And Now Back to our Irregularly Scheduled Fishing Report
First, an update on the meeting in Brick regarding potential beach closings for seabeach amaranth. The vote to close the beach to beach buggies was tabled when it was clear there was a high turnout for this issue. Instead of a vote, a committee is being formed to determine the next course of action. Members of the committee will include representation from The New jersey Fisherman Magazine, The Berkeley Striper Club, The Beach Buggy Association and Grumpys Tackle, among others. The intention of the committee is to work to find a solution to the issue that will protect the seabeach amaranth while still allowing beach buggy access to the local beaches. This is a big win for everyone as it shows all interests are willing to work together for a solution. A big thanks to all who attended the meeting, including these three guys (I can see why they tabled it…).
In shop news, Grumpys now has Century rods. We have a small stock of the Weapon and Weapon Jr rods in the shop now, and put a couple in our online inventory for those who do not want to make the ride. Also, Blackcloud Bob now has access to Century blanks to build custom rods on, so if you are looking for any Century, give Bob a call at the shop (732-830-1900).
We also restocked on the JK Baits Fluke Belly Strips in all colors, both in the shop and online. These are not only a great trailer for your Fluke Nukem jigs for fluke, but they also work great as a pork rid replacement for striper jigs like the S&S Pro Rockhopper Jigs or S&S John Skinner Smiling Bill Bucktail Jigs. And since they are soft plastic, they won’t dry out, shrink and become unusable like Gulp! or pork rind, so you can leave them on your jigs between trips.
As far as the fishing goes, this past weekend it was pretty much all fluke, and pretty much all on Bucktails and Gulp! (as you will see in the pictures that follow).
Good news on the bayside is we are hearing reports the snapper blues are showing up at the local docks. Hang a spearing under a bobber on a snapper hook and you are good to go. Just watch the bobber carefully. They don’t always pull it under, sometimes they just drag it around.
Crabbing remains decent off the docks, with a lot of smaller crabs in the mix, but enough keepers to be had to keep it interesting, and make a nice crab boil when you are done.
We are still hearing reports of blowfish in the bay down south of here. We are also hearing of some kingfish in the surf. Clams, Squid or Fish Bites will work in either case.
Here are some recent noteworthy catches:
Legendary Larry strikes again!! He’s been catching them up and so can you. Stop in and grab some Gulp! and some S&S Bucktails Fluke Nukem jigs and you’re set to catch like Legendary Larry.
Virginia Jack got off the turnpike and boxed up an IBSP limit of fluke in under an hour!
Greg with a nice 4 pounder off the surf caught on Gulp!
Jeff with a 19” 2 lb fluke in the surf!
@the_pa_surfcaster7 with a 17” 1.65 lb fluke off the surf!
Lou landed this fluke in the Seaside Park surf Sunday. 23" on Gulp! Some really nice size flatties around right now.
Jason Hartman with a nice 20” 2.55lber caught on the surf on a bucktail and Gulp!
Has everyone heard that Klondike (the ice cream company) is discontinuing the Choco Taco? This has put Ray in a particularly bad crisis, as Ray will not survive without his daily choco taco. How is he going to survive the withdrawals caused by the cessation of access to the goodness that is vanilla ice cream in a waffle cone taco shell that's dipped in chocolate and covered with peanuts? Ray says “The world didn't just lose an ice cream taco, it lost its way.” It’s not a pretty site around here….
