They keep coming”- Fishing report - 11-22-10- By Bob Misak
This past weekend was again a doozy for the regulars that were on the beach battling it out in the L.B.I. Surf Classic. There is still two weeks to go, the bass are giants, and the north end lit up on Saturday as the bunker slammed into the sands from Barnegat Light on down to Harvey Cedars. Bob Braack snagged and dropped a bunker to catch his first 40 lb. bass at 40.50 lbs, and Lady Fisher Jen Solewki, formerly Jen Awad and a long time regular and former lady winner, smacked the scales with a linesider just under 43 lbs! Jen is no stranger to this competition and she can hang with the big dogs, I’ll tell you that! It looks good for Jen to take the ladies title this year for bass, and look for her to seek out a big gator blue for a clean sweep in the ladies division. Tournament leader Ray Sullivan also weighed in a bass at 33.50 lbs, a baby compared to his 56 lb. leading bass. Ray has had a great year and congratulations to him and his wife Joann for being a driving force in some fierce competition in 2010. The blues continue to trickle in here and there, and the boats were outside the inlet during the week stacked up just north of the jetty on a school of big blues, so maybe they’ll hang around until the end of the tournament. The jetty rocks gave up some great togs on opening day last week, but there had to be 200 anglers on the rock pile and most were taking home their six fish limit. I fished with my buddy Jeff Crouse and we spent about an hour out there to take five white chins up to 18 inches home to the “cooking station”. I went out again a few days later and the togs were there but not in the numbers, and I took two nice fish home and called it a day after four hours of tough fishing. The condo docks have been quiet since Dick “the judge” Murray smacked a 35 lb. bass up there a couple weeks ago, and the old barnacles are just messing around with the herring right now.
The head boats are the hot place to be right now, and as the togs move out of the bay and off the jetties to the deeper water of the wrecks, now is the time to get out there and jig up some bass or go try for a huge blackfish. The back bay has quieted down some as well and a lot of boats are starting to see the parking lots at the marinas, as guys take em’ out and winterize. But things are by no means over as of yet, especially with the big giant bass that are still coming in on a regular basis. We have at least another week to get out there and light up some big bass, and again, it has been a phenomenal year here in Ocean County’s waters. I haven’t seen bass fishing this good in quite some time, and the guys who stayed the slowed times reaped the benefits when the fish did show up. The only way to catch those big fish is to be there when they show, and living on the water is a sure way to catch em’ moving through. So we have a little time to go yet, and then the rods will go in the corner of the garage until spring. Good luck and great fishing to all.

Barnegat Light Bait and Tackle
1501 Bayview Ave.
Barnegat Light, NJ
(609) 494-4566
Website www.barnegatlightbaitandtackle.com
Email info@barnegatlightbaitandtackle.com