Capt. Dave's Fishing Reports Archives

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December 2000
December 8,  Sorry I missed a few days of reports, but the cold is upon us.  I've been extremely buzy winterizing boats and shrinkwraping them for the winter.  If it isn't over it sure is cold and since there has even been a good quantity of Ice on the bay I'm sure that back bay temperatures are far below the stripers comfort level.  I even gave it a try Tuesday morning and basicly got beat up by a very stiff south east wind.  I was with Jonas Haws and we fished in front of Brigantine.  We stopped on Brigantien Shoals in front of the Brigantine Motel and trolled stretch plugs.  We marked a few fish and even had one hit that missed the hooks, but couldn't score.  When we lost the marks we headed north and found Ganets crashing about a mile up the beach, It looked like the mother load, but by the time we got to the birds they had scattered and we couldn't mark anything.  They continued to make up and break up and we worked the area trolling and jigging to no avail, Since we never really marked any fish I have to assume the Ganets were finding pods of bait on the surface, diving on them and forcing them down.   However there were no fish underneath to push them back up.  The radio reports in front of AC were similar with very few fish getting caught.

    The last few days have been constantly cold and windy, I've had occasional radio reports of fish being caught of AC, but there hasn't been a day that I would have wanted to try to get out.  I plan on trying to leave my Kimberly boat in the water at least into next week and give it another try if the weather permits, but this patern doesn't look great.  I would like to have everything hauled and put away by the time I head south for Christmas on the 20th.  If you have to stay extra late or you have an emergency haul out my dad will be available at the store phone nymber, 609-484-0409.  He won't let your boat freeze, but if possible please bring it around during the next week.  I should be able to take care of winterizing and shrinkwraping the same day. 

    As far as fishing reports go I don't expect to have any actual fish reports as such over the winter, but there is a lot going on and I plan on [posting continual information here.  I've already been to one fishing tackle distributor show this week and have a couple more to go to so I'll be letting you know about what will be new in the store next year.  I will also be using this page as a soap box to comment on some important issues dealing with our sport fishing and that affect us.  There are some serious issues comming up not the least of which is the Fluke supposed overfishing which must be addressed.  All recreational fishermsn must join together and support those who are working to preserve our sport.  visit some of the web sites on the "Conservation Page" and get an Idea what we can do.  I also plan to use some down time to greatly improve this web page so stop by often because I will have constant changes and updates.  I will definately have an interactive message board shortly where all the visitors can exchange fish stories. questions and ideas.  I have some Ideas of my own to make this better than the average and I hope to make it one of the most active on the web.  I also want to do it right ant that is one of the things that has taken me so long.  If there is anyone reading this with some technical ability that would be willing to help me set this ou please e-mail me.

    One last note for today is that we are haveing a very late waterfowl season and if you would like to get out for some cold weatehr gunning I will be keeping the Goose Buster Boat available for late Season hunting.  I will be getting back on January 3 and will be available until the season closes on the 20th.  Call or e-mail for details.   I'll be running the close out sale until I leave so Don't forget to get up to 40% off on any tackle for Christmas presents or to stock up for next season, since we all should treat ourself to a few gifts in this season of giving.

Year End Close Out Sale ,  Everything in the store is on sale I hope you take advantage of it.  Real quick all basic tackle and supplies are 40% off regular prices.  The only exceptions are rods and reels by Penn, Shimano, ABU Garcia, Pinnacle , Ugly sticks, Waders, and Striped Bass Lures are 25% off.  This is a stock up and Christmas present sale so there is a minimum purchase price of $25 after discount so don't   get a pack of hooks and a couple sinkers and look for the discount.  Also all bait is at the regular low prices.  Yes I will have eels until December 17 when the sale ends.   Also if the weather is calm during the next couple weeks you may not find me in the store until 9 o'clock since I've given up enough fishing time over the season and if I get a chance I'll be on the ocean at first light.  I also have a couple of distributor shows during the next couple weeks to see what new products I'll have in stock to improve your fishing.  Hopefully I'll be able to get back with a more detailed report tomorrow.

From: "Bob Paxson" <rpax3@peoplepc.com>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: Ocean Bass
Date: Saturday, December 02, 2000 5:18 PM

Dave, your report today was right on the money. I got a late start today and only had one short to show for it. Sounded as though the morning bite was definitely the best.

Although, yesterday was very good for most of the day. I released 17 Bass trolling between Absecon Inlet to the Convention Hall in 40' of water. Smaller baits seemed to work best. I had 6 double-headers on an Umbrella with small spoons. 3 Bass from 29-30", 6 slot fish and 8 shorts.

Hopefully, the NE forecasted will get the fish biting again and if it's not too snotty out front I'll be out there tomorrow.

Bob Paxson

December 1,  Just a real quick report, I had my computer out of commission a couple days so I haven't kept up.  I had to get it tuned up to hopefully make it easier to work on these pages.   Anyway back to the fishing.  There was a very good bite today off the Convention Hall very early in the morning.  It was definately a case of the early bird getting the fish.  It sounded like they had lots of birds and fish with plenty of keepers.  later in the day there were scattered fish and most of them small.   So if the weather is permiting get out early and get on the fish.  The back bay is still holding fish, but they are a little further between and bait fishing probably is the way to go one of the regular bank fishermen had a pair of bass caught on clams in his truck and the sit and wait method may be the best one at the present time.  I haven't been able to break out myself getting boats put away and getting ready for the year end sale. 

November 28,  Sunday was a complete blow out, and saturday still didn't make up as good as I had hoped.  The back bay remained slow and the offshore fishing was really sparse.  There were some reports of fish outside the 3 mile limit and finally late in the afternoon when it was starting to get rough there were reports of breaking fish by the Great Egg Bell Bouy.   Remember if you do decide to do some searching outside of three miles it is illegal to possess striped bass and technically illegal to specifically fish for them.  so if you have a fish in your boat don't go and if you do go you must be tarketing another kind of fish such as blue fish.  I have even heard of Coast Guard following a given school of fish and informing anyone who approached that the fish were stripers and they could not fish in the area.

     When you ask what good is this? You have to remember as a no-sale state where we have striped bass classified as a gamefish no commercial fisherman can target stripers in state waters, inside 3 miles.  That doesn't mean he can't catch stripers and return them to the water even if they happen to be dead, but that is a different story.  Since no one can target stripers outside 3 miles that keeps the commercial fishermen from fishing off our coast and landing the stripers in one of the many states that it is legal to catch and sell stripers.  It would make accounting for commercial numbers caught almost impossible.  For the time being we know we have a vast supply of striped bass living and growing fat off our coast and they are somewhat protected from mass harvest.

    Monday was a beautiful day, but I didn't here from too many fishermen.  One that did check in was Redman who got his biggest bass of the year, a really fat 33" 18 lb. fish, so don't give it up by any means , here is the fish for those who want to see it.  Redman's Fish   It proves they are still out there, until I get a chance to get out and ad my own fishing time to the reports page how about sending in some to help me out.

. November 25,  It appears the cold wind was definately at least a temporary setback for the back bay fishing.  There were quite a few eel dunkers running around yesterday and so far I haven't heard of much good results.  Bill Lake did have one short on a Hopkins around the 175 marker.  The outside fishing was better, but it remains an early and late bite.  If you can get out early, i did have a very good report of consistant fishing north off the Red Tower off Long Beach Island.  Since it's 5:45 as I'm writing this if you read it today it is almost surely to late to get out in time for the best bite.   It looks like we are going to have the finest kind of flat seas this morning, but with the weather falling apart by afternoon, so get out early wherever you go.  A good shot of east wind should warm up the back bays somewhat and help the bite of the bay fish< so when it breaks tomorrow that may be where you want to fish

From: "robert nessuno" <rnobody@yahoo.com>
To: <david@abseconbay.com>
Subject: Thanksgiving
Date: Thursday, November 23, 2000 10:24 PM

Capt. Dave, I really enjoy your web sight! I checked
it out for the first time last week. I have a summer
home in Brigantine that my father built in 1957. My
wife and seven year old daughter enjoy fluke fishing
on our old 17' bow rider during the summer months.
After reading your fishing report on 11/15/00 and
viewing the photos, I called my son and we planned to
meet in Briganine for a day of striper fishing on
11/18/00. Mankiller was a little too congested for me,
so we ran a little further back. I had a brand new rod
and reel that my wife gave me last year for Christmas.
I dropped my line over with the biggest eel that we
had and wham! I was hooked into my first striper ever!
He was 35" long and 18lbs.. Just wanted to say thanks
for your reports and info. I'm going to try and get
back out on 11/25/00 to try again. I also enjoyed your
segmants on "BO HIGBEES FISHING THE EAST". I cruised
by your establishment this summer when I was looking
for crabbing spots. Hope to stop in sometime to say
hello and have a look around.
Happy fishing, Bob
Nessuno

Pre Turkey Time, later that same day.  I just got back from my Ocean foray and it looks pretty good.  When I left the wind was very brisk and the temperature was still very low.  There were radio reports of fish caught early, as in soon after sunrise and anyone out in the cold that early deserved every fish.  I made a run north from the inlet and stayed relatively close to the beach where the waves weren't as bad.  We were to close to see the birds, so I worked as far as wreck inlet where there were quite a few nervous birds hunting.  We threw over some trolling rigs and spent some time looking around with no results.  .  A couple of boats came south from Little Egg Inlet telling me that there were no fish to the north, so I decided we better join the fleet off AC.

     Wayne's World was fishing off the Brigantine Hotel so I steered close enough to give a look and when I found him the entire area was covered with birds.  I trolled into the area and soon was marking plenty of fish, but they weren't too hungary.  We stopped and casted lead heads and Sassy Shads   and my brother in law Mike hooked up the first fish which was a little short of 24" .  Until we repositioned we went fishless when I caught the 2nd, a slot fish which was also a pan fish.  That one hit one of the new lunker city salt shakers in the ice shad color.  This seemed to be the hot color , but even that was good enough to get a bout one fish every time we made a move. More boats moved into the area and it seemed like they were having similar success. All told we landed about 10 fish and brought in 3 slot fish, with all the fish running 23 to 26".  I'm sure something is bound to happen later today, and if it wasn't because of giving up Thanksgiving I would have stayed.  Throughout the day the wind was calming down so I believe that if you are on the 30 foot shoal about 2 miles off the Brigantine Hotel tomorrow at sunrise, I'm sure you will pull fish until your arms are tired. 

    As for me I'll be here in the store and make sure to have all the trolling and jigging tackle you will need to be there.  Eat an extra drumstick for me.

November 23, Happy Thanksgiving,  It's time to give thanks that our recreational fishing has improved so much over the last few years and to reflect on how the stricter laws have increased our fishing opprotunities.  Five years only a few hearty souls braved the post Thanksgiving cold to attempt to catch a striped bass.  Ten years ago by now the boat yard was full and the tackle shop was completely closed up and I was finishing up the year guiding snow goose hunters.  With a little luck from the weather man I expect a buzy weekend.  I even expect a good many of you will be out trying to take home a Thanksgiving Bass this morning.  That's where I'll be.  yes the store will be open thru mid-day for all you early fishermen, and Big Dave will take good care of your needs, but I'm going to make my first move thru the inlet to see if I can find some schooling stripers with my two brothers in law. 

    There have been scattered reports on the radio for the last couple days, but mostly there has been wind.  and cold.  The heavy west winds combined with the new moon have really been pushing out the tides and lowering the temperatures.  This will make major changes as to where the fish are found in the back bays.  Actually I believe it will be a break for the fishermen who for whatever reason don't wish to leave the deep holes and channels and hunt out the backwater spots where I have been finding the fish.  The inlet and the deeper holes should be todays productive spots for drifting eels.  But if the wind stays reasonable I'm sure it will be time to get out into the ocean and find the birds.  I'll try to post a report on todays trip as soon as I get back to help make plans for the rest of the weekend.  

    On a more serious note the return of the summer flounder has been so dramatic that the managers are baffled and the fishing is better than ever resulting in the recreational angler catching more than the quotas allow.   This is causing some serious concerns which I am not ready to go into right now, but I recieved an e-mail from Tom Fote of the JCAA which goes into some detail of the problem.  It is quite long so as to not over fill the reports page I'm posting it by itself.  Please follow this link if you have any interest at all in flule fishing in the future. Tom Fote's Fluke Report

November 21, The weatherman forcasted a breezy day and with all the yard work I really couldn't figure how to justify getting out fishing yesterday,  Luckily, Rich a new friend and fish-addicted charter customer called and asked about the possibility of a last minute trip .  I explained about the weather report, but I also explained how good the fishing was so in order to get away from  the hectic holiday buisness at his butcher shop he decided to drive down and give it a try.  We started walking the banks at the top of the tide and even though I tried to make Rich make the first  casts into the best waters, the only fish caught this way was a slot fish that jumped out from a very obscure clump of falling sodbank and onto my rattler.  Rich did have one fish follow up his lure and give him the rassberries so I even got him the eel bucket to try putting the wiggly critters in front to no avail. 

    By now the wind was really wipping, but I still figured we could find some fish and we bounced around in the boat.  Finally we found a good drift at Black Point and while we were treated to a beautiful sunset over Brigantine Wildlife Refuge we hooked up with the days first good fish.  Rich kept this 31" fish under control and brought it to the net.  The very next drift in almost the exact spot another hit Riche's eel in the fading light.  This one did not want to come to the boat at all and the strong wind made the task even harder.    A very fat 33" striper was the reward this time and Rich wanted to give it to his fishing buddy Tom who made all the previous trips, but couldn't sneek off with the buzy holiday scedule.  After a couple of fishless drifts we beat our way into the wind back to Mankiller Island where I had caught fish the day before.  During these few minutes the wind swung a little to the west and the sky filled with clouds.  By the time we got on the bank and started casting it was already beginning to spit rain.   We gave it about ten minutes , but I estimated we were still too early in the tide for good fishing so we continued to Absecon Bay. 

    By then there was sleet mixed with the rain and the wind was really howling.  There was no way to even attempt to cast at the point which had proved to be the hot spot in the past so we tried where we could reach.   When I got the boat in position the second time Rich got one of the surface strikes I was trying to get him.  After catching the big fish this one looked like he could go home as a slot fish, but when we put him on the tape he was a good 1/2 inch over the 28" limit any way we looked at him, so this one was saved the fate of the frying pan by being too big.  Just as we were getting set up to continue fishing, my son called on the radio and said he had had a report of a big storm headed our way.  If the weather we were experiencing wasn't the big one I really didn't want to see it.  That was our cue to quit even though I knew the best fishhing was yet to come.  Hopefully these fish will stick around for a few more weeks, because I still haven't gotten my fill . 

    It looks like we may be in for a blow for the next day or two and   the temperature will be dropping.  With the wind out of the west there may still be places to fish.  At least we won't get the snow they had in Buffalo  don't forget the bridges and jetties and even the beach front may heat up as the baitfish migrate and push into the wash to escape the hungary hords of stripers that will be following them.

From: "Bob Paxson" <rpax3@peoplepc.com>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: Ocean Fishing, Again
Date: Monday, November 20, 2000 8:50 PM

Dave,

Your bay reports are killing me! Nice fishing.

I had a little time to play today -just don't ask my wife if I did- and ran out front off of Brigantine with a friend from Kammerman's Marina.

It was a snotty 2-3 and the water wasn't the prettiest it could have been, but we found a couple of fish. Once again, I was pulling Shad Rigs on wire line. I would have liked to have used Bunker Spoons for that big fish that keeps eluding me, but trying to troll at the proper (very slow) speed needed to make the big spoons swim correctly -in any kind of sea and wind- is very difficult.

We were happy to see an old, wooden clammer working right off the inlet in 35' so we fished nearby, hoping his disturbing the bottom would have the Bass on the feed-bag. I was wishing I had some surf clams to try like the boats up north have been using with great success.

We released a 22" Bass and my friend kept a 30" Bass for the table. I'm sure we could have coaxed more fish to bite, given the time, but my buddy was feeling a little queasy so I had to bring in him. Didn't see any birds working, in fact, there were very few even looking today.

It was nice having someone else reel in all that wire:-)

I also got out late Saturday night and released 2, 30" Bass drifting the Absecon Inlet with eels on the outgoing tide. It was cold, but there were only 6 other Bass Fanatics out at 2:00am. It's nice to be able fish the inlet without 25 other boats out, even if it means staying up late.

Stopped by the store this afternoon for eels and your Father said you were out fishing...imagine that!

Bob Paxson

From: "Jim Snyder" <jim@jvncomm.com>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: Stripers
Date: Monday, November 20, 2000 4:42 PM

Saturday afternoon got out at the top of the tide, started out with top
water lures on the bank at the mouth of Broad creek, where we caught
and released a 20" bass. Once the tide started going out, tryed
drifting some eels in steelmans and Broad creek with no results. Ended
the trip in AC inlet with the out going tide and caught two bass one
32" the other 31".

November 20,  I know its cold, but where are the fishermen?  If it hadn't been for the boat hauling, yesterday would have been a slow day at the ranch, but the wind laid down and the fishing, at least for me was hot as a firecracker.  I couldn't stand it and when we had the last boat settled on its bed for the winter I grabbed a handful of eels, make that bucket full as there is no such thing as a handful of eels, and headed out on the rounds.  I left about 2:30 and to my surprise the tide still hadn't changed, so I wasn't suprised when I struckout in Absecon Bay and the end of Broad Creek where it empties into Reeds bay, however I'm sure if I had waited an hour fish would have showed up in both places.   I took the two puppies Truffle and Angle out for a boat ride and wanted to give them a chance to run the marshes.  Meadow Cut is my best choice for the top of an incomming tide.

    I was breaking in a new 6'6" Shimano Compre rod and an new Clatter Shad, since my son casted away my original without closing the snap.  It took about a half dozen casts, but a 31" fish put the new rod to the test.  The fast taper is very different to fight a fish that the Pinnacle I've been used to using.  The tip flexes more than I'm used to, but the power is in the butt and it did a great job on it's first catch.  I really liked the fast taper for casting and feel I was getting a lot more distance with less effort. A Second fish came out of the bank right at my feet to give me another test.  It looked like I had caught all I would there after a good while of fishing, even resorting to the eels.   Is I was walking back to the boat I noticed a good swirl just about at the end of casting range.  There was no interest in the rattler, but I changed to a chrome Striper Strike and as I slowly chugged it back it was intercepted by a splash and I got to test the rod on a very pissed off fish.  A little bigger than the first, the surface strike proves you have to keep your options open, and plenty of lures in your tackle box.    Three releases in the first real stop makes for a great trip.

    The next stop was in Little Bay, another spot where the dogs could roam.  Here there was no interest in the lures, but when I walked the eels past the undercut bank I took a pair of 30"+ fish.  It was beginning to get dark and with a successful day I began the trip back.  Black point was on the way and is one of my favorite spots.  This is drifting with eels, and the tide really hadn't begun to run as I would have liked, but I had seen a few potentially promising marks on the machine and gave it time for a 33" bass to catch up with my unweighted eel.   If I am drifting I usually do set two rods and fish one with 1/2 oz and one with no weight. For my money if you have light wind conditions, in the realitively shallow back bay waters I always catch most of my fish on an eel rig without any weight.  Now it was completely dark and the puppies aren't used to the cold so I knew I had t get home.  I did drift a couple of the waterway spots, but still the tide hadn't begun to rip as I would have liked.  I did make one last stop at Mankiller as I knew the tide was perfect. 

    The first cast off the point with the MegaBait was stopped by the first short of the day and the second cast caught  another, very close to the 24" mark.  I missed a couple splashy hits and figured I was into a big bunch of shorts that couldn't handle the 8" lure.  The next one proved me different as a very strong 33" fish gave me a wallop.  This one was the dinner fish, so I walked it all the way down the bank to the boat where I could use the net.   not one to quit on a winning hand I went back and released another nice keeper sized fish. I made a few uncontested casts and finally gave it up even though I could make out occasional swirls and breaks in the distance on the glassy smooth water.  I could have fished the entire tide and I'm sure the pods of fish would have intersected with the point every few minutes, but how much of a good thing do you need? 

    Of everything what was strangest to me is where were the boats and the fishermen.  Here it was Sunday Afternoon, I know the Eagles are winning, but this is bass season and it doesn't get any better.  I probably didn't see six boats on my entire 24 mile trip and even though it is beginning to get cold, the night bite is still super hot so even the back bays should get better as the bass begin moving.  It looks like we are looking at a serious cold front for the next couple days and some changes will be in effect.  The outside fish still have been scattered and the bird play short lived, but this should change this week .  If you can remember to the blitz of 1998 the first major school that hit Absecon Inlet was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  With the weather system comming I would be out there Wednesday this year. 

    Another problem this time of year is that the Coast Guard takes the lights off the Inland Waterway Markers, one of my constant viewers, Ralph Yost made a point in an e-mail and I'll post that so you can see it in his words.   It is something that everyone who is boating in this season of short daylight hours should be concerned about.

From: "Ralph Yost" <ralphyost@alphomega.com>
To: "David Showell !" <a-bay@att.net>; "Scott's Bait & Tackle" <scottsbt@eticomm.net>; "Tom Fote" <tfote@JCAA.org>
Subject: ICW lights are out!
Date: Sunday, November 19, 2000 9:32 PM


Yesterday I was on my way of the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) from Atlantic City to Great Bay and Little Egg Inlet to fish for stripers. I have been making this run in the dark early hours for months now striper fishing. I soon realized that the lights were all out on the channel markers of the ICW. I managed to slowly make my way up to Great Bay in the complete dark with greater care than usual.
I called the AC Coast Guard today to inquire about it. They said the lights are removed because
they freeze! I cant believe it. He gave me the number of the Aids to Navigation division in Cape May. I'm going to call them tomorrow and inquire more as to why the Coast Guard purchased outdoor light systems that freeze. This doesnt make sense! What
about all the striper fisherman and duck hunters that use the ICW at night? The most dangerous time to be in a boat has just been made MORE dangerous by the Coast Guard!!!!!!!!!!!
I encourage you to also call and inquire. Then I encourage you to call our Congressman's office to help us ensure that this does not occur next year. Please let me know if you make any headway.
Thanks,
R

November 19,  Yesterday was a full one here at the boat yard, but I didn't find the fishing activity I should have.  The fish however were a different story.  as good as the back bay fishing has been the lucky anglers that were out yesterday afternoon really had a great time. Congradulations to Nelson Moy who usually is one of the luckiest striper fishermen around, but has hit a slump this year.  He gave up on his regular spots at the AB marker and the mouth of Broad Creek and ran farther back  to drift Steelman's Thorofare where it took three hookups to land his one fish, but it was a very nice 15 lber which sure will look good on the table.  This reinforces what I have been saying that the fish are pushing farther back into thebays and feeding on the abundant baitfish.

    I was hoping to be able to ad another report of my own fishing, but besides bass season this is also boat pulling season since some boaters out there aren't fishermen if you can believe that, and they want to get their craft out of the water before the real winter cold sets in.  Even though the night was beautiful I just couldn't make it out there and back in for a 6 am opening today.   Remember when you do pull your boat for the winter I still have plenty of room here in the yard and will be hauling into late December.  Here we can take care of all your winterizing needs and you can't beat our prices.  Check out the winterizing services and give me a call.  Remember that besides the best selection of tackle the store is stocked with all the supplies you need to do your own winterizing and as always at competative prices. 

    As I was saying before the offshore fishing has beeen heating up and I had several radio reports  of birds both north off brigantine and south off the Ocean City area. I had a report of heavy bird action off Brant Beach and when the Fisherman Magazine called for a surf report they had good news of heavy surf fishing from Seaside Heights to Island Beach.  These fish are on their way south and we should be into some heavy action this week.   I heard Bob Paxon re-counting his catch over the radio yesterday afternoon, but I was happy to find an e-mail from him with a report in his own words.  Please do likewise whenever you can so we can make this the best fishing report network around.

From: "Bob Paxson" <rpax3@peoplepc.com>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: Ocean Stripers
Date: Saturday, November 18, 2000 9:51 PM

Dave,

Let me start out by thanking you for running the camera boat for the taping of Mark Sosin's Salt Water Journal. I couldn't have asked for anyone better to do so. Your expert knowledge of the back bay proved priceless in putting us on the couple of fish Mark was able to catch. Hopefully, we can do it again next year....although I'll try to recommend we start a few weeks later:-)

Now onto the fishing report:

Trolling out front has been pretty good. I was able to get out today for a couple of hours. Trolling with white Shad Umbrella rigs (bought in your store) along with other variations of umbrella rigs -some made up of all spoons and the usual tube styles- on wire line has been producing the best. Some Bass have also been taken on Bunker Spoons...still waiting for that BIG one, though.

There are plenty of birds looking for fish, too. Having a pair of binoculars to help spot them is always a good idea. Unfortunately, the surface blitzes have not lasted for more than a few minutes at a time, but it's much more fun to catch Bass on a light rod as opposed to cranking them in at the end of 300' of wire on a trolling outfit. The occasional double-header of Bass on an umbrella rig can be quite a work-out.

I released 8 Bass today between 27 and 33 inches. I kept one for the table and also kept a Bluefish of 8#'s for a friend who actually likes eating the bigger ones....God bless him!

The Bass I kept was 30" and very fat..I had to see what was in its stomach when I cleaned it. Much to my surprise, it was full of clams. I counted 9 tongues. I couldn't believe it would have tried to eat anything else...let alone a 6" shad body. Maybe this fish had come from up north where reports of anglers fishing behind working clammers has been all the rage lately. I might have to try some clams myself.

Keep up the good work on the frequent reports,

Bob Paxson

From: "Tom Wilson" <Absecon1@dandy.net>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: Bass !
Date: Saturday, November 18, 2000 4:37 PM

Yesterday in meadowcut , I caught the smallest bass I have Ever seen. This puppy was about an inch bigger than my size 11 sneaker..Today was a tad better. Top-o-da-tide a few were picked up around me, and I hooked up with eel for a fat 30". Just another day in the bay..TDB (alias The Redman)

November 17,  How about this three days in a row.  I even have another report on my own fishing last night.  There are still lots of bass in Mankiller Bay and all the way back into Absecon.  Big Dave and his son snuck out with me for a while last night and we caught right well.  It was probably about 8 pm by the time we got started the incomming   tide was just getting a good run , but it didn't take long to hook up.  I had parked the boat in the middle of Mankiller Island facing the AB marker and Dave went west while I went east.  we both had fish shortly then Dave came back to me with the story of a big one and his Power Pro line stripped to the backing and  a bad knot that popped in the guides.  That gives him a fish story to tell around the store.  In any case we picked at the fish very steadly for a couple of hours  landing about ten fish, mostly slot fish, but a couple shorts and a couple keepers to 31". 

     We went to do a little exploring and tried the mouth of Clam Creek by Harrahs, it looked good but nothing happened. We also ran to Duck Thorofare , tried a short time in the mouth and ran all the way to the Route 30 bridge and still were blanked. The next stop was on the point west of Mankiller Island where we were greated b'y the plop, plop, plop of breaking fish. They turned out to be smaller fish, but I quickly released three and little Dave grabbed one. The last stop was in the small thorofare that connects Newfound Thorofare to Absecon Bay. I'd had two super nights pulling stripers out of this little cut and last night it worked for a third time. We hit it quick, but at high tide I caught two or three more, Big Dave got a nice 31" fish on an eel that I had tried to put into deeper water and Little dDave added another to his total.

    All the fish except Dave's last fish that hit an eel were caught on Plugs. I was using a 7" Black Shad Mega Bait That seemed very effective I caught all 10 fish on that lure. I did miss a few hits, but I believe the big bait inspires more strikes. Big and Little Daves were using the 7" "17 black bomber that was its usually deadly style. We released fish as short as 14" on the big lures which is one reason I believe it helps get their attention.

    One late Update Billy Scull, "The Gas Man" fought the wind and with the help of his two man crew they brought in a cooler with four pretty eel caught bass from around the Absecon Inlet. 

    For a weekend forcast  my suggestion is to get out and fish. Thewind may give you a few problems tomorrow, but it is supposed to lay down in the afternoon so you can catch the dropping tide.  Sunday looks like a great day all around if a little on the cool side, but that is why they make clothes.   Get out early, drop an eel or fish a bank and even I don't think it is the most sporting way, keep an ear to your radio and see if you can get some reports that give you confidence to know what direction to run off the beach..  Good Fishing this weekend and don't forget that the night bite definately is still on.  

November 16,  Yesterday was very windy and fishing activity was kept to a minimum.  However the wind was out of the west and more than a few hearty souls were working the beach front.  There were really good reports from around Little Egg Bell and down in Ocean City. Today the weather is perfect for looking outside, however it appears that the weekend may bring more wind.  It definately is not thetime to quit.  Keep an ear on the weather radio and keep checking this page and I'll try to keep more up to date.  If you  do get out remember you are on a search for birds 90% of the time.  When you find them feeding it;s time to get down to work.

     First and I can't stress this strongly enough  DON'T RUN THRU THE BIRDS No mater how many fishermsn are around , or how few, what you should do is approach the flock of birds at an idle and stop a good fifty yards away to observe the situation.  Start casting toward the birds, but more importantly observe your drift and the movement of the birds.  Once you have determined the direction the birds are traveling it is time to position yourself  so that you will intercept the school of fish. You should remember that the lead fish in a school will be some distance ahead of the feeding birds as they are feeding on the scraps and injured baitfish the stripers leave behind. It is a good idea to stop at least two long casts away from the closest birds. You may not hook up immediately, but this will allow the school to approach calmly and you should get chances of hooking multiple fish on a given drift.

    What you throw at the fish at this point may be un important if they are feeding in a blind frenezy or you may have to carefully match the baitfish they are feeding on. The fish may be biting from top to bottom or they may be in one specific area. You should have lures with you that will enable you to fish at any depth. The most popular lures are definately metal jigs. These can be worked fast near the surface slowly thru the mid depths or allowed to sink and be jigged at the bottom. AVA or Bead diamond jigs are old favorites as are Hopkins, and Crippled herring, A new jig I have been stocking which has already begun prooving its worth on weakfish is the Mega Bait jig. These have   holigraphic finishes that are very lifelike and allow you to put down a lure that looks like the baitfish they are feeding on.  If you have fish feeding at mid depths and they aren't extremely thick or agressive crank baits such as Bombers, Yo-Zuri, Rattle traps or particularly the Still Water Lures Clatter shad may really turn them on.   Remember that the treble hooks on this type of lures make them hard to unhook from the fish and easy to stick in your hand so you really should consider squeezing down the barbs.  Another lure that has really taken off is the rubber shad fished on a plain jig head or on a bucktail.  these are great baitfish immatators, realatively cheap and can be fished from top to bottom in a variety of sizes.  The single hook also facilitates unhooking fish to be released. 

    When things are really hot there is no more fun than throwing surface poppers to the breaking fish.  I have found that floating poppers are the most effective.  These should be worked with short loud pops and then allowed to sit several seconds.  Most of the strikes will come as the lure sits like a baitfish killed by the attacking bass that made the "pop".  When setting the hook with a popper wait until you actually feel the pull of fish as many times the excited bass will miss the hooks, but if the lure remains in the strike zone the same fish or a competing fish will almost always return.  If you strike short and the lure flies back toward the boat you have to start te process all over again. 

    One very important point I would like to stress.  The fish you catch under the birds will usually be school sized fish from 12" rats to thirty something inch keepers.  There is always the chance that you will connect with a cow anytime.  With the current limit it is almost a sure bet you will get your slot fish between 24 and 28 inches, however I would suggest waiting until you get a badly hooked fish and keeping one which will not likely survive.  For your big fish many anglers will be facing a serious ethics problem.  Once you put a keeper fish in the boat you have to be satisfied that that is the fish you want to take home and release any other fish you catch for the remainder of the day.  If you are fairly un experienced at striper fishing that first 28 1/2" fish will look like a whale and you will want to put it in the meat locker.  However if in the course of the fishing day you connect with a truly nice size striper a yard long or more and weighing in nearly twenty pounds or more it will be awfully tempting to deep six the first keeper and take home your new trophy.  No one would ever know, except you and your concience so please think before keeping any fish and please stop at your limit.  Remember a bonus fish tag is avalilable which will allow you keep a second large fish which is available directly from the State offices at Nacote Creek or you can send in an application which I have available in the store.  and now that I have thought of it I will post here on my web page so you can print and mail a copy.

From: "Phillip Fors" <Phinatil@webtv.net>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: Brigantine beach
Date: Wednesday, November 15, 2000 9:07 PM

Hit the beach about 3pm at low tid and was in fish right away. The fish
got bigger as it got darker. Ended up beaching 14. All shorts with 2
slots of 26" and 2 keepes of 30 and 32". All fish released. Phil

From: "John Aschenbach" <johnwa@erols.com>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: Stripers
Date: Wednesday, November 15, 2000 4:42 PM

Went out on monday and picked up two 36" stripers. I was in the back bays close to the medow cut, I was using eels. I only saw one other boat pick up one, and it was about 27" to 28". After I caught the fish I got going because the weather looked threatening. The stripers are really starting to heat up now.

November 14, LATE FISH FLASH,  I had a couple very good reports during the course of the day.  1st was that Ron Senn and crew came in and restocked with a big pile of metal jigs because they found a great body of school fish under birds.  I didn't press for details, but they fish out of Little Egg inlet so I would start my search there.Their big fish a 36" fish came on a fresh squid they cut out of the belly of a big bluefish they boated.  They said the fish weren't that big but all involved had sore arms from fighting.  A great glimse of what hopefully will become commonplace during the next few weeks.  I have the Kimberly boat ship shape and ready to go, so if you want to hunt bass inside or out give me a call.

    Bob Scull came back from his best trip ever in the Cape May Rips.  He said he hooked up on the first ten drifts of the day and eight of the ten his crew backed him up with doubles or triples.  If you want to head south it looks like this is the time. I can arrange Rip trips if your ready to go.

November 14,  I've been getting berated very badly for ignoring the fishing reports, but who would have thunk? here in mid-november between trying to run a bait and tackle shop in the middle of striper season, Running a marina and trying to catch a few fish myself between keeping a family together I have found it almost impossible to find time to sit at the computer and pass on the latest reports.  Today it's raining and I'll try to catch up somewhat.   I've been getting a bit of fishing done myself, and I'll admit that has taken up some time and if the fishing keeps up as good as it's been I hope to be doing a lot more.   At the present the water temperature has settled into the mid-fiftys and the stripers are here and hungary.  However they aren't just jumping on anything they can find, but are being very selective as to what and where they eat.  Even though a lot of fish are being caught drifting eels in the daylight the super hot fishing is definately on a night bite and lures can be as effective or even more effective than eels.  The back bays seem to be full of bait and fish are being caught anywhere and everywhere.   This is my favorite senerio since it makes this striper hunting as much as striper fishing. 

    Around the Absecon area the hotspot is definately Mankiller Bay and the nearby sod banks.  Though the outgoing tide seems to be the best the last couple evenings have produced good results on the upcomming.   The lure of choice is a #16 black or pearl finish bomber   I personally have found that I have had even more success with the bigger #17, Last night I had my son Kevin and one of his friends out and I had them experimenting with the Mega Bait lures in Black Shad and their super reflective holigraphic finish seemed to be very attractive.   My favorite method is using a very slow swimming retrive which keeps the lure in the surface film.  Hits on this type of retrive can be a simple weight on the lure which turns into a fish or a loud surface explosion which stops your heart before you can set the hook.  edges of sand bars, undercut banks, even mid-channel rips all may be the hot spot of a given night so you should move around until you find a consistant body of hungary fish. 

    If you really would rather fish the day time I would suggest making an effort to work the dropping tide and make it a point to hang out right thru the bottom half.  keep a look out for any good rip making up along the inland waterway wherever a given bay drains into the deeper water and you will probably find fish holding there waiting for bait to be washed out of the shallows.  This is when eels really work, but make sure you only use enough weight to compensate for any wind drift. I don't know if it really helps, but I have been using flourocarbon and on my trip last tuesday, election day With Mike and his son Tom we had six fish when very few fish were being caught by other boats.  One real advantage of flourocarbon is that it is much more abrasion resistant and that could allow you to get away with a thinner diameter leader and have less chance of breaking off a fish. 

     On the outside scene the fish seem to be starting to come down in schools. The radio has begun putting out talk of bird plays with stripers predominating over bluefish. Many of the fish have been small at least according to radio reports however as the tides from this full moon flush more bait out of the bays the fish holding up north should begin their migration and now should be the time to start finding fish under the birds. As I said I've been very buzy and the Nov. 10 report below has been sitting and I never even had a chance to up load it. I promice to try and be back sooner, but I want to spend some time putting up some new links and working on the pictures that have been comming in every few minutes. Please bear with me and continue to send your reports

.From: "ACFishing" <acfishing@home.com>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: Stripers
Date: Monday, November 13, 2000 8:53 PM

Went out at 4pm to the AC Inlet on 11 -11 Trolled for 1/2 hour got 1
short and 1 at 28. Wind really picked up had to go in.They are out
here and in the bay now.
George
www.acfishing.com

November 10 ,  What a week, I wish I had time to get everything down on a report,  I will start by saying it is really helpful to be in s position where I interact with hundreds of fishermen here in the store.  I am constantly recieving bits of information, some about good fishing, some about bad.  By putting all the bits into the computer I wear on my shoulders sometimes I can put together a plan that works.  That has begun to come together on my last couple trips and last night I put it together  for my best Striper trip ever.  I left the dock about 6:30 and was back by 9:30 a little wet and windblown, but I caught 14 stripers releasing 12 , 7 over 28"  with three 33" fish that looked like they came out of the same mold.  The fish I kept weighed in at 15 lb.  Of the smaller fish only one was less than 24".  All were caught on Lures with the Bomber A17 all black the favorite, but I did catch two including the big one on a Clatter Shad, and I caught one on Hurley Lures Striper Magnet.  

November 4,  The fishing is really starting to break and I am very sorry I didn't get time to get any reports out, but I was very buzy for the last three days running a camera boat for Mark Sosin who was in town making a show on AC area stripers for his Salt Water Journal He is was fishing with Capt. Bob Paxton on his 26' Grady White the Rosy.  It's time to open up the store now and I expect a busy day so I'll have to get back with details later.   I will just say it was a very intense experience and Mark did find a few nice stripers in the back bay at spots of my suggestion.  I beleive I was able to do my job well and keep the camera boat in exactly the required position we'll see when the show airs during the 2001 season.  Check all about the show at Mark's web page  at www.marksosin.com   now it's time for me to get to work, the weather and fish are here I suggest you shut down your computer and go fishing.

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