May
2:
I did my first “shake down” trip to the beach this
afternoon after re-spooling new line. I hit the rock sin AB for about 30
minutes doing some stretching and some casting is 1 ounce bucktails. By the
time I did this around 4:30 it w as already blowing E/SE at 15 to 20. No
weed but the water was good color but on its way to turning dark. Bad
weather the next day or two and most of the fish I’ve heard about are in the
inlets and back of the inlets so keep that in mind if you’re going to hit
the suds.
September 18: Winds NE 10-15,
water clear, no weed and seas 3 to 4 footers. I hit the stones in AB
Thursday (9/18) morning and found some mullet right away and raised a fish
or two on small one ounce Danny plugs. The blue was the best overall
although I a swipe at a yellow one two. No action on the poppers though.
Lots of bait down here with spearing and mullet and an equal amount of each.
I had a half dozen schoolies and raised several other bass as well and no
blues sighted. Lots of bait movement although the size of the bait schools
were not very large, but more than enough that’s for sure. Juts not a lot of
fish on them.
Sept. 19: Winds NE 15-20 Seas 4 to 6 Water Awesome:
I hit the stones in AB again
Friday (9/19) morning and found fish right away in the dark at 5:30 a.m. A
nice fat schoolie on my first cast with a Polaris popper. I proceeded to
have fish on three different sets of stones till about 8:15. I had 15
schoolies to 26 inches and a big blue of 8 pounds…which seemed to shut the
bite down on that jetty around 7:15. I hit my last set of stones around 7:30
and saw bass coming out of the water on the mullet and with the Polaris
caught a keeper bass of 32 inches and another six schoolie bass and left
them rollicking in the rough surf. Seas were rolling in about 4 to 6 foot as
the NE/E winds were cranking. I went back at 11 a.m. and looked and very few
jetties could have been gotten on tides are a foot or more above normal.
I’ll go back down around 3 p.m. or so and try again this afternoon.
Winds E 20 Seas 3 to 4 Water FAST E-W Sweep:
I hit the stones again Friday
afternoon around 4:15 and had a fish on my first two casts and he action
only got better from there. I stayed till 6:15 or so and had three keepers,
another 15 shorts and the fishing was super!! However, the fishing can be
spectacular, very good or just plain frustrating. Bass are flipping and
flopping on every jetty in Long Beach and Atlantic Beach, mullet are
spraying and sometimes they cooperate fully and other times they eat
everything in sight except the plug. The hard cranking NE then due E winds
of 20 knots or more the last 48 hours combined with the incoming water made
keeping a tight line on any lure but bottle plugs and darters nearly
impossible, no matter what angle I took from shore or atop a jetty. About
90% of the fish are 22 to 24 inches.
Sept. 20:
Winds NE/E 10 to 12 Seas 4 to 5 Water FAST E-W Sweep: I
hit the stones again Saturday (9/20) morning from 5:45 to 7:30 a.m. and saw
just as many fish in the saw swift moving water, but dopey me forgot to
bring a bottle plug. I was able to manage with poppers and small diving
metal lips for fish on my first two casts in the dark, and finished with
another four keepers to 15 pounds and about a half dozen shorts, but I
should have fared much, much better for the amount of fish I saw breaking on
every jetty. Very frustrating morning for sure. Saturday also saw the first
signs of bad weed moving in.
Sept. 21: Water: Weeds
I hit the stones in AB again at 5
p.m. with Mike Martino. Weed, weed nd more weed, bu water color was good and
we did manage to raise a fish or two and mike caught a schoolie. It was
brutal and after an hour it 2was back to the house for the Yankees finale.
Sept. 23: water Clean and
almost weed free, lots of foam and still an hour or two of outgoing left:
I hit the stones in AB again at 5:30 in the dark and found fish
right away. A nice fat schoolie on my fourth cast with a Polaris popper. I
proceeded to have fish on only the one set of stones. I raised a fish
casting out and in then two on the angled retrieve covering more of the
strike zone. I found a low laying rock on the side of the jetty and used the
45 degree method allowing me more time in the foam. Once I found the angle I
needed to be at the water, I proceeded to raise fish on every cast for 45
minutes landing six fish and one very close to keeper size. Sun came up at
6:30 something and at 7 a.m. it was over as if they flipped a switch.
Heavy NE winds for the next four days...the
next 36 to 48 hours will be the best fishing IMHO
Oct. 3: Water: Clear/sandy..perfect.
Tide: Last of Outgoing Winds: West 25:
I hit the stones in
Atlantic Beach Friday (10/3) afternoon from 3 to 4:15 p.m. Last of the
outgoing tide, winds were
West at 20 to 25 and gusting to 30 knots or more. Water was wild and perfect
color and clarity. I raised a dozen or more fish, perhaps 15 and caught six
bass one of which was a keeper. All they wanted were the 1-ounce
small Gibbs Danny swimmer or the next size larger and white was the color of
the day.
Oct. 4:
Water: Flat calm,
glassy.
Tide: first of Incoming Winds: N 0:I hit the stones
in Atlantic Beach Saturday (10/4)
morning from 5:30 to 8 a.m. for the turn around to the
incoming. No winds, flat calm and glassy conditions...I knew it would be a
tough morning., No bait sightings and I had one small schoolie on a white
Danny and raised two other fish and that was it. no signs of life anywhere.
Oct.
22: Water flat calm, Winds N/NW 20-30: Mayhem today in Atlantic
Beach. Bunker in the wash and tons of blues from 6 pounds to 14 pounds. Only
a few guys in on the action, about six as far as I could see… I was on the
same set of rocks for 6 hours and had blues on every chunk I put in the
water and by 7:15 I still had 12 bunker left and had to go...still left them
biting...It was the best I've seen this year and the last two years for that
matter. Large metal lips worked for some and one big bass on a pencil, for
me though it was non stop snag a bunker in the wash, get a quick dozen then
chunk till they were gone with fish on every bait, then grab another dozen
and do it again!
