7-23 - 7-28-2009

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hengstthomas

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CHP 7-23 / 7-24-09 The Bait and Switch :)
I hit the pier around 8:30pm and saw a friend at the first light so I stopped and shot the breeze and made a few casts . I was told that they had a few bites but no hookups .. 2nd cast I land a small 12" TB Flounder My friend Dave and I hit the next light with me getting another small 12" Tb Flounder . We moved up another light and Found Drew working the light with a friend . He didnt stay long and no hookups at that light . I tell Dave I am headed out to find Sport thnking he should have a spot locked down but when I found him he was about to head home .. I ran into JoeS and talked with him for a bit and then told him he should follow me out as far as we can get .. Dave and I headed out there and saved a spot for Joe
There was a family of 5 fishiing the corner on the right and NO ONE fishing on the left at all ?? I made a few casts and said heck with it and went to the left corner and started to bail Croakers . I told Joe to come down and Dave said he had to go so me and Joe fished the left side and caught Croakers . I was releasing them all until the woman on the right asked if I was gonna throw them back and if they could have them .. I saw them measuring the Croakers so I gladly help fill their cooler . I hooked a big Cownose Ray and founght it till it was tired but had no way of gettting my tandem rig back .. It had one jig in the mouth and one in the back .. I just broke it off . I went to rerig and the woman and her husband both switched sides so I moved to the right corner where I stayed .. I stayed there from about 1am to 1pm
The Flounder were biting very well and I landed between 80 and 100 Flounder with 2 keepers at 18.75"
and 19.5" and lost 4 more nice 20"+ Fish .. The biggest was about 23" and I did a "Yul" I flipped it up and it hit the fence and went back int the water so I tried again and it came off in mid air and hit the fence again but went back for good . I had the skinny part of the pier in an uproar with all the Flounder .. I had about 20 Flounder that were 18" but not over 18.5" .
The family left around 5am with a filled to the Top cooler . Had a guy and his son quickly move into the familys spot right next to me and he began to nail Croaker and with my help he filled 2 coolers (the ones with a handle and wheels) .
He , his son and the guy next to him kept saying "man I have never seen so many Flounder caught let alone from one spot .. They were more upset than I was about the 4 keepers I lost trying to flip them .
I also ran into thr3e and a friend of his but they also left before the Flounder really started to feed .
I still cant believe that no one was really fishng on the left and only 4 of us fishing the right on the skinny part . The rain came and many left with only about 6 of us out there
Porpoises were playing out in the dark and continued to do so at daylight .
I used Gulp Mullet , Shrimp and Squid as well as Croaker strips when my tails were bitten off and nailed both Flounder and Croakers on all of them .
The Spot were a no show basically .. I saw about a dozen caught total for the entire trip .
So the "Bait and Switch" worked like a charm .. showing them that the croakers were on the left made them leave the right wide open and you better believe I capitalized on it but they too had a good deal as I gave them plenty of fish
When the sun came up people started to flock in and at first they wouldnt come on the skinny part ?? Heck I was happy about that but by 9am they slowly moved closer .
Almost every fish I caught you could hear someone say "he's got another one" LMAO !!
From the time I hit the end till the sun came up we had Stripers feeding right below us and it was non stop but unfortunately they would not bite .. I didnt try hard as they were mostly 15 to 18 inches and the Flounder kept me busy most of the 15 Hours I spent on the pier
I dont think I got any TB Croakers with most being 10 to 14 inches .
All in all it was a Flounderific night .. with close to 100 Flounder total and even more Croakers I had the time of my life I have what is known as Tennis Elbow and it never goes away and let me tell you I could hardly hold my rod by the time I left and by the time I got loaded up and started the truck I was in agony .. Sweet agony mind you
It was great to see everyone and a shame some of you didnt stick around for the bite

Tomorrow is the Kids Tourney so I ask everyone to have respect and let the Kids fish . Every year we argue with the Croaker and Spot guys and I get so pissed when those old farts home in on a kid that 5 , 6 , 8 or 17 .. It just sucks !
The Tourney runs from 9am to 1pm .. Please let the kids have fun !

I almost forgot at about 11am I heard a loud crash that I thought was a Big Cownose Ray but seconds later I see a paddle , a life jacket , a minnow bucket and lots of bags or rigs , Gulp and Fishbites floating in the water .. I climber up the fence a bit so I could see and a kayaker tried to go under the pier only to roll while going under the white pipe .. It was a very calm day too .. He got all his gear back including his rod .. He came up to the pier after regaing his posture and collecting his gear and asked how I did/was doing ? It was a regular and I know him well .. I met him in the parking lot and made sure he was OK before leaving myself .. Then I was gone

CHP "Kids Tourney" 7-25-2009
Got there at 7am .. signed in and walked out on the pier . I didnt see and "DF'ers" and it was tight at the end . Saw a few Spot and Croakers pulled in but nothing that made me itch :)
I found a spot where the "payphone" used to be :) Anyone remember that ? Anyways it was a good empty slot . A few old cats I know were fishing the left side and catching sporadic Spot and small Croakers . I went back to the truck and got my "Herring" Rod and walked back out with a small cooler and a bucket with assorted baits .
8am I make a cast a miss a Flounder but follow it up on the next with an 18.25" Flounder . Picked up another at about 16" and 2 Horse Croakers in the 16" Range . I took Zack back to the bait store and grabbed whatever gear was left and went back and "held" the spot until 9am when the bell sounded ;)
9am Zack starts out with a few small Croakers and then nothing .. and then .. nothing ? NO one was really catching anything but a sporadic 8" Spot here and there and stray Croaker . The tide was high slack and it was really high . The water was dirty and we had a huge school of Snapper Blues ripping into Peanut Bunker .. It was pretty cool to watch .
After about 10 minutes or so I took the rod from him and boom had a fish on within 5 seconds .. I reel it in and release . He casts and I wait .. nothing . next cast i grab the rod again and boom another Croaker . I watched him the rest of the tourney and he did much better but I swear he just was not feeling the bites .
Anyways during the lull time a guy in the right corner got snagged in the burnt pilings and asked for a knife .. I got his rod and and was going to break the line for him but instead it popped free and landed on the other side of the new barricade :) . He thanked me and while he rerigged I snuck in and got me one just shy of 20" :)
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Zack with a nice Croaker .. About average after we located them :)
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So he ends up with 29 Fish for 29 Points . Every year .. this makes 3 in a row I coach less and less and this time I left him pretty much alone other than removing fish and putting BWFB on his hook .
After the Tourney and everyones started to gather ..
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Random shot down the pier ..
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Another off to the right ..
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Bobby and his son Robby from A&R's ..
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Trophy Shot ..
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And thats when the camera died :(

Zack took 2nd again making it 3 years in a row .
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Rod and Trophy ..
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He missed first by 4 points ..
Biggest fish for the big trophy was a 15.75" Flounder .
I told him we shoot for the big fish next year ;)

Oh I gave the Flounder to the guy who was snagged .. After I got his rig back he let us fish the right corner :)
There are some decent keeper Flounder out there but Lots and Lots that are 10 to 14 inches . I find the bigger ones to be more active .. I swicthed out the bottom jighead for a 3/8 chart bucktail with a 1/4 on top . This has worked well in daylight and not so well at night . The added weight is also needed with the strong current .

If you ever wondered what happens to some of those fish that are "Eye" hooked .
Pretty fat fish for almost 17"
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He seems to be eating well despite only having 1 eye ;)
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7-26-09 CHP
Hit the pier around midnight .. pulled in and right in front of me was Eddie and Kwan . I talked with them as they geared up and then they took off while I got my stuff together .
I head out with the "new" section on my mind and I didnt stop anyplace until I got there . I had 2 friends on the right and NO ONE again on the entire left side of the new section .
The Croakers and Spot were there but the bite was slow . I was trying for Flounder and had 3 bites in the first hour and landed NO fish . Eddie and Kwan joined us and Kwan nailed a few nice Flounder and lost a Keeper . I picked off a few but it was painfully slow . I decided t join everyone else and catch a few Croakers . I put a Fishbites Extreme Shrimp (White and Chartreuse) On one jighead and a Gulp Shrimp (White or Natural) and the Fishbite crushed the Gulp .. maybe 10 to 1 .
I made long casts near the burnt pilings and had Croakers on almost every cast .. Pretty much letting the current move them and almost like fishing bait .
I kept trying throughout the early morning for Flounder and did get a few but .. Did I say it was slow .. :)
Judah joined us shortly after Eddie and Kwan and he picked at TB Flounder and Croakers as well .
I also got one of these strange fish :)
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I got slammed and thought I had a Doormat until it surfaced ..
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Judah left first followed by Eddie and Kwan and I stayed for the sunrise bite .. I hoped :)

The sunrise was nice ..
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An hour after sunrise I started picking off some Flatties . Probably landed about 25 in the next 1.5 hours with one double .. an 18.25" and a 19.75" .
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The Croaker bite had stopped at high slack but the Spot invaded .. They wanted real Bloods for the most part but I did manage a half dozen on BWFB .
I stuck out playing with Flatties until about noon when I got an emergency call and Sonny had brought the cart out to get me .
My wife was frantic .. I have never heard her sound the way she did but I manged to pick out that her favorite Nephew and good friend of mine had passed away last night in his sleep (he was in his late 20's). I rushed home and she was wrecked . Got some calls to make and places to go .. Say a prayer for her and her family .. she needs it .

CHP 7-27-09
Hit the Pier at Noon and found it no so packed :) I headed right out to the skinny section and found it fishable :) Right Hook and his son Chris were there and just getting started as well .
I tried for Flatties with a tandem and Gulp Squid for about an hour with ZERO bites .. The tide was high and slack with no movement so I switched to try for Spot .. Had 2 bites and lost a fish I am sure were Spot .. No Spot so I switched to Croakers and had 5 on the deck with one double in a matter of a few minutes . It was kinda funny because no one was really catching anything . I took the 5 Croakers and stripped them out and went to work .. Boom boom they were biting .. The tide had also started to roll ;) . I left the Gulp Squids on and just added the Croaker strip . I got 2 keepers and had a few just short . Steve caught a few TB's as well and at one point had one on and another was snipping at the other bait .. Was a cool site to watch .
The winds and light rian started and got worse .. first the winds howled and then the lightening which closed the pier around 3:30 to 4 PM . Mostly everyone left and since I got dropped off I had to wait .. Well I waited and waited as the winds and rain subsided so I said what the heck and hit the beach next to the pier . I got 4 TB's around 10 to 13 inches and finally nailed another keeper at almost 20" and just in time as the wife pulled up and layed on the horn :).
I am sure I would have picked up #4 if it werent for the lightening .. Oh well always tomorrow .. As long as I wake up I guess .. Nothing in life is guaranteed .
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CHP 7-28-09
Hit the pier at 11:30pm and went straight for the end .. I was very lucky because the people fishing the corner remembered me from last year and welcomed me to fish the very corner .. I in turn help fill their cooler and even took off a few Eels for the lady and her husband ;) I also caught one but mine was about 3 feet long while there's together was about 2 foot .. They welcomed the large Eel and in the cooler it went .
The Stripers were going nuts to my left but they were tight in the wood with no way of reaching them .. They continued to crash baitfish for hours .
Aaron , Sport and Jack fished the same area although Aaron was having problem hooking up but he did manage a HUGE Conch that had a 6" Blueclaw Crab it was trying to pull into its shell .. Did I say it was BIG .. The biggest one I have ever seen in Delaware .
Well Aaron didnt stay long but Sport Jack and myself hung out until 8am .
Between us we had 6 Spot that were cut up for bait and we nailed Croakers .. Jack not so much as he is still new to the whole fishingg thing . Sport and I put on a clinic as hardly anyone was catching anything except for an occasional small Croaker or Spot and few Scup . We had folks come elbow to elbow and cast right on us and still they could not catch them .. Problem was they had Mono and could not reach the bigger Croakers . We also had a 16 foot boat with 5 people in it park in the first slot of the burnt pilings and they didnt care about us so after snagging their lines a few times they kinda got the hint but still hung out for a total of about 3 hours .. Didnt see them catch hardly anything either .
I kept switching from Croakers to Spot to Stripers to Flounder . I got 2 schoolies at 14" and 18" and about 6 small Flounder .. 4 Spot and ??? Croakers before the sun rose . With the sun up I nailed about a dozen more Flounder before we left .
In total me a Sport nailed atleast 100 Croakers a piece and it was a slow night ;)
Jack was amazed at how I was pulling in Flounder and I tried to teach him but it wasnt a good enough bite for a novice to learn from no matter what I said .
Tim was also there and had a few nice Croakers from the wide section of the pier .. He was still there when we left .

Before we left I saw the 2 babies and could not help myself from saying "Hello" :):)
They no longer have a momma and if I didnt have a dog I bring these babies home ;):)
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So it was another great night although I had to leave before the Flounder bite really started .. Sport and I filled a cooler for a friend and I also mostly filled another for the folks who let me in the honey hole .. I think they know me now and know I dont keep Croaker and very few Spot not to mention many have watched me give away keeper Flounder .. Gotta love it :)

Lowlight ..
About an hour after arriving a group of 3 Asians came and squeezed in near us and when I turned to look one of the had my gear in his hands and I freaked .. I had no sympathy for him either .. I am sure the whole pier heard me . Well after yelling at him and saying "Yo put my F'ing sh!t down" he mumbled sorry and I said that isnt your stuff so you should be touching it . Not 10 seconds later he puched all my stuff over a good 2 feet and I snapped .. Now the residents at Cape Shore could probably hear me even though I was 5 feet away from him .. I told him not to ever touch my stuff again or he was gonna have problems .. Didnt have any other problems from him but he kept standing right behind me and for the first time in my life I put a hook into someone .. He's just lucky it was his coat and I am lucky not to have cut off the tip of my finger .
I didnt have the heart to yell anymore and just removed my hook and apologized .

Now for the bite info ..
The Croakers are biting at night and end as soon as the sun comes up . The are really nailing Spot cut into small wedges .. So you see most Asians wont sacrifice a Spot so they didnt catch many Croakers .
The Spot are biting at night about 15 feet out but it really gets hot when the sun is up with guys nailing 2 ,3 and 4 Spot at a time .. Real Bloods and even Night Crawlers work best .
The Flounder bite at night is SLOW and picks up after sunrise with the best bite coming at about 1.5 hours after the tide starts to go out .
We had 3 Asian Ladies on our right and I have no idea what they were saying but from there facial expressions and body language I was just a rolling .

I am also Asian BTW
 
Once again another top notch detailed report. Not to mention a lot of pics which I enjoy viewing. Thanks for the report.
 
he looked happy as can be with that new pole and trophy. 2nd is always somthing to be proud of

sounds like that asian needed a tossin over the rail to get the point
 

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