Best Fishes!
Talking to all the guys in the shops and some of the other charter captains is one of the high points of my week. We trade some stories, talk about how we did the last week; it is almost like sitting around a bar with your buddies, without the tequila, of course.
Ever since I finished the report last week, I was all cranked up to go long form cheerleader on you guys,(try not to visualize that, it will make your brain hurt) about sea bass in 2013, the awesome late striper run, and the reports of monster bluefin that everyone is talking about while trying not to say anything.
Here is the deal on sea bass, since there was some confusion about the bag limit in the initial announcements. Black sea bass will be open in January and February 2013. The minimum length will be 12½ inches and the bag limit is 15 fish per angler (NOT 20, as first released). Let’s also remember that when you measure a sea bass that it is from the tip of the snout to the end of the main tail fin section, not the end of the protruding spine at the top of the tail. If you are traveling hours in the cold to catch them, let’s hope they are all too big to have to even think of measuring anyway!
While we are at it, let’s vent! Not about the regulations, about actually venting. Sea bass that have been hauled up from the bottom will, in many cases, have barotrauma. A big word that means that their body gasses have basically expanded and pushed their digestive tracts out through their body openings. If you just throw them back, they will float and die. With a proper tool, like a big gauge hypodermic needle or a venting tool, you can puncture the body cavity a couple inches behind the pectoral fin, in line with the fourth dorsal spine. You will hear the gasses escape through the tool. DO NOT punch a hole in the protruding stomach with an ice pick or a hook. That is the fish’s stomach bulging out of its mouth, and puncturing it may deflate it but you are not doing the fish any good.
Let’s see what the crew has been up to this week, and put together a plan for this weekend.
First thing Ron at Fisherman’s Supply in Point Pleasant asked me to do was to extend Happy Holiday wishes to all of his customers and suppliers….. check! There is still a good shot of picking u stripers in the river, but things have slowed a little out front. Fish have been taken near Dog Beach from the low teens up to 37 inches. White shad bodies are working in that area as a school of bunker has set up in the neighborhood. Fly fishermen like this area and have been connecting. Blackfishing continues to be good.
Over at Reel Life, also in Point Pleasant, the boys suggest taking a stroll on the beach with a teaser. Most of the fish being caught are shorts, but there is pretty good action. Tossing a clam for a keeper is not a bad idea either. Those boats that are still in the water and will to go a little deeper are being rewarded with nice blackfish. Bob, Mike and all the guys wish all of you a Happy Holiday as well, and wanted me to remind you that they will be open all winter.
Capt. Bob on the all new Gambler managed to beat the weather a couple days this past week and sneak out for some striper action. The fishing has slowed but he did manage to put some nice fish in the box. This is great vessel for running to the sea bass grounds so call to check the schedule and make a reservation for a spot on the rail once the trips start. 732-295-7569.
I got a chance to connect with Tom over at Jersey Coast Bait & Tackle in Brick this morning. If you have not had a chance to get all your fishing gifts for the holidays and are in his zone, you should take a run over to get in on his “Stayin’ Alive” sale. All kidding aside, they got hammered by Sandy and are having a real rough go of it. Tom has had some real nice bluefin being taken on those big, ugly looking Spanko jigs (16-24oz). I don’t know why they work, but they do. They are in stock.
Crossing over the imaginary Blackfish/Tog line in the state, we move to Guatemala Dave at Absecon Bay Sportsmen’s Center. I saw Dave on a charter this past week reeling in a couple of nice stripers in the inlet in his boat. He is always happy to fill you in on the wheres & whens of working the Atlantic City area. Give him a shout at 609-484-0409.
Team TackleDirect was on the water this past week with both stripers and tog in their sights. A couple of real nice keepers taken on live spot in Absecon inlet around the top of the tide took care of one itch, and a new wreck anchor at at the GE Reef took care of the other. Between the huge in-house inventory and their new gift card program, it is the perfect stop for that last minute gift for the family angler. You can even send the wife and kids next door to Produce Junction to pick out a tree while you are in the store making up you last minute wish list. Everyone at TackleDirect wanted me to extend warm wishes to all of you for the Holiday Season.
Ed and the boys at Fin-Atics on West Ave in Ocean City have still been picking bass in the back on soft plastics, and off the beach with both clam and bunker baits. Things have slowed a little on the GE Inlet bite, but it is tough to really tell since so few boats are actually working the area. Tog fishing has been exceptional at near shore snags, and Ed even heard of a 17-pound togzilla swung over the rail nearby….. WOW!
Mike at Sea Isle Bait & Tackle backs that up in his area. He has a customer that has a few spot and like to drift eels in the back and he has been catching almost every evening. The tog fishing on all the area reefs is off the hook with not only numbers but decent sizes. Mike weighed in a 13-pounder last week.
Fishing Forecast
Best Bet for this weekend? I am afraid that Mother Nature is throwing us a curveball with a seriously bad looking inshore forecast. Big waves, big winds, no fun. That does not mean that you can’t find a place to wet a line if you can get out of the way a little. Inlets can provide some decent shelter and there are still fish being caught in the back. I guess all those tog on the nearshore wrecks are just going to get a little break from us beating them for a few days, but they will be even hungrier when it flattens out! Fisherman’s logic.
In the housekeeping department, Mike and I will be alternating weeks for the balance of the winter and doing a consolidated North and South New Jersey report. That does not mean that you can’t still get all the latest intel right here, it just means you are going to have to hear about how a couple guys from Teaneck snuck out to the Hudson to fill the boat with tilefish before you get the scoop on your neighborhood.
In the meantime, from my family to yours, Best Fishes for a wonderful holiday season.
Stay Tuna-ed!