Got Striper?

OK, I gotta rant a little here.

Sea Bass is closed.  If you can think of a good reason to close Sea bass for two weeks, please email me, I think it is simply ridiculous.  Blackfish/Tog might just as well be closed for those of us that actually follow the rules.  A bag limit of 1 is as good as none. Then there is the whole weakfish scenario.  I still can’t buy into a bag limit of 1.  Either keep it shut down to rebuild, or open it up enough so it is worth fishing.  They change tuna regs and sea bass regs like socks.  After such a successful weakfish season in both size and numbers, couldn’t we have gotten a mid-stream gear change here?  I’m the first one to admit that I am no marine biologist, but I have always considered myself at the very least, logical.

OK.  I feel a little better after venting.  Back to stripers.

It’s hard.  You sit and you wait and you wait.  You read the North Jersey reports, and you wait. You take a run on the boat to make sure everything is in tip-top shape, and then you wait.  You go out on the beach, make a few hundred casts, maybe grab yourself a rat, and then you wait.  The fall run is not really running in our region yet.  There is some action, but is more like my grandmother walking than a decent sprint.

I’m tired of waiting, so let’s do something, besides spinning our wheels.   Let’s mix in a little guy talk when we run around the shops this week.  Each one is kicking in a tip; tackle, timing, tides… let’s get a little smarter together for the upcoming week, just in case this isn’t the week the lid blows off.

Up by The Hook, nighttime is the right time.  For the last week or so anglers throwing eels at night have been connecting with keeper bass, but monsters they are not. The 28- to 33-inch fish are just fine in my book.  Over the last couple days, according to Ron at Fishermans Supply, they have been picking up on plastics as well.  Slug-Gos, and other sand eel imitations will work.  Ron recommends that if you are throwing any plug, you should be throwing a teaser with it.  A solid good first tip.

There are still cocktail blues working the beach and the blackfishing is rock solid in the Tom’s River area.  George at Go Fish Bait and Tackle did not have to think a second when I asked him for a tip.  “Fish the back bay at night.  The skinny water is still holding bait and the dock lights are still attracting tons of grass shrimp”.  There is a little bit of timing involved fishing the lights, but once you have them dialed in on the outside edges of the light, you will be rocking.

Rich over at Jersey Hooker Outfitters (the name of this shop always makes me smile for some reason), heard a little reassuring news from a couple of his customers in the last two days.  A few small bass were being taken inshore, but more importantly some of the gator blues that were mixed in with the smaller bass were barking up sand eels.  There was a lot of concern if they were going to show up inshore again, since that was the primary reason last Fall was so off the hook.  Rich’s tip for the week is for his blackfishing guys.  He suggests taking a try with some of the newer, chemically sharpened octopus or Virginia styles hooks instead of the older styles.  They really can make a difference.  Point Pleasant canal with green crabs is the ticket.

Although some migratory bass did show up over the past weekend off Monmouth and Asbury Park, the general consensus was that it was a quick visit and that small body pushed east outside legal limits.  Bob over at Reel Life Bait and Tackle Point Pleasant is feeling what many of us are right now, a little frustrated on waiting for the main body of stripers to show up.  Tip-wise, with the good sand-eel news in the area, he suggests a change of jig for when it does light up. There are a bunch of new sand eel imitations jigs out there now including those from Run Off and Red Eye.  Both worth checking out.

Over in Seaside Heights, there are still some mullet in the surf, so the little blues are around to bend a rod.  John at Dock Outfitters is joining the “hurry up and wait” group, but has had a few bass hit the scales in the low teens.  His tip for locals is “mambo minnow, on a flouro leader, in the dark”.  Tough to argue.  Up the road in Seaside Park, Lou at Seaside Sam’s still has his guys throwing the net and using either live or frozen mullet on a mullet rig.  That is his tip for best bet.

Team TackleDirect has been beatin’ the beaches hard the last couple of weeks.  Even with all those surf plugs on the wall, the return on cast-vestment has not been great.  Only a couple of dawn and evening bass from the Longport/Ocean City area, and the offshore scene is literally no news from anyone.  A strong tip from the Team though, it is absolutely time to re-spool.  Many anglers multi-task their striper gear for a variety of applications over the summer, and if structure was anywhere in your picture, the last thing you want to do is have a nick in your braid cost you the striper you have been waiting and working so hard for.  Get new braid, or reverse what is on there.

Ed and Justin from Fin-Atics in Ocean City have been fishing hard this past week with pretty good results, again, at night.  There is a lot of good-sized tog in the area that are taking greenies.  Ed’s tip for the week, is to work the structure hard.  Piers, rock piles, sandbars all qualify.  The fish that are in the neighborhood are relating to structure.

There is a little island of hot action going on in the Sea Isle area.   When the bait is flushing out of the back through Townsends in the afternoon, the bluefish and weakies are blasting the heck out of it.  Has been happening for a couple days now according to Joe at Two Chums Bait and Tackle.  Couple of his part-time guys have also been killing it on area flats throwing top waters for stripers.  Mostly schoolies, but the fish are showing some sea lice which is a great sign that they are in there from open water.  Joe’s tip is to grab the light tackle, find a spot on the Avalon side, and start casting!

Mike at Sea Isle Bait and Tackle finally had one of his guys bring one of the red drum in to the shop that have been the talk of the area.  Hey, you just don’t really see that many redfish up here!  Mike’s guys have been connecting at night, working the shadow lines of area bridges and have consistently been bring home the bacon.  Mike’s tip, don’t skimp on the fluorocarbon.  Especially when fishing at night, pay the couple bucks extra for the better quality.  It really does make a difference.

I suppose since I went through the effort of assembling all this knowledge, I should toss in a tip myself. It is not a new one, if you have read me before.  The most important tool  in your arsenal is your cell phone.  You should be trading numbers with every fisherman you strike up a decent conversation with on the beach, on the dock, or in a shop.  More than any other time of year, things happen fast in the Fall.  You are on a need to know basis, with everyone!

It is going to keep blowing into the weekend and as of Thursday afternoon seas are still forecast to be 4-foot-plus which, in most cases, takes the long trips offshore pretty much off the table.  Since it is generally coming out of the South, the air temps should be comfortable but not making any positive impact on the surf temps.  We really need them to take a dive.

Best bet for this weekend looks like grabbing a bag of green crabs and hitting the blackfish/tog population.  I guess you could call it practice for next month and keep one as reward for your good effort.  There isn’t any question the calendar says it is striper season so the possibility of a rough school showing up nearby is truly real, but I’d give it at least another week of waiting.  I’ll be hitting the beach early and late, since that’s just what I do this time of year, and waxing the FmTuna.  Just getting ready for when it finally gets going.

Stay Tuna-ed!