surfers who fish.

Look at that tail!. Is that a flutter spoon getting unhooked from it's mouth?


I got one schoolie last week and the rest of the week have been big bruising bluefish. It's been great. I've even increased the retrieve speed to target them. Went back to heavier gear in case the big bass leaving the rivers swing by and the racer blues have put on some weight. Man are they hitting and running hard.

Mostly I'm an early bird and a inlet creature but thought I'd switch it up. Their are fish in the bay so scoped out the local docks at dusk. Not for me. Dock crowds can be weird creatures. Old school skelly. My town marina at dusk was quite the show. Went back to my haunts at dusk and although the night shift is a different vibe I knew the score. 1st day found the rip line and started casting on it with tins and got enough fish on the beach to call it way before sunset. Returned on Friday and with the new moon approaching found a rip across a bar that heavy buck tails were having trouble with. One guy switched to a SP and was tight followed by another guy. You could see the end of the bar where they were coming in and attacking right before shallow water. Both guys hooked up and had to walk to calmer water so I threw a plug and got hit in the same spot. Saw the thing come out of the depths to smack the plug. Good fight with the drag singing. I had an 8lb blue on the beach and being it was Friday, it was for dinner. Fish cakes again was the call.


The bad thing is my reel knob broke off the arm of my reel. it's replacable but kind of a drag. I had a re issue of the Penn 706z on the bench for a while now but never used it. It's big, slow, old tech, and it's bailess which I've never tried. Spooled it up and tried it this morning after a surf. Casted a tin into an area where dirty water and clean were mixing together to find a school of small blues right away and yanked 3 out in quick succesion. Bailess seems pretty easy so far. Couple of more casts and another bruiser hit the shorty near my feet. It was very green and mean. What a fight it put up. Didn't keep it as it's Monday. I'm still eating the last fish so all were released. Going to stick with the 706 for a bit and try to get the hang of it.

tight lines! bring those 40" fish my way please.

 

Whenever I start thinking" Maybe it's time to get a boat", I get over it fairly quickly now.
plenty to do from shore. Kayak Maybe.

The action with bluefish has continued in a mix of sizes. Get into a school of shorties one minute and a few minutes later you can find yourself in a brawl with a gorilla. This morning I hit a fast moving rip with a 2oz bucktail to get to the bottom. Found this bruiser at dawn. 33" and gotta be 12lbs


This old school 706z is a heck of a reel. It has great drag. Still feeling it out. When I get small one that doesn't pull I mess with it. When I get a big and the drag is screaming I'm messing with it. Thats a sure fire way to lose fish. Need to find that sweet spot.

 

Got into it with the blues again this morning. The sun was warm the water was clean. No waders needed. Found the tide ripping out of the bay so chucked a 2 oz bucktail for sink and a little hold. Got hit right away on the drop and pulled in a just too small striper out. Then it was nothing but the blues after and lots of them. Biggest north of 10lbs and the smallest maybe 2. Whatever the size the fish were using the rip so the fights were long and a walk was usually necessary. Then walk back to the end of the line and start again. It was good crew. A dozen folks, all regulars sharing the stoke, working together. They were still catching when I left which was hard to do. Lots of laughs were had. Kept a small guy for the table. Still in the cooler. Either fish sandwiches or ceviche.

Dude took a pic of me fighting one with my lunch on the bottom right on the sand.


There were three or four sharks on the sand too. Three without heads! The one that still had a head was loaded with teeth. Multiple opinions confirmed what I was thinking. Little Threshers. Yikes!

 

Hey LB. Have you ever speared a blue? Seems kinda dangerous.

Turned that little blue caught on Friday into simple sandwiches for dinner. Got a baguette after dumping the guts and deli cole slaw. Seasoned with the old bay and smoked paprika, then dredged in the flour egg and breadcrumbs. Fried the fillets, put it on the bread with the coleslaw and pickles. Washed it down with a high-life. Tasted like Amercia.

Tasted so good that I went back and pulled out another small guy for the table Saturday. Had a good number of fish and again it started with a short bass. Then all blues of mixed sizes. Saw a large school all rise in unison right in front of me. Quick casts into it and everyone got tight. The one kept just got breaded and fried again. Added the pieces to a fried chicken bucket for dinner and enjoyed al fresco at the end of a heck of a beach day with the fam that included some surfing if you can believe it. Many high-lifes were downed I tell you.

 

I was thinking if you spear one it would be like throwing a rock at a hornets nest.

 

I was actually thinking since I'm bleeding the fish right away that I could just take the heads and chum them. Maybe keep the fish in a frenzy.

Took a walk around the bay side with a 7 ft pole. site fished the flats. Terns and cormorants were working all over picking spearing and some other shiner. Waited till I saw fish rise and fired. At one very fishy rocky area was about to fish when A frogman with a mean looking speargun just surfaced right in front of me! He was not as easy to talk to as LB about spearfishing. Then again he was busy. He had some bad ass gear though. I want a camo wetsuit.

Came up with a number fish all much smaller. Like 1or 2lbs. Took three home and did them three ways. Ceviche is in the fridge for an appetizer. Just panko breaded one to broil for a dinner for two. Last is a "tuna" salad for bagel breakfast. We'll be fished out.

 

He just had a snorkel I think. Nothing on his back anyway.
Nice to see there is still big bass around. Two 40 pounders in one day sounds good to me! Haven't seen one myself in a while but the boats are still getting them.

I took a walk in a couple a spots Saturday. There was a big NE wind and the thought was fish into it and maybe the spearing would be pushing onto the shore bringing some fluke close. No dice on the fluke but I was throwing a 3/8 bucktail which is the lightest i've thrown and the action was perfect. Got enough action lately that I'm comfortable getting out there and blanking while trying something new. So I found a good stretch of beach. Bait was there. just zipping that little thing out into the drop off and bringing back right above the grass on the flats.

Got to a spot that has produced for me before with a big drop couple of feet from shore with the wind whipping into my face. Tried a tin 1st and got good distance but no fish. switched back to the 3/8 oz and walked right off the drop and still the distance of the cast cut in half. Let the bucktail fall at the count of 7 then snap jig to the drop off. Got rewarded with two blues right at my feet. No matter what I did one would not swim off so kept it and put into the ceviche juice.

Speaking of ceviche, after making those blues from the last post three different ways, the ceviche was the best. It should be noted that I was doing all three ways at the same time and was kind of beat. I botched the fillets that I baked. forgot to add any seasoning. The "tuna salad" was meh. I mean I'll eat it but meh.

The ceviche is just killer. Lemon and lime juice 2:1. Red onion. red bell pepper. A few jalapeno. Dash of soy and a mango habanero sauce. Diced mango and chopped cilantro. let it sit with a toss every once in awhile for couple hours ( the fish cook fast). Served in those Tostito scoops. Going to eat some right now.