Basswiper

Do you like the Sr floating needle too?

Nice fish too! You earned that one MD, good job

That happened to me in April. I reacted poorly and set the hook. Fortunately the plug came free/untangled and he didn't get hooked. I don't fish a loose drag! Report: confirmed. worms and spearing > bunker right now Go away worms gimme bunker. Spearing can stay as long as you want

If I could choose just one bite... XL Pikie explosions are tough to beat. Sometimes I think they really hate this plug

N/A

Fish B is the worst. I checked into it this year for the trial period. I usually put my blinders on to most things striper fishing and spot related. I like the hunt. Curiosity killed the cat. Oh hell yea it did. Now I see why my local lake is always crowded. No pins the year i moved here. Pins popping up afterwards. What might be worse are the personalities using it. Why do you need to showcase your catch BUT then put the pin in the woods or middle of the bay? I get what they think they're doing to other people but i dont know if theres more lame than that. Just don't use the app then. Pay money for that!? You gotta be kidding you are that lame you can't ask or try to learn? Another social form that could and does kill every drop of water available. Down to marshy puddles. From minnows and bluegills, to stripers and LMB and everything in-between. No puddle is safe

I haven't signed on lately but did for this. Between the people trying to ruin(not intentional. They just suck that good I think. Jbh. Eye test.) every spot, casting over you and snagging your line coming out of the bushes at 2a because you hooked a 26" fish, or worse...just parked at a new to you spot, and then this type of crap. We are full. No vacancy. Wtf is going on anymore Report: had planned pto for this week but somehow messed my back up Monday morning. Still fished each night this week just not used to being slowed down and probably didnt go as hard as planned. No, I know I didnt. Go to make a move and then rethink it when there LOL Every cast hurt but was worth it. I needed it. Might go tonight well see. God Bless you all whom fish under tough conditions before you ever even make that first cast. Or can't go where you want. Need your truck etc. Whatever the case, respect. Fish caught each night except one skunk. And the nights that caught, some better than others with fish up to 40". One night was just 2 rats(26" and 27/28") to keep the bad stink away. Understandably so, I see a pattern over the years where many complain and not do well in the wind. Is it mental and predetermined? Thats never good in fishing and we all do it. Where those are sometimes, def not always, my best nights as was the case this week. The more wind with current the better. The less wind or against the current...not as good...for me atleast. Same old lures you guys know, just cycle through the bag or pick one and go Tight lines and hope to see a lot of the bs, including some here, go away. Im guilty too. I just wanna fish. I learn this more and more each time I go LOL

Reallly sorry about hearing of your loss but throwing a few casts in his honor is commendable. Respect and my condolences. As a matter of fact. I still do similar. That was me last year talking about the shooting stars. And yea, it was for a reason even though some would prefer to use it as low hanging fruit. That's ok lol. Hope your doing alright, never fun, sorry. Keep casting, as you do! Always make a few extra last casts too Edit: more last casts than you typically would

I definitely LOL'd! The out loud part too Thanks man!

I started using one a lot a couple of years ago. And more since last spring. Funny now that I see lots of guys using... im going back to hands on(it's way more fun too) and hopefully double fisting . Im weird like that... try not to worry what others do but if something becomes popular I then do ooposite...if I even notice. Keeping the gripper on my belt but haven't used in a week or two. And no I'm not quitting striper fishing even tho it's growing in popularity, lol Edit: forgot. It IS awesome to use on the release if you're in the water. Hold onto the lanyard (like the one @DeeMonee forgot lol) and walk the fish or let it be. Unclip when ready and off they go

Report at end for those who want to skip the shark week reply. It's an interesting subject and it's one that catches everyone's eye. Especially those who wade in saltwater. I don't assume much but I've dealt with literally hundreds of shark bites on mutliple species of fish. Maybe thousands but who cares. Just not with stripers and its not a subject I would take lightly by any means. We are in the water. But shark bites on dozens of others fish from 12" yellowtail snappers up to 100lb amberjacks. With the latter(but the 40-60 lb AJ's) bitten clean up to their nose. Right passed the gills through the skull. Sometimes with the blackfins too if not a blacktip shark doing the damage. These are BIG sharks wintering near offshore sea mounts...humps that I mentioned and non typical though compared to what we would normally see. Anyways, shark bites are usually much cleaner. Usually. Not always. I'm not assuming but know what I'm trying to tell my brain....seal. I've also been around a bunch of them since March far from their wintering grounds. Also thought I noticed weird behavior from stripers this spring and seals were around during those times. But we know sharks are too. They always are. We can't deny. Activity levels are what makes me nervous. That does look more like a seal bite to me but that means nothing. Treat it with a grain of salt, please. Its typical of a seal attack to leave longer entails like the pic shows and it's usually never ever clean. That I've seen, yet. They appear to sever the body from head more so from bite, grab and rip motions. Not bite and slice from serrations like a shark. Excluding those like a sand tiger. Add in wahoo...kingfish and barracuda, plus other fish not on the tip of my tongue. All those leave much cleaner bites than a seal ever would too. Grouper attacks on your catch most times looked like a combo of the two. Not that we have juvenile goliath groupers eating our stripers here, LOL just saying what I've seen Montauk guys. When they say they saw the shark, the bite never looks like that. It looks like you fileted it...even better. Again, usually LOL. When they didn't see it or say seal. It looks like the pic. With all of the above known or in my brain or just trying to share... I am treating this like my fishing. Trying not to assume too much or let it bother me while trying to remain as aware as possible LOL Report: couple skunks, couple decent trips. Still on the ML bite but nothing lights out. Color has not mattered or picky for one night then back to not mattering. Grinding out 1 - 1/2 dozen fish...or skunk each time. Seeing some smaller fish show which is great, 20-26". Some low to mid slot fish and a couple upper slots.

Great advice here will! To go along with just try, skunks happen, trial and error... Not everyone has the opportunity to live near by too. So to the OP, I say...take advantage now! I hesitated on a certain fishery or nuance of, forever. Dumb! The what if this and that game prevented me from going where I believed I should go.l the whole time and my gut was right. Still happens butnl Im getting better at caring less... just go(being redundant on purpose but with reason) Not everyone you see fishing or reporting is able to quickly check on spots multiple times a week plus try and fish the spots that may have already produced. Fishing history and looking for new spots or areas is a challenge with only 2 or 3 hours at a clip most nights. Some say thats not enough time and dont even bother going. I do know, first hand, it IS 100% better than not trying at all or just waiting for a call, etc. If you really want to do something... you do it, right? I'd venture to say, that's most or atleast half of us on here. I know the guys from PA and from the sticks of southern NJ, we don't have that ability, as easy. We deal(I know I do) with a lot more skunks than people realize or assume to. And if I do happen to go on a good roll of fish... its probably FROM all of the trial and error of the past with my own eyes...and fishing rod. We have to make it happen on our own, AFTER long commutes and whatever the day dished out previously. It's not easy for me, personally. But I LOVE IT and wouldnt have it any other way. Im not making excuses or looking for a pitty party. Just making it known, maybe from a different angle for the OP. Youre in a realy good position, imo... keep fishing when able! Dont worry about catching or what ANYONE else is doing. Worry about TRYING to get ONE bite. Just one bite... seriously. If you want to catch... "what do I have to do to get one bite?" (not set the world on fire catching 30lbers immediately one after the other. Doesn't happen like that. Even for the very experienced. Promise!) Making connections through here and while out there fishing is also a nice bonus. Asking questions here and trying out there for yourself or with others... Nothing wrong with any, imo! We all have a different journey in fishing and life. Good luck man!

@bassmaster @Heavy Hooksetter... You guys ever want to let a NJ angler(I know, the horror!) get his hands on one your plugs... just say the word and I'll take care of ya. Would be honored to add one to the rotation!

You too MEF! Wish it could have been under different circumstances. Perhaps bent rods not big bows and big wakes + No joke LOL But for fun, I could put enough on so when I get blinded by 500k lumens, they get blinded too. Not a bad idea man

Report: didn't die tonight...yet. Wish me luck on the ride home... Was going to finish out the tide somewhere else before making the trek home but had a nice conversation with a 25'cc at stop number 2.... after he almost took me out both on and off pad/plane. He then headed towards another member I ended up meeting from here because of the incident. Atleast he was idling towards him. Thats a joke...it wasn't cool at all. After I was in the clear and done yelling to save my @ss...I continued yelling... "Turn to starboard.... YO.TURN.RIGHT! Yo, what the hell are you doing, there's other guys over there too! To make it worse, once he was off plane more.towards the beginning of the incident... I had to keep backing up as I was yelling too...to get out of the way. I wasnt that deep but the wake he threw and so close to me.. lifted me up. Crazy man. Gonna count my blessings real quick, LOL... Anywas, we both walked back in, converged and decided to call it night. We both took it as a sign. It was nice to meet you bro, if you want to hop in here, go for it. Don't have to man! Besides... those fish weren't there anymore. I went 0 for 2 Happy Easter!