Fishing reports: Turd Ferguson helps the new guys

[hookset]

TMI Dark, they should have to work for it like we all did - just saying.

[DarkSkies]

^ Hookset, you and others here have made your points perfectly clear,,,and I hear you...when we started there was no internet to lead you to the fish...you had to find them...

More often than not, we didn't find fish...and had to learn these things through trial and error...and many skunks in between..it was a painfully slow process...which I still feel is a beneficial way for the folks just starting out....learning one thing at a time...and learning it by being out there, walking around,, and experiencing it with their own eyes and intellect, not just from reading on the internet.....




Keeping your comments in mind....
There was a report a few days ago where a guy mentioned..."Well we lost the bunker for now....when we find them again we'll be back on the fish..."
*************
Where do the bunker go?

A few things...
Bunker are filter feeders...
Bunker will feed on algae and various forms of plankton and small marine life on the water's surface.
Generally speaking, bunker will swim into the wind....and can be found in different areas of a safe harbor or bay depending on stage of the tide...


So if the bunker are not where they were, how can you tell where they will be?
Sorry folks, I can't give ya's the answers, that scouting and learning is up to those who are motivated to learn, like we all had to do....

I can tell ya's that I have obsessive conversations daily, with friends who are as obsessive as me, as to where we think the bait will move, depending on the weather....

There were bunker in Raritan Bay. They held in one area for a few days, guys caught some big bass...then they left, the fishing petered out....why?
Because of a shift in wind pattern....

And my friend not only predicted when it would happen, he predicted where they would end up...with the resulting catches from that other area proving this simple theory....

[DarkSkies]

Ask yourself the following questions...

When you can answer these, for each bay area you fish in....you will no longer have to rely on others to find the fish when bunker are around....
Remember the answers will be different depending on the bay you fish and the direction it is situated in...


1. Where do the bunker move when it's an East wind?
2. If it is a light East wind VS a steady stiff E wind, does that make a difference
(Hint, yes it does)
3. What if it is a SW wind, where could they be?
4. What about a W wind?
5. What about a NW wind?
6. What about a severe temperature drop, or increase, will that affect where they will be?
7. What about a North wind? Where?
8. What about a South wind? Where?
9 Does it make any difference if the ocean temps are different from the bay temps?
10 What about if the harbor or marina temps are different from the rest of the bay?
11. What about if there is a protected cove in a harbor or cove that provides a lee from the wind? Will bunker behave differently in an area like that?

[finchaser]

Too much thinking and work i'll just go to a seafood resturant and eat some good eating seafood.

Can't believe people eat fish from Raritan bay especially fish that eat BUNKER

[stripermania]

Finchaser I don't catch a lot of fish so if I catch a fish I'm eating it. I eat too little of them to know what a bunker eating bass tastes like as opposed to a bass that eats clams and herring. The bottom line is these fish eat crap from the bottom, ir you think of all they eat, and from what I have heard, they would eat raw human sewage if you put it in front of them. Using that logic we would never eat any striped bass at all. I am sorry you don't like them and no disrespect meant but I can't wait to eat my first striper of the year, sir!

[bababooey]

The bottom line is these fish eat crap from the bottom, ir you think of all they eat, and from what I have heard, they would eat raw human sewage if you put it in front of them. Using that logic we would never eat any striped bass at all.

I think they would eat crap if you fed it to them, after all birds eat crap, and did you ever see a dog eat his own crap? Yum yum.

I first visited Florida in 1980. My buddy Sonny had given me a tour of some of the beaches and parks and the thing that impressed me the most was the cleanliness of the bathrooms. I can't be sure if they were well maintained or just not used very often, but every one that I went into was spotless.

I moved down in the fall of 85 and started longlining out of Pompano beach. A few months later they were rebuilding the docks and our whole fleet fished out of Naples for the next few months. Naples was a lovely place and at the time had the highest per capita income in the country.

Some time in the mid winter a group of us stopped into the local diner for some breakfast. The guys went back to their boats while i decided to take a look at the Naples pier. I wached a guy at the end of the pier nailing some small drum so i sat back and enjoyed the show and the sun. Unfortunately my relaxation would be cut short as my insides started growling and nature called.

I knew I wouldn't make it back to the marina in time, so I stopped into the mens room on the pier. I figured no problem, never saw an outhouse in Florida I didn't like. What I found when I walked through the door was the most disgusting bathroom I had ever seen in the Sunshine state and to add insult to injury no door on the stall.

I ran off the pier and started jogging down the beach. A few snowbirds sunbathing, but no one swimming. I ran about 200 yards form the pier, kicked off my sneakers and took off my shirt and dove in. I swam out a ways, out of eyesight from the sun bathers, dropped my shorts and let loose. There's a first time for everything and this was my first "in the water expulsion". Any thoughts of secrecy were quickly dashed as the expectant log was no where to be seen. Instead I had a bad case of the squirts and a brown stain rose up around me. Normally cool when the going gets tough, I started to freak out and tried to backstroke my way out of that cesspool as I was completely enveloped in ****. Wouldn't want to swallow any tainted water accidently doing the breast stroke or the crawl.

My kicking only made things worse as I was completely engulfed in the brown water. I was panicing and can only imagine the look of horror that came over my face, I was swimming in ****.

I let loose again and repeated the performance as seemingly hundreds of little brown bits surrounded me and I had hoped that I had distanced myself far enough away from the pier and beach that my frantic thrashing and discolored water would go unseen. While the people on the pier and snowbirds on the beach may have been oblivious to my plight, my actions had not gone unnoticed. The native gulls terns and pelicans came out of nowhere and from a distance this certainly could have been mistaken for a blitz. These birds loved eating ****. Who knew

The birds were everywhere first a gull then a tern and then a pelican all partaking in the happy meal. I had a fish eye view of this avian feeding frenzy and frankly the pelicans were coming a little too close for comfort. I was sure my secret was out, but I regained my composure and put some distance between me the birds and the chum slick. They hung around for awhile feasting on the little turds, then disappeared when the last nuggets were eaten and the sea was quiet once again.

As soon as I got out of the mess I threw on my shorts and switched from the back stroke to a freestyle and kept swimming up the beach. When I was away from the scene of the crime and no folks in sight I swam ashore and headed back to the marina. I'll never know for sure if anyone was the wiser but somebody had to have figured it out I changed into some dry clothes and went back later on for my shirt and sneakers.

You know, I never did fish that pier
__________________

[7deadlyplugs]

"crap" story in the "turd" ferguson thread. lol

[rockhopper]

That is so sick!

[DarkSkies]

1. If you're a Dad looking to get your kids into bluefish, throw bunker....

2. If you're a surfcaster looking for some tackle busting action.....artificials will crush them now....but only at night....they are picky....

For the day bite the best bets are metal offerings (wobbly is best), light bucktails, and small SS poppers, with bright colors if it's overcast. If it's colder due to the weather, the fish will be on the bottom.

Rubber is the least intelligent choice, unless you have unlimited funds.....

If ya need more guidance, look for bait concentrations.

Go get em, folks.

[DarkSkies]

Bababooey, thanks for resurrecting Shakey's post.....IMO an internet fishing classic.



****************
Rain, rain, and more rain.....
It's nasty, foggy, rough seas, rough surf, and in some places, downright dangerous.
Remember that no fish is worth your life, please be careful out there....


Also remember that rain or not, the migrating fish are now moving by us.
A fair case can be made that around 50% of them have already passed us by,, as this season began early and the timetables will be different this year.

They are now catching 50# bass at Orient...those are not LI Sound "Overwintering" fish, but Chesapeake, Delaware, and Hudson migrating fish that will be migrating up that way.....


If you're waiting for a 6 week long series of blitzes at the MoCo rocks and jetties......you may be betting on the wrong horse...those blitzes have been happening, 1/ to 1 hour at a time, with no consistency. So there is no point in sitting on a bench waiting for the blitz fish....at least IMO......



but there are fish to be had...inlets, pinch points, bays, points, etc, etc......this is the time to be out there, folks....
Fish don't care if it's raining...they're already wet....and the truth is...there are less fish out there now., than ever before...and the participation has dropped substantially for surf fishing....


Blink your eyes and the next scenario,. will be guys asking "Who's going to Montauk this week!"

[DarkSkies]

Hickory shad....
First started near an inlet, where I noticed a lot of fish feeding. Quickly determined they were hickory shad. Changed up to add a small teaser and I got one every few casts. After a half dozen I knew it was time to press on as there were no bass or blues in the mix.

About these shad:
They are a lot of fun to catch, sometimes called "Jersey Tarpon"
They have a strong smell, I think stronger than herring.
They will hit very small plugs and small metal aggressively.

A teaser may be the best way to catch a lot of them. They frequently feed on very small bait and that night, it was smaller than 3". Either grass shrimp or rainfish. A 3" redgill produced results, but if I were to have downsized I believe I would have had them on almost every cast. They were very active in the feeding.


Some younger fly fishermen came by. I told them the fish were "in the seam". At first they didn't understand what I was talking about but gradually understood as I showed them. I hope they got some after I left.





Some observations: (from report 6-26-12)

Note the bluefish were actually harder to catch than the bass in the dark---the bluefish are smart enough to nudge the plug, realize it's plastic, and then turn away, while the bass are not.

The smaller bass were aggressive, but the keeper sized ones were halfway in before they actually fought. It was like they are affected by the lower oxygen content in the water.

This is similar to what I experienced in the Winter when the water temps went down close to 40 and the Bass were almost comatose.

From this I can hypothesize when the ocean waters are calm, I will probably have little chance at catching night bass....IMO you need some sort of an offshore swell to get these fish more active....hence the reason why some guys with bait are still catching bass....

[baitstealer]

Thank you for helping the new guys ds. I will bring some teasers with me from now on.

[DarkSkies]

Fishing the old ways....
When fishing for bass gets tough, get back to basics and fish the bucktail.

It doesn't always work for me.
Sometimes, fishing in the rivers, I do better with rubber.

On the other hand, when nothing else you're throwing gets any action, it may just be, that the fish ain't there.....
You can make that assumption...but before going home do yourself a favor and give bucktailing a shot.

There's a right way and wrong way to fish a bucktail.
It should almost always have a trailer, grub, worm, rubber, or pork rind....
And if you ain't bouncing them on the bottom and losing a few along the way, (with the exception of fast current where sometimes the fish will hold in different areas other than the bottom) don't bother because you won't find fish without losing a few bucktails.....

Here's a small bass that smashed a bucktail the other night.
I stopped taking pics of these small fish because with the high water temps I want to release these fish as quickly as possible...but thought some of ya's might like to see that old-school really does work....











Smilin Bill with 4" white grub...
I just happened to be using black because of the full moon, but IMO at night, unless you're fishing a place where there is ambient light, color does not matter as much as presentation.

[DarkSkies]

Fishing the old ways....

We have a lot of threads here for the new guys, fishing the old ways (courtesy of Finchaser and some of the other old farts here... )
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...t=fishing+ways

There are also some good threads on bucktailing....just do a search here and you'll learn a lot.

Or go out and buy John Skinner's books, or at least the book on bucktailing....I consider him to be one of the best fishermen around today....and he's a great and patient teacher....

[seamonkey]

Cool, thanks!

[DarkSkies]

Sharking in NJ....Summer 2012....

Surfstix posted this, I'm just posting it here again with a few other references and suggestions.....

Surfstix originally posted this, and I thought I would link to it so you are guys are aware that sharks are everywhere now.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ng-the-NJ-surf
Thanks Surfstix!
The original footage was shot by Tommy Lynch...fantastic footage, Tom.





Some friends who fish LBI for sharks were saying the bite has died out there and seeking to go further South near Atlantic City.....and the reality is they are all over following the bunker, spot, and kingfish. IBSP, Mocoo, NY Bight, Ocean City, Cape May,....Wherever these forage species are thickest you may find these sharks. Guys I know got brown sharks off Breezy Point the other day, so it's safe to assume that you may find them anywhere the bait is thick like I mentioned.....more on this in the Turd Ferguson thread....

[DarkSkies]

The last 2 weeks as it has been developing.....

1. Almost 2 weeks ago someone who was out fishing in the daytime called me and said there were big bluefish crashing adult bunker in Monmouth county. Since the source is impeccable I set out to try and find them in the towns of that county. No luck, they weren't there yet with any consistency.....And I looked under every rock, crevice and piece of structure for these bluefish that (according to my logs) tend to show up near the end of August....

2. Earlier this week, some sitemembers were fishing a Monmouth County beach in the morning, fluking with gulp.
They reported some shark-like creatures, at least 3' long, that were finning on the surface as they were in pursuit of small pods of bait.....Some got spooled by these fish.

3. My standard thought was these were cow nose rays which now cover the whole coast of NJ and NY.....

4. What puzzled me was some of the guys reported these mystery fish biting through steel leaders of some guys who weren't fluking and had heavier gear.
This was perplexing to them as well.
We talked about them being sharks, but I kind of discounted that notion.

5. Although one had a fish on for about 20 minutes, he never got a look at the fish and lost it in the first breaker. That was as close as it got.

6. Now with this shark video posted by Tom Lynch, I think it's reasonable to say there are brown/dusky sharks all throughout the NY Bight area.....and off the beaches of LI as well. Again, where the forage is thick is where you're likely to find a few....

7. Yesterday, some friends were out fishing and landed a few 15lb class bluefish from the surf using artificials....
This being the 2nd reliable report I've gotten, I'm optimistic that guys will start catching these 15lb bluefish more regularly...

8. They, and the sharks, come in and out subject to the bait concentrations, and when the bait moves they seem to vanish offshore....but I feel we will be seeing more reports of these bigger bluefish.










When that happens I'll spend more time on bluefish, and albies.

There aren't too many fish you can catch from the surf that will give you a fight the above 2 species do....
A 15# bluefish fights to the death.......when you're done fighting a few, at times you need new tackle.....to me the adrenalin is addictive.......

Good luck and remember it's hard to chase after these fish as there is no real consistency right now....but I believe very soon there will be....for those who think about where the highest bait concentrations are likely to show up.....

Good luck out there....and be careful....

[paco33]

8. They, and the sharks, come in and out subject to the bait concentrations, and when the bait moves they seem to vanish offshore....but I feel we will be seeing more reports ...

Excellent call ds. We were sharking last night at Sandy Hook. brought a 5 gallon bucket of mackeral pieces and threw some out every 5 minutes. Went to the SRI earlier on the incoming and got some spots and kingfish for biat. That inlet is loaded with them.
Cut the kingfish, bottom half to eat, heads for the sharks. I don't waste anything.

Had one nice brown shark around 9pm about an hour before high tide. Looked to be about 4' and maybe 50lbs. Got it into the wash, lost it when it bit the leader. Managed 3 others, all dogfish. Bite died when the tide went slack. Didn't stick around to see if it could get better. They are there, tons of fun.

[DarkSkies]

Glad to hear you got into those sharks, Paco,
I think by now that fishery is winding down as well. The ocean water temps will (hopefully) continue to trend down as we shift the 2012 season from a S/SW pattern to more of a N/NW pattern.



*******
Sept 14 - 2012........The mullet is really starting to move out of the back bays, much quicker than some folks are predicting.














There are 90 days left before the fall fishing will start to shut down.
There is no guarantee we will have a repeat of last year's unusually robust Winter.

The time to fish is now.
Whether you catch or not, the opportunity is there.

[buckethead]

There are 90 days left before the fall fishing will start to shut down.
There is no guarantee we will have a repeat of last year's unusually robust Winter.

The time to fish is now.
Whether you catch or not, the opportunity is there.

I hear you dark, and if the herring don't come around this winter it will be a long cold one without bass.