hengstthomas
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Lazy Lake 8-23-09
Hit the lake at noon and saw plenty of 1 to 1.5 pound LMB along the shoreline . I was limited as to what rods I had because the rest were in my truck so I used the UL with 6 pound test .
Started with a Fin"S"
Then switched to a frog ..
Then switched to a Senko ..
Caught a few with the senko and then switched to a 2.5" Fin"S" and started nailing poundish LMB and a few Gills when I get slammed and broke off .. I didnt know how big the fish was but it took 2 hours before I saw my bobber surface and when it did the LMB went nuts trying to shake the bobber and jig .. I estimate the Bass at 8 Pounds .
I'll be back
Some Gills and a Crappie ..
Lazy Lake 8-25-09 (Citation)
Hit the Lake at dead noon .. It was blistering hot with NO shade and NO wind . Completely different from the other day as I saw no fish and no surface action .
I tossed a bit of everything looking for a LMB noon'er but it was 1:30pm when I get my first at about 12 inches .. a few casts later I get a nice slab Crappie at 13" and very dark . That was it for about another hour so I got hot and bored and decided to take a few pics ..
Crazy Bird ..
Saw 2 Hummingbirds but couldnt get a pic so I settled on some Dragon and Damsel flies ..
Kinda had a Golf Course feeling today ..
I finally saw some feeding fish near the drainage well and missed the first 2 fish but 3 was a little LMB ..
Then something I never expected .. I get a nice bite and set up into a nice fish .. fought hard and took 2 nice aerial leaps .. turned out to be a 22" SMB and another C&R Citation
The turtles were very friendly and came right up to me as well as chased my bobber all over the water ...
Heat drove me home at 3:15 pm
CHP 8-24-09
Hit the pier at 2am and was hesitant about fishing as I really wanted to hit the Jetty at IRI . Instead of fishing I spent 3 hours throwing the castnet . I got 3 small 3" Flounder and one at 15" , I got about 20 small 4" Bluefish , 2 small 3" Spot and 2 large 9" Spot , 8 Small 2 to 4 inch Squid , One 3.5" Kingfish , 20 nice large Speckled Crabs and about 100 Trout .. All 3 to 4 inch .
Gave the Specs away and returned the tiny Spikes but kept everything else for bait .
Around 5:30am I headed back to the truck and put the net away and grabbed my gear and headed to the end of the pier .. The sun was just starting to show .
Ran into Steve and Jimmy .. We had some good lightening and a bit of rain but honestly it felt good
I cut up the 2 Spot AND 8 Bluefish (I used the whole fillets of the Blues .. 2 baits per fish) . The 3 of us started picking off TB Flounder . When the sun came up the Snappers came alive so I caught 2 and put them on the tandem rig .. Wasnt long and I get railed .. I get slammed and then the fish darts between the pilings and escapes .
Jimmy didnt stay very long .. he was in his yak from 2am till the weather turned around sunrise .. Steve left when the rain started to come down .. I thought I was right behind Steve but it turns out the Flounder bite picked up pretty good . I missed another keeper on a Snapper and then land one at almost 20"
The bite died off around 11:30am (Slack Tide) and I thought I could stick it out but the heat and sun were against me so I packed it in around 1pm .
As I headed off the Pier I ran into Jimmy again
CHP 8-26-09 (Castnet & Canoe)
I hit the pier around midnight and took a short walk . When I spotted baitfish I returned to the truck for the castnet .
I got 8 nice 4" Bluefish , 2 3" Kingfish , 1 Softshell Speckled Crab , 2 3" Spot and 1 at 8" , 2 24" Needlefish , 2 3" Flounder ,1 Smelt , 8 Ballyhoo's from 6 to 9 inches and lots of Trout from YOTY to 11" .. Castnetting is addictive just like fishing
At about 4am I decided to try for some Trout so I grabbed the Flounder rod and a few 2.5" Fin"S" and 1 tandem rig and headed out again after putting the bait on ice , except the Snappers which stayed in a minnow bucket in the water tied to the Fence .
Well I had 2 bites and 1 fish on but never saw either one .. I still had the Mullet from earlier but thought some more large Spot for "strips" might come in handy later on so again I head back to my truck only to find I have no Fishbites with me except for what was on a rig in my bucket and hard as steel . I missed a lot of Spot but landed 7 more from 8 to 10 inches before 6am and once again headed to the truck but on my way I noticed Mullet so again I grabbed the castnet .. my plan was to take a dozen or so live Mullet out as well but after 1.5 hours I needed to get on the water so I go back and gear up and load the Canoe .
I walked the Canoe down to the water at DEAD LOW TIDE
It was a chore getting in and out to get over the sand bars so I used the Canoe like a "Skateboard" and dontcha know it the Mullet were so thick they ran into me and the Canoe .
I get on the water at about 7:30 am and I am so excited because I have been wanting to go afloat for sometime now and just could not make it happen with the weather and the wifes new schedule .
The weatherman said it would be a nice sunny day with lite winds around 6 to 10 MPH from the West mostly but man did he lie .. I got the snot beat out of me for hours .
The winds were around 15 MPH out of the NW when I paddled out and I got locked into my first spot because the waves and rollers were not to my liking at near 4 footers .. The wind blowing against the Strong current made for some nice swells . The water was breaking right on the point of the Canoe and I wasnt about to try to pull the anchor and possibly pull myself under so I was lokked in for about 5+ hours . What made it even worse was the fact that there was little action that whole time after I picked off the hungry ones in the first 30 minutes or so .. Not even Croakers and I had no bait for Spot to fill my time .
I waited out the incoming tide and right before slack I noticed the white caps had diminished so I made a move .
I met a gut a few hours before that (Green & Tan Kayak) that told me a nice Flounder bite was on the left side and he just caught a nice keeper but had to go for awhile and said I should go over there .. I said I wish I could but this isnt a Yak and I cant take this Canoe into those white caps .
I decided on the "cut" and landed quite a few Flounder with 2 Keepers at 19 and 20 inches and 1 that was right on and released .
When the tide started out the bite stopped so I made a move to the left side but in an hour or so I had ZERO bites so I went back to my original spot and bailed about 2 dozen nice Croakers and a few more TB Flounder .
The Snappers were relentless on the outgoing and ate A Lot of bait .
When the bite slowed I moved into the pilings and fished them hard for about an hour with ZERO bites ??
I went back to square 1 again .
The sun was high and hot all day and I was burnt as well as burnt out by about 4pm but stayed until most of my bait was gone and pulled the plug and headed in around 6:30pm .
Those waves made it hard to set the hook and caused me to lose quite a few fish . I had no choice but to sit on the middle seat with NO cushion for most of the day and my rear is SORE !! At one point I reached for the life vest to sit on and noticed I had forgotten it in the truck .. You can bet my sore arse wont forget it ever again .
I watched the maintenance men fix the lights and put a new bulb in the "dim" light as well . I also watched countless Spot get reeled in ALL DAY LONG from anglers on the pier .
It was odd that everyone on the skinny aprt fished the left side "INTO" the wind ??
Once home I finally got some grub and planned on returning in a few hours after a nap but I didnt get to sleep until about 10pm (accidentally ) and never made the trek back .. I had been awake for about 40 hours and that with all the heat and sun just wore me out .. I woke up about every hour or two and the pain in my rump remided me to fall back to sleep .
My apologies to Sport , Kwan and Ed for not making it back .
CHP 8-28-09
Hit the pier around 1am and headed out with a rod rigged with tandem 2.5" Fin"S" . I fished the skinny part for about an hour with 1 bite that got off .. felt like a decent fish .
On the way out I saw lots of Ballyhoo so I went back and got the castnet and more gear as well as another rod . I get back but the Ballys are gone ?? I did get a few Large Smelt and put them on the tandem with no bites . It was high slack and not much going on except for a few stray Spot and the didnt seem as big as the prior few days .
At about 3am I switched to the Croaker rod and targeted Spot and had 3 nice Spot in about 20 minutes and since I only had about 1.5 hours left to fish I stripped them out and went after Flounder . I got Zip on the skinny part so I went to the wide section and nailed 3 small TB's in a row and then had 2 small Snappers (not hooked just greedy) . I caught 7 total when 2 Asains came over and got right in my face to see what I was using . I told them it was what they were catching (Spot) and within a minute or 2 both of them casted right on top of me with heavy lead ..
The second time they casted I said they wont get anything with that rig and their sinkers were spooking the fish . I got another TB and my biggest for the night at about 17" and then the 2 idiots were almost on my back .. NO JOKE !
I shot them a glare and grabbed my stuff and left that light .. I got bites on every cast until they beat up the water with 3 + ounce sinkers .
I packed it in at 4:45am
I did run into Danny and his pop Bob from PA .. It was great to see you guys again
Did ya lose my number Bob ?
Oh the end was sewn up by an older Asian lady with 4 rods .. 2 on each side and to make it worse she wasnt casting far and just clogged up the best hole without much action at all .
CHP & IRI 8-29 & CHP 8-30-09
CHP
Jimmy came down around midnight . We waited awhile for the last big storm cell to move on and then headed to the pier around 1am .
We stopped on the wide section and I began to castnet while Jimmy went after some Spot but wasnt doing to good and neither was I so I switched over and joined Jimmy . He had a few Spot so I cut them up and my first fish is a Keeper Flounder at 18.75" . We moved around a bit and ended up on the skinny part . It was the top of the tide and had just started out and we decided to get some Spot for bait . No one was really doing much until I got in the water and began to bail some nice Spot . We had about half a 5 gallon bucket of nice 8 to 10 inchers so we both went after Flounder again and picked up some TB's .
Right before daybreak I saw some commotion on the surface so I grabbed the castnet again and found some nice 4 to 5 inch Bunker . Got about 30 Bunker and then went after Mullet . The Mullet were scattered in pods but I managed about 6 dozen mixed sizes .
I rejoined Jimmy and we played around until about 10am and then headed to my place for more Coffee and some longline gear for IRI .
IRI
We arrived around noonish and found LOTS of boats right on the rocks on the South side and quite a few people . We used cut Spot and it was pretty much dead .. Jimmy gets the Skunk and I picked off 1 Oyster Cracker , 3 small Sand Sharks and 1 TB Flounder . We saw about 2 other Flounder caught .. 1 from a boat and 1 from the rocks and that was it !
Some guys up near the bridge were getting some big Croakers and we saw some Snapper Blues but the bite was dead and the current was very very strong with 5 ounces not enough for a slow drift so we opted to head back to the pier .
CHP
We get back to the pier at about 4pm and hit the skinny part for Flounder . Jimmy started out slow again and I picked up a few TB's then get railed and land a nice Slot 22.5" Striper .
The fish had some red "blemishes" so I asked if anyone wanted it and it went home with a guy nearby ...
The pier wasnt very packed either time but as the sun went down people started to show up . The Spot bite was ON but not the big ones but still Spot with a few bigger ones in the mix .
The Croakers were scarce and I only saw 2 decent ones and caught 4 myself that were just about 10 to 11 inches .
About an hour after sunset I get another Keeper Flounder at 19" .
We picked off TB Flounder and some more Spot until it was just nuts with people . One group showed up with an entire army of folks .. NO joking there must have been 25 or more in that group with lots of kids and adult who were not even fishing and just getting in everyones way .
Sport showed up and grabbed a corner near the end while Jimmy and I just moved about the best we could and when that became a joke we decided to split around Midnight .
On the way off the pier I saw Scot and his wife and could not BELIEVE what I saw ..
:anxious:
Scot has 3 brand new Plugs and tied them on some Braid and was "getting the new smell" off them by soaking them in the water . Somehow they got snagged up between 2 pilings and a whole 150 yard spool of brand new 50 pound Braid had fallen into the water and was a BIG MESS .
Took me awhile to get all the line out of the water and then used Jimmys rod to snag the Plugs . I told Scot to break the line that held the Plugs but instead he cut it with a knife and now we didnt have any line that was attached to the Plugs ..
I took the tandem rig and snagged into the mess of plugs and finally managed to get them free.
ALL I am gonna say is WTF was he thinking !!
So we head to my place and get some rest ..
8-30-09 CHP
We hit the pier again around 1pm and I start with the castnet while Jimmy goes after Flounder and Spot . I got about 20 Mullet with one being the biggest of the year for me at about 2 to 3 pounds, 1 Spot and 2 Snappers and then went to join Jimmy . I picked up about 5 TB Flounder and a few Spot and the it was time for Jimmy to head back home . On the way off the pier I tossed the castnet a few more times but the Mullet wouldnt come close enough .
Jimmy got the pic of the Giant Corn Cobb so it should get posted soon .
Sorry for the lack of pics but it was dreary and wet for the most part Fri & Sat and Sun all we had was Jimmy's cell phone .
Ended up with 1 Striper and 2 Flounder in the box
Jimmy got no love for the box .
Headed out at 5pm
Got back to my place where my woman had a nice Trggerfish dinner waiting for us
Jimmy .. Always a pleasure bud
CHP 8-31-09
Hit the Pier looking for some Cobbs .. Saw a few Mullet but the winds were stiff and it was hard to toss the net accurately . I got 3 Snappers , 2 spot , 1 Blowfish and 15 small Mullet in 45 minutes . I went after some Flounder for about an hour and landed 2 small TB's and 2 Horse Croakers at about 17" and saw 1 more caught that was about 2 pounds and 18 to 19 inches . Lots of Spot being caught .. up to 4 at a time
I had to run .. Castnetted for 45 minutes and fished for 1.25 hours . Noon to 2pm
Tide was dead low and water dirty as mud .. MUD !!
Lots of Peanuts and Mullet around but very hard to spot .
CHP 9-1 / 9-2-2009
Hit the pier around 7pm and found stiff NW winds from 15 to 25 MPH and dirty water . Tried castnetting Mullet but got none however I did get a few Ballyhoo's and Squid as well as Sandperch , Snapper Blues , Trout and Kingfish .
I went out Floundering and it was slow .. I did find one light that I pulled 7 TB's off with 2 over 18" but not keepers .
The Stripers were loving the weather but it was tough to get them to bite , casting into that wind with light leadheads (they were surface feeding on small baitfish) was tough but I managed to land 2 schoolies and saw another caught .
The Spot were still hitting pretty well and some small Croakers on Bloods .
Fished with Sport , Kwan and Kwans friend until about 4:30am.
When I went to leave my truck would not start and the darn alarm kept going off ?? Sport had left and I had no cell but thankfully I got it going .. Seems my battery has finally died after almost 7 years (8 year warranty). I'll see how that goes later today when I replace it .
FYI dont go to Walmart for a battery .. For a few dollars more you can get a decent one from Autozone with a good warranty .
IRI 9-4-09
Until I get the truck fixed I have to take and pick up the woman so since I was halfway to the Inlet I decided to give it a go .
There was Bluefish jumping out of the water as I walked up and quite a few people .. ALL soaking bait !
I started out with a 1/2 ounce jig and a 4" Pogy and after I lost my third one I decided to try for some Blues . I rigged up a tandem with 2.5" Fin"S" and dontcha know it
A 22" Flounder
Next cast had another that got off and then nothing .. interesting that the Blues would not bite . I lost the rig and went back to a single with a 4" Pogy .
I had a woman with 3 kids to my left and 2 guys past that and 2 more guys past that so I squeezed in between them and casted between their lines and started catching TB Flounder .. Had 2 over 18" and lost one in the 24 to 26 inch range .
I fished 2 hours and landed about 15 to 20 TB's with 1 landed keeper and 1 lost .
The bugs ran me out .. They were horrendous !!
The 4 guys were soaking live Mullet and only landed 1 Bluefish but the kids were using minnows and did pretty well but no keepers .
CHP & IRI 9-5-09
Hit the pier at noon and arrived to find it closed .. filled to maximum capacity . With cars backed up past the Ferry I was fortunate enough to slide by
I get to the pier and its PACKED !
I threw the castnet for Mullet and got about 6 dozen nice 5 to 6 inch Mullet .. Thought I saw some Cobbs and threw on them but only got a small Snapper .. seen them again and got em !! Turned out to be 4 small Black Drum .. smallest was about 6" and the rest all about 10 to 11 inches.
Saw Jimmy and his son as they were leaving and Jungfish , JNJ and myself played with Mullet .
left at 2pm and headed home to pick up the woman and drop her at work and I then headed to IRI .
Got to the Inlet at 3:30pm and it was the bottom of the outgoing and dirty water compared to yesterdays incoming . LOTS and lots of boats out .
The fishing was slow until the tide turned .. I got bites but couldnt hook up on the out going although I did see a few fish caught with 1 keeper to my right .
I fished until 7pm and landed 5 Flounder . The first 2 I got on a Big Shiner I snagged while jigging a Pogy .. They were the biggest with 1 at 18" and the other at about 17" . The other 3 TB's were small 14" fish .
Quite a few soaking Mullet both live and dead but saw no hook ups . I also used whole Mullet fillets without landing 1 Flounder on them .. Odd for sure !
Anyhow the bugs came back out on the incoming and I had to pick the woman up at 7:30pm so I called it a day at 7pm .
I fished along side Kwans friend Roger who also landed some TB's .. I left him fishing and hope he got the keeper he was looking for
IRI & CHP 9-6-09
Hit IRI at 6am and found Jimmy hard at work searching for Flatties .. he'd been there since 3am and lost quite a few jigheads with a few TB's to show for it . I get one TB pretty quick but then things slow down . As the sun came up Eddie and Kwan joined us . The tide was coming in pretty fast and the water was semi clear .. lots of bait and small Blues around but mostly BOATS !!
Jimmy nailed his PB Flounder at 19.5" and not long after Eddie has a nice Flat one that gets off due to a bad knot
Eddies fish goes straight to the bottom and we can see it with the pink Gulp sticking out of its mouth .. Eddie thought the leader was still on the jighead so Jimmy tried to grab it just as I say I can castnet it .. Well the leader wasnt on it and Jimmys hand spooked the Flounder so Eddied dinner got away ..
I had castnetted a few large minnows and decided to give them a shot since the bite was so slow and I get 3 more TB's on them .
Jimmy left around 9am and we all left shortly afterwards and headed to CHP ..
CHP
We arrived at 10:45am and found the park almost full .. I found a spot in the grass and Kwan joined me making it totally packed with NO parking . I had to pick up the woman at noon so I just castnetted while Eddie and Kwan went looking for Spot and Flat ones .
The tide was high and winds from the East made it hard to throw the net on the right and the left was FULL of large Butterfly Rays .
I managed 5 Cobbs (8") and another monster Cobbasaurus (14").
Not too bad for High Tide and only 25 minutes
Now I just got to wait for the Tourons to GO HOME !!
Was going to head back out but the winds picked up to 15 to 24 MPH so I figured everyone would be jammed up on one side so I stayed home and played mechanic .
Hit the lake at noon and saw plenty of 1 to 1.5 pound LMB along the shoreline . I was limited as to what rods I had because the rest were in my truck so I used the UL with 6 pound test .
Started with a Fin"S"
Then switched to a frog ..
Then switched to a Senko ..
Caught a few with the senko and then switched to a 2.5" Fin"S" and started nailing poundish LMB and a few Gills when I get slammed and broke off .. I didnt know how big the fish was but it took 2 hours before I saw my bobber surface and when it did the LMB went nuts trying to shake the bobber and jig .. I estimate the Bass at 8 Pounds .
I'll be back
Some Gills and a Crappie ..
Lazy Lake 8-25-09 (Citation)
Hit the Lake at dead noon .. It was blistering hot with NO shade and NO wind . Completely different from the other day as I saw no fish and no surface action .
I tossed a bit of everything looking for a LMB noon'er but it was 1:30pm when I get my first at about 12 inches .. a few casts later I get a nice slab Crappie at 13" and very dark . That was it for about another hour so I got hot and bored and decided to take a few pics ..
Crazy Bird ..
Saw 2 Hummingbirds but couldnt get a pic so I settled on some Dragon and Damsel flies ..
Kinda had a Golf Course feeling today ..
I finally saw some feeding fish near the drainage well and missed the first 2 fish but 3 was a little LMB ..
Then something I never expected .. I get a nice bite and set up into a nice fish .. fought hard and took 2 nice aerial leaps .. turned out to be a 22" SMB and another C&R Citation
The turtles were very friendly and came right up to me as well as chased my bobber all over the water ...
Heat drove me home at 3:15 pm
CHP 8-24-09
Hit the pier at 2am and was hesitant about fishing as I really wanted to hit the Jetty at IRI . Instead of fishing I spent 3 hours throwing the castnet . I got 3 small 3" Flounder and one at 15" , I got about 20 small 4" Bluefish , 2 small 3" Spot and 2 large 9" Spot , 8 Small 2 to 4 inch Squid , One 3.5" Kingfish , 20 nice large Speckled Crabs and about 100 Trout .. All 3 to 4 inch .
Gave the Specs away and returned the tiny Spikes but kept everything else for bait .
Around 5:30am I headed back to the truck and put the net away and grabbed my gear and headed to the end of the pier .. The sun was just starting to show .
Ran into Steve and Jimmy .. We had some good lightening and a bit of rain but honestly it felt good
I cut up the 2 Spot AND 8 Bluefish (I used the whole fillets of the Blues .. 2 baits per fish) . The 3 of us started picking off TB Flounder . When the sun came up the Snappers came alive so I caught 2 and put them on the tandem rig .. Wasnt long and I get railed .. I get slammed and then the fish darts between the pilings and escapes .
Jimmy didnt stay very long .. he was in his yak from 2am till the weather turned around sunrise .. Steve left when the rain started to come down .. I thought I was right behind Steve but it turns out the Flounder bite picked up pretty good . I missed another keeper on a Snapper and then land one at almost 20"
The bite died off around 11:30am (Slack Tide) and I thought I could stick it out but the heat and sun were against me so I packed it in around 1pm .
As I headed off the Pier I ran into Jimmy again
CHP 8-26-09 (Castnet & Canoe)
I hit the pier around midnight and took a short walk . When I spotted baitfish I returned to the truck for the castnet .
I got 8 nice 4" Bluefish , 2 3" Kingfish , 1 Softshell Speckled Crab , 2 3" Spot and 1 at 8" , 2 24" Needlefish , 2 3" Flounder ,1 Smelt , 8 Ballyhoo's from 6 to 9 inches and lots of Trout from YOTY to 11" .. Castnetting is addictive just like fishing
At about 4am I decided to try for some Trout so I grabbed the Flounder rod and a few 2.5" Fin"S" and 1 tandem rig and headed out again after putting the bait on ice , except the Snappers which stayed in a minnow bucket in the water tied to the Fence .
Well I had 2 bites and 1 fish on but never saw either one .. I still had the Mullet from earlier but thought some more large Spot for "strips" might come in handy later on so again I head back to my truck only to find I have no Fishbites with me except for what was on a rig in my bucket and hard as steel . I missed a lot of Spot but landed 7 more from 8 to 10 inches before 6am and once again headed to the truck but on my way I noticed Mullet so again I grabbed the castnet .. my plan was to take a dozen or so live Mullet out as well but after 1.5 hours I needed to get on the water so I go back and gear up and load the Canoe .
I walked the Canoe down to the water at DEAD LOW TIDE
It was a chore getting in and out to get over the sand bars so I used the Canoe like a "Skateboard" and dontcha know it the Mullet were so thick they ran into me and the Canoe .
I get on the water at about 7:30 am and I am so excited because I have been wanting to go afloat for sometime now and just could not make it happen with the weather and the wifes new schedule .
The weatherman said it would be a nice sunny day with lite winds around 6 to 10 MPH from the West mostly but man did he lie .. I got the snot beat out of me for hours .
The winds were around 15 MPH out of the NW when I paddled out and I got locked into my first spot because the waves and rollers were not to my liking at near 4 footers .. The wind blowing against the Strong current made for some nice swells . The water was breaking right on the point of the Canoe and I wasnt about to try to pull the anchor and possibly pull myself under so I was lokked in for about 5+ hours . What made it even worse was the fact that there was little action that whole time after I picked off the hungry ones in the first 30 minutes or so .. Not even Croakers and I had no bait for Spot to fill my time .
I waited out the incoming tide and right before slack I noticed the white caps had diminished so I made a move .
I met a gut a few hours before that (Green & Tan Kayak) that told me a nice Flounder bite was on the left side and he just caught a nice keeper but had to go for awhile and said I should go over there .. I said I wish I could but this isnt a Yak and I cant take this Canoe into those white caps .
I decided on the "cut" and landed quite a few Flounder with 2 Keepers at 19 and 20 inches and 1 that was right on and released .
When the tide started out the bite stopped so I made a move to the left side but in an hour or so I had ZERO bites so I went back to my original spot and bailed about 2 dozen nice Croakers and a few more TB Flounder .
The Snappers were relentless on the outgoing and ate A Lot of bait .
When the bite slowed I moved into the pilings and fished them hard for about an hour with ZERO bites ??
I went back to square 1 again .
The sun was high and hot all day and I was burnt as well as burnt out by about 4pm but stayed until most of my bait was gone and pulled the plug and headed in around 6:30pm .
Those waves made it hard to set the hook and caused me to lose quite a few fish . I had no choice but to sit on the middle seat with NO cushion for most of the day and my rear is SORE !! At one point I reached for the life vest to sit on and noticed I had forgotten it in the truck .. You can bet my sore arse wont forget it ever again .
I watched the maintenance men fix the lights and put a new bulb in the "dim" light as well . I also watched countless Spot get reeled in ALL DAY LONG from anglers on the pier .
It was odd that everyone on the skinny aprt fished the left side "INTO" the wind ??
Once home I finally got some grub and planned on returning in a few hours after a nap but I didnt get to sleep until about 10pm (accidentally ) and never made the trek back .. I had been awake for about 40 hours and that with all the heat and sun just wore me out .. I woke up about every hour or two and the pain in my rump remided me to fall back to sleep .
My apologies to Sport , Kwan and Ed for not making it back .
CHP 8-28-09
Hit the pier around 1am and headed out with a rod rigged with tandem 2.5" Fin"S" . I fished the skinny part for about an hour with 1 bite that got off .. felt like a decent fish .
On the way out I saw lots of Ballyhoo so I went back and got the castnet and more gear as well as another rod . I get back but the Ballys are gone ?? I did get a few Large Smelt and put them on the tandem with no bites . It was high slack and not much going on except for a few stray Spot and the didnt seem as big as the prior few days .
At about 3am I switched to the Croaker rod and targeted Spot and had 3 nice Spot in about 20 minutes and since I only had about 1.5 hours left to fish I stripped them out and went after Flounder . I got Zip on the skinny part so I went to the wide section and nailed 3 small TB's in a row and then had 2 small Snappers (not hooked just greedy) . I caught 7 total when 2 Asains came over and got right in my face to see what I was using . I told them it was what they were catching (Spot) and within a minute or 2 both of them casted right on top of me with heavy lead ..
The second time they casted I said they wont get anything with that rig and their sinkers were spooking the fish . I got another TB and my biggest for the night at about 17" and then the 2 idiots were almost on my back .. NO JOKE !
I shot them a glare and grabbed my stuff and left that light .. I got bites on every cast until they beat up the water with 3 + ounce sinkers .
I packed it in at 4:45am
I did run into Danny and his pop Bob from PA .. It was great to see you guys again
Did ya lose my number Bob ?
Oh the end was sewn up by an older Asian lady with 4 rods .. 2 on each side and to make it worse she wasnt casting far and just clogged up the best hole without much action at all .
CHP & IRI 8-29 & CHP 8-30-09
CHP
Jimmy came down around midnight . We waited awhile for the last big storm cell to move on and then headed to the pier around 1am .
We stopped on the wide section and I began to castnet while Jimmy went after some Spot but wasnt doing to good and neither was I so I switched over and joined Jimmy . He had a few Spot so I cut them up and my first fish is a Keeper Flounder at 18.75" . We moved around a bit and ended up on the skinny part . It was the top of the tide and had just started out and we decided to get some Spot for bait . No one was really doing much until I got in the water and began to bail some nice Spot . We had about half a 5 gallon bucket of nice 8 to 10 inchers so we both went after Flounder again and picked up some TB's .
Right before daybreak I saw some commotion on the surface so I grabbed the castnet again and found some nice 4 to 5 inch Bunker . Got about 30 Bunker and then went after Mullet . The Mullet were scattered in pods but I managed about 6 dozen mixed sizes .
I rejoined Jimmy and we played around until about 10am and then headed to my place for more Coffee and some longline gear for IRI .
IRI
We arrived around noonish and found LOTS of boats right on the rocks on the South side and quite a few people . We used cut Spot and it was pretty much dead .. Jimmy gets the Skunk and I picked off 1 Oyster Cracker , 3 small Sand Sharks and 1 TB Flounder . We saw about 2 other Flounder caught .. 1 from a boat and 1 from the rocks and that was it !
Some guys up near the bridge were getting some big Croakers and we saw some Snapper Blues but the bite was dead and the current was very very strong with 5 ounces not enough for a slow drift so we opted to head back to the pier .
CHP
We get back to the pier at about 4pm and hit the skinny part for Flounder . Jimmy started out slow again and I picked up a few TB's then get railed and land a nice Slot 22.5" Striper .
The fish had some red "blemishes" so I asked if anyone wanted it and it went home with a guy nearby ...
The pier wasnt very packed either time but as the sun went down people started to show up . The Spot bite was ON but not the big ones but still Spot with a few bigger ones in the mix .
The Croakers were scarce and I only saw 2 decent ones and caught 4 myself that were just about 10 to 11 inches .
About an hour after sunset I get another Keeper Flounder at 19" .
We picked off TB Flounder and some more Spot until it was just nuts with people . One group showed up with an entire army of folks .. NO joking there must have been 25 or more in that group with lots of kids and adult who were not even fishing and just getting in everyones way .
Sport showed up and grabbed a corner near the end while Jimmy and I just moved about the best we could and when that became a joke we decided to split around Midnight .
On the way off the pier I saw Scot and his wife and could not BELIEVE what I saw ..
:anxious:
Scot has 3 brand new Plugs and tied them on some Braid and was "getting the new smell" off them by soaking them in the water . Somehow they got snagged up between 2 pilings and a whole 150 yard spool of brand new 50 pound Braid had fallen into the water and was a BIG MESS .
Took me awhile to get all the line out of the water and then used Jimmys rod to snag the Plugs . I told Scot to break the line that held the Plugs but instead he cut it with a knife and now we didnt have any line that was attached to the Plugs ..
I took the tandem rig and snagged into the mess of plugs and finally managed to get them free.
ALL I am gonna say is WTF was he thinking !!
So we head to my place and get some rest ..
8-30-09 CHP
We hit the pier again around 1pm and I start with the castnet while Jimmy goes after Flounder and Spot . I got about 20 Mullet with one being the biggest of the year for me at about 2 to 3 pounds, 1 Spot and 2 Snappers and then went to join Jimmy . I picked up about 5 TB Flounder and a few Spot and the it was time for Jimmy to head back home . On the way off the pier I tossed the castnet a few more times but the Mullet wouldnt come close enough .
Jimmy got the pic of the Giant Corn Cobb so it should get posted soon .
Sorry for the lack of pics but it was dreary and wet for the most part Fri & Sat and Sun all we had was Jimmy's cell phone .
Ended up with 1 Striper and 2 Flounder in the box
Jimmy got no love for the box .
Headed out at 5pm
Got back to my place where my woman had a nice Trggerfish dinner waiting for us
Jimmy .. Always a pleasure bud
CHP 8-31-09
Hit the Pier looking for some Cobbs .. Saw a few Mullet but the winds were stiff and it was hard to toss the net accurately . I got 3 Snappers , 2 spot , 1 Blowfish and 15 small Mullet in 45 minutes . I went after some Flounder for about an hour and landed 2 small TB's and 2 Horse Croakers at about 17" and saw 1 more caught that was about 2 pounds and 18 to 19 inches . Lots of Spot being caught .. up to 4 at a time
I had to run .. Castnetted for 45 minutes and fished for 1.25 hours . Noon to 2pm
Tide was dead low and water dirty as mud .. MUD !!
Lots of Peanuts and Mullet around but very hard to spot .
CHP 9-1 / 9-2-2009
Hit the pier around 7pm and found stiff NW winds from 15 to 25 MPH and dirty water . Tried castnetting Mullet but got none however I did get a few Ballyhoo's and Squid as well as Sandperch , Snapper Blues , Trout and Kingfish .
I went out Floundering and it was slow .. I did find one light that I pulled 7 TB's off with 2 over 18" but not keepers .
The Stripers were loving the weather but it was tough to get them to bite , casting into that wind with light leadheads (they were surface feeding on small baitfish) was tough but I managed to land 2 schoolies and saw another caught .
The Spot were still hitting pretty well and some small Croakers on Bloods .
Fished with Sport , Kwan and Kwans friend until about 4:30am.
When I went to leave my truck would not start and the darn alarm kept going off ?? Sport had left and I had no cell but thankfully I got it going .. Seems my battery has finally died after almost 7 years (8 year warranty). I'll see how that goes later today when I replace it .
FYI dont go to Walmart for a battery .. For a few dollars more you can get a decent one from Autozone with a good warranty .
IRI 9-4-09
Until I get the truck fixed I have to take and pick up the woman so since I was halfway to the Inlet I decided to give it a go .
There was Bluefish jumping out of the water as I walked up and quite a few people .. ALL soaking bait !
I started out with a 1/2 ounce jig and a 4" Pogy and after I lost my third one I decided to try for some Blues . I rigged up a tandem with 2.5" Fin"S" and dontcha know it
A 22" Flounder
Next cast had another that got off and then nothing .. interesting that the Blues would not bite . I lost the rig and went back to a single with a 4" Pogy .
I had a woman with 3 kids to my left and 2 guys past that and 2 more guys past that so I squeezed in between them and casted between their lines and started catching TB Flounder .. Had 2 over 18" and lost one in the 24 to 26 inch range .
I fished 2 hours and landed about 15 to 20 TB's with 1 landed keeper and 1 lost .
The bugs ran me out .. They were horrendous !!
The 4 guys were soaking live Mullet and only landed 1 Bluefish but the kids were using minnows and did pretty well but no keepers .
CHP & IRI 9-5-09
Hit the pier at noon and arrived to find it closed .. filled to maximum capacity . With cars backed up past the Ferry I was fortunate enough to slide by
I get to the pier and its PACKED !
I threw the castnet for Mullet and got about 6 dozen nice 5 to 6 inch Mullet .. Thought I saw some Cobbs and threw on them but only got a small Snapper .. seen them again and got em !! Turned out to be 4 small Black Drum .. smallest was about 6" and the rest all about 10 to 11 inches.
Saw Jimmy and his son as they were leaving and Jungfish , JNJ and myself played with Mullet .
left at 2pm and headed home to pick up the woman and drop her at work and I then headed to IRI .
Got to the Inlet at 3:30pm and it was the bottom of the outgoing and dirty water compared to yesterdays incoming . LOTS and lots of boats out .
The fishing was slow until the tide turned .. I got bites but couldnt hook up on the out going although I did see a few fish caught with 1 keeper to my right .
I fished until 7pm and landed 5 Flounder . The first 2 I got on a Big Shiner I snagged while jigging a Pogy .. They were the biggest with 1 at 18" and the other at about 17" . The other 3 TB's were small 14" fish .
Quite a few soaking Mullet both live and dead but saw no hook ups . I also used whole Mullet fillets without landing 1 Flounder on them .. Odd for sure !
Anyhow the bugs came back out on the incoming and I had to pick the woman up at 7:30pm so I called it a day at 7pm .
I fished along side Kwans friend Roger who also landed some TB's .. I left him fishing and hope he got the keeper he was looking for
IRI & CHP 9-6-09
Hit IRI at 6am and found Jimmy hard at work searching for Flatties .. he'd been there since 3am and lost quite a few jigheads with a few TB's to show for it . I get one TB pretty quick but then things slow down . As the sun came up Eddie and Kwan joined us . The tide was coming in pretty fast and the water was semi clear .. lots of bait and small Blues around but mostly BOATS !!
Jimmy nailed his PB Flounder at 19.5" and not long after Eddie has a nice Flat one that gets off due to a bad knot
Eddies fish goes straight to the bottom and we can see it with the pink Gulp sticking out of its mouth .. Eddie thought the leader was still on the jighead so Jimmy tried to grab it just as I say I can castnet it .. Well the leader wasnt on it and Jimmys hand spooked the Flounder so Eddied dinner got away ..
I had castnetted a few large minnows and decided to give them a shot since the bite was so slow and I get 3 more TB's on them .
Jimmy left around 9am and we all left shortly afterwards and headed to CHP ..
CHP
We arrived at 10:45am and found the park almost full .. I found a spot in the grass and Kwan joined me making it totally packed with NO parking . I had to pick up the woman at noon so I just castnetted while Eddie and Kwan went looking for Spot and Flat ones .
The tide was high and winds from the East made it hard to throw the net on the right and the left was FULL of large Butterfly Rays .
I managed 5 Cobbs (8") and another monster Cobbasaurus (14").
Not too bad for High Tide and only 25 minutes
Now I just got to wait for the Tourons to GO HOME !!
Was going to head back out but the winds picked up to 15 to 24 MPH so I figured everyone would be jammed up on one side so I stayed home and played mechanic .
