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

[ledhead36]

You really slayed them. Congrats.

[storminsteve]

That report was off the Hook! There is some hope left. Grats finchaser. way to go.

[Pebbles]

Anybody getting any snappers yet in the back waters?

I didn't think snappers were in the water!!

[Pebbles]

Finchaser, What an incredible morning you had!! Hope it keeps up for you.

[finchaser]

thanks and tight lines to all

[rip316]

Nice job Pops.

[vpass]

Today 5 to 9 AM in the back released 11 bass to 18# and 14 bluefish 3 to 7 pounds all on white buck tail with white twister tail . Fish were laying in the clean and cooler 77 degree water. Torrential rain put em down not a dry bone on me as walk back to my truck was into blinding wind and rain.

That's Awsome, Fin. 11 bass to 18 in mid July is a gift. great going keep it up.

[DarkSkies]

Fri night - Skunk. The East wind was blowing but wanted to keep it honest and went out anyway to do a little fishing and scouting. Checked out some back bay spots, nothing for me.









**********
Sat night - very slow pick of bass, lots of fun.....

"All about the teaser".....
I was out trying to find some cleaner water. Seems Monty and Mike O had the same idea.
Somehow we all ran into each other in a back bay area.

I have not seen Mike O in person for a few years. You don't always remember people when you fish a lot and run into different characters. What I remembered about Mike was his old school surf bag, and some of the ways he fishes.
Rubber eel on tin squid, (also a favorite of Finchaser and some of the other Old Farts....)......Hopkins fished slowly at night.....and some other old-school tactics......

Mike was the first to hook and land a bass. Nice keeper size around 10#.
I think he also had the hot hand for the night with the biggest fish.
All the rest were substantially smaller, but we all hooked and landed a few.
It was a slow pick, we fished all night for those fish, and there were long periods of no activity.

The fish seemed to be feeding on very small calico crabs, small rainfish, and spearing, about 4" long.
Coincidentally, spearing size black teasers were the only thing they would hit.
We gradually saw that it was all about the teaser.
Anything we threw was a "teaser delivery system"......we could probably have thrown an egg sinker with a teaser when the water was high, and still caught fish....(note, this is an "old-school" tactic as well)

Mike first noticed fish were on the bottom of the water column and had some success with metal and a teaser. As the tide dropped we ended up fishing plugs on top, still getting fish.

I don't know if Mike or Monty ended up being high hook.
I have to confess I was definitely low hook.


For my teaser, I started out fishing a red rubber tube, feeling it would mimic the bait profile I had seen in the water.
It only resulted in a dropped fish.
Monty also noticed this as well, at first striking out with a short small teaser.
I would say for last night under the new moon, black color was important for where we were, but that was secondary to size.

They would not hit anything else but a teaser in that size range.
I stubbornly refused to switch to a teaser the size they were using.
Googan Central.
After they both landed multiple fish, I made the switch, thanks to Monty's generosity.

Monty also gave Mike a teaser when we saw Monty's teasers had a slight edge.
Monty may be a Googan, but he is one of the most unselfish guys I know....










In all, I had a great time. Don't get to fish with site-members or others that much anymore as I too have become an Old Grouchy Basstard. I relish my Grouchiness, and the odors coming from me at night, because of the solitude it brings me.

However, it was a pleasure, and honor, to fish with these 2 fine fishermen.
Would fish with either of ya's again, anytime...
Really enjoyed the stories of the Sea Bright wall, the Flume, and fishing herring, in the old days, Mike, and the company of both of ya Mooks.


We were talking at the end (no talking during fishing!) and remarked that if you combined our catches, for the whole night, it would probably total only 1/2 of what that old Grouchy Basstard Finchaser has been managing each time he's out there, for a few hours of fishing....

[cowherder]

Good for you guys! Great report and details, felt like I was there. Thanks for the teaser info. Monty is very generous and has offered to send me teasers too. Hope you get some good mojo from that Monty!

[buckethead]

Keeper size bass in July, as hot as it has been? Good deal, thank you for the report. Bass and fluke have been feeding heavily on the crabs lately. I have some softees and will be out tonight.

[Monty]

In all, I had a great time. Don't get to fish with site-members or others that much anymore as I too have become an Old Grouchy Basstard. I relish my Grouchiness, and the odors coming from me at night, because of the solitude it brings me.
However, it was a pleasure, and honor, to fish with these 2 fine fishermen.
Would fish with either of ya's again, anytime...

It was great meeting Mike and its always an experience meeting up with you Dark while fishing (I always have a great time fishing with ya, I always learn something and its great talking fishing with ya, always fun). I finished up around 7:30, didn't get anything else (small stargazer on a teaser). Great time, good to see stripes again, great weather.

Here is the teaser Dark and me caught with. I think it is almost the same length Mike caught on first.

[Mike O]

Hey Dark and Monty, It certainly was a pleasure fishing with both of you guys. Dark lives up to his rep, on giving info and Monty also giving me that black teaser. Dark is a funny guy. You should have seen how excited he was when I hooked into that bass, he was like a little kid in a candy store. Lots of fun. We have to do it again sometime. Again guys, Thanks.

[finchaser]

Saturday 5 to 9 AM released 7 bass and 7 blues all on Yozuri crystal minnow

Sunday AM 5:30 to 8am released 9 blues in the 3 to 5# range all on a jig head and white rip tide mullet paddle tail.

My friend Paul had the hot hand today releasing 11 bass and 10 blues he started at 5AM

[Mike O]

Monty,
Thanks again for the black teaser. I haven' got to use it yet, but I will rig it up during the week and use it next time I go out. I never thought of it but, black at night does make sense. An old timer (older than me) once told me dark colors at night, light colors at light. Bass almost always hit darker plugs, especially at night, so why not a dark color teaser? I have some black bucktail and plan on making up a few. I was using a dark red with white with a little flash when I caught that 10 pounder. also I think the length propably is a factor. I guess thats why they call it fishing and not catching. If I ever have it all figured out, I will let you guys know.

Mike

[xtreme_visions]

NICE JOB FIN! I TRIED A FEW PLACES SUNDAY WITH NO LUCK. AS ALWAYS WHEN FISHING WITH THE LADY WE GO WHEN THE TIDE IS AT ITS LOWEST POINT AND LEAVE ON THE INCOMING IM GONING TO HAVE TO GET MY LAZY *** OUT OF THE HOUSE ON THE WEEKENDS BEFORE THE SUN COMES UP. GREAT REPORTS GUYS.

[c4charlie]

Wow, keeper bass in July. Not bad, not bad at all! I have been doing some fluking and crabbing and lots of camping and freshwater fishing. Got a kayak now and on my first trip to RB, I hooked up with this fluke 24"...

Crabs have been bigger for us than prior years so far. I just got back from a 3 day camping trip to Round Valley. Such a nice weekend! I am going to try for some bass now that I know there are some around and thanks for the photo of the teaser.

[DarkSkies]

^^ Great pics and reports, people...remember ya can't catch em from in front of your computer screen.....
Charlie tell your sons how proud I am of them.
Here is a thumbs up for each of them from DarkSkies -
1.
2.





*****
I fished last night, short trip.
As it was still the first few nights of the new moon, I had to be out there.

I specifically wanted to see if the teaser we did so well on was effective at this time in some other areas.

Started in the pocket near an inlet.
Soon after got a few hickory shad on Monty's black teaser.

The hickory shad are getting bigger. One I landed was around 15". They are feeding well on the small bait and are more aggressive than the bass at times.

In fact, I think they are great species for the beginning angler to target, Dad with son, etc, because if you hit the right area, they are pretty easy to catch.

They usually hang out in schools, and are feeding on the small bait.
Look for them in the seams in the surf, rips, pockets, middle of inlets, and wherever else small bait may be ambushed.

Moved on from the shad. Cut the teaser off after a while, as no bass or shad were interested.
A few more stops produced nothing.

When I was about ready to give up, I got into a half-hour of bass feeding activity. Nothing crazy, but still the action was consistent for that half hour. Dropped a few as well. As I've mentioned previously, the bass in this warmer water, will not come back for it, you have to re-cast. That's what I'm seeing in the areas I fish.

Landed 2 short bass.
The water was a little murky from the storms.
A steady S wind blew all night.
This is a common summer pattern, but I hate the South wind, for NJ.
I don't think I've ever done really well on it at night, unless an abundance of bait trumped the wind.

Also made it difficult to cast, as you had to compensate for the wind.
However, the swells weren't bad, the weather was awesome, and some fish were feeding.

What more could you ask for on a Summer July night?




What worked:
This was another time when the Daiwa did not produce any action at all, not even a missed fish.
When conditions are like this, (Dirtier water and swells in the 4' range) I have been leaning on the Mag Darter, because it produces over other plugs (for me)

[jigfreak]

Nice going. I like the md too for inlets and rivers. Great when the mullet are thick.

[hookset]

Bass at the end of July don't get any better than that. Keep it up am loving these reports. Nice teaser pic Monty.

[finchaser]

5 to 7 am released 3 bass and 13 blues all on rubbbbbbbbbbbbbbbba