An amazing weekend
That weekend was pure insanity, both in the shop and in the surf. The shop was so busy it kept both Ray and Scott of social media. That is one heck of an accomplishment.
The fishing was lights out fantastic. Plenty of striped bass were caught, and most were well above the 38 inch maximum size limit here in New Jersey. Bunker was the top bait, and it was selling so quickly we had trouble keeping it in the shop at times. We kept the bait guy very, very busy this weekend. He moved so many pounds of bunker, his poor chiropractor is going to have his work cut out for him. After all these adjustments, maybe his chiropractor won’t be so poor anymore.
Those fishing bunker chunks were reporting that the heads were catching the most and the biggest fish. For those not using bait, metal lip swimmers, gliders, poppers, SP Minnows, and Mag darters were the ticket. Out on kayaks and boats, anglers jigging flutter spoons or heavy swim shads did well working around the bunker schools. The boats that were dragging wire with bunker spoons also took their share of big bass. (We have a few pre-built wire line rod combos ready to go in the shop for those who want to try this).
Here are some of the catches that came in this weekend.
Reg Legaki got a nice 43 inch bass in the early morning on a plastic swimming plug.
This un-named angler got this fish in the surf on a bunker head.
Grumpys regular Drew sent in this picture of his 40 inch bass. He had a day for himself by catching and releasing a 38”, 37” and 26” fish all on fresh bunker.
Rich Toepfer sent in this artistic photo of a chunky striped bass he landed in the surf.
David A. Cooper, i.e. “Fishless Dave,” is fishless no more. He landed this fish on fresh bunker.
Not every fish was so big it needed to be released. Joe Bernhauser invited this 34 inch, 13.5 pound bass home for dinner.
Last, and certainly not least, Frank Gaddo landed this 50 inch striped bass Sunday night on IBSP on fresh bunker.
Not all fishing is striped bass, however. Our own Jenni was out with the BNR Crew and caught this nice tautog on an S&S White Chin Wrecker tipped with green crab. If you don’t want to head out in a boat, there are plenty of blackfish being caught from the banks of the Point Pleasant Canal too.
The mad rush on bunker nearly broke Ray. He said he has never seen bunker go out the door so quickly before. With our 600 plus pound delivery on Sunday evening, he was very relieved…
What Ray doesn't know is we have had lots of reports of big striped bass to the north of us, so this won't be over anytime soon.