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

[clamchucker]

Well done. Always enjoy your informative posts.

[DarkSkies]

Thanks for the kind words people....
A few words on posting and content.....

I have been spending all my spare time on the water....this should have been addressed long ago.....

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I think it's fair to say, that I give folks a lot of leeway when it comes to posting opinions, and protecting your first amendent rights to your opinions...but I have received too many complaints about the angry posts lately.
For the first time, angry posts will be deleted.

There will be no warnings. If your post is deleted, ask yourself what in your behavior or personality causes such angry outbursts, and ask yourself what other site would allow you to post some of the angry rants I have previously allowed to be posted here.
If you still can't figure out and aren't willing to act like an adult, feel free to post elsewhere....
I just don't have the time or energy to deal with anger issues anymore....
And answering the complaints has taken away from my family and fishing.....That stops today...

Praying that some of you, will find peace in your lives....without the angry rants...
Thanks for acting like adults.


As always, if folks have anything productive to add to this thread...to help the new guys out there...feel free....

[DarkSkies]

4/8 Thu PM
There was some sun today, so I felt it would be worth it to go back down after work to try to find some fish.
Got out there right after the rain. It wasn't that bad, and water had warmed up a few degrees. Unfortunately, the wind started howling with the tide change, and all was lost for the artificial bite where I was. A few fish were caught on bait. That was encouraging, but didn't seem that great. Gave it an honest try for 2 hours and called it a night.
Nothing for me.


** I really feel the severe temperature drop the last few days has hurt the chances of getting them on artificials. Friends in boats are getting them, but they are also finding they need to move around more. These early season bass are moving quickly, and making a few stops along the way.
Intercept them in the channels,. or when they come up on the flats to feed, and you "May" have a bonanza for a few hours.
Miss that feeding or fishing window, and you have nothing.

[DarkSkies]

4/9 Sat PM
Had to work on a Sat. As soon as I was done got out looking for night tide fish. It was very windy and poor conditions. Made a few stops and have to say it was uncomfortably cold. Made a few casts at each. Did not really find the conditions I was looking for.
Still, made some notes for the log, and went home early. Complete skunk. not even a missed fish.

**Preparation and Planning:
When I got home, I spent the next 2 hours mapping out the area I had been at just before.
I hadn't fished it in a while and was looking for the most strategic stops along the route.
Even though I didn't catch anything that night, next time I would be better prepared, with a schedule set to move through the area with the tides.




4/10 Sun PM
Planning paid off. With all the scouting I did you would have thought I would be happy. Tired of not finding fish, or just a few. A lot of bunker were schooling up and I wanted to plan some better options as mentioned. Went to bed early, fell into a stupor, almost missing the tides. Got up like a shot from a cannon, and set out deep in the dark.
Hit a few spots in the back. Struck out at 3, 4th one was a success.

Landed 14 bass to 18#,
All legal sized.
Kept 1, put the others back.
all on swimmers.

The action was exceptional, compared to the poor fishing I had encountered the last week.
Lasted until about 1/2 hour before first light, and then gradually shut off.

[surferman]

Nice going!

[DarkSkies]

Thanks. Just for sake of comparison, my best successes lately have been fishing the full and new moon tides for the reasons mentioned in the "moon tide fishing thread".

Some quick numbers....
-August to Sept - new to Full, to new moon tides - 51 bass, all smaller fish, night tides during these cycles
-Sept- Full moon - 22 bass, 2 nights of fishing. These were small, but 3 fish legal size in that number.

-Oct new moon - 2 nights fishing, skunked both nights. This was mostly due to my stubbornness in not wanting to fish where other groups were clustered up. I fished many of my usual spots, finding multiple crews at each location. Shifted goals to less popular areas. I was unwilling to abandon my strategy of finding fish in unpopular spots with no crowds, and as a result I failed.

** I posted those numbers not to brag but to let others know if you pay attention to seasonal patterns you can find a few fish. For the cycle where I managed the 51 bass I was fishing hard. Every night during the desired moon cycle, I was out there. Some nights were better than others, and I still failed in some of my predictions. As others have mentioned, fishing was very inconsistent for me, even when I thought I had a good bite and it would continue for days....things gradually petered out...the searching and changing different locations was constant and intense...I don't think a lot of others would have thought it worthwhile...with all the hours I put in for those fish.

**The solitude is more important than catching to me most nights, so I accept the good and the bad....
Just had to change it up a bit, and in the last few nights of the Oct full moon have been catching again. Full reports in the night tides thread,
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...-What-it-Takes
when I get a spare moment....

[hookset]

Nice, fish now report later. Makes sense, congrats on the catches.

[nitestrikes]

Well said. I have read so many excuses for not fishing lately, too windy, don't want to miss the football game, dirty water, et cetera. the only way to catch fish that I know is to go out there and fish the tides. some days are good some days not so good. You will definitely catch more fish standing in or near the water than sitting on the couch.

[DarkSkies]

Thanks for making those points, people.

[DarkSkies]

Holding pattern.....
I was talking about this 2 weeks ago..haven't had a chance to post about it till now...

Simply stated...the fall run as many people think of...is different this year for several reasons...
One of those reasons is the tremendous amount of bait and larger bass sitting in a few places in the NY Bight.....

I'll come back when I have a chance and explain in greater detail...

[DarkSkies]

Your having a great season would love to catch that many in a night. finchaser fishing farm?

Sorry I did not see this till now.
The "great" season is debatable. I recently went back over some of these reports, and my personal stash of fishing pics, along with the log.

I didn't fish the finchaser fishing farm last year. I missed out, and purposely stayed away from some of the hotspots everyone else was gravitating to.

A few hundred fish for the year.... I believe I could have tripled my numbers if I ran from hotspot to hotspot. I say this because some friends of mine easily doubled or tripled my 2016 yearly numbers.

However....I did find satisfaction in finding fish where most other people were not......rarely did I have to deal with crowds...
I didn't always catch fish on my trips....but the solitude...with the exception of the day trips....was priceless...
Thanks for the kind words, and best of luck to you and everyone else this year.

[DarkSkies]

** I slacked off on posting these for a long time.

1. Part of the reason was delayed reporting, being less willing to share. Now that all the time has passed, I'll start posting again, as time permits.

2. Another part was work kept me away. For too long fishing had been the priority, and it negatively affected my life and relationships around me.

3. Today, I still get a higher level of adrenaline when I know the time and tides are right for an area I want to fish at night, and I can't get out there because of responsibilities. Bill Wetzel mentions that in one of his videos. I have the same apprehension. I know when I should be out there, instinctively.......... If I can't make that window, I still am disappointed at the opportunity I missed.

For the new guys, with any report, if you're looking to learn....when you instinctively start to know "When" you should be targeting fish in a certain area, and "Why"......that will be one of the biggest puzzle pieces.....

It's not important as What or Where fish are being caught....as to some of the learning experiences....if anyone wants to learn, and can read some of the subtle details I try to convey about time, tide, fishing windows, and feeding windows.....you could learn a lot.

Good luck to all. I believe things will be a lot better this Spring, and will try to get out more, to take advantage of it.

[DarkSkies]

4-11-16 PM trip.
I must have timed the tides just right.
First stop - nothing.
2nd stop was definitely better. Hadn't been to this area for a while, so it essentially a scouting trip. Was into a fish on my first cast, and then pretty good action for the next 2 hours.
All fish were larger, smallest was 27"
Managed to land 9 total to 19#.
Kept 1, released the rest.

Notes-
I missed or dropped at least that many. The bite was tide dependent and died as the tide slacked. Their aggressiveness and willingness to hit swimmers pumped me full of adrenaline. The water temps where I was .......were only about 43 degrees, so that might have accounted for some of the missed hits. Nothing mattered...except those fish. Bite died before grey light in the AM sky. One of the nicer 2 night successes (this and April 10) I had......in a while.

[seamonkey]

Nice reports dude tks for the share.

[DarkSkies]

Thank you.

Why the night tides?
Years ago when I first made the transition from fishing bait to artificials, it was hard. I failed so many times. A key mistake I made was that I assumed because I caught fish on bait in the daytime I could do the same thing with artificials.

That eventually worked out, because there were a lot more fish around back then. However, I still remember my failures, and being so discouraged that I was just about ready to quit using artificials.

I started fishing at night and it became a little easier, but it was still a very slow and tedious learning curve.

Although I didn't know who they were at the time, I met some of the old timers that I talk about, some of the most bizarre and intense people you would ever want to know. They really weren't that friendly at first, and I grew to understand and respect that.

[DarkSkies]

Even though I had some help, I was still determined to learn on my own.

I was out on the jetties and inlets at night, losing plugs, falling into holes, bashing my head as I fell. I fell so many times, even with korkers, that I'm surprised I never got a concussion.
I'll try to talk about the dangers of jetty fishing in another post.

This has been part of a continual learning process for me. Every year I try to learn something new.

For any of the new guys reading the posts, if you're not doing as well as I did on some of the reports I share, remember that it took me a long time to get there. There are still periods of time where I'll have one or two good nights, try to continue the pattern, and fail for several nights after that. If you read the timeline of my reports you'll see the good with the bad.
That's all I have for today.

[CharlieTuna]

Well-said. That's 1 of the quirky things about the old saltys. If you're looking to use them for spots most are savvy and it won't happen. Get to know them by showing up a few times and putting your time in. When I lived in Jersey the old saltys that hung around in Giglios would sometimes throw me a crumb or two. It took awhile to get to them to talk though.

[fishinmission78]

You're spot-on about helping people. The idea of helping and sharing information ruined Oyster Creek. never have I seen so many people fishing there as in the last few years. All thanks to the internet and FB. I help my family, cousins, or close circle, and that's it.

[hookedonbass]

The honesty is refreshing. Some of the reports I've read over the past year, you would think the guy scores all the time. Because that's all you see is I caught this, I caught this. You never hear about their skunks. thanks for sharing.

[7deadlyplugs]

X2. I'm not much of a writer, so I appreciate your style. It's almost like you're hunting for the stripers. Keep them coming