I decided to go surfcasting in North Monmouth
Cty on Fri. afternoon. All the conditions were aligned with the potential of a fantastic day for fishing. There was wind from the East @ a steady 15-20+ mph with gusts, the barometer was falling and the (2) previous days were clear, light winds, high air temps.- and no fish! And, a
Nor'Easter was predicted to hit later Fri.
nite. I had predicted great potential before and was disappointed more than once! I hoped this time would be different.
As I passed over the Highlands Bridge and approached Sandy Hook, I saw the surf conditions-large waves and lots of heavy surf-and was encouraged. This could be a great day!
I had a series of spots I would try, starting near the Hook and ending in
Allenhurst. As it turns out, my first stop was my last. I was immediately into stripers- from 24" to about 32", for the first hour, on almost every cast. The only thing that could punch through the wind was a heavy
bucktail or metal. It turned out, my homemade 3 oz. white
bucktail/grub combo was merely propulsion for the teaser-a
Sluggo SS- a perfect sandeel imitation. All the fish hit the teaser, completely ignoring the bucktail. Its amazing to me that they can even find that little thing in the surf like that but boy they could! The second hour was all bluefish-from 4 to 9 lbs. They bit off more teasers than I liked but what the heck...I started using
Redgills, 4"
Sluggo's,
FinSfish, any soft plastic I had left! They were eating through my whole supply! What a great showing those fish made of themselves, using the current to their advantage. The action slowed down but I caught the LARGEST blue of the day on my
bucktail! That BT came through again as it has numerous times in the past! I made a short move down the beach and I started catching
stripers again, not every cast but one every 5-10
mins. At about 4:30 pm, after casting what seemed like a thousand casts into that
frickin' wind, I caught my smallest
striper, about 18" and called it a day. I was pooped!
I guess, all told, I caught over 20
stripers and ten blues, of which, a couple came home with me (My mother in law loves bluefish!). Man, that was a workout! And after a couple of previous fish-less outings, this trip came at the perfect time.
Oh, I almost forgot the best part-I was the only nut on the beach for as far as I could see! I had the fish all to myself. I avoided getting "mugged", which has happened more times that I care to admit by those binocular using, cell-phone calling, so-called fishermen!.
I hope I get another day or two like this before the season ends. And I'd especially like a banner day to christen my new boat, too! A little "
mojo" for her to carry her through till the start of the next fishing season!
Well, that's my report. Next time I post if anyone wants to go with me I hope I can share a day like this with another Hi-Mar member. What a story to tell.......
