Bought a new bow motor. Thought I would treat myself to a new one before my old one dies. I plan to use the old one as a back up if my new one goes down. New one is digital and looks to be a little better.
Was going to put it on this afternoon but it was too hot. Was all excited about putting it on tonight. On the way over to the boat a car pulled out and I had to slam on the brakes and the motor fell over on one of my fly rods and broke the tip off. (now I have another job for tomorrow) Got to send it back to be fixed.
Then I got to the boat, thinking I had everything I needed and found the cord on the new motor was too short and I would have to get more wire to do it tomorrow.
Only thing I could do is go out and fish. Had out going and a fairly strong south east wind. Decided to scout out the back for tomorrow nights fly charter. Hit about 7 spots real quick to see if there were any signs of bait or fish. Used a popping plug until a found what I was looking for.
Caught three small bass on popping plug. First five areas I tried were dead for the most part. Then found some bait and fish. Switched over to fly rod and got two samll bass on EP fiber bunker fly.
Then moved over to where a friend was fishing. Using Intermediate and a big chartreuse deceiver I got 3 more bass a little nicer with the last almost 24 inches. Got the last one around 9:15 as the moon was getting too bright for my liking. Fished to about 9:45 without another hit and called it a night.
Friend and his wife got around 8 bass there on popping plugs with all being small up to around 24 inches. They lost a 30 some inch blue in the back prior to me seeing me. It broke off as he was trying to remove the plug.
Night fishing wasn't good last night. Had a two guys out on a fly charter. We had another great tide, but the wind made fishing difficult at best. Started with 15 to 20 mph winds but before dark it was gusting around 30 mph. Tried to put them in spots where the wind would not effect us as much but if was brutal. Worked the areas that were good night but there was nothing there last night.
Ended the night an a point with a little rip where the wind was some what bearable and we ended catching 1 bass on a EP bunker fly 3 on a popping plug and a missed one on a popping fly that was whacked twice without a hook up. Had one super nice blue follow up to the boat but never hit.
Would of worked it a little longer but a pending thunderstorm was moving in.
It was tough fishing last night and on this mornings trip. We have had to work hard for every fish we caught.
Last night we were schedule to leave around 5:30 p.m. Charter came down early and we were going to try and fish before the storms came. Just as we were ready to leave the dock it got real nasty to the west, we could see lightning and hear thunder.
Charter decided to grab dinner and we thought we would see what it looked like after the storm passed.
Weather radar looked good and we left the dock at 6:00 p.m. It looked a bit like rain and it was dead calm without a breath of air.
Worked the back by sod banks and it was as slow as it could be. No hits, no signs of birds, bait, fish etc. Only a few turtles.
On the change of the tide we anchored up on an outgoing area with a small rip line. I took a plug rod to show the fly guys were they should cast there flies and on the demo cast caught a small striper.
Put popping flies on for the fly anglers and they had numerous strikes but could not get a hook up. Went to deceivers and they would get some hits but no hook ups.
Switched to silicone mullet flies and finally got some hook ups. I was kidding the one angler about how small the last bass was that he had caught and that there are usually some better fish around.
Around 9:30, using a 8 wt intermediate and black silicone mullet, he hooked a fish that just straighten the line out making that nice zipping sound as the line streaked up current. The fish then turned down current and was into the backing and was peeling line pretty good.
I knew we had a decent fish and a possible keeper. Angler did a nice job of fighting the fish and I netted a nice fat 31 inch bass with the fly hooked solid in the roof of the mouth.
After taking some pictures he elected to release the fish to fight another day. (very sporting) We were seeing some lightning off in the distance and they had a long drive back to Pa. A great way to end the night.
While fishing we saw a few bass swirl in the current and a few pops of fish feeding on bait along the sod banks, but nothing like normal amount that I would expect for this time of year.
IT WAS A QUICK NIGHT AND I WAS BACK AT THE BOAT AT 4:30 a.m. of a morning trip.
Left the dock at 5:00a.m. with a 2 person fly charter. there was a little drizzle but nothing nasty showing on the weather radar. Went to the inlet rocks to fish the incoming tide. Found no wind but a decent swell coming in making for some wave action around the jetty tips.
We caught some bass in short order on intermediate and EP fiber bunker fly and the other using a 300 grain sinking line and a large chartreuse deceiver. (they were all small)
One angler was starting to feel green from the sea swell and we started to work down the rocks in the calmer water. Moving down we caught a nice blue.
Sea sick angler was not feeling much better. With the dock so close I dropped him off at the dock and went back out with the other angler. It was pretty much dead the rest of the time. We even went into the back bay for a short time with the outgoing and overcast conditions and could not buy a strike.
Non fly fishing charter last night but a fun night. Had a father and his 11 year old daughter out. Daughter was really into fishing and could cast very well.
Left the dock at 5:00 p.m. and headed out to the inlet. There two big pods of bunker. We foul hooked some bunker and dropped them below and after 3/4 of an hour of nothing and super strong incoming close to full moon high tide we decided to move to the back bay.
Conditions in the back were perfect with little to no wind and perfect for throwing top water plugs. (would of been a perfect fly night) Worked an area that has been very good on the incoming and managed two top water strikes and two misses.
Moved to another spot where young Ericka got her first striper ever on a popping plug.
With action not as good as I thought it should be we made a major move into the shallow flats. Here were we were getting a lot more hits and more small bass.
We had one super nice huge bluefish on, that bit us off before we could net it and another really nice bass that shook the hook.
Did catch one decent blue and the action continued till it was time to come in at 9:00 p.m.
Father and daughter had a great night together. I was impressed she really was focused the whole night and worked the lures very well. Dad has a good fishing partner and she can't wait to do it again.
Had a good night of fishing. Left the dock at 5:00 a.m. with a incoming tide about 1/3 up. They originally booked a plugging trip for stripers. It was a father an son trip and dad had a fly rod. He asked if he could bring it along that he and his son might want to try it.
I felt bad, I just took all my fly rods out of the truck (which I very rarely do) knowing we were not fly fishing tonight. I offered to zip home and get them but he said he had originally booked the plugging trip cause he was going to fish with someone else who didn't fly fish. Turned out he was big into fly fishing and ties and sells tied flies to a couple of fly shops in Mass.
Headed to the back bay flats with the water a bit brown but clearing as the tide came in.
Using popping plugs we started slow with the first few fish that hit being missed. The son got the first and was the high hook for the night with 7 bass.
His dad had 5 bass and one nice blue. He tried his fly rod a couple of times but he had 450 grain line and we were fishing in 3 to 4 feet of water and it was dragging bottom and picking up weed on every cast.
We missed more fish than we hooked, with a mess of spectacular strikes. It was dead calm at sunset and we were treated with neat fireworks display in Wildwood while fishing.
Dad is taking his other son out tomorrow night so I will have the fly rods for sure.
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
