The payoff is in the back, By alexi

     November on the New Jersey coast is absolutely THE month to fish for striped bass and everyone knows it.  Almost everyone, anyway.  As I awkwardly  unload my kayak for the third (maybe fourth) time from the top of my truck in the past ten days a passerby asks me "Why are those boats out there? is there a tournament or something?"  No, it's just the first day where a calm ocean has coincided with a weekend.  It's Sunday.  The fleet is already there when  I arrive.

the fleet

Where am I? Spot-burn, the Jersey coast in November.  One giant spot-burn. ( For those unfamiliar with the term: a spot-burn is when you give away a good fishing location.) This whole blog is one giant spot-burn.  The Jersey Coast in November.  Day or night.  Any bridge, any canal, any jetty, any beach, any inlet.  One giant spot-burn.

I tried North.

Keyport Municipal boat ramp

I fished Raritan Bay 2, maybe 3 times.  I lost track.  I was skunked.  It was too windy one night, I was a day late the next trip...Just missed the "bite"  I tried the ocean in Northern Jersey, around Belmar - I saw a dogfish caught one trip, out of a thousand boats, one damn dogfish.  That was funny.  On another trip I was between two boats and they both hooked up with bass on snagged bunker, but I didn't.  So my skunk was persistent.  The wind has been un-predictable.  Two or three times I've had to call a trip short because it was predicted wrong.  Gusting up to 25 or 30 when it was going to be a barely tolerable 15 mph.

I tried drifting eels in the back.  (After catching innumerable shorts in the day) only to come up dry.  No fish on eels.

I tried out front AGAIN, only to be called off by the wind.  Now?  What next?  That's what I asked myself.  Here it is, god-damn November.  The month I should be leaving my Kayak on the top of my truck.  The month I should be leaving my gear ready at the door.  I should be catching fish.

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sedges sunset

Half over.  November 14th.  I start later, I fish later, after reading my own damn blog!  I needed to chase my own reports.  My own spot-burns from previous years.  So I launch at sunset in the Sedges.

...and then the fishing begins...

fishing in the dark

The eels had been collecting in my pond from various trips between Steve and I.  I didn't need to stop at the tackle shop.  I even left a few behind.  I had all of my gear, but once the sun set it was one eel, one rod one circle hook.  I drifted, and I drifted, and I wasn't getting any action.  I made my way to Oyster Creek Channel where I encountered a USCG (Coast Guard) boat with whom I had a peculiar encounter.  The captain thought I was two people on a jet ski.  He said there were no personal watercraft allowed on the water after dark.  I didn't argue, and agreed to head back, which is what I'm always doing once I start fishing.  There is a beginning and an end.  Once I start, I'm on my way back.  And so I made my way around, back through skinnier water that by now I know even better than the back of my hand at any tide.  The night grew long and my toes were cold.  Just as it usually happens with Striped Bass fishing, as the night goes on the fishing improves, and in a very specific rip with a hump and some deeper water I found a school of 26-30" bass that wanted my eel presented in a VERY specific manner.  Finally, a pattern.

night stripers, one of 5 right around 28"

It was just early enough that if I called it a night I wouldn't have to sleep in my truck, so I headed back.  Finally, fall has begun for me.

the end

P.S.
According to the USCG's own website the only requirement to kayak at night is a white light visible 360 degrees.

Fluke Fishing Brigantine, NJ - Backwaters, by Alexi

Summer fishing has been sparse.  Steve and I managed to squeeze a day trip in last week thanks to Janessa's generosity of watching my dumb dog. We had about 5hrs of fishing time.  The search was for the closest place to catch fluke, so we decided on Brigantine, NJ.

Brigantine

We used the municipal boat ramp.  It was convenient.  No porta-potty, but plenty of parking, and free (as far as we could tell.)

I had watched Skinner's latest fishing video on fluke tactics.   It was more just inspirational than educational.  What I mean is, I usually end up trying several things to see what works.  I had some left-over killies.  I keep them alive in my pond in a bait bucket.  Then I put them in a bigger bucket with a battery aerator for the drive.  Then back in the bait bucket once I'm at the water.  It's a lot of work, but I find that I'd rather not run out of bait and this system has worked.

I bought A 2-ounce bucktail and a 1-ounce at Riptide bait and tackle.  Steve bought a hat.  If you look at the map, due to the wind and the drift, most of our fishing this day was done in Obes thoroughfare.

Steve fishing Obe's thoroughfare

At first I just used a bucktail with gulp nemesis and a teaser with a 4" gulp swimming mullet.  I was getting tons of weeds on the bucktail. I needed to change tactics.   I decided to try just a bank sinker on bottom with a teaser and a killie.  That was NOT getting any weeds, so I switched both rods over to that system.  I had caught more fish on gulp the previous trip, but conditions just weren't right for that here.  I had several shorts on the teaser/ killie combo.

short fluke, no nets, just a towel

I had a good drift, out of the wind and was consistently catching fish.  I kept at it until I had a keeper, (and then I kept at it some more)  A storm was brewing.

storm

So we stayed in what seemed to be a safe area with an escape plan to land if the shit really hit the fan, but it just passed offshore.

keeper fluke

the end

P.S.   the moral of this story is: look at google maps, fish anywhere

Florida 2017 Movie

Your Dog is a Bluefish and your Bluefish is a dog, by Alexi

The fish dance didn't help...................

      On friday, we went for a casual look and see at the beach. Plan A was to ocean launch and snag bunker.  We  didn't see any  Bunker, and the waves were a little high, so, on to plan B. It was to visit the sedges.
     There were lots of people sitting on the beach.  As a fisherman who visits the beach all year it's always a little bit of a shock to see the transformation of the shore from a nice small fishing village to a sunbathing mecca.   By "shock," what I really mean is a kind of repulsion.  This may come off as callous, but I think those of us who fish often can relate to this sentiment.

memorial day

I've heard this referred to as "snot grass"

    We kayaked out past the sedge house to poke around the outside of the sedges. What's really amazing is that there can be a thousand folks at the beach, and back by the sedge islands only one or two people kayaking around.  

    There was one other person fly fishing a nice corner.   I didn't see him land anything.  

    Trolling tube-n-worm in the bay was not productive. The only worms I could get were fake, and I had ZERO confidence in them.   Besides, the bay was really weedy. A simple bucktail with pork rind was my go to lure once we found some deeper water. I had two hook-ups with bluefish but couldn't land them.  I had chronic knot failure, something that hasn't happened to me before.  I lost three bucktails, all broken at the braid with a twist, as if my knot came unravelled.  There is nothing more unnerving than losing confidence in ones knots.  After it happenned twice I decided to solve the problem by using a swivel to connect my leader to my main line of braid,  instead of tying direct thinking that this was a sure fire way of solving the problem.  And of course it did not work.  I am now going to have to review all of my knots which in the past I have used and caught big fish on.  

    Just one last word about "mojo."  Before we left I had decided this post was not going to include any pictures of fish.  Maybe that's why we didn't land any?  The old jinx yourself.  Most fishermen have some things they do that they think will bring them luck.  Here's a few of mine; there's the fish dance,  buying ice for fish that you haven't caught yet,  wearing my fish shirt, fish hat, really  just about anything.... 

Small spring baits from the belly of the bass (sandworms, grass shrimp, and striped killies).

first bigger spring fish...

16 1/2 pounds, 36 inches. Second cast. Live eel. Snake Ditch. Around 8 p.m. Top of the incoming.

Before this I had been waiting around for Steve. There were acres of birds out front diving, and I couldn't resist casting at them seeing as though I had my waders and surfcasting rod with me. They were on Herring. It was fun to watch, some other anglers hooked up, but I had to wait for my Ditch fish. Is the spring going to be as epic as the fall?