VS Alert and other things...
First, as usual, shop news.
The arrival of the new Van Staal VSX2 reels is imminent. Keep and eye on our Facebook and/or Instagram to get up to the minute updates on their arrival. We understand the first batch of reels will be 150’s, both bailed and bail-less. If you called the shop to get on a list to buy the reel, we will be calling as soon as they come in. Please PICK UP THE PHONE when we call, as we have a big list and a bunch of other people waiting. if you don't get a call, PLEASE DON'T CALL THE SHOP. If you were not contacted you were not high enough on the list for the amount of reels that arrived.
We’ve restocked on Penn reels: Slammer DX, Battle DX, Squall Low Profile and Fathom Low Profile reels. Some of the Fathoms were lefty reels, for those looking for them.
For those of you that are hard on their equipment, we brought in a few new items to help you do your own repairs and get back to fishing quickly.
The first is the RodTeck Universal Tiptop Kit. Face it, we have all reeled a swivel into the tiptop of a rod, either because we were in a rush to make another cast in a hot bite, or it was dark and weren’t paying much attention. With this kit, you can replace the tiptop in minutes. The key component is Flashfix UV cured liquid plastic. The kit comes with the UV light to cure the plastic, carbon fiber tape, and three tiptops.
The next is the FlashFix Liquid Plastic Adhesive Kit. Keep this around to quickly fix items when you don’t have time to wait for other adhesives to dry or cure. Liquid Plastic can be used to adhere, fill, seal, weld or laminate across a wide range of materials. It’s easy, just prep the surface with the sanding block, apply liquid plastic, cure the adhesive with the UV flashlight for 10 seconds, then wipe the surface with an alcohol wipe. Done.
The last item, also from FlashFix, is the FlashFix Super Glue Plus (with Welding Powder). Super glue is great for adhering two surfaces, but FlashFix’s filling powder enables you to do a much broader range of repairs. It is especially effective where there are gaps in the bond area or where you need to fill a void. Think broken lip on your favorite swimming plug. Or filling in a gouge or hole in the only plug that was working up until that point. And there are so many other uses…
As far as the fishing goes, we’ll start with the familiar…
The fluke fishing remains good, with the best fishing coming from the surf. There are still some fluke in the bay, and the bite on the nearshore reefs and wrecks is improving, but if you want a nice fluke, the surf is still the place to go. And, in case this is your first fishing report, bucktails and Gulp! is the way to go.
There has been some sporadic bluefish catches along the beach too, and those fish are taking mullet or small pieces of cut bunker. If you want to throw lures, small metals or epoxy jigs are the way to go.
In the back bay, the blowfishing has been very good. The boats are doing much better than the shore bound anglers. Chumming with clam chum is the way to go. Once you attract them to the boat, small bits of clam, squid or Fish Bites will catch them.
Do you have some kids you want to get into fishing? Now is the time to take them. The local docks are giving up both snapper bluefish and spot. The snappers are taking spearing hung under a float on a snapper hook, while the spot are taking basically the same stuff the blowfish like, small bits of clam, squid or Fish Bites.
Here are some notable catches.
Back bay still holding some nice fluke. Our very own Scott Thomas with a 4.95 pound fluke that took an 8 inch Gulp Grub, proving even a blind squirrel occasionally finds an acorn.
Steve Gumeny with a 2.45 pound Fluke from surf on Gulp!
Brian with a nice fluke! 23 inches at 4.50 pounds. This kid is an excellent angler and is becoming a regular at our scales. Nice fish!
Ray is going on vacation soon. He’s wearing his vacation shoes already. We are not sure what kind of vacation this will be, but we’ll have some guesses in upcoming fishing reports (when Ray is out of cell phone range and won’t be able to yell at us…)
