Beach Bite Is On
First, shop news. It’s a short one.
For the tog anglers, we have some shears for you. FJ Neil Dolphin Handi-Shears have stainless blades to trim the legs and a shell cracker in the handle, all without breaking the bank. And for all the other anglers, these will cut mono or braid, and will let you trim up bait like squid or make quick work of bloodworms. And you won't need to anger anyone in your household by stealing the kitchen shears.
The fishing remains good. The drum bite in the bay has slowed down, but has not stopped. We are hearing of a couple caught each day, mostly in the evenings.
The striped bass bite in the bay is still going too. Bloodworms or clams for that. There has been a good mix of sizes to, from shorts to slots to overs. Lures are starting to work. Soft plastics like kettle creeks and the like. Also heard of a few hitting topwaters like spooks.
The hottest bite is on the ocean side, however. Bass of all sizes are taking clams. Not much action on artificials here as the water is colder than the bay, but the clam bite is certainly making it exciting. The high tide has been the best time to go, but we have heard of fish caught on all tides.
We have heard some reports of bluefish, both in the surf and in the back bay. No pictures yet to share, but it seems that run is about to start.
Some recent catches:
Our cover shot: From @jameskrewson, “Just landed on Grumpys clam”
“Weren’t you just here a minute ago?” @michaellunger has been running in and out of the shop all day getting some salted clams and has been crushing the bass. He came back this last time after sending in a ton of reports to weigh in this nice slot for dinner.
@bstoune is finding bass out front on clams.
While we’re hearing of lots of action out front, the back bays are still producing. Here’s Mark with his first striper.
Gianluca and Paolo Found some bass out front Sunday on clams. As Blackcloud Bob said, if those kids smile any more their faces are going to split open.
Ray, Sean, Frank and Jenni from Grumpys took a ride south to do some blackfishing. Joining them was John, the president of the Berkeley Striper Club. High hook this trip was John (don’t let his title and club fool you, John knows tog), followed closely by Ray and Sean. All of them released female blackfish approaching double digits, and kept their limit of smaller males. Releasing the big breeder tog helps preserve the fishery. Jenni got a few when she finally switched to jigs, and Frank proudly got the one he needed. It made the long trip south worth it. How far south did they go? Frank’s bycatch should be a big hint…
