Good fishing all around the shop
We have had some good reports from all around the shop this weekend. Here is the recap...
The Striped Bass are still in the surf and are still eating. The best bet to land one is still by using bait. Both fresh bunker and clams (Fresh shucked or salted) are working. If you want to throw lures, Daiwa SP Minnows, Yo-Zuri Mag Darters, and Kettle Creek Shads have been working well. We even had one take a surface plug in the surf (see below).
Here are a couple catches from the surf this past weekend.
Dan and Will brought in a 30 inch striper that pulled the scale down to 9 pounds. It fell for a well presented SP Minnow out in Island Beach State Park. Nice fish guys.
Robby brought in a nice 34 inch, 14.85 pound striper he landed in the surf on a popping plug. He reported seeing bunker schools being harassed by fish. Nice fish Robby.
Bluefish are also roaming the surf, but not quite as plentiful as they were earlier (read on to see where they might have gone). The ones still there are hitting surface plugs, SP Minnows, and Ava Jigs.
In the back bay, there are still small striped bass around. They are taking smaller lures, Kettle Creek Shads, Tsunami Holographic Swim Shads, and Storm Wildeye Swim shads being the best bet.
There are also some larger bass in the backwaters, as our own Scott proves. He picked up this fish on his kayak using an S&S Bucktails Casting Mojo. We don't have these online (yet), so if you want one (or three) shipped to you, reach out to us on our Contact Us page and we will get them out to you.
Boats going out for black sea bass had mixed results. Boats that stayed inshore didn't do as well as those that went deep. And those that drifted over the wrecks and structure didn't do as well as those that anchored. Boats who anchored out deep had lights our sea bass fishing. Clams were the ticket.
The big bluefish have returned to the backwaters. Or, they came back out of hiding back there. Either way, the big blues are back in the bay. Instagram user @ricardo.lutz sent us the following photo of a nice bluefish he picked up that was NOT in the ocean. Great fish!
Just before closing Sunday evening we had a number of excited anglers running into the shop for fresh bunker. They were getting big bluefish on one of the local bayside docks, "one after the other."
Some of you who came to the shop Saturday night may have noticed that Ray was missing. Our esteemed rod builder, Blackcloud Bob was telling folks that Ray's hemorrhoid ruptured. We are happy to say reports of the demise of Henry were greatly exaggerated. (Yes, Ray gave it a name...). What was really going on? Ray went turkey racing...
