The Striped Bass Are Hungry...
Some shop news.
We received two new products from Madd Mantis this week. The first is a smaller brother to the Oh Poppa Popper called the Cherry. Yes, go ahead and put the word “popper” after that and have a little giggle for yourself. These poppers, however, are no joke. They may be smaller, but they are built just as ruggedly as the Oh Poppa and come in some nice fish catching colors. These are going to be great for bluefish, striped bass, and bluefin tuna when they are keying on some small bait.
The other lure Madd Mantis sent is the Plank. Built as tough as it’s Oh Poppa and Cherry cousins, the plank is going to be responsible for some nice fish. Work the rod and it walks the dog easily with the placement of the nose loop. It will handle any sized striped bass or bluefish, and the inshore bluefin tuna are going to go crazy for it. The offshore yellowfin are going to have their say too.
We also received a new line of rods from Tsunami. These are for the slow pitch fans, as Tsunami has expanded their popular line of Carbon Shield II rods to include the Carbon Shield Spinning Slow Pitch and Carbon Shield Casting Slow Pitch rods. The spinning rods are going to be popular with anglers jigging bass, bluefish and tuna off of our coast, while the casting rods are going to be a hot item for those fishing for fluke or black sea bass. The casting rods are spiral wrapped to cut down on the fatigue felt as the rod tries to roll over. If you haven’t tried a spiral wrapped conventional, now is your chance to do so without breaking the bank, as Tsunami has kept these rods affordable.
We also received restocks for Z-Belts, Tsunami SaltX reels, Van Staal reels, and we are fully stocked on Frogg Togg waders.
Now, I know you are really here for the fishing report. Ok, here you go.
The big name in the water here remain the striped bass. The little ones (and occasional keeper) in the back bay are still readily taking lures and blood worms, but it seems most anglers have opted to target the bigger fish that are in the surf right now. Those fish are keenly focused on clams, which we will have plenty of for the weekend.
We have had reports of some sporadic bluefish action in the bay and local rivers. Hey came from the nicest day of the week, so we expect if we get a little more warmth (and a little less wind), the bluefish run will bust wide open. Those new Madd Mantis poppers are going to be killer for them.
Some notable catches since our previous report:
@jameskrewson reported this bass on fresh clams. The fish did not mind the windy, chilly weather.
Congrats to @wally891 on this beauty. He sent us this photo of a bass that measured at 40”. Fish was released. The clam bite right now is awesome.
Our very own @seansmida and his neighbor John had a blast Tuesday off the surf. They had countless fish up to 25” and they ran out of clams. It’s a good sign when you under-estimate how much bait you are going to need.
Some big girls starting to show up on the surf! Here is Marc Gortva with a fish over 36” on clams! Fish was released.
Ray has been fishing water without salt for green fish. He has been using some foreign sounding lure walled a “watermelon green senko son!”. (This was followed by the noises that Rosco P Coltrain used to make, for those familiar with the Dukes Of Hazard show from the 1980's) I don’t know where he got those lures, as we don’t carry them in the shop. What this development is likely going to do is we might start carrying camouflage waders. Why do I say that? Ray has taken up wearing camo, as you can see below…
