Fishing Journal April 18, 2015

First time I fished from sun rise to sunset. Although there was a short lunch break involved. It was a phenomenal day of fishing. The water was like glass again this morning. This is not at all common for Raritan Bay. Not complaining at all these days are the most beautiful!  It was the day of a new moon. The tides on these days are significantly different. Higher at high tide and lower at low tide. As a kayak anglers we should take more note of this as it can be hard to land on back bay beaches during extremely low tides. A 6′ foot tide difference can mean a long walk back when the foot of water on the flat is gone. Shoving off the beach not a boat in sight. High tide was to be within 2 hours. The first thing i noticed was the water temp at 53 degrees was perfect for active bass.

Started out drifting clam in around 9 feet of water where the Lowrance was marking fish. Not a hit for a good 20 minutes. Figured the fish weren’t feeding on clam at the moment.  Decided to switch to slow trolling a tube and worm. About an half hour later Captain Jim and his cousin Ryan spotted me from the deck of Ryan’s Boston Whaler they were on. At this point was starting to catch Stripers on the Kayak Carl’s Tube n Worm. Short bass but in the 20 – 24 inch range. IT was one after another for a good 45 minutes.

Weaving in between the anchored boats of a growing fleet. Wen i left the beach there was Right after slack tide the fishing turned on. It was one after another. I had now landed a total of 9 bass trolling. The fish now had seemed to disappear.Trolled for another 2 good hours only to find a few more fish.

Captain Jim and Ryan had gone over to another spot to see if they could find any fish. They were gone for about 30 min when again started to mark fish.

My reels locked in free spool clicker on. Trolling the Carls Tube N Worm on one rod and a Daiwa SP minnow on the other. This time drag starts to run out on the stick bait. I go to grab the rod an nothing.  Minutes later the tube n worm goes off. Drag screaming out. I set the hook. The fight is on! This fish is big prob 20 lb+ class. About 5 minutes into the fight the fish runs under the stern om my kayak and before I knew it the hook pulled. Lost a nice one.

Still trolling Capt Jim and Ryan are back casting storm shads. Casting and reeling. I had some storms but darker color and couldn’t find a bite on them. They hooked me up with one and it was on after that. Landed small fish but was till fun. In all had 20 fish plus or minus up to 27 1/2″. Lost count.

It was going on 2:00 PM and the new moon tide was falling fast. I decided to call it for that time and get some lunch.

Paddling back in the water became thin on the long beach. Now mostly mud the flat had become land and my truck had become far. Thanks to the Mullet Miller cart for saving me on this one. Still out of breath after wheeling across the mud and the sand in the lot.

Went to lunch at McDonughs Pub in Keyport NJ. Have to give them a plug since the food is always good there! While there met a few fellow kayak anglers! Nick told me they were catching keeper size fish off of Cliffwood Beach. Decided to go there and give it a shot. After contacting Justin Vail that there was fish in the area. The time seemed to fly by. I set off shore and trolled around a bit. No hits Justin joined me and we were blown south. The wind was blowing 10 – 15 easy. As the time went on still no fish but the wind started to let up as the sun begun to set. The next thing I hear is Justin yelling fish on!!  Its great seeing a guy catch his first striped bass on a kayak! I’m glad he was able to manage that since he came down and gave it a shot.

Now heading in its 7:00 PM. Im so worn out from a great fishing day we actually land on the beach a block down and I don’t even realize it until hitting the sand path back to the road.  Only excuse i have is i had never dropped in at Cliffwood before and I was not keeping track of my GPS.

Prior to going out on any event/tournament its a good idea to check the weather forecast prior to packing. This allows you to pack what you will important for the weather instead of packing everything. This time of year it is typically cold nights and cool days so preparing to dress in layers is the best way to go. It appears that this weekend is not going to be very cold but will be a bit windy. Therefor dressing for the wind will be important.

So now that know the type of gear and clothing I will need to bring the next step will be creating a list so forgetting to pack key items is a good idea. Being only 2 nights and a full day and a half of fishing its easy to pack light. All of my fishing tackle and rods are already packed due to previous fishing trips so that cuts out about half of things needed. It is fall so i will need to pack warmer clothing and my semi dry gear. Rule of thumb is water + Air temperature must reach a minimum of 120 degrees or falling into the water could be deadly without the protective dry gear.

I am also looking forward to using my Torqeedo as this is a special place with a 4-5 knot tide at fall new moon. Its going to be ripping and windy. challenge accepted! I will be targeting Striped Bass Blue Fish Speckled Trout and Tautog.

The Jamboree is held in Cape May NJ which is a two hour drive from my home. It is ground zero for some of the best Tautog fishing on the East Coast.

A nice drive south on the Garden State Parkway through the Pine Barens. Looking forward to meeting up with a lot of familiar faces and meeting new anglers! Im also looking forward to doing a little celebrating as today is my birthday!!

Hope to see you all there at the captains meeting tonight!

If not I will be on campsite 729.
For more information see http://jckf-forum.forumotion.net/

Fishing Journal for 2014_08-30

Rolled out of bed to an unseasonable chill. Fifty four degrees Fahrenheit actually. For a moment I thought it was October and was getting up to go striper fishing. Typically if it falls below 65 degrees time of year that is cool. So 54 is border line chilly. The cool temps didn’t stop me though. Ready for some Big Rig Fluke Fishing was out the door 10 min to 5 am and off to the bait and tackle shop.  The familiar early morning peaceful drive. Arriving and picking out a box of squid and a pack of spearing the man working the counter gave me good tip that big Croakers were being boated by the ammo pier.  I have been in search of the these excellent tasting fish for the past few weeks and with this report I decided to Change our venue to 3 miles south.

The full length of beaches in the area of Belford and Port Monmouth were undergoing beach replenishment as apart of the plans to protect the bay towns from another storm such as Superstorm Sandy.  The project started in late June so at this point I wasn’t sure there was any beach access. The hint of huge Croakers made me chance it.  I called Sean the Redneck and let him know of the change of plans asking if he was cool with it. Upon arrival at the bayshore waterfront park it looked closed. Took a drive south to the other lot. It was open!!

Prior to unloading I took out the cannon camera to get some awesome sunrise photos. On any given day I tend to skip the photography just to get out fishing but this day was special. It was one of the clearest views I had seen since the early spring and the water was like glass. So I snapped a few pictures and it was now time to go fishing.

It was Big Rig day no matter what after I decided to leave the Cuda at home. Rigged up and headed for the beach. Thank goodness for the mullet miller cart as the beach after the replenishment was easily now a 125 yard walk. They did build a gravel Stone path that was about half the distance of the beach which actually was a big help. Down to the shore line and paddling out to the second line of buoys then finally fishing.

It wasn’t long first fish on. Short Fluke. Couple more hits and I decided to move to deeper waters. Out to 18 foot depth. Dropped down catching more fluke from 12″ up to 15″. The fish are regulated by the state and must be 18″ min to  keep. Loving flounder for dinner catching lots of small fish can be quite frustrating but is still a lot of fun.

I stuck with the same rig all day which was a white 1.5oz Spro bucktail with a dropper loop and a white teaser tipped with green 4″ gulp swimming mullets and added a spearing and strip of squid per hook. Another rod was ready for Croaker fishing with 1/0 Gammi Bait Holder hooks for clam. I did fish the rod for about 20 mins catching a 15″ fluke on it. I also landed a 27″ dogfish on the buck tail. That was the fun fight of the day.

At times it was slow fishing I was able to play with some new toys such as my new RAM Mounts Tele-Mount. It attaches to any broom handle or telescoping pole. In this case I was using a boat hook that extends to 7 and a half feet in length. Its really cool to have new camera angles with the GoPro! Also had my new stereo system in full effect! Purchased an ECORox waterproof bluetooth speaker to pair with my new Samsung Galaxy S5. I can now listen to pandora or tunes downloaded to the phone to conserve on data usage. Will be doing reviews in the future on both of these items!

So around 12:30 it begun to get cloudy and a 10-15 kt wind rolled in. It churned up the bay with 1-2 foot waves which was the end to the picture perfect day.  Just before the clouds rolled in I was able to snap a really nice photo of the NYC skyline with my little Olympus Stylus Tough camera. It came out excellent.