NJ Fishing Reports for September 2013.....wwwStripersAndAnglers.com

[J Barbosa]

Fished from sunset to 11pm and managed two small bass, a few missed hits and a fluke. Both bass took a black teaser right at my feet.

Saw two other shorts caught as well.

The little action around only lasted roughly an hour right after sunset.

[finchaser]

Very nice

[DarkSkies]

Nice effort people.

Went to bed at 8pm last night so I could get up and fish the right tides at night.
Fished 2 prime locations. Some smaller bass are starting to move in to a few NJ areas. For those reading that statement, take those words with a grain of salt. The night bass boats are not even doing that great so far. The Fishermen, fishing eels in the channels, got no fish at all Wed night, and only managed to pull a few out of a hat, for last night's Thu bass trip.

When a veteran party boat Capt, is fishing eels in the channels at night and has trouble putting a catch together....you know the fishing is bad....and it's not the fault of a bad drift, the reason given for the poor fishing....

** It's just another indication that there are less bass around. We have really hammered these fish, year after year, and now are starting to see the results of that.......despite what NOAA says.

If you counted on your hands all the places in NJ where bass fishing is consistent or worthwhile right now, you would come up with the same few locations. This isn't great when you are approaching a weekend and know others will be out there. If you don't like crowds, or dawn and dusk fishing, when most are out there to take advantage of the 1 hour feeding window, you try to develop other areas that may be out of the way, or incaccessible for some.

Those are the areas I worked on last night. Each time out I try to rotate to different areas. When the fishing is as spotty at night as it has been, this helps me to see the bigger picture, and get a feel if bass action is really starting to heat up. What I am finding, is that other than the handful of popular locations, it doesn't appear to be getting better, at this time, for someone like me who wants to fish in solitude.....









The areas I visited last night have proven very productive for me, bass and bigger bluefish, this time of year.
Every year except for this one.
After a few hours, I knew it was not going to happen. Found a few mullet but not much else in terms of bait concentration.
Couldn't even manage a missed fish this time. for me.



Sorry if the report seems negative...but I have to report the good, with the bad.....
Hope the rest of ya's have better luck than that this weekend.

[finchaser]

KOD (Kiss of death) unfortunately that was then this is now. Yes they have been hammered and lets not forget when you fished all winter and needed to photograph fish in freezing cold and snow. May they rest in peace

[DarkSkies]

^^^ Now that's the Old Grouchy Basstid we know and love.....

I'm single handedly responsible for affecting the Striped bass population?......yup, those few hundred fish I C&R in the Winter were the future......it's all on me now....

I like it when you're full of **** and vinegar.....like today.....
Much better than when you're grouchy and surly....like last month.....

[buckethead]

I fished nomoco this morning. Overcast sky and decent looking water. Managed a few hickory shad on small plugs in the dark. Some good action with small blues once it got light out but it was not long lasting. No bass caught by me or anyone else fishing there for the sunrise.

[storminsteve]

We are very close to the conditions that existed before the last moratorium.

couldn't agree more and at a faster pace

When a veteran party boat Capt, is fishing eels in the channels at night and has trouble putting a catch together....you know the fishing is bad....and it's not the fault of a bad drift, the reason given for the poor fishing....

** It's just another indication that there are less bass around. We have really hammered these fish, year after year, and now are starting to see the results of that.......despite what NOAA says.

Sorry if the report seems negative...but I have to report the good, with the bad.....
Hope the rest of ya's have better luck than that this weekend.

Thanks for the honesty gentlemen.

[J Barbosa]

I saw Ron moving around at least a dozen times last night...always a clear sign that the fishing sucks. 10 fares on board tops.

After thinking about the missed hits last night I really need a sharper hook on my teasers.

I originally tied them on Mustad Stainless 34007 hooks. The stainless is appealing because I can get home after a long night and not have to worry about washing them but they are not that sharp.

Thats a problem when your getting hits close in and don't want to set the hook and send trebles flying.

[storminsteve]

IThats a problem when your getting hits close in and don't want to set the hook and send trebles flying.

No sir that would not be too cool.

[hookset]

Steve that is a nasty pic hope that didn't happen to you. Fished Nomoco end of day into the dark. Massive body of small blues periodically crashing rainfish in the surf. They were moving south fast, managed 11 before dark. Then some bass moved in with mullet. 2 short bass on ml swimmers.

[finchaser]

tonight 9 to11:30 released a micro bass and bluefish, bass on SP and the blue on rubbbbbbbbbbbba both on white

[buckethead]

Nice going hookset and finchaser. Fished nomoco from 6-8, Few blues and a flurry of activity on ss littleneck popper. All the activity ceased by 7am.

[robmedina]

cool I just purchased a ss little neck popper.

[storminsteve]

Nice going gents. Tried a few spots in moco this afternoon. White water monty would have been in heaven. The thing is there was a lot of white water it was dirty in some places and there definitely were not much fish around. Saw some birdplay about 1/2 mile off but no boats or fishermen were on them. Wind was NE. Got the skunk. Where are all those internet guys that talk about the great catching when it blows noreast? Didn't see anyone out there bailing fish today.

[J Barbosa]

Had a nice night with good weather and no crowds

Started at midnight and around 4:30am the morning crew started to show up. Decided to call it quits as not much was going on. Overall a very slow night.

Didn't see a spec of bait all night.

[finchaser]

fished 10 till 2 AM released 3 bass to 22" like JB said no evidence of any bait all on jig head and white Lunker City shaker tail

[baitstealer]

Nice catching guys I was out in nomoco today fished 4-6. It seemed like fishy water but there was not a lot of fish there. I got one sea robin on an ava and that was it. The wind was blowing from the south east and the waves were big it was like a perfect surf fishing dream that zeno talks about but there were no takers except for the sea robin. When is the fall run going to start?

[finchaser]

cool I just purchased a ss little neck popper.

Rob in case you are unaware SS plugs:
with black eyes sink
with green eyes float
with red eyes they are pre loaded

[jigfreak]

Hit somoco for a few hours in the dark. Water dirty and big swell.

[robmedina]

Rob in case you are unaware SS plugs:
with black eyes sink
with green eyes float
with red eyes they are pre loaded

Yup- I got a floating so it should be green eyes. ( I ordered it online) in the meantime I grabbed a little Creek Chub popper from a local bait store and it is a sinking popper. Not sure why poppers are made to sink, kind of defeats the purpose. But if you pop it quick it stays on top.