Gr8ful One
05-22-2006, 03:06 PM
Took my brother, John, and my nephew, Stephen, aboard my "Bertha" for bass on Sat. 5/20.
Started near Old Orchard with fresh bunker that my bro and nephew snagged the night before. After catching a couple of blues and losing a singe large bass at boatside, it was obvious that the traffic in the Raritan Bay was going to make fishing difficult for us. (It certainly didn't help to have the ASA event competitors flying by us at Mach 1 to go get bunker in the back of the bay.) :( It was so crowded in Raritan Bay, it looked like fluking on the Memorial Day weekend. :eek:
Left the overcrowded Raritan Bay, and went outside the hook to try some bunker chunking.
One our way through the area of the hook, we were flagged down by 3 guys in a smaller cc that were obviously in need of some help. When I sidled my boat alongside of theirs, one of their crew members looked like he was eating a hoagie. Upon close inspection, I realized the "hoagie" was actually a Polish shad or Stretch 30+ plug that was buried into the poor guy's upper lip. Using heavy duty cutters, I was able to cut off the shank of the VMC red treble hook, so the barb could be pushed out the inside of his lip. OUCH!!! :eek:
Set up on the remainder fo the incoming tide to try some chunking, and we were soon joined by a couple of other boats. The boat closest to us was a 17-18' Key West with 2 guys fishing clams. While we were fishing near one another, our crew only caught 6 blues on chunks w/ a bunch of hook chew-offs. However, we watched the guys next to us clam at least 4 stripers. After they were done boxing their last keeper, they pulled their anchor and came over to offer us their leftover clams. That was way cool guys Thanks Again!!! :D :cool:
Using the dozen clams they gave us, we caught and released 7 bass and a couple more bluefish.
Ran back into the AH marina and picked up another bushel of clams before heading back out for the outgoing tide.
Outgoing tide produced another 17 bass up to 19 pounds. I also caught a pleasant surprise on a clam which turned out to be my first fluke of the 2006 season - a 17.75 inch keeper. (photo attached)
We all had a lot of missed fish and lost fish due to the heavy currents and high winds which blew steady at 10-20 knots from the W/SW most of the day. Water temps were in the low 60's.
- Gr8ful
http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/17_75_Inch_Fluke_5-20-06.jpg
Started near Old Orchard with fresh bunker that my bro and nephew snagged the night before. After catching a couple of blues and losing a singe large bass at boatside, it was obvious that the traffic in the Raritan Bay was going to make fishing difficult for us. (It certainly didn't help to have the ASA event competitors flying by us at Mach 1 to go get bunker in the back of the bay.) :( It was so crowded in Raritan Bay, it looked like fluking on the Memorial Day weekend. :eek:
Left the overcrowded Raritan Bay, and went outside the hook to try some bunker chunking.
One our way through the area of the hook, we were flagged down by 3 guys in a smaller cc that were obviously in need of some help. When I sidled my boat alongside of theirs, one of their crew members looked like he was eating a hoagie. Upon close inspection, I realized the "hoagie" was actually a Polish shad or Stretch 30+ plug that was buried into the poor guy's upper lip. Using heavy duty cutters, I was able to cut off the shank of the VMC red treble hook, so the barb could be pushed out the inside of his lip. OUCH!!! :eek:
Set up on the remainder fo the incoming tide to try some chunking, and we were soon joined by a couple of other boats. The boat closest to us was a 17-18' Key West with 2 guys fishing clams. While we were fishing near one another, our crew only caught 6 blues on chunks w/ a bunch of hook chew-offs. However, we watched the guys next to us clam at least 4 stripers. After they were done boxing their last keeper, they pulled their anchor and came over to offer us their leftover clams. That was way cool guys Thanks Again!!! :D :cool:
Using the dozen clams they gave us, we caught and released 7 bass and a couple more bluefish.
Ran back into the AH marina and picked up another bushel of clams before heading back out for the outgoing tide.
Outgoing tide produced another 17 bass up to 19 pounds. I also caught a pleasant surprise on a clam which turned out to be my first fluke of the 2006 season - a 17.75 inch keeper. (photo attached)
We all had a lot of missed fish and lost fish due to the heavy currents and high winds which blew steady at 10-20 knots from the W/SW most of the day. Water temps were in the low 60's.
- Gr8ful
http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/17_75_Inch_Fluke_5-20-06.jpg