Summer is bustin’ out!
You knew it..right? That it was going to go from 58 degrees, rainy and windy directly to 90 and sunny without so much as a couple days warning. It really is mind blowing when you think about it. Our back bay temperatures and the water coming down the rivers could jump as much as 15 degrees in less than that many days, taking the spring patterns you were just starting to figure out, and toss them away like fish guts to a seagull.
So let’s try and make some sense out of this whole thing by going as un-scientific and un-political as possible. Rather than pull in former Vice-Presidents and debating Global Warming, we are just gonna call some guys and ask “what up?”
Dialed up Darryl over at Effingers in Bound Brook. He is a 100% freshwater fly and has been busy catching up at the Gorge. Nymph’s, RS2s, and Pheasant tails are taking rainbows in good numbers from 12- to 16 inches. His saltwater counterpart, Braden, has seen a big jump up in fluke near the beach up to 6 pounds. Gulp in either 4-inch Chartreuse Swimming Mullet or Ghost Shrimp New Penny have been the ticket. Big Mackerel strips working real well too. Some of those big Hudson stripers are making themselves known off the beach on clam and a Daiwa SP Minnow can be credited for at least one 40-pound bass from the beach at night. Further south, the boats are hitting real nice schools of blues jigging that have some bass mixed in. Sea bassin’ has also picked up since the wind dropped out.
Bob at Keyport Marine Basin is talking right in step on the fluke reports. Gulp is taking real nice flatties on the correct tides and a 28-pound bass weighed in taken on clams off of Old Orchard.
In Bradley Beach the action has been pretty hot out of The Bait Shop on Main Street. Dom and the boys has two really hot days of weighing stripers when the bunker came in tight. There were both numbers and weight coming in. Fluke fishing has been very good on GULP, squid strips, and frozen sand eels and there are blowfish everywhere.
At Julian’s Bait and Tackle in Atlantic Highlands the flukin’ is topping the report with lots of throwbacks in the ocean but still a good solid set of keepers being filleted. Stripers on worms and clams between the channels is a good strategy and monster head bluefish with runner skinny bodies are the takings on the beach.
Parker Pete runs his Parker out of Belmar and has had a real good week bottom fishing Most of his action has been in 60 to 80 feet with several trips taking limits of Sea bass, even though they had to sift through quite a few to get them. A few decent cod and ling over the rails as well. Fluking has been hit or miss and Pete is still waiting, like many others, for the charge of big stripers.
You can get great info and a few laughs starting at 4:30am Monday thru Friday at Atlantic Bait & Tackle in Middletown. Pete opens at 4 on Saturday and Sunday for your gear, bait & entertainment. Fluking has been pretty good in his area with GULP, killies, squid on 1- to 2-ounce bucktails. The bass seem to be holding pretty steady with anglers working stretch 25 in the bay. If you would rather stay in one spot, try some clam or bunker. There have been big bluefish on the beach and guys working the Shrewsbury Rocks with Stretch 30’s and bunker spoons making it happen. Need to know where the blitz is going to be tomorrow… call Pete…he has a chart.
Dave at The Reel Seat in Brielle has got the offshore info every time I call, and he shoots straight. Sea bass fishing has been very good and the wrecks have also given up some real nice cod. Dave took one himself at 22 pounds and saw a 41 pounder come over the rail. His passion for tile fishing got a good scratch on Monday and Tuesday with a good mix of golden and blues. His heaviest was a 32-pound golden hauled up from over 700 feet. He dropped the pool, however, when the biggest fish of the trip came up on the very last drift for another angler, weighing in over 50 pounds. That is some good eating my friends.
New to our network this week is Phillip at The Tackle Box in Hazlet. Phil reports some slammer blues being taken off of Kingsford. Fish from 10 to 14 pounds are not that uncommon. Fluking is pretty good on the boat you already know about, but the shallows seem to be working better than the deeper holes. South of Long Branch the bunker schools are holding bass near the beach with big pencil poppers of snagging being the ticket.
Also new this week is Joe from Joey’s Bait Shack in Belmar. Joe weighed a 29-inch, 12.5-pound fluke taken from land in Keyport from a bulkhead, whose name I will not repeat for fear of local repercussion. Lots of fluke on the Keyport flats as well. Big bluefish in the 10- to 15-pound range with one big 20-pounder hitting the scales. Bunker chunks are getting the big blues, and the local stripers seem to have switched over from clam to bunker noggins as a preference.
Best Bet for this weekend. Get out and get to work! It looks like 3- to 4-footers both days this weekend so getting out front should be do-able as long as you are not floating a canoe. We are in a SW flow so it will be plenty warm, and the shallows will be heating up early for the back bay crew. Work the whole day with different targets. Pre-dawn should have you on the beach working the suds, around the top and bottom of the tides in the back or near inlet flats fluking, and mid-tide working either your favorite striper drags on the troll or snagging and dragging if the bunker are nearby. If the reef is preferred, it is obvious there is plenty of action on the bottom.
We did not get a chance to really talk nearshore this week, but for those that really go for sharking, I’d highly recommend you take a shot at near shore structure this week. Granted, most of the big makos taken recently have been way off near the canyons, but the water is moving fast and there may be some real surprises inside the 30 line.
Stay Tuna-ed!