Good Fishing, But We Lost a Legend
Sorry to bring down the room but we are starting off today’s fishing report with some sad news. On Wednesday, September 14th we learned that local fisherman and “nicest guy in plug building” Ron Muccie passed away. His presence will be missed all through the fishing community. We here at Grumpys extend our deepest condolences to Ron’s family and friends.
On happier notes, shop news…
You still have time to win this reel. This will go on until Saturday. To enter, go to our Facebook or Instagram accounts, and find the video done by Scott on how to enter. Follow his instructions and you will be good to go. And if you don't win, the price of all sizes has been reduced to $299.99 if you want to buy one.
Related to this giveaway, if you receive a message from an Instagram account called Grumpys_Tacckle (note the two c's), that's not us. Please report them. They are a scam trying to steal your info. This goes for any other accounts that are not the official Facebook or Instagram account linked above.
We just unpacked a huge shipment of product from Tsunami Tackle. We have restocked on a ton of stuff, and there will be new items hitting our shelves and the online store in the next few days.
One of the new items has already made the online store. The Tsunami Holographic Shrimp (pictured above) are a lifelike shrimp lure balanced to move in the water like a real shrimp. Being impregnated with real shrimp scent helps to keep gamefish hanging on for extra time to set the hook. They will work cast, jigged or under a popping cork. These are going to be killer down south for redfish, sea trout and snook, but don’t discount them for the northeast. Striped bass, weakfish and even fluke love shrimp. Some of those frustrating nighttime bass bites in the backwaters, where you can see and hear bass feeding, but they won’t touch a lure, is when they are on grass shrimp. Get a pack and be prepared to give them what they are eating.
With the inshore tuna bite finally starting to heat up, we added another tuna capable popper to the online store. Check out the Yo-Zuri Mag Popper. It has a weight transfer system for longer casts, so you don’t need to get close to feeding tuna and risk spooking them.
The New Jersey Beach Buggy Association is having their kids fishing tournament this weekend. This NJBBA event will take place on September 17th at Island Beach State Park (IBSP). This is a FREE EVENT for kids 16 yrs. old and younger. Registration starts at 7:30 am at the first swimming area, “OBA-1”. The kids will receive an event t-shirt and a grab bag full of goodies after attending 5 learning stations. At 10 am the Fishing starts, any fish caught could be a winner. When the 3-hour fishing period ends, everyone returns to OBA-1. The winning fish entered are calculated by the committee. At 2:30 pm, the Awards Ceremony starts. All winners receive a Rod/Reel Combo, a $25.Gift Card and a trophy. Then the FREE PRIZE GIVEAWAY starts. Each registered child will have a chance to pick the prize of their choice from the 130 prizes available to them. This Giveaway will take an hour or so to complete. If you have any questions please contact Ken at: njbbawebmaster@gmail.com
The fishing is still good, though we are seeing signs of fall. The biggest sign of fall is the mullet run is in full force. And those mullet are attracting both nice fluke and small to mid-sized blues into the surf.
The fluke season has two weekend to go. The boats have been doing well on the nearshore reefs. Bucktails and Gulp!, as always, has been working, but so has a mullet on a standard fluke rig.
In our previous report we said “The rough surf we had over the weekend dirtied up the water a little. This in turn pushed some of the more pelagic species, Spanish mackerel, bonito and false albacore, offshore a little. We expect as the surf calms down and cleans up, they will be back.” Well, they are back. We even had reports of false albacore in the back of Barnegat inlet, so the water really cleaned up. Small metals and epoxy jigs are the way to go.
The bay is still loaded with blowfish, spot and snappers. Clams, squid and Fish Bites are still the ticket.
Larry with a cocktail from Wednesday morning. He and Scott had great action on topwater and lots of short fluke on jigs. While the blues aren’t big by any means, with the majority being in the 2-4 pound range, the mullet run has brought them in to casting distance on the beach.
Jeff from Heavy Reel Brewing Co. got the blues on epoxy jigs.
Spanish Macs are showing! His Bruce with a nice one he got off the surf this morning on an Epoxy Jig.
Ray left the shop early today (Thursday). He had “Back To School Night” with his son. He was worried about going. He visibly did not want to go. I think he was worried there was going to be a pop quiz and he is certainly not prepared for it.
