Less People, Less Reports, Still Fish
We have had less people through the shop, which tells us less people were out fishing (even though the weather was perfect), but those that were out reported there were fish.
The best spot for striped bass and bluefish is still the surf. Those fishing the ocean side beaches with bunker and clams have been landing some nice bass. Lures have been working, but not as well as bait at the moment. If you want to throw artificials, SP Minnows and Kettle Creek shads have been the best ones.
Bluefish have been hitting SP Minnows and surface plugs.
Smaller striped bass are still being found all over Barnegat Bay. They are hitting smaller swim shads such as Tsunami Holographic Swim Shads, Storm Wildeye Swim Shads, Vudu Shads, and, of course, Kettle Creeks.
The biggest news in the shop is that we had more than a few reports of people who were fishing the backwaters for striped bass were landing fluke. They are out of season and have to be released, but the fish we have been hearing about have been just short of keeper size up to almost 5 pounds. We have 8 days until fluke season opens (May 22nd), and it looks like they will be ready and waiting for us. We have all the fluke tackle you will need, including fluke jigs, fluke teasers, fluke rigs and plenty of Gulp!.
For this upcoming weekend, we are working to get fresh shucked clams again. We will also have plenty of fresh bunker and salted clams, plus all the frozen bait you might need.
We will no longer have blood worms, Ray was sick of looking at them.
