fun seeing them smash the top water plugs.

6-20-14 AM
Based on the good action from the night before....Fished from the dark into sunrise, no action at all. 5 hours. N wind blowing all night. Hate that freaking north wind for NNJ!

6-22-14 AM
Fished 4 hours
13 small blues , one short bass, multiple locations.
Blues hit poppers and very small bucktail.
Bass hit hopkins shorty.
** Am seeing more small bait around, though most places are still not holding any reasonable bait population. Today I noticed rainfish and shrimp that they're feeding on. There are also some very small baitfish fry (1/4" to 1/2" in the water)

6-23-14 AM
Based on the good action from the night before......Fished 4 hours, no action at all. Bad wind and rough water again.

6-24-14 AM
Fished 3 hours total, one 12# bass on swimmer, one bluefish on swimmer.
Left and went to another location. Got another 5 small blues on poppers. All fish released.

6-25-14 AM
Fished 2 hours, back bay. 9 small blues, poppers.

6-26-14 AM
Fished 2 hours, back bay. 3 small blues, poppers.
Moved to the ocean for another part of the tide.
Found lots of bunker, Snagging them every few casts, high concentration. Some others were snagging and dropping with no success.

I was snagging them while trying to work a northbar bottle. No fish for any of us. Got chased off the beach by the pending storms and lightning.
The wind also kicked up too,, was lots of white water, but no fish.

6-27-14 AM
Fished 2 hours back bay, 5 small blues, poppers.
SouthEast wind was building and up to 20mph as I left the bay to go to the ocean. Because of that I bagged the trip and went home early.

6-28-14 AM
Fished 1 1/2 hours back bay, 4 small blues, poppers.

6-29-14
Took one night off. As luck would have it, that one night a friend out there fishing artificials (who fished the whole night) did pretty well. This is one of the things that drives the compulsion ......... the "no rhyme or reason" to the pattern fishing we try to do.

The fish have been so scattered that unless you're out there every night you can't consistently catch them. Drives me absolutely nuts. On the other hand if someone only fished once or twice a week, it's easy for them to mis-calculate that there are no bass left.
What is left, is the dribs and drabs, the remnants of a late Spring bite, still hanging out in the area and tight to the bunker schools at night.


6-30-14 AM
Fished 3 hours, one bass -- 24 # -- on Northbar bottle, released.






It was the only fish on artificials that night. Lots of bunker around, but no indication of bass under them. Was getting discouraged at the lack of action and tremendous amount of bunker.
Went through many different profiles and presentations. At one point I was bouncing a light bucktail on bottom. Getting hit regularly but not able to hook any of these fish. My best guess is that a lot of croakers or spot had moved in that night. Fish with small mouths. I was puzzled by these small fish and why they could be there in so many numbers that night, but they were. And no reasonable amounts of bass (or bluefish) chasing them, other than the one I got. Was very happy with that one bass, she put up a nice fight.

[Monty]

^^^^^^^^^^^
Awesome reports Dark.
Congrats on the Bass and Release .

[jigfreak]

Good deal ds puttiing in the time in and still finding em.

[cowherder]

Wow you are hardcore fishing all those nights in a row! awesome catches I'm jealous. Even better on the releases. Good job!

[ledhead36]

^^^^^^ It's all lies you couldnt possibly be catching -no one is catching stripers right now.
All good brother. w4f said he thought he saw your ride the other night. Sneaking around in the back. If we see you out there, we may have to prank you. Like throw stones in the water. Stuff like that. I won't give it all away, but you will know when we find you again. I'm giving a friendly heads up so you dont come out of the water and try to drown us. The fellas would really like you to stop by one night. You know where. Congrats and be careful there are some sharks out there that far.

[DarkSkies]

Fish seemed to be focused on the Surfstix teasers as the tail hook.

Most of my rear hooks have been changed to singles for ease of release and minimal injury.....

Just a reminder to crush your barbs if you know the fish to be active at night....or if fishing by yourself....
A few weeks ago, Monty asked me if all the barbs on my hooks were crushed....
I kind of half-heartedly answered......"Well a lot of them are...."

About a week and half ago...had some bigger blues at night...previously not all my tail hooks had the barbs crushed...
Before I went out....for some reason I had the foresight to take a few extra minutes with tackle maintainance .......and crushed down a few more barbs on plugs I would be using......

This was fortunate....because one of the first fish I caught was close to 7#. Once hooked it got real angry...tail walking, jumping out of the water like a tarpon.....
I really should have played that fish a little longer....the bite is limited at that location and I was only thinking of getting the fish released and back on to plugging again....the fish thrashed enough to put a hook through my thumb....
Once I released the fish, the reality of my situation crept in....

I was far out there.....isolated area...far from any kind of help or assistance....
Walking back to shore and returning would have taken 15 minutes out of the night's fishing....with the way the tide was that night....
The feeding window might be over when I got back.....
(post #38)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ionary%2Fpage2
I was grateful I had crushed that barb on the tail siwash....
Without thinking twice, quickly ripped it back out, the way it came in.....
It started to bleed a lot....hurt a bit as well....

I was all alone on the flats.....
Blood dripping from my thumb into the water...
Some sharks with teeth being caught out that far.....
I quickly ripped up a bandana I bring along, applied the strip as a tourniquet....band-aids I carry were not enough to stop the bleeding....
And I went back to fishing.




This is a pic I took of it at home....a few days after it started to heal......peroxide applied daily....



Monty wanted me to post a pic of the bloody thumb... at the time, it was a littlle hectic....no time or thoughts for a pic...
I can't get in the way of Monty's Quest to win Googan of the Year again....
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...the-year-award

So many worthy examples on his trips out there....
(post 42...Bloody Skunk)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ctionary/page3
So I hereby disqualify myself from that contest......and any voting.....


Be careful out there, people....
Especially if you fish isolated areas by yourself at night....like I do.....
















** Thanks for the kind words as well, folks.....
These fish are a lot of fun to catch, for me.....
I am happy as a clam out there at night....catching some schoolies......bigger bluefish....and the occasional bigger bass.
It's a lot of work and effort...but a challenge as well....
When the feeding windows
(post # 38)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ionary%2Fpage2
change weekly, and you have to fit the pieces of the puzzle together......it makes it kind of difficult at times....to me it's all worth the effort.....Fishing the Night Tides.....
To the mooks that I haven't seen in awhile...I will try to stop by and see ya's soon...

[robmedina]

Dark- sorry about the finger- look at the bright side- if you had to hitch hike you would be easier to notice.

I don't go on or in the water at night- but I am considering taking my yak out with you at night- there is no way I am shark bait with you around!

[J Barbosa]

That doesn't look that bad...a bloody picture would have been better.

How do you like that Kuzia style bucktail jig?

[Monty]

This was fortunate....because one of the first fish I caught was close to 7#. Once hooked it got real angry...tail walking, jumping out of the water like a tarpon.....
I really should have played that fish a little longer....the bite is limited at that location and I was only thinking of getting the fish released and back on to plugging again....the fish thrashed enough to put a hook through my thumb....
Once I released the fish, the reality of my situation crept in....

I was far out there.....isolated area...far from any kind of help or assistance....
Walking back to shore and returning would have taken 15 minutes out of the night's fishing....with the way the tide was that night....
The feeding window might be over when I got back.....
(post #38)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ionary%2Fpage2
I was grateful I had crushed that barb on the tail siwash....
Without thinking twice, quickly ripped it back out, the way it came in.....
It started to bleed a lot....hurt a bit as well....

I was all alone on the flats.....
Blood dripping from my thumb into the water...
Some sharks with teeth being caught out that far.....
I quickly ripped up a bandana I bring along, applied the strip as a tourniquet....band-aids I carry were not enough to stop the bleeding....
And I went back to fishing.
This is a pic I took of it at home....a few days after it started to heal......peroxide applied daily....



Monty wanted me to post a pic of the bloody thumb... at the time, it was a littlle hectic....no time or thoughts for a pic...
I can't get in the way of Monty's Quest to win Googan of the Year again....

Resorting to Googan Chumming for Blues.....

You sure there is no bloody pic??? A waste of blood without a pic.
First S and A hooked body part of the year and no hook in flesh pic....