Those NJ fishing reports

[Simon Bao]

Well, those are the kind of fishing reports I
routinely forward to other local lists I participate
in.

But, not knowing where anyone in this group may be,
and not seeing an archive of past messages, I'm not
sure if they're suitable or useful to anyone here.
Guys will need to let me know.

But I will try to remember to put "NJ" in the subject
line, to make it easier to skip, delete, or ignore. -simon

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[Frank]

Don't know about the other guys, but I would like to see some more info
about a "how to" do, rather than what (to me) seems to be reprints from
what's biting from newspaper articles.

Although, info about tips on catching particular species and locally
developed methods that might be usable whould be very helpful too. Such
as: What rigs do you use for NJ snapper blues or flounder or kingfish?

Just my thoughts, and since this is an open forum, others should also
chime in.

You had asked questions about our "archives." What you see is what you
get. We have only been up for a couple of months, and are still in the
process of getting the word out about the site. As more of us post
messages and respond to inquiries, the body of information will
continue to grow.

Regardless, Simon, again, we are glad to have you here, and appreciate
the energy you bring to the board.

Thanks.

Frank

[Simon Bao]

Frank, *IF* you fish the Jersey coast, then the
newspaper reports on what's biting, what's arriving,
and where the action has picked up, those are handy to
see each week. That's why I was wondering where
people in this group might live or fish, whether more
interest in freshwater or saltwater, etc. -simon

--- Frank <frme...@comcast.net> wrote:

>
> Don't know about the other guys, but I would like to
> see some more info
> about a "how to" do, rather than what (to me) seems
> to be reprints from
> what's biting from newspaper articles.
>
> Although, info about tips on catching particular
> species and locally
> developed methods that might be usable whould be
> very helpful too.

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[Simon Bao]

Frank, you'll go hungry if you rely on me for wisdom
on surf fishing rigs. I wasn't raised around anyone
who fishes and I've just had to pick up a few things
as I go. Not knowing any better, I keep things as
simple as possible. :-)

I seldom go surf fishing for something specific and am
content to catch whatever may be swimming past the
Point on a given day. Most of the time I use 2 rods
and rig them for some all-purpose "Come What May"
fishing.

One rod I rig for casting further out, or also just
for catching whoever is hunting along the bottom: a
3-ring swivel on the end of the line (call that Swivel
One), and to that I attach a 2-3 foot long line ending
in another swivel and then either my own snell or a
leader line and hook. Most of the time I just use
monofilament line, though I will substitute
flourocarbon leader if I know stripers are in the
water, or a wire leader if I know bluefish are there.
(Stripers can see monofilament as if it was a
glowstick, and bluefish teeth will slice through
almost anything.) Going back up the line to Swivel
One, to that I also attach my weight line (maybe 6
inches) and sinker. How heavy a sinker just depends
on the current that day.

The second rod I rig for casting closer inshore or
(when there's not a lot of current) to catch whoever
is hunting a little higher up in the water column. A
3-ring swivel at the end of the line, with an 8-10
inch snell secured to one of the rings and 18-20
inches of line to the other, ending again in another
3-ring swivel. Another 8-10 inch snell secured there,
and also about 6 inches of line and sinker. I just
make sure that the lenght of each snell is slightly
less than half the distance between them, to ensure
they don't tangle.

Using 3-ring swivels everywhere on the line just means
I can swap out snells or sinkers and change the
rigging in 30 seconds and get the hook back in the
water ASAP. If for any reason (wind or currents) are
causing line to tangle, I have these hard wire T
connectors I can use instead, they pretty much
guarantee no tangles. I haven't paid enough attention
to remember what the wire connectors are called but
people who use them will know.

I can put two rods in the water, set them in PVC pipes
I drove into the sand, stand and tie snells or drink
coffee or chat with buddies or think about life or how
I'm going to cook what I've already caught, but that's
as complicated as I like fishing to be, at least for
now. Two rods set like that can bring in sea trout
(weakfish), black sea bass, stripers, small inshore
snapper blues, the occasional fluke, passing mackerel,
a white perch, croaker, whatever's eating bait that
day.

I don't know anyone who grew up fishing in America, so
I really don't know much about "Plugs," "Poppers," and
other "Hardbaits" that seem popular for surffishing.
Someone once told me to use Poppers for catching
striped bass. I doused my bait with an entire bottle
of Rush. I didn't catch anything but a school of
bluefish in the water all started twirling glowsticks,
sweating and dancing and humping like crazy.

I just use baited hooks. I use "squidworms" I cut
myself from the cheapest frozen squid I can find in a
Viet supermarket (that's another thread), I use big
old horse clams, if I catch a sea robin I'll cut it up
into chunks and use that. If I catch an eel, it's
going right back out into the water as bait - though
my buddies take those home to make soup. Bunker, or
menhadden, is popular as bait but I just can't bring
myself to spend much money on bait. If I know that
there are striped bass swimming past the Point, like
in autumn when there's an exodus out of Delaware Bay,
I'll use bloodworms. Bloodworms are expensive, and
aren't even close to any kind of natural prey of
stripers, but stripers just can't resist them.

If you want to catch the big bomber blues (bluefish),
you need to head further offshore in a boat; if you
want blackfish (tautog, you need to get to a major
jetty or some kind of structure on the bottom. If you
really want to catch some fluke (flounder), you have
to leave the beach and either go offshore to their
hotspots or head into the back bays. Different kinds
of rigs and baits for that, so a different thread. :-)

-simon

--- Frank <frme...@comcast.net> wrote:

> as: What rigs do you use for NJ snapper blues or
> flounder or kingfish?

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