Got out with one person fly charter last night. Left the dock at 5:30 p.m. with the tide just starting to come in. Worked the beach front area with sinking lines and yellow/white clousers and picked up a two blues and two keeper weakies to 15 1/2 inches(which were released) in very clean cold water.
Water on the incoming tide was very cold and there was a fog around the inlet. Along the inlet rocks were we enjoyed a nice pick of stripers along the rocks with charter catching 6 with sinking lines and EP fiber bunker flies in a natural brown white color.
I even got to fish a bit and caught a few bass including the biggest of the night right around 25 inches.
Checked out the bridge on the way to the back bay and saw bait, but no signs of fish. In a light fog we fished the back sod banks getting three more on the same bunker flies with the charter catching a 24 1/2 inch bass, his biggest of the night.
It was really a beautiful night, with calm winds good tide no boats around most of the night. We were back at the dock by 10:00
After an early afternoon thunderstorm passed by off shore I gave Pete a call about going out and fly fishing around 7:00 p.m. We left the dock with the tide on the way in. There was still a good southeast wind blowing and the ends of the inlet had some wave action so we decided to work the inside of the rocks with the incoming tide.
I was using my trusty EP fiber 5 1/2 inch bunker fly that has been working really well. It was a slow night with the water cold and clear. Had to work for every fish. After a half hour of no hits I got the first bass, a small 18 incher. About 20 minutes later I got a 20 incher
Pete was having a tough time. I had caught my two bass within feet of the rocks. He kept telling me to get him closer. I must of done a great job as he lost 5 flies to them over the course of the night, which was a record for lost flies in a night for him.
As it got closer to dark the wind dropped out and it was beautiful. There was no wind and it was calm as glass.
As we drifted down the rocks I was stripping my bunker fly back and just starting to lift the line out of the water when a huge bass came up and inhaled it three feet away from the boat right in front of Pete. We could see the big flash of silver and the splash as the fish took the fly and ran off into the deep.
It fought nice on the nine weight and made only a couple of short runs (It would of fought a lot harder in the shallow back bay) and came to the boat fairly quickly, which surprised me.
Pete netted a nice 36 incher for me. (My personal best on the fly for the year so far) We took some pictures and released the fish for someone else to enjoy.
For me it was a great night. Pete took his skunking in stride and said he had a fun time seeing and netting my big fish. He was too stubborn to change to one of my bunker flies, but said next trip he would. We fished till around 9:30 and came in early.
Left the dock at 5:30 p.m. with a light tackle spin charter. It was suppose to be wind dying, but when we left it had to be blowing a good 20 mph. With the bottom half of the tide and going out we went out the inlet and found a nasty chop. We worked a couple of schools of bunker and found nothing under them.
With the wind blowing hard we were able to tuck up on the beach in the lee of the land and it was pretty nice and it looked ideal for catching.
Worked the area for about an hour for weakies, fluke or bass and never even got one strike and we used, storms, finesse, bucktail worm combos and gulps. (I think it was dead)
Think water temps are the biggest problem right now. Water was 55 degrees and crystal clear. Fish seem to be hitting best when it is dark.
Wind started to die out so we worked the inlet rocks as the tide started in and picked away at small blues. Around sunset the wind died to zero and we had a gorgeous sunset. (Picture would of been great with a nice fish but no luck on the timing) Really turned out to be a great night for fishing.
We picked one striper off after dark on the one side and move to the other side were we had some decent striper action with a good number of misses with the biggest being about 24 inches.
We ended up with 7 stripers. Some on popping plugs, but most on black mag darter, and black bomber plugs. Stayed out extra long as it was such a beautiful night and were even treated to a great fireworks display off of Wildwood.
Water was cold the whole time. You would pick up a fish and it was cold. Usually this time of year you are worried about the water getting too warm.
Going to give the fish a break for a few days. Worked my charter schedule around the next three days and heading on a road trip south to pick up a new boat. If all goes well I will be bring back a Triton LTS 22 foot to put into charter service.
Should be back Tuesday as I have a charter on Wednesday. Excited about getting the little bigger boat with all the extra rod storage space. Holds 8 rods in a rod locker and 6 under the gunwales.
Thinking about keeping my scout on the trailer for traveling, but don't know if I would really get enough use out of it to justify it.
Will be still using the old boat till I get the new one bottom painted, the name on it and other stuff rigged.
Did a plug charter Tuesday morning. I had two French speaking Canadians that the tackle shop sent my way. Father spoke no English and I was able to communicate with the son on a limited basis. Found out they fish Walleye and Pike and wanted to throw lures instead of bottom pounding with bait and they were not interested in killing lots of fish.
Had a real fun morning with them. Started in the back bay at 5:30 a.m. With a few nice size blues on popping plugs. They really were impressed with the fight blues put up. Before the sun got too high son got a small striper and missed a really nice fish. Couldn't tell if it was another one of those super large blues or a bass. It was really looked big on the strike and peeled off a lot of drag before the hook pulled.
With the sun High and tide getting lower we worked the inlet where they picked up a good number of small blues on, swimming plugs and rubber baits.
It was a lot of fun, even with language difference. (and I thought Peter talks funny) ;D They enjoyed their first saltwater experience and the dolphins along the jetties. We had fun conversations as I would try to get the son to understand and then he would convey it to his dad and back.
They had a great time and decided to keep a few bluefish for dinner.
Wednesday nights trip, same father and son I had out last week. Another plugging trip but a good one. Left dock at 5:00 p.m. with a fairly strong wind and a high tide in the back bay.
Started getting blues on popping plug with a couple of decent ones and worked our way around the back with very slow action. There was lots of small bait but no fish. First bass was a dink striper to start.
Then we found a area where we got a quick three just as the wind started to ease up a bit.
I decided to make a run to the other side of the bay to see if we could find some better activity and couldn't resist taking this shot of the setting sun.
Moved to the new location and started getting strikes and hooking fish. Even had a friend come over and our two boats enjoyed nice action till it got totally dark. We stayed longer and picked up a few more fish after dark.
Father got the nicest fish of the night on a teaser. (He likes to use a teaser and I give him a hard time about it as it never produces) It did last night. Also tease him that even though it looks like a fly it is not the same as fly fishing. He has used the fly rod a few times but likes the spin better.
They ended up with 11 stripers and I even caught a few when I took a couple of casts. It was a beautiful night and the wind died to zero as the moon came out bright.
Another non fly charter Thursday morning. Good client wanted to take his 13 year old daughter out to catch some fish. Couldn't make it down till 6:30 a.m. It was a little late for a good bite on plugs in the back. We tried it for an hour. Bait that was around last night was gone and we had no strikes. It was bright dead calm and clear water.
Move to a spot and decided to try and chum up some blues or bass. We were smothered with sand sharks. She had fun with all the action but not very sporting type fish. After catching maybe 30. (believe we had one on every cast) We made a move to the Ocean to try the rocks.
Here we picked away at small blues with only one being a 3 or 4 pounder which her dad caught. Again water was calm not a lot of current. It was so nice the yatch club had a sailboat race off the beach and had everyone in there little 15 foot laser sailboats sail out the inlet. Even saw a pair of yakers paddle out.
After not using a fly rod for awhile and the good fishing the night before on popping plugs, I had the urge to go out for a short trip. Called Pete up to give a quick shot right as the sun was setting.
Worked a good spot. I had three hits and caught two bass 23 1/2 and 24 incher. One on sinking line with 5 1/2 inch bunker pattern and the other on intermediate and black silicone mullet.
(No pictures, left the camera on front seat of truck. Besides I don't think I could get him to take another picture)
Pete is still in a big slump. Three straight trips in a row and he can't hard buy a strike let alone hook a striper. I had to keep the knife and sharp objects away from him. He was calling me nasty names and I was afraid he might do something desperate. (I did offer to put him out of his misery, and that I would hope he would do the same for me if I got in a slump like that.)
At the start of the night he caught the smallest fish I had ever seen caught on a fly. Using a clouser he caught 4 inch croaker in the mouth.
To make Pete feel good we stopped at the bridge lights and he caught a number of small blues. There might of been some bass around but the blues wouldn't let a fly go more than a few feet without them slamming it.
I went down in flames this morning. Went out with a father and son fly charter, who had a very good striper trip the last time out. Left the dock at 5:00 a.m. With a light wind went out the inlet to work the jetty rocks on the incoming tide. Conditions looked perfect. Worked it really hard with bunker and mullet flies, fishing the outsides and insides as good as you could. Had two hits and misses with one good fish on that bit us off. Looked to be a good sized blue.
Move to the back bay where we found lots of bait along several areas but could only get a couple of light hits. Again conditions looked great. Found a lot of bait, but just no fish. First trip since I can remember where we didn't get a striper let alone no fish period.
I believe that being close to the full moon the high tide at night has had more tidal flow as this mornings hight tide was about 2 feet lower in hight. I think the fish fed all night and just laid low this morning.
Just couldn't do for my clients this morning. I think they were less disappointed than I was. It really looked like it was going to be a great morning and I thought for sure were were going to have a great day.
What a difference a day makes! Left the dock this morning at 5:30. Weather radar showed no storms but could see some flashing way off in the dark toward Delaware.
Went out to the inlet where it was dead yesterday. First casts for both anglers and they were hooked up. Had non stop bluefish action 12 inchers to 4 lbers with bay anchovies busting all around the boat. Started the guys with swimming plugs, then top water popping plugs. Since they had some freshwater fly experience I waited for daylight to let them try the weighted fly lines. Using jiggies they did pretty good casting and were catching blues like crazy.
Blues were so thick that fouled plugs dragging along the surface were getting two and three hits. Boat looked like a bloody mess, between the choked up bay anchovies and the blood. We kept 10 out of the maybe 60 fish they caught.
After two hours of constant action we left the bitting fish looking for bass along the rocks. Here we caught two small ones and maybe 10 more blues.
Last half hour we tried in the back as the tide was starting out. Sun was bright and we got no hits.
Late morning as I was cleaning the boat it started to cloud up and look threatening. Wish we could of had a few of those fish yesterday.
With the storms on the radar map, just canceled tonights charter.
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Worked my charter schedule around the next three days and heading on a road trip south to pick up a new boat. If all goes well I will be bring back a Triton LTS 22 foot to put into charter service.
