Gr8ful One
11-04-2005, 05:30 PM
Went out with Al and his cousin, Dave, on Al's "Miss Shelly" on Wed. 11/2.
Sandy Hook Bay was absolutley nasty with 15-20 NNW winds continously and occasional gusts reaching 25-30. Whitecaps as far as the eye could see, but we decided to brave the conditions, get a little wet, and give it a shot down the beach where the land would at least afford some measure of shelter.
After heading down the beach to the Long Branch area, we found thick birds for miles stretching all the way down to Deal and beyond.
The best part was that there were numerous party, charter and recreational captains working these fish and everyone was respectful, courteous and professional with regard to their approach to the action. We didn't have knuckleheads running or trolling thropugh the schools to put them down which allowed it to continue all day non-stop. (Unfortunately, it seems you sometimes have to fish during such "victory at sea" conditions in order to avoid the knuckleheads.)
In close to the beach, we found 3-6 pound bluefish attacking rainfish and spearing with gulls and terns over them by the thousands. Approximately 1.5 miles offshore, we found bigger 6-10 pound blues feeding on cigar minnows with gulls and gannets everywhere.
Easily caught 80-90 bluefish between the 3 of us on spoons and jigs. We had fish on constantly from start to finish. I had one large bass hooked for a while that spit the hook, and Al landed a trifecta of a short fluke, a skate and a sea robin all on a jig ... everything else down the beach was blue-green and toothy.
When we were heading back into the bay, we found more birds working over bass from the pound nets in front of Officer's row to Horshoe and Spermacetti Cove. In the last hour before light, I landed 12, Al landed 8 and Dave landed 3. All of the fish were dinks with the exception of two slot fish at 24" and 25" that Al caught.
Conditions were brutal, but the action was literally gangbusters from "whistle to whistle." We did not have a single span of fishing last over 10 minutes without having fish hooked-up. IT WAS AWESOME!!!
- Gr8ful Fish
Sandy Hook Bay was absolutley nasty with 15-20 NNW winds continously and occasional gusts reaching 25-30. Whitecaps as far as the eye could see, but we decided to brave the conditions, get a little wet, and give it a shot down the beach where the land would at least afford some measure of shelter.
After heading down the beach to the Long Branch area, we found thick birds for miles stretching all the way down to Deal and beyond.
The best part was that there were numerous party, charter and recreational captains working these fish and everyone was respectful, courteous and professional with regard to their approach to the action. We didn't have knuckleheads running or trolling thropugh the schools to put them down which allowed it to continue all day non-stop. (Unfortunately, it seems you sometimes have to fish during such "victory at sea" conditions in order to avoid the knuckleheads.)
In close to the beach, we found 3-6 pound bluefish attacking rainfish and spearing with gulls and terns over them by the thousands. Approximately 1.5 miles offshore, we found bigger 6-10 pound blues feeding on cigar minnows with gulls and gannets everywhere.
Easily caught 80-90 bluefish between the 3 of us on spoons and jigs. We had fish on constantly from start to finish. I had one large bass hooked for a while that spit the hook, and Al landed a trifecta of a short fluke, a skate and a sea robin all on a jig ... everything else down the beach was blue-green and toothy.
When we were heading back into the bay, we found more birds working over bass from the pound nets in front of Officer's row to Horshoe and Spermacetti Cove. In the last hour before light, I landed 12, Al landed 8 and Dave landed 3. All of the fish were dinks with the exception of two slot fish at 24" and 25" that Al caught.
Conditions were brutal, but the action was literally gangbusters from "whistle to whistle." We did not have a single span of fishing last over 10 minutes without having fish hooked-up. IT WAS AWESOME!!!
- Gr8ful Fish