POST Your Sea Bass Reports Here!

[Mike]

Opening day is tomorrow

 

Let's hear how everyone is doing with the bisquits!

[TimS]

Tomorrow? If that's true, I know someone that kept a LOT of seabass last weekend when the season was closed

 

Nevermind...false alarm...just checked - sea bass season opened in NJ last weekend, 5/22

 

TimS

[Allen]

we seabassed for about 5 hours sunday - made 6 drops S of Manasquan inlet in 60-75' and put about 50 in the box, give or take a few, and had a nice codfish, a couple of ling, and a few nice tog which had to go back. Lots of seabass life on most drops, seemed the shallower the water the better, and there were a good amount of shorts. Also, a lot of sandeels right on the bottom - some of the bass were choked full of them but wouldn't hit a diamond jig

[TimS]

Also, a lot of sandeels right on the bottom - some of the bass were choked full of them but wouldn't hit a diamond jig

 

Funny thing Allen - next time they won't hit a jig, try dropping it to the bottom, reeling up two turns - and holding it as still as you possibly can. Not sure why, but this is sometimes the only way to get them to bite...it's weird, I know

 

 

TimS

[mooshul]

i think the bottom fishing forum needs to be renamed the new jersey forum

[DaveTats]

i think the bottom fishing forum needs to be renamed the new jersey forum

 

Too many rules in NJ Forums

[Allen]

Funny thing Allen - next time they won't hit a jig, try dropping it to the bottom, reeling up two turns - and holding it as still as you possibly can. Not sure why, but this is sometimes the only way to get them to bite...it's weird, I know

 

TimS

 

 

Tim I tried that too... usually you feel the swipes of the smaller fish when you do that but the jigs I dropped got no attention whatsoever - I really couldn't figure it out w/ those sandeels around

 

My only guess is the water on the bottom is still a bit too cold (in the low 40's) and the fish are a little lethargic - we were picking cod on the same pieces as the seabass in only 60-75' so that's a good barometer on how chilly it is down there.

 

Edited part: Tim, I saw Mike P's report and i'm guessing you fished w/ him and that's how you caught em'... Interesting stuff man it might've been the pieces we were on vs. what you were on. I'm sure we were fishing the same general area so that is bizarre that you caught them and we didn't.. I had 6 people on the boat so I only gave it a solid 10 minutes... That's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it!

[BobT]

I'll vouch for Cap'n Allen, it was probably more like a solid 8 minutes but you know how stories go,,,,I mentioned reading about a different boat that caught some the day before all on jigs, I would have tried it but was busy catching some bisquits with hi/lo rig and clam, my catch rate improved once I downsized my hooks from 6/0--7/0 to 4/0 at the suggestion of Steve (Socks). I probably had an even dozen, had a nice tog too that went about 5#.

[Michael P]

Like I said in the other thread, Saturday morning was some of the best seabass fishing I have ever encountered inshore. Not only was it up and down fishing, the size was there too. I am sure the keeper to throw back ratio was the best I have seen in years also, many more keepers, like 2:1 keepers to throwbacks. That's why we upped the keeper size to 15" early on. It made for an awesome looking cooler. Bucktails, ball jigs or 2 oz crippled herring tipped with a piece of Gulp, squid or clam did it for us.

 

For the few minutes I fished a bait rig I caught some ling, a nice tog and a short bisquit or two.

 

Up until about noon there was very little wind and basically zero current. After noon a current from the NE kicked in and the bite slowed dramatically. Pretty much textbook for when the bottom water is still a tad to cold for them.

[Scotty]

we seabassed for about 5 hours sunday - made 6 drops S of Manasquan inlet in 60-75' and put about 50 in the box, give or take a few, and had a nice codfish, a couple of ling, and a few nice tog which had to go back. Lots of seabass life on most drops, seemed the shallower the water the better, and there were a good amount of shorts. Also, a lot of sandeels right on the bottom - some of the bass were choked full of them but wouldn't hit a diamond jig

 

good report allen, heard about the sand eels! glad to know that there are plenty of bait around. might be good to be thinking about using them for fluking...

[Billy 40]

I went down to SHB on the OCean Eagle, they gave me several Sea Bass and a couple of COd. The fishing for Sea Bass has been extremely good.

[FishNH]

From a friend on theBig M. limits of big seabass for everyone

[billthe5th]

Tim I tried that too... usually you feel the swipes of the smaller fish when you do that but the jigs I dropped got no attention whatsoever - I really couldn't figure it out w/ those sandeels around

 

My only guess is the water on the bottom is still a bit too cold (in the low 40's) and the fish are a little lethargic - we were picking cod on the same pieces as the seabass in only 60-75' so that's a good barometer on how chilly it is down there.

 

Edited part: Tim, I saw Mike P's report and i'm guessing you fished w/ him and that's how you caught em'... Interesting stuff man it might've been the pieces we were on vs. what you were on. I'm sure we were fishing the same general area so that is bizarre that you caught them and we didn't.. I had 6 people on the boat so I only gave it a solid 10 minutes... That's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it!

 

 

no allen, that's called a thermometer when it measures temperature.

[bido]

Fished SGR today for biscuits...terrible. Some guys came back with 1 or 2...we came back with zero.

[Snaps]

Today I expected the biscuit bite to be ferocious It was not, I had 4 keepers usual amount of just barely shorts and a chitload of ling.

 

Also had short tog, 2 short cod saw some fluke come up and a striper had to go back we were too far out.