NJ Fishing Reports for May 2014.....www.StripersAndAnglers.com

[DarkSkies]

I know some of ya's were busting me and monty for fishing so many hours at a time......
I've tried to cut the trip hours down and will try to get out more....but for me.....when there's hope for more than a few fish.....I don't let go of the bite until it's completely dead.....even waiting out the other side of the tide to see if it will start up again.....

So feel free to bust my balls....it's in good fun.
..I don't mind....I'll continue to fish the way I like.....and sleep in the port-a-johns as necessary...

As for Monty.....he only gets out once a week......so it's like the prison doors open for him for a 24 hour furlough...that's all he gets before he has to go back in the dog coop...cat house........whatever.........
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...house-for-cats

Please be kind to him......something's amiss in his brain that brings him back to goog territory regularly.....










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Fishing report.....
Fri AM...
Started deep in the night, looking for some bigger bluefish....it appears a lot of them have moved over to the N side of the NY Bight.,....though some did hit the beaches yesterday....

6 hour trip....I fished 7 different locations...all of which have held at least one fish in the last 2 weeks.......not much activity for me at all......
Spent over 2 hours at one place because it was loaded with bunker moving on the tide.......hundreds coming by at a time....threw every artificial I had....out there in the rain and fog...great conditions but not a tap....
(I know....throw a bunker head Rich!..... ...If I had $10 for every pic of a bunker head caught bass sent to me this season, I would be rich..... )

Reluctantly moved around.....
Right at sunrise got rubber chopped by bluefish...the only action for the whole 3 previous hours.

Kept moving.....finally found some limited bluefish activity with larger blues feeding on the bottom....maybe those larger shrimp that have been around....
We had about a good half hour of steady action......managed 7...then it diminished so everyone went home...however the fish were still there, I still continued to pick at them.......averaged 50 casts for every fish....

Ended the morning with 14 bluefish to 9#.......not the sizes we were getting, but nice fight still the same........Bucktail and white seemed to be the most productive for those cloudy conditions.









PM trip
Took Pebbles back to try to get her some....
Had emergency plumbing job, got a late start.....by the time we got there the bite was a slow pick...
We mutually caught our one of the night.


Highlight of the night was running into the Old Farts Fishin Club.....sharing stories of how great the fishing used to be.....and how challenging and inconsistent it is now...still good to see their faces and see everyone in good health.......always a pleasure trading stories....and shooting the breeze.......

Disappointment of the night....despite his grouchiness at not having fished with me in over a year, I invited the OGB up to fish with us......
He was gonna bring his step son.....we really thought he was going to show....some of the old timers were excited that such a character was coming up our way....word got out......the OFFC was anticipating him showing his face as well......
And the OGB, (with legitimate reason).....was a no-show again!


The old farts fishin club were so disappointed.....as they have never met the OGB...were looking forward to it....Had travelled 75 miles just to meet one of NJ's most legendary surfcasters......
Well, they caught some fish,.....shared some laughs...ball busting....good time was had....
Next time maybe Fin will be part of the laughs......

[seamonkey]

Thanks for the report. Wish we had bluefish that big down here. I may take a ride up there again.

[J Barbosa]

Waited out the thunder storms and Kayaked from 1am to 7am Friday night with Rui.

Signs were very encouraging at first, we saw a few signs of bunker and only one other boat out. The sight and sound of a bass trying to slurp down a bunker was enough for us to unload the kayaks and launch in a hurry.

Unfortunately we couldn't get any bass to cooperate with our plugs.

We attested that to the millions of luminous jellyfish in the water that would light up when touched by our plug or line.

The small bluefish did make a showing when the sun rose but not very many of them.

Rui managed to catch a double header on the same bomber. (Pic later)

The good news is I saw a ton of spearing.

Loaded the kayak onto the roof and went in search of big bluefish but only managed to find a small bass.

Went crabbing during the day and only managed to catch 13 keepers in an little over an hour before the heavy rain drove us away. Crabbing is still very slow by Barbosa standards but they are definitely here

[plugcrazy]

Fished ocean county this morning 5:30-7:30. Right at the beginning of the outgoing tide. Got one bluefish on a 2 oz t hex that was it. Water and the waves were awesome. Thought there might be some more fish for me but no dice. May try again tomorrow. Great morning to be out and about.

[SharkHart]

Very Solid plug bite in SNJ on 16 to 22 lbish class fish last night, they were thrashing bunker on surface at times, was quite exciting. They have been on thin profile lures so we weren't quite ready , SP worked ok but they would try to mouth it and swim away slow almost like a run off, Lost as many as we caught. Uno mas tonight

[DarkSkies]

^ Those fish tend to follow the pattern every year. I remember reading you saying something about anticipating them showing up earlier. It seems they showed up about 10-12 days later this year?

It takes a lot of effort to pin down a pattern, when it's off from the year before. I know you and your crew spend a tremendous amount of hours out there. The folks I know who are catching bass consistently this year are out every chance they get, putting in insane hours....because for a lot of us there is no consistent pattern, or it only lasts for a few days before it evaporates......
Someone who catches a lot, was griping me the other day, that's the only way he knows how to ensure success, this year.

Not many are finding fish that size on artificials from land at night this time of year. Outstanding work Shark.











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Fishing Sun May 25

AM
Pebbles and I were on the water early to try to find some of the bigger bluefish.....
Found them picky with artificials as usual, with not much action on the flood, and a brief flurry on the ebb.
Fished 1 1/2 hours, managed 6 to 7# between us.


PM
Pebbles and I went down again, 1 1/2 hours.
Picky as in the morning but the overall activity level was slightly better, enough to make you want to come back. I was trying to explain to someone, that for me...the action is the addictive part.....even missed fish count as part of that...because it's an opportunity to catch on artificials when by teasing them to hit.....and a challenge.......
Managed 8 bluefish between the both of us to 7#.




** We had fun, the most important part. These smaller blues are still fun to catch, but I think we got a little spoiled with that week to ten day period 2 weeks ago when the giant bluefish were around.....you never knew if the next fish would be 15# or better..... that would dump out a dozen yards on a drag peeling run....and the bulldogging these fish were doing, when fighting, was real exciting to me and a few other folks.....

I manage to run into one of the legendary old-time surfcasters each time we go down to fish for them.....guys in their late 60's to 80's loaded with wisdom and experience....yesterday we met a different one, on each of our trips......always a pleasure.....

[cowherder]

sharkheart you must be a miracle worker to find fish like that congrats! I took a long walk this morning with 20 other guys. I got one blue about 5lbs on a a-27 with green tail and saw about 2 others caught. Very disappointed that the blues weren't at this spot. I thought they should have been with all the reports of bunker out there. I guess that is why they call it fishing not catching. Where are all the small stripers? Back at it next week. Hope everyone has a great Memorial day.

[J Barbosa]

Took my kayak out for a 6 hour trip this morning targeting big bluefish, wind was blowing pretty strong which can blow a light kayak around.

My brother and I had bluefish throughout the day ranging anywhere from 1-10lbs. Most blues averaging only 4-6lbs today. Managed about 4-5 of the bigger 8-10lb size on one of my homemade bucktails before a bluefish stole it.

We had to work hard for every fish as they were not stacked up in any one area. Five hours of trolling in strong wind and 2ft of chop in the bay...sometimes you get what you put into it. Soar legs and soar arms and as always a good time

[J Barbosa]

Pictures from Fridays kayak trip.

Rui with a double header.

[cowherder]

We had to work hard for every fish as they were not stacked up in any one area. Five hours of trolling in strong wind and 2ft of chop in the bay...sometimes you get what you put into it. Soar legs and soar arms and as always a good time

Awesome report on the bluefish jb. Were you trolling anything else besides bucktails? thanks

[J Barbosa]

Awesome report on the bluefish jb. Were you trolling anything else besides bucktails? thanks

For bluefish I usually troll bombers as I get them used for $2-3 now that everybody wants sp minnows. I usually troll until we find a good concentration of fish and then I'll stop to cast top water plugs to them. Unfortunately yesterday's conditions were not conducive to top water so I used a bucktail.

That's what me and my brother trolled yesterday...bombers. I cast the bucktails when we managed to stay on one of the small schools but like I said the wind quickly pushes you off them when in a kayak.

I also troll the sp minnow when the action is slow. I find the rattles do a good job of attracting fish.

[finchaser]

Way to go JB

[Blazin420]

Nice John!! Cool pics too...Hope to get the yak wet soon for some flatties!!

[chas527]

fished the navy pier the last 3 night nothing but big bluefish.

[Monty]

Fished this morning with a friend from 2:30-7:30. Other than one hit he had, we had zero action. Had a great time out here, nice sun rise.

[jigfreak]

Nice going jb. great sunrise pic monty. Foul weather coming in. Looks like you got the best of it before it gets snotty

[Monty]

Nice going jb. great sunrise pic monty. Foul weather coming in. Looks like you got the best of it before it gets snotty

I'll take snotty over a nice sun rise all the time. I hate sunny weather, dread seeing the sun. Dark, clouds, rain, wind

It was like fishing a freaking lake

[J Barbosa]

Fished this morning with a friend from 2:30-7:30. Other than one hit he had, we had zero action. Had a great time out here, nice sun rise.

You always manage to capture the best sunrise pictures.

[VSdreams]

Great reports thanks for sharing. Fished ocean county this morning from 6-7:30. Threw poppers metal and rubber. One small blue otherwise it was pretty dead out there.

[Blazin420]

Finally a decent trip!! Fished MoCo from 5 till 10pm on Tuesday..stayed close to the truck in case the rain came..1st cast with a pencil I nail a 5lb blue then 3 more after that and a bunch of missed blow ups..Biggest was about 7-8lbs..Did see something fairly big roll on my pencil but missed it...Then im throwing my Yozuri Mag Minnow feel it hit the sand close in so I stop reeling to let it rise..Start back up and WHAM in the wash.Thought it was a blue but to my surprise it was REAL thick 24in flattie!!! First of the season and a beauty!! Looked about 4+lbs!!! Then another blue and to finish it off picked up a fiesty 22in bass on a mambo minnow.Had 1 other bass come off in the wash about dark but nothin else after that...Needless to say that fluke will be dinner this week ....

Tried again last night and fought the NE wind for a few hours ruff and fishy looking but only managed 2 good hits on a bucktail..Decided to try the back and get out of the wind but no one wash home were i was...