The fishing trip started out like any other. Someone, (in this case it was my wife's visiting father,) made a comment on how we take a ton of crap with us. Well, we weren't sure if we were going to go overnight or not, so we put the kitchen sink into the back of Steve's truck. We had a plan. It was to launch somewhere on the West side of Barnegat Bay and paddle to the BB and or BI buoys and catch fluke and weakfish. It was really a vague idea of a plan since it was all new to us. We didn't know where to launch, or really where those buoys were. Our research was in no way thorough.
As any regular readers of this blog may have realized, we usually stop at every tackle shop and spend a million dollars before fishing. We stopped at Bob Kislin's, a kayak shop in Tom's River, to get a new plug for KGB's kayak since it had disappeared. Steve was saying that they only had crappy bucktails there, and that they never have exactly what we want. They had the plug, and they had Gulp and some bucktails, but they didn't have the size braid I wanted for my new Stradic 3000. They had a 3000, but only 40# braid, so they got close... I didn't get the reel, even though I was tempted. I really
did know exactly what it was I wanted. I have the perfect rod for a 3000 with 20# braid.
From there we went to find the new launch. The water was chocolate and weedy with white caps. There was no discussion. We left immediately. An hour later we were in Seaside Park. At Grumpy's I asked about a Stradic or Sargosa 3000, and they had one, but it was quite a bit more expensive than the one at Kislin's. I decided to wait.
On the subject of Tackle shops: We talked with Ray and got some info about where the bunker and bass were out front and immediately the gears in my mind started churning. Ray was trying to convince these other customers that they were buying the wrong thing, but they persisted and said that their "Machine" wasn't big enough for bigger hooks. That seems like a fair thing, but why surf fish with small "machines?" I guess if it's what you got you have to. As we were leaving we heard Grumpy say that they didn't want those hooks, but unlike Ray who was willing to let them get what they wanted, Grumpy literally grabbed it out of their hands and put it back behind the counter. We really should have stuck around for the rest of that interaction just for the imminent entertainment.
One more stop at Betty and Nicks. I know it sounds crazy, but one shop has bullet head bucktails, the other has ball bearing swivels, it's these little differences makes us stop and delays fishing indefinitely. So I asked at Betty and Nicks if they had a Stradic 3000, and of course immediately got the argument that it was too small and that I needed the 4000 which they had. I waited. The truth is that though you can get good advice from tackle shops, sometimes it is impossible for them to know exactly what kind of fishing you're doing and where.
Finally we got to the launch.
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| going to Alaska |
Fishing started off slow. There was a hard wind from the South (again) and the incoming supermoon max tide made it a tough paddle to Snake Ditch. I had mentioned, but not convinced the team that we should go chase Bunker around the ocean at first light tomorrow A.M. So we still didn't have a solid plan.
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| one of over 20 shorts |
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| the magic hour |
By 8 p.m. I had caught at least 10 small bass on a die dapper bass assassin swim shad on a 1/2 ounce bullet head jig.
As an aside, when I first hear of things like "you should crush your barbs" and " you shouldn't use treble hooks" I thought that these rules didn't apply to me because at the time I didn't catch that many fish at all. But I remember them, and now I fully agree. It is important to properly and carefully release fish, and there are many resources to learn how online. Suffice it to say, it
is easier with single hooks and crushed barbs.
I also had two keeper fluke. KGB was not hooking up at all, and Steve's evening was also slow so he went to paddle to Seal Island. Just when I started hooking up Steve was also getting into fish on his way there on
Tube-n-worm. We kept in radio contact, and it wasn't long before Steve headed back to Snake Ditch because a group of loud teen-agers blasting bad country radio music had shown up at the other spot.
Upon returning to snake ditch Steve managed to catch his
biggest fluke to date on a pink fin-s type lure that is actually a Zoom "Salty Super Fluke."
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| KGB is persistent |
While Steve and I were setting up camp KGB hooked into a 20 some inch bass on Tune-n-worm by weakfish point. We decided that it wasn't worth it to pack and unpack the truck and the gear in the middle of the night just on the off chance that there would bunker at some surf spot, so we stayed at Snake Ditch.
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| Best camping spot, hidden by trees and brush |
We all agreed it was the best night we've spent out there as far as sleeping goes. KGB was first up, and he drifted out to the inlet for some fluking. I noticed tons of bait at weakfish point so I decide to head up the ditch. As soon as I hit some deeper water I started catching short bass on the 31/2 inch bass assassin. This lasted until we left around noon. Steve switched to the same lure I had and he also started hooking up. He also landed the largest piece of debris any of us have ever seen, and it was on his light set-up, a Stradic 2500. So I say poo poo to the tackle shops that think light spinning gear can't hold up! If we've learned nothing else this Spring, it's small baits and match the hatch, and for that you need a light set-up, not giant surf-fishing gear.
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| Steve and his log |
And so we were just getting ready to peacefully troll back to the launch so that I wouldn't be too late to work, when this happens....
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| Where this wave-runner is going, along the bank, is where all of the most sensitive life forms are living |
Steve advised the three wave-runners that they weren't allowed back there because it was a wildlife preserve. As if in second grade, they said "Your'e not allowed back here either" and sped off at top speed. Not to get too involved into this gripe, but....
1. Wave-runners have jets that destroy lots of small life.
2. They aren't allowed back there, but the signs aren't up yet, they're still at the launch in a pile since Sandy.
3. They were going way too fast through an area where there have been divers and swimmers recently
4. They were
rude
We called the park office and the coast guard. It was a better option than snag and drop wave-runner which would have been easy since they were literally within ten feet of us. We can only hope that the Coast Guard harassed them.
All in all this trip was a 10 in my book. I almost had a slam, I had a bluefish, over 20 bass and two keeper fluke. The only thing missing is the elusive weakfish.
