I took the above picture from my yard out in Titusville. October 28th was the full Hunter's Moon and today we begin the waning gibbous moon phase. It's kind of like Mr. Miaggi in the Karate Kid movie. "Wax on, wax off". Only with the moon phases it's "Waxing in waning off". With the moons
we expect to see higher high tides and lower lows. There's more water so there's more current in currently areas. Also the bait and fish tend to be a little more active on the big moons. We used to say in the psychiatric units, "It must be a full moon", when patients would be off the rails.
So it has been THE week of the fall run. It started with big fish both off and on the beach. Early word last Saturday and by Monday the word and the crowds were out. During the week the fish still hit the sand mostly in Monmouth County and a little in Ocean, usually it's the other way around. Well, actually they did have a showing two weeks ago before we did up here.
We had adult bunker early and then the peanuts showed up the week leading to this full moon as they emptied from the bays and rivers. There is still bait in the bay, and fish too, and I heard the boat hatch in the bay yesterday was just as bad as it was out front.
This week we'll see the wind swing around bringing in more normal fall temperatures. NE to NW to N and then W is predicted. The air temps will be in 30's at night and low 50's during the day. Dominic may have to throw on at least a shirt during his bunker soak.
As far as fishing, well what do I know. I have heard of sand eels up and down the Shore, from mediums to jumbo 6-8 inchers. Usually you can tell when there are sand eels around. The birds can usually tell as well. We'll see if the peanut bunker continue to move south and out and what sized class fish are on them. There was a mix of slot fish that were in with the jumbos throughout the week and just when I thought the big fish were down and out they were obviously all over the place in those adult bunker pods off the beach yesterday.
If you watched the boats yesterday not too many were doing anything but livening. That tight flotilla kinda kills a topwater bite and the bass are under the bunker pods waiting for a meal and trying to avoid getting shredded by all of the propellers. Snag and drop, or for the legal anglers out there, live lining bunker on a three way rig with a circle hook, has been the way to consistently catch. Those using big rubber shads have done well also.
The other day I posted about the "new" way to snag and drop without using a 10/0 treble hook. Above you can see how it works in action. I guess it works the same way. Drop it into a pod and reel it in fast to snag a bunker and let it go. This set up must be great to swim a livie around, but I don't know if it gets below the pod as it is lighter than the treble hook weight. I'm not sure that's what the regulations intended but they never said a "single" circle hook must be used. I have searched and searched and can't find anything to the contrary to the above.