NJ Fishing Reports for October 2012.....www.StripersandAnglers.com

[finchaser]

tonight 5:30 to 7 pm 2 released 2 bass on jig and havoc tail

[Monty]

Nice going Fin.

Got out last night fished from 6 to 10pm got 2 short bass and 2 nice keeper size fluke better then 19 inches maybe 21 inches. The fluke took the SP Minnow, and the Bass were on Strorm shad. Lots of bait where I was and seen lots of swirls. Anyone seen any sandeels yet?

Congrats on the catching, have not seen any sand eels....yet

Fished tonight 5 to 7 PM released 11 bass to 8# all on jig head and chartreuse Havoc tail water down to 64 today. My partner released 16 tonight. Fish turned off as soon as it got dark for the second day in a row.

fished the hook this morning.rough water 6 onces was just holding bottom.4 bass 2small 2 keepers on clams.also got a drum.i think? pretty fish silver with black horizontal stripes about 6 lbs.

Congrats on the catching guys

[storminsteve]

Fished nomoco tonight for me.
I haven't seen any sand eels either. sure would like to though. fin and chas congrats on the catches. Have never heard of anyone catching a sheepshead from the beach this far north. way to go!

[ledhead36]

Sheeps head at the hook, what a wild catch. Nice going Chas. did you eat it? what did it taste like? I have been fishing the back with bait. Waiting for the bigger stripers. A few smaller runts on bait. Lots of insteresting other fish too, like small grunts, spot, and a few lost baby drum.Crazy year.

[skinner]

Most unusual catch of the fall thats for sure. Good job chas527.

[buckethead]

3 bass to 29", bucktails, moco. Surf is still bad but the strong west wind should knock it down tomorrow.

[finchaser]

As to sand eels don't want to be the bearer of bad news but there are none even the mud hole is void of them the big blues are feeding on squid and sardines and butter fish. This comes from my charter boat friend who is well informed by lobster men and other captains.

[vpass]

Fished tonight 5 to 7 PM released 11 bass to 8# all on jig head and chartreuse Havoc tail water down to 64 today. My partner released 16 tonight. Fish turned off as soon as it got dark for the second day in a row.

Fin, you are on fire. I hope to my numbers increase

As to sand eels don't want to be the bearer of bad news but there are none even the mud hole is void of them the big blues are feeding on squid and smelts and butter fish. this comes from my charter boat friend who is well informed by lobster man

I'm not really crazy about the sandeels. I hate fishing Avas. I just don't want the bass to pass us by.

3 bass to 29", bucktails, moco. Surf is still bad but the strong west wind should knock it down tomorrow.

Nice going Bucket. Are you using anything with the Bucktail? I was throwing Bucktails Yesterday with Pink Fins with no luck using the bucktails.

fished the hook this morning.rough water 6 onces was just holding bottom.4 bass 2small 2 keepers on clams.also got a drum.i think? pretty fish silver with black horizontal stripes about 6 lbs.

Chas. Never seen a Sheepshead caught around here. They must of been common at one time. I guess they named Sheepshead bay after them. Nice going.



Last night I fished from 6pm to 8:30pm I got 1 bass just shy of being a keeper. The bass was caught on a X-Rap. I wasn't prepared, the rod almost came out of my hands on the hit. The bait seem to have moved.

[chas527]

fished the hook this morning.nothing but skates.did see birds working early with big fish under them but they were to far out . about the sheephead it tasted real good all white meat. the guy in atlantic tackle said it was a drum.but the fish i caught i went on line and it look just like a sheephead. same color same stripes same fins on top an bottom.just wish i would have taken a picture.

[Monty]

Fished out front this morning 3:30-10:30. Ocean had calmed down and looked great. Water was pretty dirty. I worked a lot of beach, lots of walking and ended up with the skunk. Had a hit early on a 10" Hogy and missed (normal start for me). Found some small bait and a few small swirls but no hook ups, then around 7:00 found a big area with fish slamming through bait mostly 200-500 yards off the beach. There was activity as close as 30 yards (semi consistent), but most was out there. I hooked up in close (5 yards out)for 5 seconds on a PoJee, rod bent then nothing, had one other hit on a long cast, PoJee again. Had this in front of me for at least two hours and could not land a fish. Not sure what was out there, whatever I had on for that short period was not a snapper. Threw all sorts of metal at different retrieves Ava 007 green tail, Hopkins shorty, PoJee 1 1/2 and 3 oz, Deadly Richard, Kastmaster 3/4, 1 and 1 1/2 oz. , 3 oz crocodile spoon, 2 oz and 3 oz Crippled Herring...also threw a couple spooks and a 2 sizes of pencils (very small and 2 oz), small needle, and SP and DSM Minnows, a small white mullet metal lip, white bucktail (1/2 oz), chartreuse 10" Hogy..... white tube teasers, yellow feathered teasers, white feathered teasers, chartreuse feathered teasers..no teasers......4 foot of 30 lb fluorocarbon without clips (tied direct)......I was amazed I could not catch a fish......
Had a great time out there, except for the murky water, conditions were beautiful, was all alone, just me and lots of fish that I could not catch.....
Had a streak of 5 outings in a row with at least one Striper, going into this trip I was thinking today's conditions were the most favorable out of all of the last five days I have fished. Had a good idea where all that bait would be as well as other spots where I had a good shot at a fish. Was very confident when I hit the water, more than the other times. I sent Rip-Plugger an e-mail with my plan, how confident I was....also I included in the e-mail "I'm all set up for the skunk", Yup, and a huge one it was .

Also there was a nice sunrise

[jigfreak]

As to sand eels don't want to be the bearer of bad news but there are none even the mud hole is void of them the big blues are feeding on squid and sardines and butter fish. This comes from my charter boat friend who is well informed by lobster men and other captains.

I disagree finchaser some of the internet know it alls are talking about sandeel sightings. They are the cool kids they must know. Why listen to a lobster guy or charter capt? After all a lobster guy is only at sea for 1-3 days at a time. Thats 24-72 hours of observation. Versus the internet sharpies half of who don't even fish. Surely they would know more than a lowly lobster capt. I fished this morrning moco 5-7:30, the skunk smell was powerful where I was. no one got a fish. Not 1.
chas527 that is a great catch a sheep head. Dark should give you and award for that, and monty too. I swear every time I check in here I don't know what some of you will pull out of the water. Makes for great reading. Keep up the good work.

[DarkSkies]

Fished last night, mini Monty Marathon. Someone said I was a little down on the last report, they were probably right.

So I tried to change my attitude last night.

I was kind of optimistic, but the noreast pattern really messed up the sea. Still can't understand why guys do cartwheels when there is a Noreast pattern. The water gets dirty and unless there are huge amounts of bait and fish around IMO it almost always puts a damper on the fishing, with artificials (in NJ...Montauk is a different story).

Monty has a thread here where he talks about fishing these kinds of conditions.....
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...onditions-poll

West Wind Wally feels the same way....
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ENTAL-ADVISORY






Spent 3 hours in the ocean. The swell dropped down substantially. The water was still murky. Didn't see much bait on any of my stops, fishing 10 miles of the Coast.

6 stops later, very frustrated, only one short bass on a bucktail.
But, it really was beautiful out there....the skies were very clear, even saw a few shooting stars. The fishing was great, ......the catching left a lot to be desired, though......

The bucktail was the only thing that produced for me, working all of the water column with other artificials. Note...when the conditions are like this I tend to favor things that will present in the bottom half....unless they are chasing bait at night, many fish in conditions like last night will be looking down for food.

Thinking the Finchaser Magic Fish Fountain may be in danger of being turned off.... I left the ocean before sunrise to do some back bay scouting and fishing. Did that for 2 hours, nothing at all and the water looked terrible from the rain and wind, There is still some bait around but as I mentioned fhe fish only seem to be concentrated where the bait concentrations are highest.

As I left to go home, I was thinking how much clearer the water in Ocean County was, and wondering about moving to a house a block away from Finchaser. There was a pack rat house....maybe for the right price I could be his neighbor.....


Naah.....he would complain too much about the smell....it would probably kill him....and then his family would blame me, hunt me down and burn me at the stake....

chas527 that is a great catch a sheep head. Dark should give you and award for that, and monty too. I swear every time I check in here I don't know what some of you will pull out of the water. Makes for great reading. Keep up the good work.

Chas WTG.
As others have said, I can't remember the last time I heard of anyone catching them in NNJ....
when you described it to me on the phone, I really had a feeling it was something other than a drum.
I remember telling you when the water stays warm, they catch them regularly south of Atlantic City near some of the bridges and structure, but that's a most unusual catch for these waters.

If I had a trophy I would give ya one....
Maybe when I get some time I'll try to put a thread together documenting all the crazy fish you folks have caught....Thanks for the suggestion Jigfreak.

[DarkSkies]

As to sand eels don't want to be the bearer of bad news but there are none even the mud hole is void of them the big blues are feeding on squid and sardines and butter fish. This comes from my charter boat friend who is well informed by lobster men and other captains.

Finchaser makes a good point here folks.
They are reporting some off of Moriches, but that's way to our North.
There are tons of them in the Cape Cod area but those won't do the folks in NJ any good.
If the commercial guys don't start seeing them off our shores soon, I wouldn't put too much faith in having a repeat of last year.

Of course, things can always change, and they often do. I hope I am wrong. Read up on this if you want to be better informed.
More about that in the thread below.....


http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...edlefish/page2



And thanks to Finchaser for his many intel sources.
(He's still an OGB, though....)

[hookedonbass]

Fished somoco in the morning. It was a great sunrise. A few other guys out. I was tossing poppers in the sunrise and then switched to metal. no luck.

[finchaser]

I disagree finchaser some of the internet know it alls are talking about sandeel sightings. They are the cool kids they must know. Why listen to a lobster guy or charter capt? After all a lobster guy is only at sea for 1-3 days at a time. Thats 24-72 hours of observation. Versus the internet sharpies half of who don't even fish. Surely they would know more than a lowly lobster capt. I fished this morrning moco 5-7:30, the skunk smell was powerful where I was. no one got a fish. Not 1.
chas527 that is a great catch a sheep head. Dark should give you and award for that, and monty too. I swear every time I check in here I don't know what some of you will pull out of the water. Makes for great reading. Keep up the good work.

To each his own but they need to move in from offshore to get to the beach and where there were tons last 3 or 4 years there ar none. I'm sure the internet guys think they come from the back bays. Only fish this AM was my friends 19# that swallowed a pencil popper

[zev]

looks like the bite is on in my local river. three keepers all 30" in the second to last hr of outgoing on a Yozuri black over silver crystal minnow. as soon as i showed up I saw some activity and knew I would get into fish but this was my first hat trick. lost a fourth keeper when he got unbuttoned. fish were hitting in fifteen min intervals in right off the back side of the "pillars". caught a small guy and then called it a night. should probably try the incoming later. we had a really good, what I would call healthy incoming tide today with the wind blowing north and every year when that happens it seems to bring a wave of fish thru.

[gjb1969]

way to go on the bass i am glad the bite is on in the river now if i can hook with some bass i will be happy

[storminsteve]

Nice going zev! Sounds like awesome action! I fished nomoco last night from 8-10 got one 26" bass on a tsunami shad.No other hits or bumps.

[Monty]

Fished ocean side this morning 3:30 to 9:00. Picked up a short Bass in the wash around 5:30. Not much else happening, quiet morning. Small fraction of the bait that was there yesterday (no fish feeding on what was there and what was there was tiny, tiny bait). Looks like some sand moved from the storm earlier this week. Some rocks were uncovered in one area (2 feet easy) and the north side of one of my favorite small jettys looks like it filled in some.
Sunrise was kinda blah..... Pleasant fishing morning.

[basshunter]

Love those reports monty you really say how you did it and why. thanx. Fished ocean county above island beach from 5-7 today, nothing, There was some kind of activity far off for about 15 minutes, but too far to see what it really was. Maybe albies.