StripersOnline.com - Surf Fishing Striped Bass Archives

As stated in the above, right now is the time, if this bill fails at this point it will suffocate and die and we will once again have the out of state reduction boats right back in NJ waters removing schools of bunker totaling upwards of 30-50 million pounds. Do you have any idea what 30 million pounds of bunker look like? Put it this way, if they were all in Shark River at one time, there wouldn't likely be room for any water! Yet these out of state boats take that many bunker from our waters every year...except right now is a critical time - the bunker are beginning to show serious signs of trouble. If we let them continue taking so many bunker from our waters, dire consequences are in the immediate future. The stripers have already, in the past 5 or 6 years, showed serious signs of malnutrition, there are more skinny stripers around now than ever. Fat, healthy fish are a thing of the past in NJ waters for the most part. Yet, if you travel north to where the bunker are protected, their fish are much, much healthier. Healthy fish breed better, fight better, migrate better, live longer, and bring the scale down further. This is it, this bill has a real chance of passing but without your physically supporting it, it will be suffocated and die...just like the enormous stripers that hang beneath the large schools of bunker...the bunker netters kill more of the largest stripers out there than anglers ever get a shot at. Protect the bunker, protect those rare giant stripers, make plans to go to Trenton. Get involved, send an email to the Salty Dogs and let them know you want to help. It doesn't matter if you live in NJ or in Alaska, your support will matter and your presence in Trenton will make a difference! Don't let someone else be in control of your fishing, step up to the plate, it's time for you to help.

On the fishing front locally, things are looking pretty shiny and sparkly Paul and I got out on Sunday night for a couple hours, throwing stuff in the local suds. There was just a little bit of the weekend heave left over...apparently just enough. Paul's first fish on the schoolbus bomber was a well proportioned 38" that gave his 1087 spinning rod a good workout. As this fish was being introduced to the inside of Paul's cooler, I dropped one after a short run on the same plug. On the next cast, I surprised a fish...or should I say, he surprised me...just a foot from land. As I set the hook this fish shot 3 feet outta the water!? Strange enough, while in the air, it looked like a 2# bluefish, shimmering in the near full moon glow...but when it landed, it made a pretty fair run and hunkered down...not at all like a 2# bluefish...in fact, I was certain is wasn't a razor lipped bastage at all. A minute or so later I was releasing an 8-9# striper....and he still looked shocked that the schoolbus bomber wasn't real after all that Moments later I was releasing that fish's twin. Then out came the rigged rubber eel and I let the stripers bat that around for a while before connecting again....and in a few minutes was releasing another of the same size as the first two...right outta the same 8-10# mold. It could have been worse, they could have all been outta the 25" mold instead of the 30" mold. A few casts later the rigged eel was again exploring the dentures of another striper...this fish just headed steadily east for a good 10-15 seconds without so much as taking a breath...and as quickly as it was stuck it was unstuck. Odd as it might sound, I was already planning on which obstacle would separate me from this sizable critter....I hadn't considered the hook pulling! No matter, it's all good stuff! Paul and I continued to let the fish bat our plugs and rigged eels around, each sticking and dropping a couple more. I ended the night releasing one about 33" that thought the schoolbus bomber was again too good to pass up.

Bottom line is there are some decent sized fish in the area...and some that exceed the decent mark substantially but they continue to play hard to get! Right now things are likely to be tough for anyone headed out...the water's extremely calm and the moon's extremely bright...if either one of those two things change in the next 72 hours, get in yer truck and point it east Look for some real nice NJ fish to be coming through in the next 3 weeks...most likely on the tails of the first schools of adult bunker to move up through LBI, then IBSP, and then, finally, as they wind their way through the ruins that used to be "Jetty Row"...all that remains is shallow water and stubby jetties separated from land...but those bunker and those LARGE fish will make their way past here. We can only hope and pray that they don't do it a mile off the beach. Also, if and when these adult bunker start playing musical chairs with our beaches soon, cross yer fingers that a good screamin' NE'ster will stop their music and send them storming to the sand to escape the ravaging LARGE stripers that, God willing, should be keeping these schools corralled - those are the days from which legends are created, don't miss 'em!