JosephTree

Thanks Dan!

I don't get out Sandy Hook way too much in the summer, but in the spring and fall it's one of my #1 favorite places. Once they shut it down for the Plover nesting I turn my attention elsewhere. My question for folks is: When does the point open to regular access again? A sub question is: How can I find out via the Park's website, or is that not possible? Thanks!

Here's another question on the other side of the original poster's: Does anyone know what the northern ranges of the Black Sea bass, Tautog and Fluke run to?

Thanks for the great feedback. I can understand that there's not much new under the sun technique-wise, but my ignorance is probably more the issue. I can certainly see that finding ways to reduce the shoulder strain will be key. I will be tying my own jigs and saving even more $. ...when I get a bit more time.

When I can't get to the water I sometimes watch a YouTube video or two. My newest thread topic has been Snap Jigging after watching John Skinner's recent Black Sea Bass exploits. I ended up using more of John Paduano's style, but it's all much the same sort of fishy logic. Yesterday morning I picked up a couple S&S round head 3/4 oz BTs in a green over white pattern and tried out the technique in the bay behind IBSP. I didn't go and buy a special rod or anything like that and was using my 7' Tsunami Slimwave and 15# braid. Not a perfect setup, but I think it worked pretty well for that job. 3 casts in and I had my first fish. In 2 hours I hooked 12 and landed 10. They were all schoolies, but I was really happy with the effort. I got into feeling how the jig would change its descent or get a tiny bump and bang - fish on! I think if I'd hit the tide better I'd have caught even more. My shoulder, which is almost 65 years old and suffers from the effects of a career in tree work, was the main limiting factor. Do anybody work with this style of jigging? Suggestions?

It's fun to see you northern guys enjoying the shad run. Thanks for the great pictures. I fish for them not far from Philly in the Delaware, Schuylkill and Lehigh Rivers. (Hope I'm not spot burning there.) We've had fish being caught down here since the first week in March, though not by me. I was at the Lehigh yesterday afternoon and it was running extremely thin. The fish were there and willing to hit, but it worried me until I got that first hit. Have a great season!

Really weird to see'm snorkeling! Most of our regulars just use their gills.

One of the very best things ever to come out of the Nixon Whitehouse was the Clean Water Act. 1972 5 years later they clarified some of the murky bits. Democracy, at its heart, can be summarized as the awareness that we ALL live downstream.

I wet a line throwing a double dart rig in Lambertville today. Water is at ~45F. I got not a bump, but it was a glorious hour or so. The Schuylkill warms up earlier and I look forward to breaking the ice for this season there pretty soon.

Beware of the farm raised imposters! I've heard terrible stories of how they're kept in pens no bigger than BOXES their whole lives.

Last week...or next week. Everything moves more when the sun is shining more kindly and the wind's not howling. I myself am all keyed up waiting for the American Shad to start cooperating in the Delaware and/or Schuylkill. I might turn to the east and take an afternoon and early evening to try my favorite bays with sod banks and dark bottomed mud flats if the shad aren't playing yet. Next week the sun and temps are looking like they'll be perfect!

Yes, but not well enough to give even a WAG estimate of its length. It was just a knuckle of water and fish, with the scalloped back dorsal clearly enough visible that I knew what it was. I remember that it didn't panic in the least. It just headed over toward the Art Museum like a train moseying across the rail yard. BTW, the Schuylkill can be a fine Shad fishery, if that sort of thing interests you.

Like you, I hooked one in front of the Fairmount Dam (on the Schuylkill River in the heart of Philly) while shad fishing. My flutter spoon snagged on its back about 15' in front of me. It turned away and headed across the river. My 6# test line wasn't up to the job of stopping or even slowing it down.

I think that you'd be throwing hero casts even to reach where you were standing now.

...I'm guessing that I'd have to keep on my toes to not get "waked" into the bay.