It's been non-stop posts and memes talking about the current first push of big bass along the Jersey Shore. Truth is, we spend months, usually in the winter, coming up with solutions to reduce striped bass mortality and in working with the ASFMC prodding them to do the right thing by instituting regulations to protect the striped bass. One of the things that was put into the regs was the
elimination of snag and drop fishing. Basically taking a 8/0 or 10/0 treble weighted treble hook and throwing it out into a bunker pod and retrieving it quickley to snag a bunker. In the past it was legal to let the treble and bunker swim or sink, looking injured, which would be easy pickens for big bass. Now, with the new regs, it must be snagged, retrieved in quickly, and rehooked on a circle hook. Or, if you are just using bunker parts, or live lining, it must be on a circle hook.
But then the big girls showed up. Like they haven't done in several years. And guys quickly forget. They fish their plugs and things but when that doesn't work they go back to old reliable.
These fish seemed to have bypassed the "normal" migration pattern, and thankfully so. They didn't let the Montauk and Captree fleet hammer down on them. They snuck up on us following the NE blow of last week. Hopefully they will move out and on. Congrats to the anglers who did it legally, and I hope at least one fly rodder got a good one. If they did it was most likley from a boat.
In the meantime as I wait for a normal fall run to start I'll enjoy things like below, which pokes fun at a serious situation. Remeber, there's always some truth in comedy. In the botom picture
Mary Duncan of Shore Shot Images caught this bluefin blowing up on bunker right out side Manasquan Inlet. You'll need more than a fly rod or a treble hook to land that beast.
