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Weakfish

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I absolutely love weakfish. They were a summer time staple off jetties in back bays, and the surf from late april through mid november. The fishing was so good then that if you caught fewer then 20 fish you had a bad night. Some nights a 100 fish a man was normal. The sizes varied. One night you would have dozens of 2-4lb fish another night you would have have 4-6lbers and in early june thru early july off the ocean front jetties you may run into 8-12lbers. So much fun. I remember so many nights from the early 90s to very early 2000s that we would start fishing before dark and catch fish all night through both tides. The weakfishing was absolutely amazing with the jetties of Atlantic City, Cape May, and Barnegat inlet being some of the best but the jetties of deal, asbury, elberon would all be great too. Shark river inlet had a great run in very late fall as well. Water would be so clear you could see the weakfish staged up under the bridge at night picking off peanut bunker. God I miss these fish! Summer time is no longer fun for me like it used to be. I remember throwing rigged eels off the jetty tips in Monmouth county during a southerly blow in late July and doing a double header of a 28lb bass on the teaser and a 11lb weakfish on the rigged eel! Now the jetties are gone and the weakfish are gone and the strong southerlies in the summer just bring back memories of what was. I hope its just a cycle and that these fish comeback before I leave this world. It was one of the 3 things I truly lived for. 

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Im with ya. Man, those fish made for some great nights.

I feel lucky to have been on the beach so much thru the

up years of those fish. Hope the fishery somehow rebounds

for the young guys to get their turns at these great fish.

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Yup.  I used to fish the AC jetties all

summer long for years.  Many a great night bailing Weakies and the occasional surprise Bass.  We watched Weakies ccruise the surface and tossed finesse on a light jig at them and watched them fight over it.  

Corsons in early spring had some real tide runners, and you could get them at other spots besides the mussel bed everyone waded at.  

I really miss these fish. Had a nice one on the sand in the 4-5 lb range  in May but it fell off the jig and a wave took it back in.  Would have loved to get a pic, that was the first one I got with any size in like 10 years or so.  

Edited by ridenfish
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Went on a head boat back in like 1995 and i think weakies were the only thing being caught. Got to the point where people were saying please don't be another weakfish. Most of them were 12"-15" and everyone caught like at least a dozen of them, i remember not having any luck that day and maybe got 3. Pool winner was maybe a 3 lb. one. Pretty sure only 1 flounder and 1 blue got caught that trip. 

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35 mins ago, FunkyBunker said:

Went on a head boat back in like 1995 and i think weakies were the only thing being caught. Got to the point where people were saying please don't be another weakfish. Most of them were 12"-15" and everyone caught like at least a dozen of them, i remember not having any luck that day and maybe got 3. Pool winner was maybe a 3 lb. one. Pretty sure only 1 flounder and 1 blue got caught that trip. 

Those days are LONG gone

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Last few Augusts and into September while fluking out of BI we have come across schools on the fishfinder we thought were bunker.  About 4 or 5 times now they have turned out to be schools of weakies in the 2lb range with a few bigger ones mixed in.  Fun on light spinners.  

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On 7/19/2018 at 8:43 AM, PilotMan25 said:

Last few Augusts and into September while fluking out of BI we have come across schools on the fishfinder we thought were bunker.  About 4 or 5 times now they have turned out to be schools of weakies in the 2lb range with a few bigger ones mixed in.  Fun on light spinners.  

What your seeing in the bay the last couple years is nothing more than a speck of the schools that used to be.....

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11 hours ago, donnellyj said:

What your seeing in the bay the last couple years is nothing more than a speck of the schools that used to be.....

I'm not referring to the bay.  I know how good that was because I was there.  I'm talking about 5-6 miles outside BI.  The times we have come across them and stopped the schools have been pretty impressive in the amount of fish.  Makes me wonder that with the way people consider them cyclical that maybe they are on the extreme opposite end of the cycle.  I have no clue though, just thought I'd pass on my observation.

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As a kid we had a blowup boat that we would take out to the lights under the Rio Grande bridge.  Rebel lures under the lights and watch the huge mouth from below come up to grab them.  Mom ever new we did that crap she would have beat the snot out of us.

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