NJ fishing reports for September 2010

[LennyD]

Nice pictures C4!
Im going out tomorrow afternoon, ill let you guys know whats out there.
I like that plug!!!!

[DarkSkies]

G and I hit the back bay tonight to load up on some spot and kingfish. Our plan was to get some for him, and let me use some of the smaller ones to liveline from the yak in deeper water. The plan fell apart as we fished an hour of the ebb with worms and couldn't get a tap. It seems as if the spot and kingfish either left or the bite is better in the late afternoon before dark.

There were a few tiny snapper blues around. This is the first year in a long time I've seen large parts of the bay barren of any bait this early in the season.

We got a call that there were some adult bunker and nice bass crashing them in the dirty water, so we trucked on over there to try to find them. By that time the wind kicked in much harder than forecast. It started SW but shifted to a straight S of sustained 20+mph, churning up the water and putting the fish and bunker down.

Highlight of the night -
We saw what we joked about was a flying saucer. Turned to be the Metlife blimp as it got closer. It was having trouble making headway in the building wind, and had to move along by porpoising its nose directly into the wind.

Met some other nuts fishin bunker, no one else out there. We spent the next half hour watching that blimp being pushed around like a bunker underneath a school of angry bluefish, swerving up and down in the sea of air above. It crab-walked across the sky until we couldn't see it any more.

I hope it made it back to port, it was a little hairy to watch. Bet the piliot and any passengers poured themselves a few stiff drinks when they got home tonight.

[finchaser]

Fished this AM with RIP for bass and caught fluke,no signs of life as far as the Eye could see in any direction.

Our next plan of attack is to go for fluke so we can catch bass.

[rip316]

Fin, Great to finally fish with you. Thanks for taking the time out to fish with me. Tomorrow is a new day. Maybe I should bring my fluke rod so I can catch a bass. See ya friend.

[fishinmission78]

OC this AM, goose eggs.

[buckethead]

MOCO last night tried some metal and some darters got .

[c4charlie]

I got out a 1/2 hr before storm and then drove around watching lightning from Monmouth to Ocean County and back trying to figure out when the coast was clear to get back out of the vehicle. I waited it out and picked up one short bass MOCO. I even checked the inside on the way home which has been disappointing thus far this season. Felt like more driving than fishing and it was way too calm after the storm with skinny water. Got the fish on a Tsunami sandeel next to a jetty.

Here are some pics from the other day I went out (same lure)...

[DarkSkies]

Nice effort, Charlie, the storms were a little hairy last night.

I even checked the inside on the way home which has been disappointing thus far this season.

I definitely agree with that, the understatement of the year.
Last year and for a few solid years before that we enjoyed hot action with big blues and teen bass in many of the inside spots almost until Columbus Day. This year sucks in those areas by comparison. I'm not too accepting of it either, just crabby.






Fishin report 9-23 AM
Had 1 1/2 hrs for some hit and run fishing starting at 6:45 am. Started by casting for albies, my first albie effort this year. I had a cool old-skool rig Finchaser made up for me but there were no albies to be found this morning, either on the surface or blind casting.

There was an abundance of small bait in the wash and pockets, very small profile, not spearing, maybe rainfish approx 1-1 1/2" long. No mullet or other bait in the mix where I was.

After casting awhile and realizing the albies weren't showing, I switched to an ava 007 and picked up a few cocktail blues. Action died as it got brighter out, despite me making 2 more quick moves to similar areas holding bait.

The ocean wasn't that bad considering last night's storms. Not clear but not too dirty either, no weeds, and fishable. Saw a few kayakers out there, but not much action for them either. Ran into Shorelady and FoxyFisher on the way out, nice to meet you hardcore fishin gals.

Made a few more stops before giving up, beautiful dead water at each location. Ran into an old-time sharpie I hadn't seen in a while. We spent some time discussing how we feel we got cheated out of big surf bluefish this year. It's something we look forward to annually, and this year sucked for the surf guys in terms of consistency, if you compare it with the action just a few short years ago.

On the way home I made quite a few stops to check out for myself some intel about bait that had been passed along to me. The back bay area was pretty dirty and weedy from the rains.

Again, I want to state that many back areas that held bait last year are barren this year. Spearing are in abundance in many places, I don't see much difference in that amount.
However, mullet, peanuts, etc are less spread out than last year, particularly peanuts. I did find peanuts about 3", and some 6" mullet at one of the places I stopped at. They were about a 70/30 mullet to peanut ratio, almost the exact opposite from the numbers at this time 2 years ago.

There are some places where the mullet still remain thick. I'm not so sure all will be leaving with this full moon, only time will tell.

And as for adult bunker, I can report to the anglers out there, look for concentrations of adult bunker starting to show along Jersey any day now. You won't see miles of them, but they are there, and moving South, either slightly offshore or within view of the beach.

Good luck to all fishin this weekend.

[captnemo]

And as for adult bunker, I can report to the anglers out there, look for concentrations of adult bunker starting to show along Jersey any day now. You won't see miles of them, but they are there, and moving South, either slightly offshore or within view of the beach.

Good luck to all fishin this weekend.

Good call dark, we were out today and found bunker off SH, down about 20'. We focused on bottom fishing, though, and got a few sea bass and a porgy limit on rough bottom in the bay.

[fishinmission78]

Fished the park before work, got some small blues to 5lb, one bass 33", diamond jig with green tail. Bait was popping up and down.

[cowherder]

Hey nice catch c4charlie, could I ask you how heavy that tsunami sand eel is? Are you throwing it as a teaser, or by itself? If by itself, how do you get it out there when it's windy out?

[LennyD]

Nice catch C4!

[LennyD]

Fished the park before work, got some small blues to 5lb, one bass 33", diamond jig with green tail. Bait was popping up and down.

Nice! Its good to see some bass over 30"

[clamchucker]

A few short bass on a needlefish this morning at sunrise, MoCo.

[finchaser]

Fished this AM South wind and current shut them down nothing like yesterday morning

[DarkSkies]

Fished this AM South wind and current shut them down

I thought it was me that shut them down. Ya can blame me anytime Killie isn't around to kill the bite....feel free.


AM Report:
I fished the ocean this morning. Ran into Finchaser. Fished together for awhile. There was no bait with the S wind and swell, the only life in the ocean was the dolphins feeding 500' offshore. Fishin sucked, so we moved to another beach. Ran into Rip, who was pluggin away. I checked his pockets for bait, lo and behold, NO Bait!!!!! he was a pluggin' maniac this morning. It didn't do us any good, as Fin said the S pattern is a "stay at home and sleep" pattern. Hey, we gave it a shot anyway, nice fishing wit youse guys!


PM report:
The foggy and overcast day made me drool. Surely there was someplace else that would be happening on this cloudy day?

I took the yak out to find it. Had about 2 hours of good fishin before the sun came out. After that it was a slow pick, but I had consistent action for the rest of the ebb.

Managed 11 bass to 26", 10 porgies to 14". Most on the T&W, but I also drifted worms over structure. Report in the Kayak fishing reports thread.

[LennyD]

Fished the park this am, few strikes on a popper and ML swimmer by "baby" blues, then by 8am, Albie heaven!!! Albies were busting water, jumping out as far as the eyes can see, about 1/4 to 1/2 mi off shore!!!

[DarkSkies]

^^ So close you could taste them, eh? So close, yet so far,,,
Tell me you didn't bring your yak out with you today.

[cowherder]

Fished this morn, moco, 6-7:30was throwing a very small ss popper, got some small bluefish, and a lot of missed strikes. I tried to slow it down but it seems they were kind of wary of the plug. Lots of small bait in the water.

[wish4fish]

at the hook early, 3 hrs fishin for 4 small bluefish. where are the big blues?