“Chummin’ along”-Fishing report-09-20-10-By Bob Misak Barnegat Light

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a cooler full of large puffers

“Chummin’ along”-Fishing report-09-20-10-By Bob Misak
This past week was a gorgeous one as far as the weather was concerned and the wreck fishing was quite productive at both the tires and the 12 mile wreck. The sea bass are thick on the structure, and the togs are there for the taking as well, even though you can still only keep one. I saw some pictures of some ten lb. fluke that were caught and released on the head boats this week, and if we only had another two weeks, it would be great. The few boats that have the “experimental extended fluke permit” were all smiles, as this is the time of the year when those doormats lay unbothered on the bottom of the ocean. No biggie though, because the big blues are moving in quick and it’s just a couple weeks to a month before we all hit the sands and the seas for the fall striper run. Some keeper linesiders are coming to the scales here and there, but that’s the early birds who get out there and hit it hard, usually at night. The head boats are on those gators at night too, and some fish are from 12 to an occasional 15 lb. fish coming over the rails. I gave my dad a 16 lb. blue once last fall, and he said he got almost 80 fish cakes out of that thing. I didn’t join him in eating any, but still, that’s a lot of fish cakes! Out on the beach the king fishing is picking up, and sand worms or fresh clams on a little high low rig will bring em’ to your feet along the finger jetties. Barnegat Light bait and tackle is ready for the fall fishing with green crabs for togging, fresh bunker and clams for the beach, and those deadly spots for when the first big striper rears its head, and it definitely won’t be long. Basil is having a dinner at Lacey Elks on Oct. 9th for the “Save the music” fund that is geared at keeping the music program going at our local elementary school. Budget cuts have put yet another much needed program in jeopardy, as well as a couple more jobs, so check with Basil on a great night of entertaining and eating, and he also has a raffle for 20 bucks giving away a nice Lami-glass rod and reel combo. If both of those are too much for your budget, drop by the shop and drop a five spot in the bucket, it’s for the kids, darn it! The bay is still holding a ton of blowfish, and I hit it again on Saturday and Mark Cornelius and I put 55 really nice eaters in the cooler. It was great weather and great fishing, and Basil has some fresh ground chum and fresh clam baits for that trip to the B.I. or B.B. buoys. Big king fish are coming off the slicks as well as nice sized porgies too, but I heard some stories of guys not buying enough chum logs and running out. The bay temps were 73 on Saturday with an incoming tide, and chum only lasts about 20 minutes a log, so you’ll need at least ten, maybe twelve, to keep the fish around you long enough to load a cooler. So things are still satisfactory out there and will improve quickly in the next week, but “Igor” is going to keep boats from going out for a few days. We’ll wait it out in the bay and load up on the small but scrumptious bay fish off the chum. We’ll see you down at B.L.B.T, and if you’re going togging on the jetty, don’t forget your cleats and some plasti-wear, it gets snotty out there. Good luck and great fishing to everyone, and be safe out there, huh?