05.09.24 Well that was good....

     With the spring 2024 spawning run over it's time to get to fishing. It's a different season now. The fish don't have getting their freak on on their mind and they can get back to doing what striped bass do best....eat. It's been a different year. The herring run just didn't seem to be like in years past. I saw a few but not the schools like I have seen. The fish now will be post-spawn with lots of schoolies around. 

     After yesterdays mess I first backed the boat down to see if it would take on water. When that test was passed it was time to go and find them, and it didn't take long. I had rigged up by 11 wt. with a Bank Shot line, not may favorite as I don't have an 11wt. intermediate, topped with a large popper. I had some blowups on the popper with one good one coming unbuttoned at the boat. 

     I went to large Squimpish fly and had some taps, a bunch of follows, and the best fish of the day commit. It came in at 34" and fought hard. It too liked the rehab in the tank and after about 10 minutes

it was ready to head back into the water. These fish are just pretty, dark where they should be with blue and purple highlights down the sides. The little guys came to play as well and the below fish just hasn't

grown into it's pectoral fin just yet. I really wish I joined up with Gray's Fishtag Striped Bass program but I cheated out as the tags, I think for 15, run about $125. Maybe next year I'll join up. 

     I fished for awhile even pulling the boat and dropping in down south but didn't find anyone home. when I was finally done I reached in my cooler for a drink and forgot I had brought a banana on the boat. I don't know if it matters but I didn't eat it. I saved that for back at the ramp. 

 

05.08.24 Whoops...that'll leave a mark

     After giving some exams up in Newark this morning I shot home and took out the boat. Weather wasn't what it called for so I was looking forward to some time on the water. Went to a spot and played with some fish before taking a ride. I decided to anchor up at first then just drift. With my eyes on the lookout for some BAM!!!! I hit this rock all kinds of wrong. Lucky the jet was trimmed up but the bottom to a hit and my spine got realigned. That did it for that. 

     So I went into some softer water and anchored up. As I readied my fly rod and stripping basket I noticed the bow was up more than it should have been. A quick glance back and my stuff was floating in the stern of the boat. No worries. I'll pull the anchor. Make the bigger is on and make my way home. 

     I flew home and hurriedly got my truck and got it back on the trailer. This was reminiscent of the "Charlie I forgot the plug" out in Montauk in 2014. When I pulled the plug, no Bobby I didn't forget it,

water gushed out for some time. I looked around and tried to figure if there was some topside that went a miss. Plug was in. I must have done some damage when I hit that rock. Before I left I decided to back the trailer down and see what would happen it if sat for some time in the water. Back up top I pulled 

the plug and let the water drain once again. Delaware Joe doesn't live to far away so I gave him a call and took a ride. I got under to see if I could see where the water might be coming it. There was a 

some aluminum missing from the rock strike and the only thing I could see was a space in the chine where the metal was freshly scraped away. We went through things and found the liver well motor nipple had broken and wasn't connected to the hose which fed the tank. But each time it was wet the live well tank was full. On the test I had left out the plug in the live well. It had us perplexed. 

     While there I gave Joe his own new custom fishing hat. No more baseball caps, no more car names, now he has a Delaware Joe hat. He's getting older now so if he forgets all he has to do is spin it around. 

     Joe went over to his own battle wagon and looked it over if we would have to go and use his boat. That boat has seen a lot of time on the water, a lot of nights, and a lot of bass. When I got home I tested

 the bilge pump and while it made sounds it didn't eject and water I had put in the boat with a hose. We reconnected the live well pump, and just have to get rid of that, and made sure there were no leaks there. Even thought the chine was the only thing that looked wonky I covered it with JB Weld and use a sledge hammer to straighten back out the metal. 

     So what happened. Hit a rock yes. Maybe jolted the live well pump enough to break the nipple and connection. Did I switch the live well pump on and that's what filled the boat with water? Was it the seam on the chine? I won't know till I get her went again hopefully in the morning. I'll stay in the soft water until I figure it all out. 

05.08.24 Definitely a different kind of year....

      Over the last two days there's been a bump up in the river and that's before the the next three days of rain. Temps are holding below 65 even with the warm and sunny weather we've been having. The early unstable spring weather we had has surely thrown the bass and herring for a loop, or at least it's just different than the last few years. Maybe this is just normal. Hopefully the rains will turn the river on. 

05.07.24 "Keep em' Wet".....

     Well I had a few wishes. Fish the salt, catch a fish, and get one in the tank. It was weird driving and hour plus to fish but without traffic it went quick. Got down before the sunrise and met up with Leif. Beautiful morning when we started on the incoming tide. It took a while before Leif went tight with a 

smaller fish that made it into the tank. I didn't specify it had to be a fish caught by me for the tank so his will do. Of course Leif was fishing "Ugly" while I opted for a larger baitfish pattern fly. As the 

outing progressed and the tide rolled, like swell rolled, in the NE wind started to pick up which left a bunch of debris and foam covering the water, so it was mostly a south side kind of morning. 

     I took a walk to find some fish and came back shortly after coming up empty. Leif and I fished together which was kind of just cast and retrieve, cast and retrieve, and cast and retrieve. As Lewis said, "After every 60 casts you feel a bump or catch a fish". That didn't bode well for me. And then I saw Leif's line straighten out. It was a good fish. He made his way to the beach end and soon the fish was 

hanging out in the tank. It could have stayed there all day if its wanted to. The fish must be tranquilized by the new surroundings because outside of a splash here and there they just chill and catch their breathe. 

     Leif headed for work and I stayed a bit because work for me was an afternoon thing. I went Ugly hoping that I didn't catch a fish on the U.A.F. but that didn't happen either. It was such and adjustment throwing a 10 wt. rod with 350 gr. line after two months of throwing a 12 wt with 520 gr line. 

     Before heading to see my son over at Rook at the Little Silver train station I stopped at a spring time favorite and found the drain hadn't been pulled from the bath tub. I would have liked to fish the outgoing on lower water but it is what it is. 

     On the way home I made a stop with my 10 wt and 20 pound flouro leader. I made a bunch of casts before hooking a monster that broke me off....if I only had my 12 wt. with that 30 on it!!

05.06.24 Something's gotta give....

     Last night my jury duty message let me know I didn't have to report today. So I fished for 8 hours instead. The above was the only fish I saw. Hit it hard in waters north and it didn't matter. Didn't have a single tap, swipe, or swirl. That's a long day and a lot of casts. I put in and took out three times.

I was determined to find them and get one in the tank. This year has been so different. It doesn't matter what body of water you fish it's just a different year. Hopefully the difference leads to a better spawn for the striped bass. I feel a need for a salt trip soon. 

 

05.05.24 Found this cool thing down in Cape May...

     Over the years I had seen this van parked in the woods in Lower Township just outside of Cape May. recently the property must have been sold and the clearing of the overgrown property has begun. Now the van is more visible. On the van is a website but when I searched it nothing came up. I did find a 

Facebook page and grabbed the above image. The last movement on that page was from 2017 so I'm not sure when this van so it's last fish cleaning job. I wonder over the years how many fish were hoisted up 

and then cleaned in the back. It must have been a cool procedure to watch. Cape May is a hub of fishing activity between private, commercial, and tournament fishing. Offshore is huge down there and tuna and sailfish relatively close to the shore, closer than say northern Jersey Shore brings out anglers in large numbers. 

     Theresa and I were down to open up our "Shore House" for the season. While not cheap, and easy to give it up in January and February opening weekend always gets us back in the Cape May mood. 

     It takes some hard work to open things back up and next week we'll take another trip with the pressure washer and garden tools to get the property in tip top shape. One thing I hate are the rocks, which come at first as gleaming in white, but them get discolored and stained from the leaves and weeds. They need a mobile tumbling service to come around and give them new life. 

     When we got home I ran to fish. While wading in the drooping tide I saw an eye staring back up at me. It belonged to a fly I lost some time ago. A quick hair combing and a bath and I tied it back on thinking how cool it would be to catch a fish on it now. I fished for two hours without a tap before going

tight on some debris on the bottom which reclaimed the fly. Maybe that's where it belonged. Or maybe the fish God's knew it wasn't going to get eaten and spared me the shoulder grinding for hours to no avail. 

 

05.03.24 They all get a rest in the tank...

     Even though the weather was lousy, chilly, windy, Joe still managed to put a few in the tank. It was a before sunup bite and we got there with about 5 minutes left. A few fish to hand for him and a few of taps for me and then it shut down. Hit it later in the day again and played with one that I just couldn't feed. 

      Finally wet the "Spook Fly" and it swims, just at the surface, but doesn't have that Spook "walk the dog" action. In fact it looks more like a snake running the surface more than anything. I'll have to try some more retrieves with it before going back to the vice and making some adjustments.

          It's May and that means it open season down in Cape May. Theresa and I are heading there tomorrow to open and get it all set up. It's just great. Of course I'll be heading over to the Delaware Bay to check things out. In the next few weeks I'll bring my stuff with me so I can make some casts and try and get these fish on their way out of the river. 

05.02.24 Half breed and full breed today....

     Each year I bring a couple of hybrid striped bass to hand. These fish a cross between striped bass and white bass. They bred in a hatchery and are stocked at some water either in New Jersey or Pennsylvania and find their way into the river. 

     There was also another catch but this one was a full breed striped bass. A few differences are hybrids have broken lines, a smaller mouth, and their bodies more slender but they are football shaped. 

     On the menu front we found a dead buck (male) shad that surely could be a meal for large striped bass. The roes (females) are much bigger and might be a mouthful and too much to choke down. But the snacks the bass love this time of year are the herring, either bluebacks or alewives. 

05.01.24 Good start for May...

     Started out May 2024 with one for the tank. I can't tell you how alarmed I am by the water levels in the river, but today we actually had a bump up. I don't know how or why, maybe they drained the big reservoirs up in the Catskills. It's now up to 11,300 but the temps are now 68, lower at night though. 

     It's going to be early first shift or the graveyard shifts as to not stress out the fish too much. It so reminds me of trout fishing. It's not that 68 is bad, but the trend is only going up. We need rain. Bad. 

     The fish I landed wasn't all that big but looking at, well her, I think she may be spawned out. Or maybe she was really heavy at one point and had bariatric surgery and that's just some low hanging 

skin going on there. The tank is well, just the best thing ever. One foot, on a boat, it's the best way to rest a fish before returning it to the water. They just hang out. And swim. And look around. It a great way to study them and photograph them. 

     The big news today is the ASMFC Striped Bass Management Board met during their spring meeting.

I have to give a thanks to Ross Squire for keeping a running update on what was going on. It seems nothing groundbreaking, but the foundation for big shit has been laid. While "kicking the can" has been something the ASMFC has been doing for years it appears there are ready to do some things. However, it takes things like last years Emergency Action and the slot limit to get peoples attention. 

     I have been saying a few things for some time now. Things I think we are going to see in the near future. Seasonal closures and gear restrictions. As for seasonal closures, I think you just might see places like the Chesapeake, Delaware, Hudson shut down completely during the spawning runs. What you will also see, IMHO, are places like the Delaware and Raritan Bays shut down as well. Like for the Raritan, I could see a May 15 th start, for both New York and New Jersey. And the Delaware River, all three states will have the same regulations.....closed until such a such a date.

     Now for gear restrictions. I have been saying that there has to be a trend in getting rid of belly or tailing treble hooks on plugs. It's not like guys are throwing these for fish for the table. These are for the biggest fish they can find, which have to be released anyway. Striped bass hit the head, the other hook 

just catches an eye, a gill plate, gets inhaled down into the gullet, or catches the fishermen themselves. This is something we all can do better on. It's going to be a law soon, watch. Look above, "Prohibit 

trebles", "Require barbless hooks". The other thing on the radar, even though they put in the Circle-hook law, is the prohibiting of live-lining bunker, or herring (they can still do that in NY...WTF?). When you look at the numbers, and they are the numbers, trust them or not, recreational mortality is what is killing the most striped bass, more than what we recreational legally can harvest, and what the commercials harvest and then their dead discards. 

     I always say people make changes when they choose to, or when they are told and forced to. We need to do a better job, spin, fly, rec, commercial, at reducing striped bass mortality.