You might not find sheepshead by you... a little too far north to see them in big numbers. I think NJ is where they start to dwindle.
So I rinsed my plugs and buck tails and hung em up to dry. After my surf I had some time to throw. found a spot along a rip line, opened my bag, and saw a lot of empty in there. Walked right past them hanging on the fence. Nothing in there to get me the distance I needed to reach the infrequent blues that kept coming by. Just couldn't reach the strike zone. So when this dude got one and was about to kick it back in. I told if he didn't want it I'd take it. Just fried up and have a baguette and a big juicy mater. Gonna make po-boys and wash em down with a few beers. If I don't catch a fish but some else did and I end up with it ain't that still fishing?
So I took my daughter fishing Saturday night, got a fire going on the jettie (it's allowed), watched an amazing sunset. I did not take the fishing seriously, my gear is all messed up, but got two lines in the water with clam bellies on hooks. After an hour or so, when it was completely dark, one pole bent all the way over. This was a big surfcaster with a big hook and lots of clam that I chucked WAY out there (other smaller pole was set up for scup or something smallish). I foolishly told my kid to grab it and it almost pulled her over the rocks into the water. To make a long story short I fought it for maybe fifteen minutes, and lost it. I have been thinking about it every day, no joke. The bass have been running, maybe a biggun, or sand shark/dogfish. Who knows? I sure won't, goddammit.
Ocean has been exceptionally warm , my hood has some great fisherman fyi ! Fluking has been phenom while bass are Mia , and inshore has been very active .
i believe you. the ones that get away just haunt you. "What did I do wrong?" "What's up with my Gear?". Lost a big bass this spring. I know cause I saw it. Changed up my gear to use a faster action rod and workhorse of a reel. 1st fish was a doozy and I wasn't sure of the drag, and didn't want to lose my spot by walking it out of the rip so just tried to horse it through and it spit the hook 1ft from the beach. Like I had it turned sideways close. Thank goodness another bass and the 1st bluefish landed right after cause it would have killed me. Still haunts me but the pic posted on post 123 was caught a week later and I had learned my lesson. walked it down, turned it around a corner to a place with slack water. and Then as an old salt told me the other day "Now she has to listen to me". Still think the one I dropped was bigger. and yes it bothers me. tight lines
You could feed a family of 26 for a week on that one. Could have sunk the boat dragging it up! Nice!!! __________ My website
Like to share one heck of an early evening fishwalk yesterday. Things are getting slow in my area. Still Good. Blues are fairly easy to find. Bass less so but they are there. Fluke are around. having a boat helps but the cost of gas and all. I had kinda of decided to take a break. Have our family vacation to the mountains coming up. Chores to do. The rig is scrubbed up inside and out and didn't feel like stinking it up again. Had some time and was tuning up my gear for summer. Making rigs for fluke and deep channel bass. Everything looked good. So good I couldn't resist. I had to fish. With a spot in mind, I headed out but the piping plovers. I just decided to park far out and hike in. I brought 2 seven ft rods. One set up top water one set up for the bottom. Walking the back side, working both. The bottom with a bucktail and got sea robin action so I know the set up works. Just need to find fluke. Walked about 2 miles and the whole time was seeing birds lazily working in spots. In places I was seeing little shines of bait. That's where I threw a hopkins shorty but had no luck and no fish crashing. Just sea robin on the bucktails. I got to the end point and things changed quick. The tide was still ripping out as it past the point. The beach and rip created an eddy like a corner where the bait fish would get stuck in right at the shore line. Birds where hovering and lazily diving to pick up snacks. I watched as the bird count grew to a few dozen and then saw a few swirls. Then a few more. And just like that I am alone on a beach in the middle of a full-on blitz! I throw the hopkins in and it gets slammed. The 7 ft bent and the 4000's drag screaming. After a bit of the back and forth and beached what turns out to be a 28" just under 8lb blue. It was coughing up little shiners that the shorty is a perfect mimic of. It's was so fat and bleeding profusely that I decided that it would be food. Checked the liter and cast out again. Another hook up. Smaller fish and a quick release. I wasn't going to take more home but man I was just as in a frenzy as the fish. Like a fox in a henhouse, I couldn't stop. The rod was right. The reel struggled a bit but fought like it was its last stand. Put over a dozen on the beach in a 1/2 hr. The blitz lasted until last light and the water turned back to glass. There was probably still fish, and bass to boot, but I was spent. Got my gear and started dragging back. It was a long walk back in the dark. Got home, filleted, and went to bed. Ate fish for dinner last night with fresh veggies from a farm co op we joined. Yeah I got a garden but they're growing stuff we're not like broccolini. Check out the belly on this one. It tasted kinda greasy. the scale was a dads day toy. Keeps me honest. I would have said 10lbs by the look of it.
This side of the NY bight it is all flat ones . Historically large winter swells shake the mussle beds up , bringing them inshore . My next door neighbor could not nail a keeper last year . Think his number is in the 30s ytd . Good story PJ .
Thank you. I'm so ready for flatties that I'm thinking boat. but if I can get them from shore i'm willing to put the work in. @LBCrew, your expolits have me also considering using a spear but have no experience what so ever. I was thinking pole spear or sling and start small but also thinking I don't have any real dive experience. I mean i can swim and snorkel, and i used to hunt a lot. but I also can ice skate and play hockey yet when co ordinating the two took some time. this venture seems to have a bit more danger. probably should start with the diving 1st and get a handle on that before i go and arm myself right? maybe just take a bag and something i can grab a crab with or just treasure hunt for lost bucktails.
Half of the plugs in my bag were found in the rocks... so that's always a good way to start. Get yourself a good pair of fish handling gloves as a first purchase, if you don't already have them. You'll need the puncture resistance, even just diving to retrieve gear. I've been diving since I was a kid, so I can tell you that I had to unlearn a lot of bad habits and made a lot of mistakes because I never took a freedive class. I strongly encourage you to take a course and get Level 1 Freediving certified. You'll learn proper technique and safety... the two most important aspects of freediving, and the two things that will (1) keep you in the water longer, and (2) increase your effectiveness as a hunter - more days in the water and more fish on the table. I also strongly recommend that you do this with another competent swimmer. Take a course together, and dive together. Soon you'll be traveling together and pushing each other SAFELY beyond what either of you thought you could do. Do not do what I've done. My whole adult life I've surfed and dove alone 99% of the time. I'm sure you know how dangerous... and some would say stupid... that is. It's a huge no-no in the dive world, and I'm guilty of it. Why? Because if I waited for someone else to be available to go diving with I'd never go. I go alone because I don't have someone to go with. So... while diving alone, I'm very conservative. Out of the water I can hold my breath for over 3 minutes. In the water I keep it to about half that. And because my breath holds are much shorter (and safer) than they could be, I have to make it up with good hunting technique. Short breath holds and bad technique equals NO fish. Long breath holds and bad technique equals SOME fish, but higher risk. Short breath holds and good technique equals some fish, but low risk. This is me. Long breath holds and good technique equals LOTS of fish, but much higher risk... so you better have a competent, trained dive buddy. You should never push to the max and subject yourself to that level of risk alone. Most blackouts/drownings happen when people can hold their breath for a long time, and push it to the max every time. I dive alone, so I never push it to my limit. I make sure that I have plenty of oxygen in my blood remaining when I surface... I've been doing it so long I know exactly what that feels like. And I'm sure I miss a lot of fish because of that.
Love reading the exploits and tips!! I have taken up a new style of fishing (for me) and it's like starting all over again. I recently bought a house near a creek that dumps out behind all my favorite surf spots. Been fishing out there on my kayak (completely new to me), in a salty tidal creek (also never done that before). An oldtimer told me to use the plastic mullet stink baits (also never used before) you can buy at walmart. So far I have landed a croaker and 2 flounder, all under 6 inches! My goal is to catch some panfish to fry up back at the house if y'all have any suggestions.
Sounds like your doing it right. Small fish lead to bigger fish. buck tails with gulp always worth having with you. Try using a teaser. If you get baby blues(snapper) Small shiny spoons and poppers with that mullet should get you something pan sized. The kayak will give you plenty of real estate to find em. Have you checked out John skinner? He had plenty of kayak tips he fished long island and fla.
Just got back from 2000 feet above sea level. You know they don't have humidity there? Crazy. What they do have is glacial lakes and rivers that flow to the Saint Lawrence. Those rivers have all different pan fish. Small mouth bass put up a heck of a fight! They never give it up and jump and jump. Also caught my 1st pikes. Both were only 2 footers but I was using ultra lights! My fresh water gear is my snapper gear. Gnarly looking fish. But honestly the smallmouth fought harder. Next year's trip up is already being prepped. I'm aiming for trout. Back at home the surf fish scene has switched. Bunch of nutters chunking for sharks and rays. They're pulling big ones out. I'm not into that at all. I went walking with a light rig for fluke. Using a shorty for weight with a short leader on the end tied to a feathered hook. Using a big curly tail on the hook. Plenty of action but only set the hook once and got a keeper. I think I just need to practice patience before pulling. Came up with a couple grubs with no tail. Want to get out there and get a few more for a meal but I got rona and have to stay home. Bummer.
Spearfished yesterday... got skunked. Saw two short fluke, a few huge rays, tons of spearing... but no bass, and no triggers. Saw a few nice sized blackfish, but they're still out of season... until Sunday!
plenty of bait in the water. little slivers of silver and the birds are on them. I've been walking the shore looking for food. Using a shorty as weight/flash that leads a short line of mono to a feathered hook. A curly tail on the hook or if a catch a robin I use that to save some coin. Both work for fluke and robins which I've been taking home for fish fries, ceviche and such. when the birds get close concentrated and particularly loud I look for large swirls and through tins. Small blues and Spanish macks are tearing through. they are moving very fast and hard to target but a bunch of fun when you find them. I've been just staying at a good spot with two pole set up and switching between bottom and top. I'm catching something every time. It's a mixed bag and includes what some consider garbage, but food is on the table. Had some cool wildlife experiences too. Rays coming in using the lip on the shore like a 1/4 pipe flipping through right at my feet. Saw a shark beach itself and scurry back in as I walked by. I was throwing a small bucktail and saw a brown thing appear at my feet. It disappeared and then my line just singed off my reel. What ever it was it never stopped and I lost my fresh out of the package bucktail. Lost a little coin but hey how exciting! Slept in this morning but might take a walk after dinner.
Didn't end up going after dinner. Thought I might go early morning the next day but forgot about an early work start. I had my stuff in the car and after dinner asked if anybody wanted to go to the beach. No takers. So I did the dishes and headed out. I was going to walk the point to the inlet looking for pelagics and if nothing walk the bay back jigging for fluke. Found a friend looking for sea shells and as we were catching up I see birds rising up behind her and getting to work. I excused myself and sprinted to where the bay bends towards the inlet and found a huge blitz. Lots of bait at my feet, the water was so clear you can see the schools running in to find them. I was hoping for macks, but my tin got taken and the drag singed for a long run. I thinking maybe an albie but it was about a 6lb blue. Don't know why I kept it but I did. The school was hard to pinpoint when you threw towards the splashes they were gone by the time the lure hit the water. Got another though and this was a battle. I switched to a slightly lighter rod. I'm using 15lb test. It took a while but another blue landed. Don't know why but kept that one too then decided to get another to fill the bag limit. Got a smaller one on right away it was jumping and I played it to much. Spit the hook right passed my face! After that the blitz winded down and headed back. Got a load of oily meat soaking in milk as I type. I know it's crazy but that one I lost is haunting me. My special lady friend just got back from the beach saying no swimming. A huge bait event in front of the life guards. Unsure what it was but some huge splashes. Interested to hear from @LBCrew. Bet he is seeing weird stuff down there. Where u at?
