3 Days of Bunker Blasting Ahead
It is Memorial Day weekend, so before we do our report, let’s all take a brief break and remember all of the brave men and women, and their families, that have made the ultimate sacrifice to guarantee our way of life. Almost every shore town has some kind of War Memorial, so instead of just driving by on the way to fishing this weekend, how about stopping for a minute to pay your respects? There are too many heros on the streets of heaven, let us take at least a few moments this weekend to thank them all.
On with the news…
Remember Sgt. Phil Esterhaus from Hill Street Blues? He would do his daily roll call and then send all his guys off with a “Hey, let’s be careful out there.” The advice rings true for this upcoming weekend as hundreds of thousands pour out of the cities to our beautiful Jersey shore. It is going to be a madhouse along the coast, and particularly crazy in the back bays and inlets. There are too many guys that have been waiting to see how fast their new SeaRays and PWC’s can blow thru no wake zones, how close they can pin you to the jetties, and how long they can run their boats on auto-pilot without looking up from their martini shakers. Please assume nothing, watch out for the other guys, and make sure all of your safety gear is up to speed.
Based on the reports from our network up and down the Northern and Central sections of the state, you should make sure your fishing gear is up to speed as well.
For the bass, you should be prepared with medium to heavy casting gear (spinning or conventional, your choice) for live lining bunker off of the massive schools that have set up shop from north of Barnegat up into New York Harbor. Dropping a bunker noggin down to the bottom while you are snagging and dragging with another set up is, in my mind, mandatory now that the bluefish have shown up. There are plenty of big, lazy stripers laying on the bottom slurping up scraps on the bunker buffet while totally ignoring the action up top.
Trolling bunker spoons is a big fish strategy with chartreuse spoons (especially the Tony Majas) leading the pack, but you need to jump in with both feet tackle-wise. No hooking a spoon up to an old trolling set-up to get this done the right way. You can get away with that pulling stretches or umbrella rigs, but not the mighty bunker spoon. Long, strong yet flexible rods, wire line, and reels that will take the constant pounding that the spoons dish out. I have literally seen screws come loose and reels shaken apart by the violent action. No wonder they catch the eyes of consistently big fish.
I’ll do the whole “Tuning up for Tuna” thing next month, but in the meantime, let’s hit the phones and fill you in on what those in-the-know, know!
Starting in the shadow of Lady Liberty, Greg up at Liberty Landing Marina confirms that the bunker are still circling the wagons. I don’t know what the best view in Jersey CIty is, but seeing a big hole open up in the middle of a massive school of bunker is about as good as it gets in my world. Here is the report without any grey areas: They are whacking the bass… they are big. Go there.
At the Keyport Marine Basin they are weighing in fish. Stu Caldwell weighed a 27-pounder on a live-lined bunker, Lou Vacaturo clocked in a 21-pounder near Old Orchard on a bunker spoon and the fluke are chewing in the harbor near the sailboats. Is that a spot? Did I just burn a spot?
Steve up at Red Bank Marina has the first reports of peanuts showing up in the river. There are lots of bass up there as well with plenty of adult baits doing the “don’t eat me” tango. Take a roll up the Navesink near the hospital stretch. Live-lining is working up there as well as clams.
It’s not all about live bunker everywhere. Max up at Pride Bait & Tackle has meat on the scales and pencil popping angler Ted Rieman from Rumson is one of the ones up at the Hook hauling them in. A 28- and a 30-pound bass on the big stick from the beach. Capt. Derek on the Fischer Price III had two bass over 40 pounds in one day with 10 keepers total, the biggest tipped at 44 pounds. That is some serious kind of Red Bank catching. There are 3- to 5-pound blues all over the river near the Oceanic Bridge, fluking in the river has picked up, and even the blue claws have started dropping their sponges and cooperating.
Ernie at Giglio’s B&T in Sea Bright keeps the weigh in book and there have been lots of entries in it this week from the beach. Joe Davino from West Keansburg plugged himself up a 33-pound bass on a Daiwa SP Minnow, Vinnie Spawn from Marlboro nailed a 37-pounder, and Lou Finnigan a 31-pounder. The big story though, is a big flattie caught by 6-year-old John Spetz from Highland on a day outing with his Dad. With a little coaching, this young angler brought a 7-pound fluke to the net and fed the family for the first time. That’s the kind of fish tale I’d like to have a front row seat for.
Even though most of the bunker is out of casting range, the boys from Surf Side B&T did get treated to a nice blitz on Monday off the beach in Long Branch. The few that were there when it happened got their limit of mid-20-pound bass crashing the shallows. Steve reports that there has also been a push of fluke out into the shallow suds with light tackle guys throwing bucktails with strips doing the best. Sounds like a great time to stake up a big bait rod and do a little flipping while waiting for the big knockdown.
Check this out: Kevin at Long Branch B&T really wanted to head home after a long day, but so many guys were dragging big stripers to the scales that he had to keep being the weigh master until almost 11pm! He weighed in 63 – that’s not a typo – 63 fish including Mike Duffy’s 43-pound bass and Ryan Perri’s 47-pounder. Ryan caught his on a boat with a bunker, but Duffy’s was a beach fish taken on a … wait for it… pencil popper. Wow! Big Rich popped a 35, Dom DiGeranimo a 39.5… what are you waiting for?
I missed Dave at The Reel Seat in Brielle doing my rounds but his crew reports that the bass are still pretty strong up near the rocks with the bite this week considerably hotter in the afternoon. Snagging and dropping is the top strategy if you can eyeball the action, but running chartreuse bunker spoons (Maja #4’s were hot) is putting some big fish on the deck. Always good for reliable offshore intel, the guys tell me that there is still a decent bluefin bite going on in the vicinity of the Chicken Canyon both on the troll and, if you can mark them, on the jig as well. Also, sea bassing on the wrecks has been outstanding this week for those that made it out.
Chris from Harry’s Army Navy in Robbinsville keeps a pretty tight watch on the river and it is dropping down for those of you that work the line. There have been lots of shorts caught back in Shark River and spotty reports out of Manasquan, due to the big swell. It got real nasty there this past week.
Ron at Fisherman’s Supply Point Pleasant had his customers doing real well later in the week near the Red Church. There are lots of blues in the Canal if you are looking to donate some light tackle and bass are still keying in on swimming shad baits. A few of his offshore guys confirm that the sea bassing and ling catching has been great on mid-shore structure.
Mark at Alex’s B&T has still got some Jersey Jay Croc spoons in the shop, but most of his are out the door catching bass. The invasion of the bluefish has officially started up there with plenty of 5- to 8-pounders in the inlet. Fluking has picked up with guys tipping bucktails with live killies, strip baits, and Gulp. By the way, Alex’s is on summer hours now, open 7 days rain or shine. The lights are on until 9P during the week and 11P on weekends.
This is the big weekend that Capt. Bob on the 90-foot Gambler starts really working overtime. He is running striper trips, fluking trips, nighttime wreck trips, and nighttime blueish and striper trips. For times, days, and full info give him a call at (732) 295-7569, or hit his website at www.gamblerfishing.net.
Speaking of working overtime, Reel Life B&T goes 24 hours a day from Friday morning at 5 am straight through Sunday at 9 pm. Hear that night owls? No reason at all to stay home with the family now! They are also running their monster annual Tent sale this weekend from 9-5. Rods, reels, and rigs at closeout pricing… this is big event and worth the trip.
We don’t want to neglect our freshwater friends, so we reached out to our favorite lake Hopatcong reporter, Laurie Murphy at Dow’s Boat rentals. It seems the last weeks started out good with lots of walleye and stripers hitting on bait during the day and whacking topwaters at night. Bombers, Knuckleheads and Zara Spooks have been getting the best results. Fishing slowed a little towards the end of the week but the lake has come up some with the rain and is less than a foot down now.
Best Bet for the next three days is to first, “be careful out there,” and then grab your kid, your buddy, and hit the road to what may possibly be the most insane, big striper fishing weekend of the year so far. The bunker are here, the big girls have come down the river, our people are catching from the beach and the boats and it is most certainly, GAME ON! GO! NOW!