A wet weekend predicted, but all is not lost...
Well, whoever controls the weather has a twisted sense of humor giving us really crappy weather on the “first weekend of summer.” Yeah, yeah, I know, summer doesn’t technically start until Sunday, June 20th, but the people who come here for summer weather start showing up this weekend.
Here is the wind forecast for today (Saturday 5/29/2021 of those of you reading this late).
Here is another view of that forecast.
You can check out both of these forecasts, plus more, on our Tides, Weather, and Other Meteorological Information page.
Days like these we get a lot of questions like “How much weight will it take to hold bottom?” With 30 knot onshore winds I can honestly say the answer is “Look at the weight rating of your rod, look at the highest weight it can throw. That will not be enough…” Can you still fish the surf? You could probably get an ava out far enough to fish effectively. Superstrike bottle plugs are known as heavy water plugs. And their heavy needlefish and stubby needlefish might do the trick too. Heavy jigs would also work. You will need a rod that can punch those lures through the wind, and a reel that can handle the conditions.
But honestly, big water and an onshore wind make for some dangerous surf conditions. We don’t recommend you try it (though we highly recommend you buy the rod and reel linked to above, you won’t be sorry). No fish is worth that risk, especially when you have other options.
Yes, even in this weather, there are options.
That option is Barnegat Bay. Sure, you may still get wet from the rain, but the fish are already wet anyway, and they don’t care about your comfort level.
The fluke bite in the bay has been excellent. Small jigs with Gulp! has been the ticket.
There have also been blowfish in the bay. It’s kinda early, but the guys fishing fluke have been picking up some nicer ones as bycatch, and complaining about them ruining their Gulp!. (So if you go for fluke, bring plenty of Gulp!. We have it in shop and online). Salted clams are a great bait for blowfish. We have plenty, plus the chum logs to attract them to your position, in the shop.
There are still plenty of small striped bass around the bay. They have been hitting small swim shads like the Tsunamis or Storms, small Rapala X-raps, small Scabelly Gliders, small Grn.Head Gliders and Midway Swizzle Sticks.
We are still hearing about bluefish in a river north of the shop. Surface plugs and SP minnows are taking those for the anglers fishing lures, and fresh bunker chunks are keeping the bait anglers busy.
And new to the fishing report, the crabbing has been picking up locally. After hearing about crabs being caught further South in NJ for the past week or so, we have now started hearing about them around here. We have all the crabbing supplies you will need in the shop, including overnight Maryland style traps (in 3 sizes), snap traps, drop lines, crab nets in various styles, crab thongs, and frozen bunker for bait.
But if you don’t want to leave the house in this weather, you can always get the Grumpy’s shopping experience in our online store. And it isn’t all doom & gloom for the weather. Monday so far looks pretty good.
As far as shop news goes, we got in a very small, very limited order of Shimano Twin Power FD reels. All we got was the 4000 size, which is a perfect sized reel to pair with an ODM D.N.A. 7’6” Back Bay Rod or a Black Hole Challenger Bank 791 UL. Why would you want or need an expensive reel for a back bay rod? Mixed into the small bass I mentioned above have been some sizable keepers. Do you want to hook one of those on that old freshwater spinning reel with the sticky drag that you repurposed for the small bass in the back bay because it was “good enough” for them? I didn’t think so either…
The other day Nick Honachefsky stopped in the shop to grab some supplies and bait. He mentioned his show, "Saltwater Underground With Nick Honachefsky”, is now available to watch on Waypoint TV. So for all of those of you who couldn’t watch it because your TV provider didn’t carry the original channel it was on, it is now available for anyone who can get on the internet. Watch the first episode to see our very own Frankie Z dispensing his knowledge.
The great kayak fluke-off of 2021 has spawned a rematch, requested by Ray and begrudgingly agreed to by Scott. It’s tentatively scheduled for next Tuesday. Bob and John are planning to head out in a boat and mercilessly heckle them. There was also talk of supersoaker guns and jellyfish slingshots, but those plans have not been finalized.