And the Drum (and Bass) Plays On
Shop news.
We received our biggest order of MaiTai rigs ever. Scott is not happy. He is still checking them in as he restocks the store. When he is done, we will restock the online store.
The black drum bite has slowed down a bit. As this fishery is unprecedented, we are not sure if the weather shut the fish off, chased away the anglers, or the fish moved somewhere else. Frankly, it could be a combo of the three. If the fish moved, where did they go? Did they push further north in the bay? Turn back south towards Barnegat Inlet? Move up some of the tributaries connected to the bay? Only one way to find out.
The striped bass bite has been good both in the bay and in the ocean. The size of the fish has been improving too. Bloodworms has been the bait of choice for the bay, while fresh clams have been doing it in the ocean.
We are also getting more consistent reports of striped bass taking lures. Soft plastics like Kettle Creek Shads, Storm Shads, Vudu Shads or Tsunami shads have been working well. Swimming plugs like Yo-Zuri Mag Darters or Daiwa SP Minnows are working too. It’s also about due time for a topwater bite to start, so don’t forget to bring a surface plug along with you.
Here are some notable recent catches:
Our cover shot is Wayne Kuehler with a 30” bass caught Tuesday on fresh clams.
Three things are certain in life: death, taxes, and Barney catching bass when they’re around. This bass ate a shell clam off the beach.
John Ferraro braved the rain to get this nice back bay bass.
@gmiller10000 found some drum
Billy T found the fish in the bay yesterday.
It was a tough week for Ray this week, but he stood up for Grumpys and we are all proud of him. And, since he is in “stand up for something mode” he’s not taking any lip from anyone right now. So, we are NOT picking on Ray in this report. We would normally shift our attention here to Scott, but he is standing on the edge of something and we don’t need to push him over. Therefore, on the chopping block today is Jenni. Anyone who has spoken to Jenni for a minute will know she has a koi pond. This past weekend she opened the koi pond. We hear the bite is good and dough balls and night crawlers are the hot bait. Just be careful if you go, I hear the local(s) there get pretty angry with outsiders.
