NJ Fishing Reports for July 2012....www.StripersAndAnglers.com

[buckethead]

..
You won't see these fish at all unless you are fishing where the highest concentrations of bait/forage are, and even then, some of these catches are "lucky fish" 1 or 2 at a time.

This time of year, the best best for catching bass is using bait...clams, bunker, crabs, eels. It is extremely challenging to catch them on artificials, and as a result most guys have given up the pursuit.

Hope this helps and honestly lays the reality out there......

Dark I got some lucky fish over the weekend. 12 and 14lbs. They were looking down. Let me know if you want to borrow the rake.
BTW great reports. rofl at the shatting the pants reference. I could say - "Sh*t happens." TMI anyway but funny.

[hookedonbass]

Fished island beach around sunrise today.The tide was coming in and I got some pretty good action on small snapper blues I was chunking that I caught on sabiki rogs in the bay yesterday. Caught almost 10 blues to 2 pounds. Where are the keeper fluke this year?

[DarkSkies]

Buckethead, thanks for the offer. I've gotten this far into the year catching bass strictly on artficials. Though I did briefly throw some rigged eels last week before one got bitten in half by a large bluefish at night.
I will be using bait, and especially when I take the yak to LI, with the T&W...not ready to give up on the artificial bite. just yet.....but the offers are always appreciated, you guys are the best. Even the ones that toss jabs at me..... Ya make it all worthwhile....








*****

Fri Report -
Fished hours and hours, hoping that some scouting that I did, and the moon tides, would pay off....not a touch, save for one short bass around 4am, mag darter.


Sun Report -
The S wind pattern had been a PITA on Fri, never do well on a straight S.
Sun it was different, lots of variability but eventually it settled into a steady NW.
This was ok but the swell from an offshore storm kicked up late at night. The duration of every 3 secs made presentation pretty difficult. I had to time my casts and lost a lot of fishing time doing that. In addition, if there were any bass and they missed the plug, you lost them on that cast. They could not come back and find it in that swell. This, according to good surfcasting theory, would normally prompt a switch to bigger plugs, easier for them to find.

I did this, throwing the SS bottle plug, and some ML swimmers, not a touch on the bigger stuff. Not a touch for me in that rougher water using the Daiwa either.

Finally settled into a routine using the Mag Darter. Managed 3 small bass on that, and some missed hits. Tough night but at least it paid off with some action.

[DarkSkies]

Never went more than 30 minutes without a hit, had not been ocean side in over a month, was fun, one five hour energy drink plus one Red Bull (did not dump in my pants or the ocean )

Monty what can I say...those substances in the stomach at night produce all sorts of wierd rumblings, at least for me.

The action you described, keeps pulling me out there...every time I say to myself..."I'm done with this summer bass fishing!," too much effort, the drive, the hours,etc....and I have a lousy night...the night after is pretty good, and all the hours spent blind casting for nothing, are forgotten....the action draws me back, over and over again....

And as you guys described, it's pretty comfortable out there at night. I do wear a of clothes to keep the bugs away tbough...some of my friends are fishing in shorts. However, if the wind dies down for even a second, you will be covered up in insects...so I wear all the long sleeves, long pants., and sweat like a pig. Probably part of the reason there are so many smells coming from my body when I'm done...but at least the bugs ain't eating me alive...


Great reports guys, great effort....

[bababooey]

I can't believe you guys are still catching bass. I haven't seen one for over 6 weeks. Have been out fluking and sea bassing. There aren't even any striped bass on the lumps and offshore. There usually are a few. The bunker have gone over to the LI side and some of the seas here are dead until you get into deeper water. Kudos gentlemen, don't know how you are doing it. There is not one report on the internet of anyone catching bass in northern NJ now. Somehow you guys are getting it done. Congrats.

[BassBuddah]

To me, it beats the alternative to a long road trip....

Don't waste your time coming out here yet, Dark, the surf bite is pretty slow at mecca. See my report in the LI thread for details.

[DarkSkies]

Bass Buddah, sorry to hear that. I have been hearing a lack of enthusiasm about Montauk this year. Possibly due to the heat, but also because the surf fishing is poor, so far.

I have kayaker friends who have made the trip and getting mid 20's and bigger fish at night, but apparently this has not translated to the bite the Surf guys look forward to every year.....

Montauk is the fish highway of the East Coast, right in the middle of all the fish migration.
If there are not fish on the edges of the surf there, that causes me real concern.


Bababooey thanks for the kind and flattering words. I don't want to get people upset who read this, but when the fish are there I or the members here can find them. Striped bass are relatively easy to catch, provided you can find ones that are willing to feed.

Fishing at night helps, but I will probably irritate some more by saying that it is harder to catch bluefish at night, randomly, on artificials, than it is to catch bass....bluefish will "peck" at a plug when not aggressively feeding. Even the big ones...I run into that issue as well when I fish for them in the rivers in the fall.








My results have suffered lately. I have gotten bass to 17# in the last few weeks, dropped a few slightly larger.
Each one of those was a "sweat and blood" fish produced after hours of blind casting...even the smaller ones took work...

Why?...

As I said they are relatively easy to catch when they are stacked up, but these are the table scraps that you have to hunt down, 1 or 2 at a time. Putting that catch of 9 bass together last week, was almost a miracle....and happened because I happened to run into a large body of bait that the fish were feeding on. Nonetheless, I could not manage 10, which is kind of a bragging number this time of year, the best I could do was 9....

And hold your praise, until you read the latest 2 reports below....2 trips with no action, saved by a few bluefish at the end of the latest trip.....

*****

[DarkSkies]

Mon night -
Trip was because of the good night tides. Tried to change things up a bit and changed my trip route somewhat. The ocean was angry at night, larger swells. It wasn't the swells so much it was the duration. Swell info had that at 7 seconds which isn't bad. The thing is, there was an intense mid-period swell with a duration of every 4 seconds. Swells like that IMO make fishing in the surf very difficult at night as your presentation suffers. You have to time the casts with the swells to keep your artificial in the strike zone. Very tough. I cut the trip short to 3 hours it was so dismal.

Not one touch for me.




Wed Night -

Was out again because of the good night tides, and the change in the weather/wind pattern. This time of year, as has been explained previously, there is usually a S/SW wind pattern, which can put fishing in a rut, except for the moon tides.

Wed night, the forecast was for a slight N/NE with a SE swell.
Had to be out there to see if that would shake things up a bit.
The only thing that got shaken up was me as I was faced with a strong surf, 4' waves, and duration of 2 seconds. This was a mid-period swell, also discussed here, but so intense it felt like it was never ending.

Gave it a shot for 3 hours, got a little beat up, and finally knew it was time to call it quits. Had no action at all. Big surf like this calls for bigger swimmers and profiles. Anything that will stay in the strike zone. This night, even though big profiles were not previously producing, I was forced to throw them. Anything smaller would have gotten lost in the froth.

Was a little disappointed when I left as I really wanted just a little bit of action to justify the time and effort. Made a quick step to a more protected area and finally connected with some fish. I had an amazing 10 minutes of action with small bluefish on rubber.

We all like to complain about small bluefish, but when you fish hours without any action at all they are sometimes very welcome to find....
I landed a few, and just as quickly it was over. Hey, that's fishin.

[storminsteve]

Wed Night -


The only thing that got shaken up was me as I was faced with a strong surf, 4' waves, and duration of 2 seconds. This was a mid-period swell, also discussed here, but so intense it felt like it was never ending.

Gave it a shot for 3 hours, got a little beat up, and finally knew it was time to call it quits. Had no action at all. Big surf like this calls for bigger swimmers and profiles. Anything that will stay in the strike zone. This night, even though big profiles were not previously producing, I was forced to throw them. Anything smaller would have gotten lost in the froth.

dark you are a madman! I was there early on Wed, looked for you. I only stayed an hour. Didn't even fish cause the surf looked so gnarly. One set coming in after the other, don't know how you even managed to find water to cast to. Be careful dude I don't want to read about you in the morning paper.
My report, I went to fish, but did not. Will try out again this weekend. I think we need some bad weather to get things going.

[cowherder]

I have to comment that I even learn something when you post a skunk report Dark. I have never seen reports at the level of details that yours go into. This is like Zenos Journal only he posts once a month and you post this every day. Please be careful out there like Steve said. And thank you for your effort keep up the good work

[finchaser]

Out front too rough and full of weeds so
Wednesday fished the back 4:30 Am to 6:30 Am 7 bass and 11 bluefish all released all on plugs
Wednesday 6 to 7Pm 5 bass all released on plugs
Thursday 4:30 to 6:30 AM 4 bass and 6 bluefish all released on rubber
Thursday 6:30 to 8PM 3 bass and 4 blues all released on bucktails
Friday 5 to 7AM 3 bluefish released on bucktails
Friday 6 to 8PM NADA

All bass were 16 to 24"
All blues were 2 to 7 pounds

[paco33]

Outstanding report finchaser, congrats on the catching.

[Monty]

Outstanding report finchaser, congrats on the catching.

^^^^^
What he said
Great report Finchaser.

[finchaser]

Thanks guys

this morning 4;30 to 6:30 AM 2 bass and 2 blues on rubber all still alive and well

[DarkSkies]

Finchaser....consistent catching...for a consistently Grouchy Basstard....



*******
Managed 5 bass last night. Conditions were a surfcasters' dream...
Wind was light and variable, I think at one time it came from every direction except the North.

The swell had died down to manageable levels.
Tried the Daiwa with no success, one missed fish.
All the rest of the fish came from the MagDarter.

It was a slow pick, for me the fish were scattered. All healthy schoolies, all under legal size.

[baitstealer]

You guys do catch some nice numbers. I guess you do get skunked too but it seems like finchaser never gets skunked. With all due respect how does he do that? Awesome keep it up!

[DarkSkies]

I guess you do get skunked too but it seems like finchaser never gets skunked. With all due respect how does he do that?

Baitstealer.....
He fishes a lot, more than most, and completely knows the areas he fishes in...so much that he could fish them blindfolded...

There are times when none of us can catch a fish, because they just aren't there....there are weeks in a row when he's out there, twice a day,,,,getting blanked....yet the old geezer just keeps at it until he gets into em.....









**But the real Finchaser
secret.....
First time revealed......

When fishing is slow, he takes the piece of rubber, reaches into his crotch, rubs the rubber a few times in the nether regions, so it carries an extra scent......

And when he takes it out and presents it to the fish, the scent trail is so pungent that the fish.....they cannot resist.....

[jigfreak]

^^ Dark, I think if there any smells on the rubber it has to come from your direction. Just saying.

[finchaser]

You guys do catch some nice numbers. I guess you do get skunked too but it seems like finchaser never gets skunked. With all due respect how does he do that? Awesome keep it up!

Got skunked Friday night see above also like Dark said I fish every day and the days I don't post are skunks

Tonight 7 to 9 PM 6 bass and 1 bluefish all on jig head and rubber Havoc paddle tail

[storminsteve]

**But the real Finchaser
secret.....
First time revealed......

When fishing is slow, he takes the piece of rubber, reaches into his crotch, rubs the rubber a few times in the nether regions, so it carries an extra scent......

And when he takes it out and presents it to the fish, the scent trail is so pungent that the fish.....they cannot resist.....

^^ Dark, I think if there any smells on the rubber it has to come from your direction. Just saying.

ROLFMAO funny.
"scent trail is so pungent that the fish...they cannot resist"
:
"If the glove does not fit, then you must acquit!"
Hey Dark I think you stole that from Johnny Cochran.





I fished moco last night from 9-11 got 2 shortie bass on the MD. Dark were you out there, looked for you but couldn't seem to find you. Finchaser great catches you are on fire lately!